Good evening from Nong Khiaw. Nong Khiaw is a small village 4 hours north of Luang Prabang known for incredible trekking and nature. The morning started with heading to the bus station at 8 am. I arrived at the bus station with a ticket, but my friend who decided to join along did not have one. The station told us that the tickets were sold out for the day. I did not want to abandon my friend so I was able to get a refund for my ticket. Just as we were about to leave a pair of French siblings said there is another station that has tickets. We decided to split a tuk-tuk to check out the local bus station. The bus station we arrived to at first was for tourists only. We drove about 20 minutes north in the cold and arrived at the local bus station, hoping there would be a bus. Luckily there was one in just 30 minutes! We got some snacks and road the four hour drive. The drive was pretty rough since the roads are not paved that well here. At times I got air borne from the bumps in the road. We arrived safely in Nong Khiaw around 1330. My friends that I met on the slow boat decided to book a full tour from Luang Prabang, but I told them I wanted to adventure on my own and figure everything out on the fly. I arrived in Nong Khiaw with no accommodation and walked the city for about 30 minutes. Most places were full or a little expensive. Finally I found an amazing place overlooking the river! Also I really like free styling the travels instead of booking a planned tour is because you get way better prices and finds. On my way to finding accommodation I saw so many posters for unique things and treks I never heard of. I explored the city the rest of the afternoon and am really excited for what this nature paradise holds. That is it for the day recap. I want to talk a little bit about languages. After hanging out with Germans, Dutch, and French people for the past couple days I for the first time realized the short comings of the English language. In german, dutch, and French my friends told me how there are way more words to describe how you are feeling and specific scenarios. In German and Dutch I guess there is a specific word for a happy birthday banner? Like the ones where it is a string and on the string it spells out happy birthday. Also there are way more words to express happiness or sadness or excitement. I asked ChatGPT why this is and got some interesting responses: German and Dutch can combine multiple words to create new ones, often resulting in highly descriptive terms. German and Dutch cultures have historically valued expressing complex human experiences, particularly in philosophy, art, and literature. Think of German philosophers like Kant and Schopenhauer, who explored emotions in depth and influenced the language to reflect such intricacies. English tends to borrow words from other languages rather than inventing its own. The richer vocabulary for emotions and scenarios in German and Dutch arises from their ability to combine words, cultural and historical influences, and linguistic structures that promote precision and creativity. English, while vast and versatile, has a different linguistic evolution that often depends on borrowing or explaining through phrases. Pretty cool right? I am feeling very grateful and appreciative for all my learnings and I am so happy to share it here. Tomorrow I look forward to doing a challenging trek and exploring more Lao culture.
