Laos

Leaving Vang Viang was like dragging oneself across the surface of Jupiter. The place has a natural gravity with a tremendous force that pulls one always back into its comforting arms. I spent my last day among friends trying to sqeeze every last ounce of enjoyment out of the place before leaving. I rode my bike to the river with Santiago, who took the following picture of me, dressed in a green toga, crossing the bamboo bridge.

I would also like to include a photo of a very comfortable tuk tuk driver man. I wish I could have a vehicle like this back in the states...

And here is the pet spider that lived with part of his web attched to my bungalow...He was there all week and moved only to masticate some poor bug that found himself tangled helpless and slowly consumed. Was cool to watch though! I wish I knew this spider's life story! Notice he's missing a leg!

I left in the morning and didn't get a chance to say good bye to many wonderful people. I miss you all so much. I keep leaving little pieces of my heart here and there, and perhaps again, here in this place of contridictions, I have left a shard of heart matter beneith a bamboo bungalow. (Miss u MUCH, Australia.)

I traveled by Tuk tuk to Vientiene. It was a mega-tuk tuk which took on travellers for around 30,000 K to the capitol. It was a cool way to travel, if a little dusty, but it was nice talking to the locals. At one point there were so many people in the tuk tuk, including school girls hanging onto the back, and young men on the roof and floor that I was surprised we were able to move at all. But most of the time we wern't that full. THe school girls carried basic english phrase books and Marion, a german I befriended, had a nice time communicated some basic english with the girls. A few boys talked to us too, and there was a lot of awkward but well-meaning smiles when the language barrier prevented us from understanding one another.

Marion and I walked together and found a guest house to stay at (RD Guesthouse) It's right in the town center just a stones throw from the Mekong and the night food market. We bought a bottle of wine from the local market and brought it to a french restaurent and shared it as well as bowls of amazing tomato basil soup and the stinkiest creamiest awsomest french cheese that I'd been craving for a LONG time.

THen we went to the riverside food market and sat on cushions on the ground and listened to soft-rock 80's karioke (The Way you Look tonight and Lean on ME) etc. They had lots of weird things to eat there like fish and FROGS!

I enjoyed a nice pot of hot tea...

...and Marion ate some FRESH, and I mean FRESH as in alive when you order em, dead when you eat em, CRAWFISH thinggies!

I tried one, and it was pretty good, but not really my thing.

THe market had stalls that sold the most beautiful wraps and scarves I've seen yet...i tried so very hard to resist...but couldn't. I think I'll be back tonight to buy s'more. at 5 bucks a wrap they make great gift, but I'm not sure if I have the ability to give any of them away!

We slept like logs. I don't even remember dreaming. This morning we rose together and wet to JoMa's, which is a bakery I went to twice in Luang Prabang for a Bagel Egger breakfast...and I did it again. And it was again just amazingly delicious. THen Marion and I Walked about and took photographs of some temples. Here is Crofteepoo in a cemetary in the grounds of a temple in town:

Please don't ask me what I"m wearing on my head. It's SOOO hot, plus my skin is so amazingly sensitive from the Malaria meds and just scratching it causes a burning sensation. So i'm keeping covered up with hat and long scarf...even if the locals AND tourists have to laugh at me.

ANYHOW, this is for me mum. A photo of the United Nations Building in Vientiene:

I also found the Laosian Arch de Triumph! It's located centrally with a huge round about around it just like in Paris. Yet its wonderfully and abundantly Laosian too!!

Marion and I parted ways, as she's heading over the Friendship Bridge to THailand for an overnight Train to Bangkok. I meandered through town and enjoyed some mint chocolate chip ice cream. THen I hit up this here internet spot, which has 100K/ minute internet, but its slower than Paris Hilton's abilty to rub two brain cells together. (oh god, that wasn't fair-i don't know the girl-but it DID effectively illustraite how slow this internet is...right?!?)

I'm making my way slowly, as well, through Atlas Shrugged. Page 242 and still feels like I"m at the beginning of the book.

