So no one told me Laos was gonna be this way

After one more trip to the market and contributing our own little stimulus package to the Laos economy, we left beautiful Luang Prabang this morning.  We got to Vang Vieng this afternoon after a looong minivan ride.  When they advertise as AC, they should probably try to remind the driver to turn the AC on.  Oh well, no worries.

This place is stunningly beautiful, but absolutely crawling with idiot 22 year old backpackers.  They get drunk in an inner tube on the river all day, then come back to town to get high on pot, shrooms, etc., and drink happy shakes while sitting in a TV bar watching nothing but old episodes of Friends all night.  At least some of the bars have recently wised up and started showing Family Guy instead.  Apparently Stewie is hysterical after a little bit of E.  I'm afraid I won't be able to tell you about that, though.

On the other hand the valley is gorgeous and it looks like Adina and I will be doing two days of trekking/kayaking before heading out of town.  Though we may not.  It appears we have commitment issues.  We'll let you know when we get back.

For those of you keeping count at home, Adina is winning Zitch dog, but I have the lead in Zitch Wat (Buddhist temple).  The score is 7532 to 5672.