Leaving Laos (Vegas?)

We arose from the Lao jungle yesterday, battered and bruised, but quite enamored with the experience. On to Cambodia today, but first, some random thoughts and highlights from southern Lao:

- after settling our bills in Luang Prabang and hiring a tuk tuk driver to the airport, we arrived in Pakse remarkably short on cash, to find its the only airport we've hit with no ATM. 86,000 kip was all we had according to my quick tally, about $11. Bought 2 bottles of water for 8,000 kip, then went to get a cab, where the posted rate was 80,000. Missed, by that much.

- walked around pakse all day. Nothing here, but a giant snake in the bathroom. Which of course I didn't notice until I had unzipped and relaxed. When that thing freaked out so hard it started slapping against my feet, I got my sailor mouth on and hopped up on the toilet so fast and nimbly I surprised even myself. Frick me. I'll take our bears and cougars any day over that thanks.

- met our guide and tour group Tuesday morning for the drive to the jungle. As always, the group was a great mix of people - one of the best I've enjoyed to be honest. If you've never done a tour group, or never gone somewhere because you didn't want to go alone, I can't stress enough to just sign up for a group and go - its always fantastic people and experiences.

- after 1 hour on paved highways and 30 minutes of intense African massage roads, we arrived in a dirty but quaint farm village and suited up with harnesses straight away. Hiked about two hours, descending quickly in thick forest, before hitting our first zip line. From there I think we did 8 more, some of which went past or over waterfalls and the views were amazing. En route we stopped for a traditional Lao lunch... Several heaps of food spread out over banana leaves on the ground, with piles of sticky rice to scoop it with. So 10 complete strangers, dirty and sweaty, broke bread together with bare hands. The food was surprisingly delicious and a great way to get to know out new companions.

- finally arrived at camp to find it was situated at the bottom of a large, multitiered waterfall that provided our backdrop for meals and sleeping. Beautiful.

- there's something about gently rocking to sleep in a softly swaying treehouse, and gradually waking up with a sunrise and chirping birds, that makes you think this is how we were meant to live.

- day 2 consisted of another hour of hiking to a 450 meter zipline, with a 320 meter one back, and another 10 minute hike back up to repeat the circuit. First time I just enjoyed the ride and the views. Second time I tried recording it to share back home (which I'm sure won't really capture it). Third time I did it upside down cause, well, why not. We also stopped by another waterfall to eat more Lao food, swim, and just chillax for a couple hours before hiking back to camp for the evening.

- by the way, when I say hike, I mean, grueling, body contorting, P90X-in-a-sauna type workouts. It's closer to a scramble than a hike with constant hands on maneuvers that's definitely not for the faint of heart. I took a couple good spills, Christine slipped a disk, and while we both loved it and are so glad we did it, neither of us would do it again for all the tea in china. Well, maybe for that. It is a lot of tea.

- Day 3 was a 5.5k hike out that included 2K of steep up hill, and a 35 meter wall climb with cables and iron rods drilled into the rock. I was looking forward to that part, but it ended up being significantly more difficult and less enjoyable than I expected. Several people said it was the hardest thing they'd ever done, and carrying my 30 pound backpack didn't help. I was literally the sweatiest, whitest mess the guides had ever seen.

Back in pakse now, and as cool (literally) as showering in waterfalls was, even the Luke warm shower and semi soft bed felt great. Restored to humanity, we are now off to one of the greatest sites humanity has ever built: Angkor Wat.