Tommrrow I leave in the early morning for the airport when I"m headed to Phenom Phen Cambodia. There is always this huge sence of excitment when leaving for an altogether new country. Naturally one has to take stock of funds, hit up the exchange places to have some dollars on hand for the journey, and make sure that the bag is organized. Then one reads the guidebooks available in the guesthouses ( i don't actually carry my OWN guidebook-which I think is better because I often find things and places that the Lonely PLanet overlooks, which means their often cheaper and less crowded)--but its good to get a general feel for where you're going. Yet still, it's a new place, new country, new people, new language (how DO i say hello??), new money, new transport, you get it.

So the thrill is in the newness. I'm yet so sad to leave Laos. THis trip just doesn't encompass enough time to get off the beaten track and see the back country. Next time, I promice myelf, next time, at least a month or two per country.

Love to all my new friends, my old ones, my co-workers and regulars who keep up with this, and my family.
xoxo
Crafty Crofty

Okay folks, now that we all remember who Waldo is, can YOU find him this THIS picture?!

TUUUUBING PHOTOS!

I went again. Third time. As my friends crammed into a sagging tuk tuk I thought I'd try something a little different, and for 15,000K I rented a bicycle. The bike comes with a lock too, but don't even think of asking for a helmet, because they'll look at you like you've absolutely lost your mind.

It was around 11:00 and the heat of the day was bearing down and reflecting in waves off the hot asfault surfaces of the road. Hundreds of school age children were riding in both directions up and down the street on bikes, sometimes, two or three abreast and often several children on one bicycle. Most of the young ladies held an umbrellas aloft to block the wayward sun.

AN interesting aside: On local television here and in Thailand, I noticed loads of TV Advertisements for skin whiteners. And they're all by Revlon and Mayballene, the same companies that sell skin bronzer to Westerners.......

At one point I looked to two very young boys riding together on a bicycle. After cursory glances we began a race to the top of the hill. They were shouting in Laosian and I was hollering and whooping to encourage them. I passed them at first, but the hill was long and soon the two of them passed me laughing with delight. It was a really cute way to interact with locals.

I peddled about 4 KM and turned down a very worn dirt road to the Organic Mulberry Farm. Then I headed up a smaller dirt path that paralled the river and met my friends who had already floated down to the first of the bars. There I set up a little shady spot to watch people careen zillions of feet in the air in feats of unparalleled crazyness.

The swings are insane. I've already described them. Get a load of these pictures. If you see a girl in green shorts and a mostly black bikini top: that'd be me.

Yup, thats mE!

Around 1 the party was trickling down the river towards my favorite bars: the one with the great big slide. But getting there for me, would be my favorite adventure of the day.

I mounted my bike and pushed uphill back to the main road that paralled the river. Looked South and West I could follow the river with my eye because it ran along side the mountains. I knew where my destination was because it has a large bonfire, and I could see a whisp of smoke trailing in the air. I rode for a few minutes then turned towards the river on a small dirt path I hoped would reach the bridge.

I ended up in the "burbs" of Vang Vieng. Along narrow dirt path I passed dwelling places of the local population side by side, seperated by yards full of chickens and hanging laundry. In the oppessive mid-day heat I saw few people: I supposed most of them retired to the shades of their houses or were working in the town. It was humbling seeing this part of the countryside. The recent augmentation of income was reflected in the obvious growth of this small community. bamboo bungalows had new concrete attachments built on. Every now and again one came across a house the dwarfed its neighbors (still small to US standards) but that indicated a prosporus family. As I peddled past bamboo fenses, and cows tied to posts chewing lazily on grass I imagined that these families are the same whos teenage children manned the bars and restaurents in town, whose mothers said "pancake pancake" on street corners and sold Fantas and Sprite inside restaurants that sold curries and laap; whose fathers hammered away at old concrete posts to make way for newer buildings or who worked on the myrad of construction projects around town, making way for more guesthouses and restaurents. These were familes who were witnessing so much change in a community that might still be feeling reprocussions from being pounded to dust from unremitting bombing of only a few generations ago. These are the people whose pockets I am freely giving my tourist money: people whose culture is changing irrocovably; for both good and ill.

