Leaving Luang Nam Tha (LNT) Today

We fly to the capital of Laos, Vientiane, today at 4pm on Lao Airlines. It was either a 50-minute flight or a two day bus. After the experience of the minivan going through the mountains in record time the other day, we opted for the flight. We'll be in Vientiane for 3 nights and then we head to Europe via China since when we booked the tickets, the Bangkok Airport was still closed. I was looking forward to returning to Bangkok because it's a super cool airport and I saw a Starbucks as we were running through the terminal about a month ago to catch a flight. I really want a gingerbread latte. Speaking of lattes, we found a lady here in LNT who makes wonderful lattes from a wood hut along the side of a dusty rode and we're on our way there now for breakfast.

Our days in LNT have been nice for the most part, other than it being unexpectantly FREEZING in the morning and at night. We're staying in a nice guesthouse that costs $8.50 a night (a photo is posted) and has a good restaurant...but no heat and no insulated walls. We rented a moped the other day and explored the mountains where we had the chance to see some villages and got to wave to the kids who ran to the run to shout "Sabadee!!" (hello in Laos). We saw children as young as about 4 or 5 walking out of the woods with piles of firewood on their backs. Yesterday, we rented bikes and road out a little bit past the airport and then down a bumpy dirt road to a restaurant that Walter found the last time he was here. We had a delicious meal of sticky rice and chili paste, fried noodles with vegetables, ginger soup, steamed vegetables and lime juice.

I just walked past a local clinic and it looks like they're having some sort of free vaccination day because everyone is driving up on their mopeds with their babies. Very exciting (not the driving with babies on mopeds part - the public health/vaccine program part)!