tasha - time to go to rehab. i mean, vietnam.

merry christmas! well, it's boxing day here.

christmas was awesome. christmas eve we spent the day lounging about, then off to the smile bar for some christmas cheer. the police let it stay open until 2am, it was quite exciting. i didn't last that long though, but shea did (what a trouper). christmas day we woke up, opened our cards from mom, dad and ringo (thanks ringo), got a little sappy then went tubing for the third time. this is just so much damn fun.

shea and i did our first swing yesterday - they have these crazy tall bamboo platforms that you trapeze from, they're like, 60-70 feet in the air. when you let you you're about 20 feet over the water, it's nuts. i've been working up the courage for days, when finally ben dared me. i can't turn down a dare. nick was so proud of me, because i just stripped off my shirt, kicked off my shoes, climbed right up and took the plunge. i didn't dare hesitate or i'd chicken out for sure. not to be outdone, shea got up there right after. she didn't land right though and her tailbone is a wee bit sore today. the second time (that's right. we went twice. it was awesome) was even more fun, except for shea let go too early and didn't land in the deepest of water (don't worry mom. she's ok.) it scared the crap out of her anyway.

so we had a terrific christmas dinner last night, shea made the stuffing, it was good stuff. i'll have her blog about the market trip to buy supplies - i didn't go (i was napping in a hammock) but her pictures were - well, interesting. let's just say she saw how real laos people eat.

after we went back to the bar because AGAIN it was allowed to be open late (hooray!) and now i think i need to detox after a week here. we're getting on a bus today to go to hue, vietnam - 26 hours. how gross is that.

we've met some awesome people here - i'll miss them for sure. especially nick and debs, who have been the epitome of fun during our time here. mom, dad, you can bill them for the rehab.

all in all, i've loved vang vieng but truth be told it's just a party stopover, not real laos in any way, shape or form. we did some good caving and stuff but really it was about tubing, buckets of joy, happy shakes and friends bars. time to move on.

i did miss everyone yesterday, actually, more today since i know you're right now eating turkey dinner (mmmmmmm cabbage rolls) and watching home alone for the 2394th time. i'll let you know when we get into vietnam.