I found myself in a lovely open area full of creeping vines piled up in man-sized mountains dotted with white flowers, butterflys dancing on the breeze all around. I took a picture here:

But the path because impossble to bike further on, and I had to back track. It was a maze of paths and houses and I knew only to continue following the mountains. You see, I'd underestimated the distance of the bridge, which was well passed the Slide Bar. I eventually saw a man bathing a baby in his backyard. I got off my bike and wei'd profusly to show as much respect as possible and then waved and said smiling "Saabaadee!!" he smiled back and waved and I used signs and said "bridge" and he nodded and pointed back to where I had come from. I wei'd again and then got back on the bike. I didn't see many people but those I'd see off the main road were just incredibly kind and friendly. At one point I passed a lady on a motorbike and I said "saabaadee!" and she said "saabaadee something something" but in a tone of voice that seemed to say "well hello little western girl! What are you doing so far off the road!" and there was surprise and admiration in her voice as well as warmth and love. I remember it so well, even though it was only a few Laos words uttered in one breath as two strangers from different worlds passed eachother. I smiled as I peddled back to the main road.

I was drinking water like a fiend, and had run out. So I peddled back to a store and bought another bottle and then resumed my search for the turn off for the bridge. I found it and parked and locked my bike at the bridge and walked across its rickkity bamboo surface to the other side. I then walked for several minutes to the SLIDE Bar. I'm not sure the actual name, but this is what I call it.

First the Mud Pits:

Me "trying" to play volley ball, but getting mud in the eyes instead

Funny Sign:

Next, the Slide

I danced my little feet off to a DJ who was happy to take my requests for songs like "Danger Zone" from Top Gun..heh heh. Then, exhausted, I peddled back home. I hadn't to strength to go out, so I had a glass of mulberry wine and then watched a movie with a few other pooped out backpackers.

As you can see, there's really nothing like this anywhere! Still though, I'm moving on tomorrow to Vientiane. It's time for new horizons again, and a traveler must keep moving.

Hoped y'all dug it!

Vang Vieng. How to describe this place. It's not exactly a one street town, but its only got a few main streets. The colonial archatecture, columns, and french varandas are unmistakable, yet many home grown buildings line the street too. Pancake vendors are a bright light on each corner and every other building is a bar, restaurent, or guesthouse.

Mainstreet

Vang Vieng from the Bridge

As you walk down the street it's impossible not to hear the "Friends" theme eminating from not one or two but many many restaurents. The idea is GENIOUS, actually. They have all these cushions you can sit upon, and you order your food and beer sitting in a little cot facing TV's with all your favorite characters doing what they do best. I swear, today I sat for nearly 4 hours watching non-stop FRIENDS action. No commercials, rotating fans, and the best smoothies and baguettes make for a relaxing afternoon getting ones fix for home.
A typical "Friends" Restaurant

A few other places show Family Guy, and the Simpsons, but I think I've actually seen every episode ever made of both of them. Friends I gave up on when all the "friends" become more than "friends"...so I'm getting all caught up on the whole Rachael/Joey, Monica/ Chandler, Rachael+Ross=Baby, Phoebe/Mike (who I LOVE by the way) etc etc. Sinful, I know.

Soon after I arrived I met Katie, who I'd had the pleasure of sharing a dorm with back in NATS guesthouse in Chiang Mai. We teamed up and did the next most amazing thing to do in Vang Vieng...TUBING!

Aw shucks, i NEED to go again tommrrow and get some photographs to post. I was afraid to bring my camera for fear of getting it wet, but wow, you guys gotta get an idea of how this works.

You're given a giant intertube and tuk-tuked up the river. The drop-off point is right next to an organic mulberry farm which sells...mulberry mohitos. Now I promiced myself that there would be no getting drunk on the river but I couldn't pass up an organic mulberry mohito (even made with the dreaded Lao Lao-Lao wiskey which is INTENSE) so despite being 11:30 in the morning, I had me a nice refreshing mohito.

