Thailand and Laos

Leaving the western world was a welcomed change and has been amazing. Our flight to Melboune to Bangkok left us at 6am to figure out a place to stay which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. We were shown to Khao San road which we had never heard of and were interested just because all of the riots that were and are going on. We got down there and the streets were just filled with water and gray clay and we saw signs for Songkran festival aka Thai New Years. Sad we missed it but we checked into a guesthouse and I went to watch the sharks game like a good fan would at 8:30am to watch them lose. When I got out of the internet spot it was mayhem and led to one of the best days of my life. Songkran is literally just the biggest waterfight in the road and the only way to explain is to go to youtube type in Songkran Khao San Rd Bangkok and you will see. Craziness for a few days for sure and glad we caught the end of it. It is a child's dream to have a water fight this big and everyone should go once, just absolute mayhem.
Bangkok was much to hustle and bustle and "white man buy everything" so we went north to Chiang Mai which was a much chiller city. Everyone laid back, pad thai and tom yum for less than a dollar on the street which fulfilled a dream of mine. The first day we ended up renting scooters which quickly turned out bad becayse i gave way too much power to start and put it right into a gazebo. Luckily talked out of it got a new one and the next two days just scooted around the city embracing the who gives a fuck about road laws mentality of SE asia.
I wish we could of seen more of Northern Thailand but we ran through Chiang Rai and Chiang Khong on very interesting public buses to get to Laos. No matter how much time you have on a trip is never long enough I guess. Our 4 day adventure to get from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang in Thailand took 4 days but was amazing. We took a 2 day slowboat with close to 75 people and turned out to be a good way to meet people because we traveled with most of them for most of Laos. A lot of presidents and assholes made time go by quick as well as on dollar 5th's of whiskey.
Getting into Luang Prabang everyone was tired but turned out to be a graet city for me. I ended up just walking around locals part of town one day and got offered to get taken to a bunch of temples for a personal tour for 40000 kip ($4) so i said sure. Ended up being awesome and saw lots of cool caves in monastery where I was able to talk to monks and pick their minds. Really good experience and I tipped the man an extra 20,000kip and he ended up offering me dinner at his house and to meet his English speaking son Loon. Was a night I will never forget especially going out to the bars with a bunch of Lao people and just jaw dropped at the scene which was awesome.
The next day 8 of us went to a waterfall near town that turned out to just be absolutely unreal. Th directions to get there literally was follow the wooden stairs, go up and see a sign that says No swim and swim, go up the waterfall rocks that are like sandpaper and not slippery, past the stream and to the best place ever. Somehow we found it and it was awesome, my idea of utopia with a swimming hole that you could jump off cliffs from and a infinity pool style just overlooking waterfalls and Laos. It was amazing day and an amazing place.
ANother long bus ride later we got to Vang Vieng, basically a white mans playground on a river for partying and jumping off bridges. Got over a little of my fear of heights by jumping off 20-30 ft platforms into water and the free shots and buckets definitely helped. We partied until 6am and the next morning I felt it. My body felt done for and just took it easy. Slept in and watched the Mayweather fight at a weird English bar at 9am watching the Vegas lights which was weird.
I just got done with a 24 hour travel day to get to the 4000 islands in the south of Laos. One of the most chilled out places on Earth and just laid in a hammock all day which was nice after so much travelling. Figuring out to do with the rest of the trip but Laos has just been a great surprise and a place I will return because it is incredible. Time seems to be winding down with less then a month left but plenty of time still. Following the Sharks as close as possible (yessir), 49ers draft (yessir), and the A's (maybesir). Excited to be sitting down for a little in a chill area but headed to Angkor Wat next which has always been a dream. Like always hope everyone is safe and sound and much love from across the pond.