TOP 10 LIST of shit to do before I die...

I can certainly cross one more off!! Yesturday I, Jacqueline Yvonne Boisvert, climbed a MOUNTAIN!! I - the girl who's petrified of heights -climbed her first mountain and it was in friggen Laos, S.E. Asia! Crazy! Carly is a certified instructor back home and she had been itching to go climbing, especially in this country that is known for it's awesome climbing possibilities, and so we rented some gear for like 25USD total for the day, rented a moto for 5USD, drove out a couple kms to a eerily deserted resort, parked the moto, called for the boat man across the San Song River to come get us and bring us to the other side... which, so you know, should cost about 3000 kip return but since we didn't negotiate a price by the time we got to the other side, we payed 5000 kip. A little tip from me to you should you ever go to Vang Vieng, in Laos, and you should TOTALLY go! Anyhoot, the mountain wasn't far from the river and so Carly taught me in about 15 mins how to belay and she climbed to the top of the one side to set the lead rope. I was a fast learner, I guess you have to be if someone's life is in your heands... I went up after a few mins of mind over matter business, not to mention I didn't want to look like a wuss for NOT going up. So i sucked it up and went up twice, neither time to the time... second time about 2/3 of the way up. Not too shabby for someone like me! The second mountain was right behind us (picture a canyon of sorts where a river once ran between them, both mountains face to face). Carly went up again to set the lead. This one was more difficult cuz it had a part where you feel like you're upside down cuz it jets out a bit... But this one I climbed to the very top!!! It was such an incredible feeling... I felt so proud of myself! So cool. I think I could get into it! Uh oh! I can hear my family worrying already! haha So ya. We did a bit of scrambling afterwards (trying toclimb upside down, an area right near the ground) but I am so out of shape that I didn't last long. Not to mention our hands were all cut up. But ya. What a great experience!!

After climbing, we drove out to an organic farm and had some super tasty organic beer by the river, watching the locals bath and the tubers tube! heehee Next time I'm in Laos, I'm gonna stay out there at the farm and volunteer by teaching english and maybe even working the fields. Awesome place.

Today we took a local "bus" to Vientiane. It wasn't a bus at all. It was a truck with it's cab covered with bench seats which we experienced for the 3.5 hours it took to get to our destination. Yes indeed. Quite uncomfortable, locals and us crammed in there, some people standing up and holding on to the back on the outside of the cab... When we arrived here, we weren't dropped off where we figured we should have been and so had to the play the "I'm not taking my bags off this ride until I get a straight answer as to how I'm gonna get from here to where I want to go" game... and it worked! Sort of. haha Carly suggested the driver pay the tuk tuk dude our way to our destination... he ended up paying 3000 of the 4000 kip required for that journey. Ah well. You live and learn. It's a language thing. Had we known the language we would have understood what was going on. It's also a lack of knowledge of the way things work around here... "same same, but different" as the saying goes around here. And I have never been touched so much by strangers! My hair, my skin, my piercings... it's weird, but not intrusive. And Carly is constantly mistaken for a dude, poor girl! haha This trip is only gonna get more interesting, I can feel it!

Until next time!!!

xoxoxox