The babbling river carried our tubes about 10 feet, when we hit the first bar. Literally, I wasn't in the tube for 30 seconds when Katie and the others getting hauled in by a frantically waving, Lao Lao enthousiast with a 20 foot bamboo pole. While Peter and Katie sat warming themselves in the sun, drinking Lao Beer and a bright red wine cooler, I sipped water and eyeballed the first of what would prove to be my "hang up" on this river.

High above my head, on a handmade platform built into a tree like some sort of incomplete tree house, a line of not-yet-but-getting-there-drunk folks were lined up to swing out on a trapeze over the river. It was about 30 feet up, and the trapeeze swung far out over deep (i hoped) water. It looked amazing.

So while my friends sat and consumed, I climbed the rickkity ladder onto the rickkity platform and adjusted my rickkity bangkok-bought bathing suit that clung to me by good graces of only a few strings. (I did my BEST to find a one piece, but I swear, bangkok doesn't have a single one piece in the whole city). The water looked an awful long way down, and the platform below me was packed with white pastey foreigners drinking beer bottles that looked bigger than themselves. Loud techno music pulsated from large mounted speakers. I couldn't wait to swing.

I held onto the swing, stepped forward, hesitated, and then swung...but not as fast as I would have liked, and went down and down and over and over and arched up and up and BOY was i HIGH above the water, but it was time to let go!! SPLASH! and my teeny-weeny bikini sort of stayed on too! yey!

It was so much fun I did it again, but this time, no hesitation. I jumped off the platform with all my might swinging in a huge pendular arch from 9 to 3 o'clock, and this time I dropped from even higher and might have inhaled a little bit of water. No matter. THis was going to be a fun day, for I'd heard there were much higher better things to come.

We floated for another 10 seconds, and I hoped we'd pass the next bar by. I could see in the distance MANY MANY bars, all blasting dance music, with their own enthousastic flag wavers with bamboo poles. We did thankfully, and the next bar we stopped at the other had a drink, and it being about 1ish, I had some veggie fried rice, and a beer to wash it down. Last drink of the day, in fact.

Not so for my fellows. There were literally hundreds of tubers, drinking probably literally hundreds of gallons of booze. It started to get a little silly. Still I enjoyed watching everyone. A couple bars down came the BEST place to people watch.

This bar had SO many good things going for it. It had a live DJ, who took requests. It had a bonfire, which came in really handy because the sun would be going down within the hour and it turned pretty cold pretty quick when that happens. It had not ONE but THREE types of insane, perhaps suisidal ways to enter the water at high speed and strange angles. First was another trapeze, which was much higher than the first. I did it. It was good. Next was a zip line...I heard people calling it a fox line. This thing was pretty crazy. It ended over the river, but if you didn't let go the thing would stop, your legs would keep moving foward and up, you're head would go back and down, and you were likely to land right on your back in a resounding SLAP that got everyone watching to cry "oooohhh!" at the same time. Finally, and most impressively, a giant waterslide had been built. It was constructed from large concrete supports and lined with bathroom tiles and then water was hosed up to the top. THe bottom of the slide slanted back upwards, launching you up into the air.

Oh god, such wonderful torture.

Sliding down the slide for the first time I thought "gee, this is fun...weeee" then as i neared the launch ramp at the bottom I thought "gee, there is no real way to control how you leave this thing...i could land...anywhere." As I launched into the air I pinwheels my arms to keep me more or less up right, as my inertia was doing everything it could to spin me backwards and land me in Ouchie Land.

I ended up hitting my side. Still Ouchie Land. I surfaced spluttering and laughing so hard I couldn't stop. And ya know what? I'm such a sucker for pain and humiliation, I decided to do it again, and try to do it right this time. I waited at the top of the slide to let a guy go ahead of me. I wanted to watch his technique and maybe apply it, to keep from landing..you know...in Ouchie Land.

He sat up backwards, and waved as he got farther and farther away from us. I looked at the Laosian that manned the slide. Good technique? I asked. Yes, he replied. Then I saw the boy, now about the size of a pea in the distance get launched off the bottom and roll backwards...NOOOO...SLAP!!! OUCH-EE-LAAAAND! I shook my head, I would NOT be trying that technique.

