Family and friends,

When you're cold and wet, tired and sore and still have to do 18 km of a steep uphill climb but you think the scenery around you is incredibly beautiful and you wouldn't want to be anywhere else, it's a sure sign that you're in a pretty amazing part of the world (either that or it's a sure sign that you've become a biking fanatic!)

Well…we were cold and wet (got up for our first day of biking at 5 am and started in the pouring rain), we were tired and sore (biking in the mountains in Laos is completely different than Thailand's flat terrain that we had gotten used to), and yes, some of our uphill stretches seemed endless. But - the scenery was breathtaking. Like quilt patches, the green forested landscapes decorated the mountains in all directions. The road brought us up and down, around curves and through hill tribe bamboo hut villages where the little children, some of them toddlers, ran out of their homes greeting us with enthusiastic "Sabai-dii!!"

Perhaps more so than in any of our travels we had a distinctive sense that we were in another world exploring new territory, especially as we biked through the remote mountain villages. And though the feeling lessened as we neared the larger cities (Laos really only has a few large cities!), and more touristy areas, we noticed it there too. Especially when we compare traveling to the tourist places in Thailand, we notice the freshness and genuineness of the people and land. Hill tribes haven't been exploited (as much), trekking programs are more flexible and less developed, there are still new places to find that don't have a ticket office or tour guide in front of them.

Much of this is due to the fact that tourism in Laos is still in its infancy stages; the government has only officially allowed tourists into the country for the last seven years. The infrastructure (roads, water, shops, programs) needed to accommodate this is still way behind, and we definitely noticed aspects of that directly as we tried biking through some major potholes and washed our sections of the road (on the major highway no less!)

With increased tourism, how will Laos change? Tourism brings money to a country and locals often benefit greatly from restaurants, guesthouses and shops. However, there are consequences to letting in Western travelers who wear nicer clothes, have "toys" (cameras, radios etc), and who jump at the chance to buy cheap opium and amphetamines. This is an issue that we've been struggling with - the consequences of our travels (and tourism in general) on the people and the land. We bring money, but what else do we bring? Or leave behind? Or take away?

After three tough days of biking in the mountains, we took a break in Vong Vien, a city famous for its caves. Our sense of adventure got the better of us as we spent our "day off" kayaking and caving (at one cave we had to swim in and then crawled/walked through its passages for the next hour). Then, it was another two days of biking before we reached the capital city, Vientiane.

Our time in Vientiane was short as we had to catch our bus to Hanoi, Vietnam the next evening but we did manage to meet with one of the Laos CRWRC workers for coffee and had a fantastic time listening to him describe the work that CRWRC does and his reflections on Laos issues.

The bus ride is another whole story…let's just say that it topped our 36 hour bus ride in Indonesia (which we didn't think possible). Two different buses, gravel roads for hours, shouting matches about seat space, bathroom breaks at the side of the road (just imagine a bus load of people all relieving themselves around a bus at 3 am on a dark, isolated highway…yup, it was something else!)…but we made it safely to Hanoi and into the fourth country of our trip.

We've been here two days (basically recovering from our bus experience), and hope to head off to Huang Bay tomorrow for a boat trip before exploring the northern highlands on motorbikes (we're opting out of biking this section because of the difficult terrain and road conditions).

Hearing about the bomb in Bali really shocked us all as we're sure it did you. That we were there (not in the city itself but fairly close to it), that we are traveling in areas that could possibly be volatile, and that we are away from the security that home and community brings (though with the shootings in DC, how safe is home?) makes us all the more reliant on God for protection and safety.

We wish you joy in your journeys, wherever they take you.

Much love,

Deb and Jon.

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