Chip Pride: Day 7...or the day we climbed a mountain to watch the sunset

I mentioned before that Lao was hot, but my seventh day of traveling here the heat just ended me. Jeff and I set out to wander around, look through some temples, and check out the royal palace. We had a great day planned and got...about 1/8th of the

Jeff a little annoyed at having to take off his shoes

way before I was D-O-N-E. We went back to the hotel and I just passed out for two hours in my wonderfully air conditioned room.

We did have a chance to walk through some temples though. Jeff was amused by how differently I operate in transit than in real life. When I travel, I don't mind not having a plan and just wandering down alleyways and seeing what there is to see.

We wandered into a couple of the city's temples that way, which was fun. Except to see the inside of temple, you have to take off your shoes and since we were walking a lot this day, we both wore real shoes, which got to be a pain in the butt!

Royal gardens

After my nap, we went down to the Royal Palace and walked through the museum. The grounds of the palace were breathtaking. And inside, the palace was filled with opulence of epic proportions. It's really sad in some of these countries to interact with the destitute people and then witness the riches the leaders had. Surprisingly, the living quarters for the royal family were much less ostentatious than the receiving room and throne rooms. The Royal Palace is no longer in use as a communist regime took over Lao in 1975. It is one of the poorest, hungriest, and most corrupt countries in the world, which is a pity because it's a truly beautiful country.

Screw diamonds, self-timers are a girl's best friend...

Seeing as my impromptu nap precluded dinner, we grabbed a snack before embarking on a 336 stair
climb to the top of a mountain. We cheated a little bit and ate in a really westernized place with real coffee and air conditioning, but sometimes you just gotta treat yourself!

The climb was pretty darn miserable, but we got some great pictures at the top (mostly on Jeff's phone). It's one of the most popular tourist spots for sunset so we made sure to get up there early and get seats. Since it's a temple, people are supposed to be respectful, but there were still people up there drinking and

The sunset

smoking and it made me kind of mad. But, the sunset was definitely worth the sweat and pain of the walk.

Heading down, we were amazed at how many Lao people were bounding up the stairs (literally running). After sunset, the mountain turned into a huge social gathering of all the locals, which was really cool to witness.

For dinner, we walked across the river to a really great restaurant. We walked across this rickety bamboo bridge that is replaced every dry season when the river gets low enough. It was super sketchy, but also really cool. I saw it the first day and wanted to walk on it, but we weren't sure if it was a locals only thing. Luckily, Lonely Planet told us about this restaurant because it was delicious!

The sketchiest bridge ever

After dinner, we headed out ot the backpacker bar. Going here was one of the cooler parts of the trip for me because it helped me explain backpacking to Jeff better. It's really hard to understand the community of travelers and how we befriend each other for a day of sightseeing or dinner or drinks. It's really an incredible thing knowing that if you go to a hostel in any part of the world, there's probably going to be another solo traveler looking for some company one of the days you're there. Since I've been doing this kind of thing since I was 19, this trip didn't seem that strange to me. But to people who never experienced the traveling community like that, it seems absurd to set out on your own. Being at the backpacker bar gave a teeny glimpse into the number of people doing what I'm doing and the ways we're able to interact.

The worst part about today was knowing tomorrow we had to leave paradise!

BONUS PICTURES!