The End of the Line

Well, it is here...the end of our trip. It seems very unreal and in some ways I feel like we are just going home for a short time and then will continue on our travels after visiting our friends and family. Eventually I will wake up to the reality that we are heading home for good, or at least until our next trip. We are very excited to see our friends and family, but the idea of going back to work, paying bills, and having responsibilities we are not too keen on. I am surprised at how quickly the past eight months have gone but we have had the experience of a lifetime.

We had a great last few days in Laos. We took kayaks from Vang Vieng to Vientiene, one of the more unique methods we have used to travel between cities. There was one "big" rapid along the way and after watching several other kayaks pass through without problems, Kenny and I were confident that we too could manage the big one. However, we made it almost to the end when suddenly we were dumped into the water and had to be rescued by the kayak guides. Kenny's adrenaline must have been kicking at that point because he then decided to do a cliff jump from about 12 meters. He was actually the only one in the group who was brave enough but after doing it once decided that he didn't need any more jumps.

Back in Vientiene we went to the Houey Hong Vocational Training School for women where we got to see some of the weaving classes going on and actually to do some dying. All the dyes at the school are made from products in nature such as resin, flower pollen and bark. Kenny and I both made very cool scarfs by folding the scarves in various patterns and then tying pieces of wood to the part where we did not want any dye to go.

After visiting the Wat in Vientiene that is on the Lao flag we had some dinner and went for our last massage. I must admit that we will miss the $4 massages that we have been enjoying since November. You just can't pass them up when they are that inexpensive. Our last night in Laos was great but we had to head back get packed up for Bangkok and our 24 hour flight home. We will spend the night there and the fly to Hong Kong, Los Angles and then Denver. I hope we are not too cranky when we get back!!!!!!! See you all soon!