who knew crocodile would be my home base?

This, in ALL sincerity, from Meg. We went to a place for dinner last night that was NFT, not for tourists. We ordered three dishes, a meat and mint dish, a papaya salad and, to be adventurous, crocodile. The other dishes we SO spicy we could not eat them, and were scrambling for bites of crocodile and rice. Who knew?!

Vinetiane was fascinating but we left the city to head up the very well travelled route to Luang Prabang, and stopped in Vang Vieng. Without fail, when I am in charge of selecting the place to stay, we walk and walk and walk out of town with our bags, over a bridge, around the bend and the next bend, and I'm thinking, oh god, Meg's going to kill me, that place and that place and that place seem perfectly fine. BUT, it never fails to go as far from town as you can. Out of range of the backpacker bars and tourism offices, we have a little cabin with a porch over a creek, set in gardens, and looking directly out to the famed limestone karsts of northern Laos. The restuaraunt serves (gratefully) westernized Lao food, meaning we can eat it without burning our lips off, and is at the edge of a great loop for cycling and hiking the mountains and villages around us. Tomorrow we hit the rier for kayaking and exploring caves, and then I think this porch merits a (few?) rest days.