Laos, Bangkok, and Krabi

We just got back from our 13 day vacation that we have been waiting for all semester. Let me say that the wait was well worth it. It was the best vacation ever!

The beginning was a little rocky, but it turned out amazing!
We started off our journey by heading to Laos to renew our visas. We had a private driver take us all night over to the boarder of Laos and Thailand. We arrived to Vientiane, the following morning at 6:00am to get our visas figured out at the Thai Embassy.. Once we got in front of the Thai Embassy, we realized that it was closed due to a public Thai holiday. I then had to figure out travel plans for the rest of the trip.. We then decided to go to our hostel and get ready to go out for a day of adventure in Laos.....

Exit to Loas

Waiting outside of the Thai Embassy at 6:30am.

As I was rearranging our itinerary, I had noticed that I had a friend (Jake) who was going to meet us in Bangkok and join us on our journey for the next few days at the most gorgeous beaches of Thailand. So I needed to make arrangements letting him know of our delay with our visas.

Lunch with the elders.

We were sorely mistaken that Vientiane was a lame city that really had nothing to do except renew visas. We had talked with many other travelers about things to see and do in Vientiane and we soon realized that every traveler was there to renew their visas. So we made the best out of it by hanging out at our ghetto, mosquito infested hostel for 3 days while we waited.

Mom and baby at Laos night market.

Getting a mani-pedi at our hostel.
The treatment comes to you, so you can be lazy...

When we were in the embassy, we found 3 elders of the church, who were renewing their visas too, to get back to Thailand. It was so fun to talk to them and hear about serving in Thailand. They have been enjoying Thailand just as much as we had. So we had lunch with them and had a great time speaking English with someone who understood us!

Everything finalized at the embassy, so we quickly returned to the Thai border where we found our driver, Frog, waiting for us. We almost all ran to him to give him the biggest hug to let him know we were excited to be back in Thailand. Once we had settled in the van, he turns and said, "Like Loas?" We all at the same time said, "Nooooo!! We missed Thailand!" He laughed and said, "Laos no fun."

We arrived in Bangkok late that night. Got to our hostel, and fell asleep to get up the next morning to go to the floating market. Jake met us early that morning at our hostel to go with us. It was fun to catch up with him and head out.

The floating market was great! It was so cool to see a legit Thai culture to come together and make a living on the water. Boats would come to you to sell stuff. It was all touristy stuff that was over priced, but it was so cool to see people come and have their life on a tiny canoe, trying to make a living.

We took our van an hour and a half back to the city of Bangkok after the floating market and did a temple run. We went to a few different well known temples as fast we could, before they closed. They were so fun to go see. We were able to visit Wat Pho, where there is a 151 foot reclining gold Buddha. We visited the grounds of the Grand Palace, where the king and queen of Thailand live. We were also able to visit Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn) with the steepest stairs ever! By the end of the day running from temple to temple in skirts, and a trip to Subway to have lunch, we were all pretty exhausted. So back to the hostel we went..to shower and rest for the night before our day of traveling to Krabi.

Tuk Tuk Ride-Temple Running

Wat Arun-Over the city of Bangkok- Bangkok Babes

Wat Pho

Wat Pho

Wat Pho

Wat Pho-Giant reclining Buddha

Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn)
We climbed that. Steepest stairs ever!

Jake and I at Wat Arun

Wat Pho

Grand Palace

Next stop on our 13 day adventure...Krabi-aka-paradise. We were able to spend a whole week in Krabi. It was beautiful. We had a full week full of snorkeling, sunshine, beautiful sunsets, riding scooters, and being at the beach. It couldn't have been any better. The scenery was unbelievable. I felt so grateful to be able to experience something so wonderful.

Bangkok Babes

Kate and I..On a Boat!

We needed a pit stop at McDonald's before heading back to our small town..

They had wild crazy monkeys just hanging out on the beach. Attacking anyone who had food. 

Scootering with Jake!

Somewhere over the rainbow

Riding Scooters through the jungle.

Snorkeling

Massages on the beach. Paradise.

Jake and I, with a beautiful sunset.

Never want to leave.
I left my heart in Krabi.

Breath taking sun set.

This is for real..words cannot describe it. 

I just had the best vacation of my life! I never wanted to leave! Breath taking. Gorgeous. Grateful for the experiences I have had this year. It really has been the best year of my life. Thank you to all who have supported me through it.