I had booked a return flight from Bangkok to China but I decided that I it would be much more interesting to return overland through the little country of Laos. Although my stay in this country of just over 6 million people was a short one, I had a few experiences that made the journey very worthwhile.

The day that I returned from India to Bangkok, I immediately hopped on  another flight up to the northern town of Chiang Rai. After spending a night there and enjoying some wonderful  pizza, I made by way by bus up to Chiang Khong where I boarded a small boat and crossed the legendary Mekong River into Laos. Passing through the immigration process was no problem and soon I was on another boat along with around 60 other foreigners. For the next 7 hours, we  traveled down the Mekong River into the interior of Laos. Despite a drunken party going on in the back of the boat, the beautiful mountains and rock formations made  trip very enjoyable. I also met young people from different countries such as Germany and Denmark. As we moved down the river, we made a few stops in some small towns to let off a few natives who were traveling with us. The only difficult part of the trip was that the seats were very uncomfortable and after four hours, my backside was aching.

At 6 in the evening, we stopped for the night in the small town of Pakbeng. I stayed in a nice guest house for about 5 US Dollars and enjoyed a delicious dinner of noodles, buffalo meat, and spring rolls at a nearby restaurant. There was only one menu and it was handwritten. The owner was very friendly and I had fun getting to know some of my foreign friends better. In the morning, however, instead of continuing on the boat with the big group, I took a four hour ride north to Muang Xai, the capital city of Oudomxai Province in Northern Laos. The ride was on the back of an extended pick up truck with a canopy over it. The scenery was once again beautiful and the mountainous roads reminded me of my traveling days in Guatemala.  As we made our way north, we passed through little towns made up of mostly bamboo huts and thatched roofs. Barefoot children ran about playing while their parents sat in front of the little shops or houses chatting with each other.

I had wished to continue my journey up to one of the border towns in China that same day, but when I arrived in the provincial capital of Muang Xai three hours later, I discovered that there was only one bus every day to Boten and it had left the station hours ago. I took a quick glance around me at the city and I felt a little frustrated. It appeared that I was stuck in a rather sleepy town. I quickly checked into a guest house that was located next to the bus station, and took a short nap. Later,  I decided that since I had to be here for the night, I might as well make the most of it. I started walking towards a big hill that appeared to have a temple on top of it. I climbed up some steep crude dirt steps and found myself looking at the living quarters of a Buddhist Temple. I could see a religious monument farther up the hill but I hesitated realizing that I would have to pass through the living quarters of the monastery. I gave an inquiring look at a monk who waved at me and motioned that I could continue walking.

The most fascinating part of my trip in Laos occurred about twenty minutes later while I was taking some pictures of the stucca. A young man, dressed in orange and with a shaved head, approached me and began talking to me in broken but understandable English. He told me that he was 14 years old and was a novice monk. He had been a novice for three years and had been studying English for only five months. After asking him some questions I discovered that his parents lived in another town but that they wanted him to become a monk partly because he would receive a good education. He told me he wasn't sure whether or not he wanted to be a monk for his whole life. He admitted to me that the life wasn't always easy. Every morning he had to get up at 4:00 and pray to Buddha. Also, every day he only ate two meals because he was not allowed to eat dinner. A few minutes later, we were joined by another young man who told me that he was 21, he had become a monk just three weeks ago, after having been a novice monk for 5 years. He explained to me that before he came here he used to "go to the clubs" and one night when "he came home drunk" his parents asked him to go into the monastery. Like the young novice monk he told me that life is not always easy and that sometimes he gets tired of living in the monastery. They both told me that they have heard of Christianity but know very little about it.

After a fascinating 45 minute conversation, I accompanied the young novice monk to an English school down the hill and up the road. The school, which was actually a small room with wooden benches was clean and orderly. A whiteboard stood in front of the classroom with various English vocabulary words and expressions written across it. As we stood there talking, a few other students, with regular attire on, began arriving for class and I went over some of the words on the board, helping them with their pronunciation. A few minutes later, the teacher arrived, and I introduced myself to him before taking off to have dinner. Back in my room at the guest house, I reflected on this unique experience and remembered how frustrated I had been earlier when I learned I would have to stay in this city for the night. Talking with these young men about Buddhism, a subject of fascination for me, will go down as one of my favorite memories out of the entire trip.  It also reminded me that people are the most important component involved in making a city interesting not inanimate objects such as monuments or waterfalls.

The next morning, I took a small bus to Boten, which is on the border of Laos and China. I went through the immigration formalities and then continued a little farther north to the Chinese immigration area where I went through the re-entry process. The Chinese immigration officer stared at me suspiciously for about one whole minute before he finally stamped my passport.  After that, I had my first chance to see the beautiful Yunnan Province in South Western China as I slowly made my way up to Kunming. After another five hours in bus, and a ten hour overnight sleeper bus ride, I arrived in Kunming the next morning. From there, I flew back to Yichang and took a 2 hour bus ride home to Jingzhou.