Chocolate love (this is to Chloe Quinn the chocolate lover)

This photo was taken on our minivan trip from Vientiane to Vang Vieng. As we careened among the trucks, bicycles, children, cows, goats, dogs, and entire families on motorbikes, I wondered whether I should be more concerned about their safety, or my own. I was perched on a rickety fold down seat, the top of which came to my middle back, with a seat belt tied (the buckle end was missing) around my waist. I decided that while I would escape this slightly perilous journey in a matter of three hours, the children along the road playing in ditches would not. While Laos is a stunningly beautiful country with warm, friendly people, it is still one of the poorest in the world, with per capita GDP below countries like India, Pakistan, Indonesia or Vietnam. Having the means to do so, we will opt for a larger, although slower, bus for the journey onward to Luang Prabang.  - Steve

This is the sunset view from our balcony at our hotel in Vang Vieng overlooking the Nam Song. The tree in the bottom left of the photo was filled with lighted paper lanterns at night. Later that evening we were treated to a procession of paper lanterns gracefully floating into the sky from the opposite bank of the river. Gorgeous!

 

I'm so excited to be eating a banana,chocolate and peanut butter pancake with my papa. It was so 

amazingly, deliciously warm and chocolate love, and it was cooked in a cart on the side of the road!!

    This is my new friend Toto the tour guide, who called me Rabbit!!

Vang Vieng, Laos is a small town on the Nam Song (Song river).  It is surrounded by rock outcrops called karsts and is an eco-adventure playground. Kayaking, rock climbing, caving, biking, tubing, swimming - this town has everything.  This photo was taken when we were crossing the rice fields (dry season) to visit a cave.  Here, we sat in inner tubes and pulled ourselves along a rope into a long winding water cave for at least half a kilometre. You are supplied with a headlamp as it is pitch dark within the cave. This cave took about 30 minutes to get through and was pretty spectacular. -Keith

You don't know how much I love you pretty papa,Daddy and snuggley pussy cat.

This boy was walking home from school with his friends.  As our tuk tuk passed they all ran and tried to hitch a ride, a very common thing. He just popped up off the street and hung onto the back. As our tuk tuk sped ever faster, we wondered how he would disembark safely. Thankfully, he managed to jump off running full tilt without falling. To our eyes, the roads appear chaotic, but it is a very subtle dance of bike, truck, bus, tuk tuk, car, and pedestrian. The culture is of a shared road because vehicles are not dominant and do not feel "ownership" over the road. It seems that all users are given equal attention. - Keith