December 18 2011

Hey guys!!
The Thai cooking class we took was amazing! We went out to a farm where they grow all their own ingredients and learned to make pad Thai, spring rolls, coconut milk soup, masaman curry, and sticky rice with mango. They even give you a cook book at the end with all the recipes you made plus a few more. It was a great day. When we got home we took a nap and didn't wake up till 1030 pm, so Shannon and I got ready and went out dancin!
We spent the rest of our time in Chiang Mai just relaxing and meeting new people. The family that owns and runs the guest house we stayed at were amazing!! They were so sweet and funny and helped us with everything. The other day we ended up changing our plans for Christmas and new years all together. We now have decided to go back to koh phangan in Thailand for both. It was nearly impossible to find a place to stay, luckily we were smart enough to think to book ahead, otherwise we'd probably end up sleeping on the beach. We searched online for hours and every place was completely booked, then we finally found one on the right side of the island that had rooms together so we called them but the lady didn't understand me And I couldn't understand her... It was impossible! When we got back to our guesthouse the lovely lady who works there was nice enough to call there for us and sort it all out, securing us a room for December 24-January 2! Turns out part of the reason it was so hard is that there's another full moon party on Christmas and new years on koh phangan is insane! People have told us once you've experienced new years there, nothing will ever compare! 2 beach parties in one week!!! We're all so excited! The next 4 weeks for us will be spent by the beach, oh what a though life paradise is!
We arrived in luang prabang, Laos, this morning at 530am. What an awful bus trip that was!!! We left Chiang Mai at 10am and it took till 530am to get here. The bus was the most uncomfortable one we've been on so far and the guy sitting beside me took up half my seat and kept falling asleep on me! When I eventually would fall asleep, it was so bumpy that when we went over a bump my head would smash into the window. My head and back hurt so much today. When we finally got here there were no guesthouses open... We finally found one at 630am. The floors were woven wicker, the beds hard as rock with dips in the middle, the ceiling had holes as did the upper walls, the toilets didn't flush... You had to use the bucket to flush them, and you could hear everything in the rooms beside us. We decided to sleep till 1 then go on the search for a new place to stay. We found one with proper walls and beds, tv, fan, and wifi! Thank goodness!!!
Tomorrow we go buy our plane tickets to Thailand for the 22nd!
I love you and miss you all! Will update again soon.
Xoxo
Alicia