Thanksgiving dinner - Laotian style

Happy Thanksgiving from Laos! So I arrived in Vientiane this morning and I already love it way more than Vietnam. It's SO much more chill and it makes me happy that you can still hear a rooster crow in their capital city. There is also little to no chance of being run over by a motorbike here.

As soon as I arrived I knew I needed to eat something asap b/c I was starving. (I ran out of Vietnamese money last night and decided to just suck it up til I got to Laos so I didn't have to pay more ATM fees!) So I went to this lovely restaurant where I ordered a feast - my own little thanksgiving feast, Laotian style. I made the mistake of telling the woman I was very hungry and she seemed to think ordering 2 plates would be a good idea. So I ordered the sweet and sour tofu with rice AND the green papaya salad and ended up with a ton of food that was DE-LIC-IOUS. The papaya salad was supposedly only "medium" spicy but my nose was running (Vikham, you know how it is for me!). I should've taken a picture of it like I often do with my plate of turkey.

I spent a couple hours today trying to get organized for my week in Laos. I can't believe I only have a week left of my trip! I will be in Vientiane for 2 days - tomorrow night I'm eating dinner with Vikham's family (co-worker) and then taking the night bus to Luang Prabang (8-10 hours). I'll have a day to chill in LP and then Sunday/Monday I do a 2 day trip of trekking and visiting Hmong villages and it might just be me and the guide. YES! It'll be cheaper if I can find one other person to go with me and I'd be up for that, but hopefully it won't include more people than that. Then one more day to chill in LP and I'll take a bus (maybe at night, not sure yet) back to Vientiane and then that night (2nd, my bday!), I'll take the sleeper bus to Bangkok. I thought I'd be back in Bangkok by that point and could party for my bday, but I don't think that's going to happen. Maybe I can celebrate the night on Dec 1 in Luang Prabang. We'll see! I'm going to be so sick of planes, trains, and buses by the time I get back b/c this week is FULL of them.

I think I'm off to go swimming - there's actually a pool for laps here! Cheers and eat some turkey for me (even though I'm a "vegetarian"). Ha ha.