Instead I faced forward again, and tried to slide in the middle of the slide down down down LAUNCH and SPLASH! It still hurt though, and I think I called it a day at that.

I clambored back up to the platform where it was hard to navigate amongst all the beer guzzlers. Oh, and did I forget to mention...buckets of liquor are 10,000 Kp here. Thats like...just over a buck. They consist of ice, Lao lao, soda (usually coke) and redbull. And the redbull over here is SCARY. It's thick like cough syrup, and there's seriously a warning on the label that you shouldn't drink more than 1 a week...

It was a riot watching everyone go off the slides and swings and foxline. It was NonStop Entertainment. There were sooo many backflips and backflops. People went off the swings two by two, and one group of insane guys went off the slide four at a time....unbeleivable.

There were a few near misses too...A twosome coming down the slide got seperated> The guy was launched first, and the girl launched afterwards, landed just on top of him. Both survived without injuries. Another gal actully was set to do the fox line ahead of me. She was a big british girl who seemed quite nervous about it but gung-ho none the less. We told her to let go before she hit the knot at the end. She zipped. She ziiiiiiiiipped! LET GO LET GO! we shouted. She didn't. Her feet flew forward, and she let go just in time to land on her upper back and head. We all groaned on the platform. Ouchie Land, again.
But when she resurfaced she lacked an ability to swim properly. She bearly kepted her mouth clear of the water. A fellow travellers jumped 30 feet off the platform into the water to save her, along with a few others who saw what was going on. It appears she had too much to drink and the fall into the water had knocked her already senseless self into la-la-land. Turns out I would see her later, still partying and stumbling all over the place. I wonder how she ever made it back to Vang Vieng.

Lots of people were getting seriously inebriated and it was kinda sad to see girls sitting in corners, their heads lollygagging about. I'm glad Katie wasn't a big drinker, cuz I would have been a lost sober soul amonst all those party animals. Don't get me wrong, it was a killer time but...Its just a bit childish, i guess.

There were a few more bars past that one, but the sun had dipped behind the mountains and the air was noticable cooler. Some GENIOUS made it soo all the bars are at the beginning of the river, and then there is a long 45 minute section before you get home. I guess it IS a good idea, as it might help sobor up all the idiots, who knows. Goosebumps and chattery teeth accompanied us down the last stretch of river. Then we hauled out our tubes and headed for a hot shower.

Just down from the mainstreet is the street that paralles the river. Crossing narrow bamboo suspension bridges (I WILL get photos of those, they're pretty neat) is an island where the river divides and goes around either side. Built on the island are three bars. (maybe more, i dunno) Bucket Bar, Smile Bar, and Bamboo Bar. Being a bit set aside from the town, they're able to blast their music loudly, along with lazers, smoke machines, dance platforms, and bonfires.

Katie made our way after dinner (amazing french bread pizzas) to Island for a few drinks. It was a wild scene, people partying and dancing, or sitting in social clusters around several toasty campfires. I should mention also, that there is a fairly prevalent and open drug scene in Vang Vieng. (FYI, people). Many of the restaurents offer Magic Shakes, Special SHakes, Magic Pizza, Magic pasta, Special/Magic anything. According to the guide book in my bungalow, they are hit-or-miss, but its pretty remarkable that they're offered thusly!! I could smell lots of folks smoken herbs as well...pretty much everywhere, but you gotta be careful people, in a place where 6/10 people who sell to you probably work for the cops. There are as many people telling "busted"stories as those telling "we-got-so-messed-up" stories. The authorities are in it for a fine here and maybe a bottle of wiskey. Crazy town. OH yeah, and Opium, thats reportedly around here too. My hotel guidebook gives LOTS of examples of tourists binging on the stuff and dying...So kids, not only don't-try-that-at-home, don't try it ANYWHERE!

So, all that said, after a few drinks I walked Katie back to her hotel (which became MY hotel the next day, because I liked it), and then I met Peter, who I tubed with earlier, for some late night mango pancakes. OH MY GOD! When you're tipsy and starving at 2AM, there is NOTHING, I mean NOTHING better than a Vang Vieng just-off-the-griddle Mango Pancake.

