better late than never

im sure all of you are on the edge of your seat waiting for me to put up another update. it ahs been over a week to my count and during that week in a broad description, I have travelled to laos and back, layed in a hammock for at least 10 hours, traveled the length of thailand, and numerous other random things that made my overall trip fantastical. since i havent told the laos trip i will go ahead and start with we woke up the morning of and i began to wash some clothes so that i would have some extra clean one when i get back. after i was done with that i finished packing my bag and left to follow chris and bill who had started the walk down the road to the train station. it was a little nerve racking runiing after them only because they were a good distance down the road. i caught them and we continued our walk to a main road when we would get a truck/bus into town and from there walk to the train station. we got to the bus station and bought our tickets sitting in the outdoor staion waiting for our train to arrive. It ended up arriving 40 minutes late. the train was very cramped and no seats were availible when we got on. i sat on the steps next to the entrance door to the traina nd read the rough guide to china which bill had bgiven me to help plan the second half of my trip. the ride would take us a few hours to a town that bordered laos. when we got of the train we immidiately walked to teh border checkpoint and crossed into laos. upon arriving we got our visas and took a bus into the border town of vientiane in laos. the town itself is a very quiet comfortable place the has a very simple offereing to the many tourists who use it as a midway going deeper into the country. we got off the bus and began walking into the town with Bill in the lead. he had been to vientiane before so he lead us to where we could get a guest house. the first two we tried were a little pricy and from there we moved two streets over and found the cheapest room possible. the room cost $5 and since chris and i split it for a double it was all of about $2.50 for us to stay there. we left our things in the room and left out in search of some foodwe managed to find a small indian restuarant and got some pretty good eats. the meal in comparison to the price of the room was much more expensive. after dinner we stopped at a little side shop and bought some fruit shakes that were blended up on the spot. i ended up consuming two large shakes and from there waddled back to the guest house. When i got back to the room i simply laid in my bed writing in my journal and listening to my ipod. chris and Bill left the guest house to explore the city since it was still rather early and the simple guest hosue offered no amusement whatsoever. i stayed in the guesthouse and sinply did the same things until they had returned. our plan from this town was to take the earliest bus possible to some of the more southern islands in laos and from there try and attept to see the rare mekhong river dolphi. i dont know if i spelled mekhong right but i know that when chris and bill returned they had changed our plans to catch a late night bus out tomorrow and explore the town the rest of the day. after Chris, Bill, and I had discussed the next day plans for a short while it was time to turn in and get some rest. I remember waking up before Chris and not wanting to make too much noise and wake him. i rolled over and was able to go back to sleep for a short while before waking up and going to get a shower. Chris was up by this time and after we had gotten ourselves washed and ready we set out to explore the city with Bill. on the Laos money there is a giant temple which is of great size. the building is located just outside the city and when we left the guesthouse we immidiately started walking for it. the journey to the building was probably a little less than an hour but definitely well worh it. the bulding was foursided and at each corner there were large spires standing high. in the center of the large square was the larges spire which stopd much higher than all the rest. the structure was panted in a magnificent bright gold color than shined brightly in the 100 degree weather. normally you can go inside the outer wal of the structure but we had arrived too early. we walked around the large external wall and explored a small temple with some young monks walking around. the small temple was help up by simple pillars but the roof and the one wall it had were painted with bright and sharp mural type images that showed budha doing many different activities. by the time we left the small temple the large structure was open to the public. we paid the entrance fee and explored inside the walls of the structure. you could walk up onto a second level of the structure and after removing our shoes we did so. we left the large structure and walked through the tourist market stopping only get a cold drink. with nothing else to see we walked the long walk back to the main part of town and stopped at our favorite street vendor who sold us the shakes. pinaple wasvery good in the hot veater and after consuming two more {which cost only 50 cents a piece} we walked two blocks to a museum. the museum was simpole, holding many different artifacts throughout many ages. the most interesting being the war areas. tthe museum was very small and after exiting we went back to our guest house to rest. we got to the guest house and told them we needed sleeper bus tickets to paksi which would be ibky a transit point to the island of don khong. in a guide book we had read , it sai dyou could take a boat from paksi down the river to don khong. the guest hosue supplied us our tickets and we still ahd a couple hours to kill before a minibus came and picked us up to go to the sleeper bed bus that would take us to paksi. we left our things in the lobby of our guest house and walked to a nearby market to buy whatever food supplies we would need on the bus. we returned back to the house dropped our granola bars and headed out in search of a last meal before geting on the bus. after dinner we waited another hour at the guest house and were picked up by a what was called a minibus but was simply a truck with seats in the bed and a cover to keep rain off of us. the drive to the bus station was short, Chris and Bill sat up at teh front of the bus and i was crammedinto the back along with the other 10 backpackers plus their bags. upon arriving at the bus station we suffered little confusion before entering our sleeper bus. the beds were not large but not too small and when we bought our tivkets we were under the impresion that each bed was assigned to one person..........that wasnt the case. Chris and Bill ended up sharing a top bunk very close to me and I........ well i got stuck in the fame bunk with an overweight chinese guy. yeah i know go ahead and laugh it up get it out of your system. I took flack from Chris and Bill the whole 40 minutes before the bus started even moving. the bus trip from vientiane is an 11 hr trip which is why we took the sleeper. the guy who i was sharing a bunk with took the inside of the bed facing the aisle and i was left with te spce between him and the window. for the first part of the trip i watched james bond on the bus tvs. and then when all the lights were out and i was forced to try to sleep I pushed myself as close to that glass as mny body would allow and sat for what seemed like hours. i know i did not get much more than 5 hrs sleep because i listened to my ipod for way to long trying to sleep. but darkness finally reached my senses and when i awoke it was light shining into the window i had been pressed so close to and people were filing out of the bus. we got out of the bus and walked a short distance trying to stay as far away from the hustlers trying to sell you and over priced ride into town. we walked a short way and found a fair price tuktuk and from there told the man we wanted to to go the boat dock for the boat to don khong. after much confusion and two translators we found out that the boat to our original destination was no more. so we walked walked away from the hustlers who were now trying to sell overpriced boat rides on friends boats to don khong. we walked a short distance when a small travelers agency caught our eye and they were offering a good price bus and boat to an island called don det which was close to don khong but smaller and "more scenic". the small island was also connected to a larger island called don khone. so we payed the company and took our vip mniibus to a small river village. the bus trip to the viallge was no more than 3 hours and after stepping off the bus we immidiately stepped onto a boat and crossed to don det. we stepped on the boat to the island of don det and took a seat at a open air cafe type place tourists would stop at. the island had no paved roads, no air conditioning, no cars, and pretty much had no lighting to speak of either. all in all it was a pretty majextic paradise. we walked from the dock of don det to the botoom of the island where it was connected to don khone. don khone was much larger than don det and after paying the island entry fee...? we were able to find two small rooms that would suit us for the two nights we spent there. the rooms had no lights, no door handles, and the bathroom door looked more like a shower curtain. nothing that would really cause us any problems but would have been nice to have i suppose. what our riverside hovels did have however. the porch to our shacks was out over the edge of the water and on the porch were two of the most comfortable hammocks ever. alright i will let you guys dream on that for a little while but i am going to make my alst exploration of bangkok in the two hours i have before my bus leaves for the airport. i hope everyone who reads is doing well and had a fun fourth of july.