VIENTAINE

Capitals are always the hardest to get around and Vientiane is no exception. On our first day we took the sketchiest tuk tuk ever... not only was it half the size of a regular one, so our bags could barely make it in, but the breaks screeched as loudly as a little girl screaming for her life. It was quite the ride.... that night we went to search for a train ticket for Trav and stumbled upon the main night market. The highlight was to see families doing crafts for fun, teenagers doing bike tricks and lots of locals hanging out. It was very authentic.

The next morning we had a really good breakfast at a french bakery, followed by a day of random exploration of the city. Saw a couple of temples and some monuments and ended up at a huge mall, with multiple buildings. It was rather strange, as it seemed to be divided in sections of around 30 stores selling the exact same items... after looking at fake i-pads for almost an hour, Trav managed to find me a decent one for a pretty good prize, lets hope it lasts :p. We had lunch at the food court and later found out we had had bamboo and duck, making me realize that most times  we don't exactly know what it is that we are eating. On our way back, I took us through a slightly sketchy street... it was a walking labyrinth that seemed to have no end, but that is when you truly get to see the 'real' people and how they live. That night we went out to celebrate the end of an amazing trip together. We had Indian food for dinner and then went to a rooftop bar for drinks.

On our last bit of a day together, we managed to squeeze in one last temple. It was different from the rest, with hundreds of silver Buddhas incrusted in the walls and an army of golden life size Buddhas all along the surrounding. Outside the main temple walls there were lots of cheddies, which are really fancy graves. Had lunch and then rushed to the hostel as Trav was getting anxious to leave. We got al his stuff and waited for the bus downstraris.... the air was tense, neither of us said anything for almost the whole half hour that we were sitting at the lobby waiting... we had such a great time togehter, laughed uncontrollably, fought like sibiling, and shared the most incredible experiences in beautiful places that words and pictures fall short to describe. As I went back upstairs to our room I stared at the empty bed... its alaways hard to be the one left behind. Nonetheless, I have many more adventures ahead, im just glad that I got to share some of the journey with one of my best friends.