Okay, so, the next day I checked into Katies room. We both felt tired from our long day before (and yes, I was feeling those few drinks I had--GOD i'm SUCH an OLD LADY!) So we sat and watched like 87 episodes of friends over breakfast. Then we rented motorbikes, which was a new experience for me because I'd never ridden a manual before. But it wasn't too hard getting a handle of shifting the gears, and Katie was doing great considering she'd never even ridden a motorbike before.

Of course they gave us the bikes on "E" so we had to find a gas station. Behind the mainstreet is an airstrip, and running parallel on the other side is another road with a gas station. I pulled up to the airstrip unsure of whether it was okay to drive right across it. But other people were. Lots of people in fact were riding bicycles, walking, and scooting across, so after double checking for incoming aircraft, Katie and I scooted down the tarmac and made it to the gas station.

We left town and headed over the river . Here is where we took pictures of us on the bridge.

We followed a ridge of mountains in a north westerly direction. To our left were large stretches of cultivated land. We passed many humble dwelling homes of the local Laotions. The road was dirt, and full of potholes. There were livestalk everywhere. We went around herds of cattle, passed water buffalo (see picture below) hanging out in...water. We swerved around chickens that apparently liked throwing themselves on front of our oncoming wheels. There were puppies, kittens, and ducks too!

We drove a lovely 7 Kms. The weather was really warm...okay hot, but dry. We walked the last 5 minutes on a road that ended at the base of a mountain that rose straight up from the flat valley floor. We walked down the lawn of a locals house following signs that read "swimming lagoon". We had expected a little bit more than the tiny pool but I was hot and the swing looked fun (and much tamer than the swings from the day before) and so I lept into the stunningly refreshing water.

Feeling invigorated, we decided to climb towards a cave at the base of the mountain. A gaggle of kids made to follow us holding torches. We'd just finished talking with some fellow backpackers who'd just been to the cave. THey said it was cool, except for the kids, who excected a fee for accompanying them. As we made to acend, i turned around and told one of the kids that we could go alone. He held up his torch pointing to it. I held up mine, pointing to it. He stompped his feet, but submitted. Katie and I climbed the steep pathway alone, without the rambuctious little fellows tagging along.

The cave was but a tiny slat in the rock. A few feet in, we decended a ladder. The darkness in the cave was complete, and even my LCD torch did very little to cut through the blackness. We climbed down to the first chamber and contented outselves to enjoying and photographing the cave from there. There was a much more cave to be seen, but I was not about to get stuck in that cave with a torch I had no back up batteries for. It was a pretty neat experience none-the-less.

We returned back to the sunlight. It was brighter than I remembered, and the colors of the earth more beautiful too. Here are some photos of the countryside I took in that area.

Great place for a TOILET, eh!??

So Katie and I had a quiet night that evening (watched..>FRIENDS!) She left this morning for southern Laos *sob*, but I know she's going to have a great time, and I might even see her in Cambodia...who knows!!

So I inherited her room. I love the Bungalow I'm staying in. (much like the one I stayed in, in Pai) I was feeling pretty menstral today, so I had a really lazy day. Yes, I sat for hours watching Friends. Sat in the same place for breakfast and lunch. It was super nice to zonk out and drink mint tea and watch TV. But gosh, its time for adventure tommrrow.

A few more friends have arrived (from the slowboat, remember?) so I might go tubing again tommrrow, if only for the swings and fox lines (and maaaaybe the slide). Plus I gotta get some pictures of this for you guys! UN-FREKKIN-BELEIVABLE!

Love everyone tons and tons! Hogs and Quishes!
Croftee

And, is this a nice place for a toilet or what!??

TIIIIMMMMMMYYY!!!

ha! This photo was taken on the Bridge in Pai, THailand. I've titled it TIIIIMMMMMMYYY! after Southpark's wonderful character. I hope you get it!! My friend said I looked like a retard with a helmet, oversized backpack, green shoes, and an icecream cone, and I just started screaming TIIIMMMMYY! and we both died in fits of laughter. I nearly lost my ice cream cone to the river. (apoligies to mentally retarded people...i know, mean.) I had to include the photo here!

ANYWAYS

I caught the 9 o' clock bus to Vang Vieng and said goodbye to the charming Luang Prabang. THe road was mostly paved, but some parts were in bad repair and the bus had to naviagate slowly or risk losing a drivetrain or something. Much of the way we snaked through valleys where the road fell of sharply to one side and wonderous mountainous vistas spread themselves wide open to view. We stopped several times. I thought this picture of piggies and puppies, rooting around the tables of a restaurant was pretty cute:

puppies and piggies

I took a lot of photos out the windows of the bus. They're not the best, and the powerlines especially liked to get in the way. It's really hard to describe otherwise the unique shape to Laosian mountains.

]

pretty laos mountains

Laos Hills

Sun behind a Laosian village

So Now I've arrived at Vang Vieng, a VERY special little town. But I think I'll have to wait til the NEXT blog to tell you about it, because this particular computer connection is slow, and its going to take a while to get the photo's uploaded. It's a great place to sit back and be really lazy. mmm mmm!!

HOgs and Quishes

This is such a wonderful *wonderful* city. It is just so unbeleivably beautiful. THe setting for one; set along the banks of the mighty Mekong River and also between one if its tributaries, the shores of which are divided into neat culitivated squares of vegitables and rice paddies. The streets are well paved and quite clean. French archatecture whispers a colonial influenced past in the libraries, banks, and the plethora of guesthouses. In the middle of the "city" (I"d consider it more like a large town) rises a steep hill with a sacred gold leafed temple on top, the perfect place to watch the sun go down. THe locals are ever so polite. Tourists arn't allowed ride moterbikes here and although tuk tuks and scooters abound, there is much more order in the streets than Chiang Mai, Pai, Bangkok, or anywhere else I've been in S.E.A for a long time.

The tributary river that flows into the Mekong.

The night market bustles with rows upon rows of red tents displaying an assortment of hand crafted linins, woven textiles, leatherbound books and crudely made paper note books, as well as trinkets, key chains, jewelery, and soaps, oils, and coffee. Food Vendor Street, as I come to call it, are right around the corner from the night market. To walk down this street is to undated with smells and sights and sound of all manner of fish, flesh, and foul are roasted over coals, while bowls of curries and laap and vats of sticky rice await hungry buyers. My friends, one evening, selected a fish on a stick to eat. It was litereally a whole fish, about 10 inches long, held pinched between a long split piece of bamboo. It had been sitting over hot coals for a few hours and looked like a big, cooked...well...fish! I thought it looked horrible, all head and skin, and fins attached. But my friend simply discarded the fins, and picked off the flesh. It was...the most...delicious...amazing...tender...succulant...tasty...melt-in-your mouth...fish I have ever had. Yes, you had to pick through all the bones and goo...but boy was it worth it. I got one too.

I met, like, a MILLION people on the Slowboat. Everywhere I went I bumped into people I knew which was really nice. the first night in town, it was dark when we arrived. Naturally just off the slowboat we were assailed by Laotions with pamphlets trying to get us to try their guesthouse, but i and several others just took off walking to see what we could find. Many guesthouses were full, and they were all more expensive than I imagined. (after paying around a dollar per night, suddenly paying 7 or 9 dollars seems like a lot. After moving around town and a tuk tuk ride, i ended up sharing a room with Gabi.

She was a LOVELY 45 year old lady who carried on and acted like an energetic and vivacious 30 year old. Our room at Suk Dee Guesthouse was lovely, and the hot shower was a special delight. We had an amazing dinner that night. We shared two fish meals and a caraf of the nicest red wine I've had since leaving the U.S. Score!!

In the early early morning one can't ignore the drumbeat that eminates from the temples all around the center of Laung Prabang. The temples are empties of their Monkish Population, as the orange clad, bald-headed religious men walk the streets barefooted with canisters to collect alms and stickyrice. Gabi and I woke early (5:30 am-ew!) and watched the monks come in long endless lines past the local folk kneeling on mats and passing up, with their right hands, balls of sticky rice and food wrapped in banana leaves.

Monks taking alms

They ranged in age from maybe 9 or 10 to 20 something. Despite all having the same "style", there was a delightful range of personality. Many held their heads high in the reserved dignity that one would expect a monk to have. Others exchanged furtive words with one another when they thought no one was looking. A few actually gave a jolly "Saa baa dee' as they passed. (hello!). It was really humbling to watch. I felt it really inapproriate to photograph such a solomn and sacred happening. However tourists were just going right up and flashing their cameras in the monks faces. it really degraded the sanctity of the ritual if you ask me. I took a photo after the monks past. Even though that's still kinda sneaky.

Then Gabi and I met Youcif and Andreas from the long boat. We were all hungry and headed for a little Cafe that turned out the most amazing pastries and frothy cappachinos, that i ended up eating their for breakfast 2 days in a a row (and getting the SAME thing!! A ham, egg, and cheese bagel! oh my god YUM)

Breakfast with Yucef, Andreas...Gabi is taking the photograph.

Then we decided to walk about town and visit some of the temples. Here's some of the things we saw.

When in Rome (err...Louang Prabang)

Some (dog?) statues outside a temple

Oldest Temple in Luang Prabang...built around Old Bill Shakesperes time

Inside a temple....

Then we took a little break, enjoyed some delicious banana smoothies, and wrote some postcards we had bought. There i snapped this little photo of a sweet pussy cat on front of a spirit house.

The Cat's Spirit House

Our snack spot on the MeKong: Andreas, Yucif, and Gabi

Then we walked towards one of the most important temples in Laos, which is also featured on their money. This is the temple
More temple

Here there were lots of monks walking about doing their..ahem..MONK thing. Some banged on bells, some drummed on drums and clashed symbols...some walked around looking thoughtful and mysterious. The temples in the compound were magnificent. the golden temple here shone shimmeringly in the late afternoon sunlight.

Golden Temple

Golden temple door detail

Temple-golden man

Andreas, Youcif, and Gabi in Laung Temple

dragon in temple

The shadows were getting long, and we all walked with eagar steps to the bottom of the great hill in the center of town. At least 200 steps were required to surmount it. There we joined a thronging crowed of tourists snapping photographs of a richly colored sky.
Croft awaiting sunset

The sunset was nice, but I'm getting quite spoilt on sunsets these days. It was a little cheesy, there being about 9 million people crowded onto the western varanda of the temple, but the views were never-the-less magnificent. As the light faded, the lights of Luang Prabang far below twinkled. Smoke from fires wafted up into the atmosphere, and the towering mountains all around made for an astounding backdrop.
Luang Prabang Sunset

Once the sun was gone, most of the tourists skipped like rabbits to the night market. I and several other eagar beavers stayed to watch the best part of the sunset. The colors intensified over the next half hour, and the full moon rose large and blindingly bright in the eastern sky.

Croft's Sunset salute!!

THe night was far from over. Next we went to Food Vendor Street and chomped down on meat on a stick and consumed several bags of sticky rice. Then we tuk-tuked to a temple 3 kms from town and went to a Buddhist festival. The were lighting off fireworks and sending colorful lanterns into the sky. Several hundred or more locals carried candles and incense in hand, and, lead by monks to a rhythmic drumbeat, they circles the temple three times. It was all pretty incredible and beautiful...except the part where a novice monk threw a firecracker at me and my friends. I dove for cover, all my stuff, waterbottle, bag and camera tumbling to the ground. the locals had a laugh, or at least i think they were laughing-i'm not sure because my ears were ringing from the nearby explosion and I was deafened temporarily. Stupid monk.
No really, it was great. Good times for all.
Buddhist festival

Then we all met up with loads of people from the slow boat at the Haight Bar.

Last night party in Luang Prabang

It was a late night that night, and bed felt REALLY good. But I was destined to move once again. The next day I took a bus to Vang Vieng. And though I'd really really like to tell you all about this magical place RIGHT NOW, i can't, because it's nearly midnight and I"m gonna get kicked outta here soon. So you'll have to wait til tommrrow.

Miss home. a lil.
Happy,
Croft