Vang Vieng

Yesterday was a 7 hour bus trip to Vang Vieng, but actually I don’t think it took quite that long. We had to drive way up in the mountains on this pretty narrow, windy road, but it was just repaved and it was actually in really good condition. And our bus driver went nice and slow, thank goodness! On the way we passed through all these small villages right along the road and you would just see all these kids, little kids, riding bikes or running around half naked, playing in streams, throwing sandals, running here and there. You didn't really see any men, I guess they were all out farming or hunting. You’d see a few women washing clothes or laying out food to dry and stuff, but mainly you just saw a bunch of kids. I also saw little pigs, goats, cows and chickens running across the road, or in the cow’s case, just standing in the road. You hardly saw any old people either, and I can’t help but think that it has something to do with the fact that our country bombed their's every 8 minutes for 9 years or whatever. I don’t know. Maybe not. Maybe they were just all inside watching satellite tv, lol. That’s the other funny thing. You’re out in these totally remote places, people are bathing and doing their wash in a stream by the side of the road, their houses are made of bamboo or whatever with a thatch roof, but then right next to it is this huge satellite dish. Not by every house, for sure, but by plenty of them.
The other thing that strikes me as super funny is that they call the toilet, the happy room. Or if it's outside, they'll call it the happy bush. I'm getting pretty good at using these squat toilets. There is definitely some technique involved. See, doing a little drinking out in the country during my teenage years was a life experience that has paid off in some ways, lol. No but seriously, I understand now why guys are always peeing on the rim and the splash factor and all of that. I also totally understand, the whole take your shoes off before you come inside thing, because they happy room, the street and the markets are filthy and there's no way you want any of that near your home. But for sure the worst bathrooms were on the train and on the boat. I can't understand how people can sit around and drink beer, when you know it's eventually going to mean you have to spend more time in the disgusting happy room. What's worse is that like on the boat and in the place we stopped on the side of the road yesterday, there is no place to wash your hands. I saw the people who were cooking the food yesterday and they washed their hands by dipping them in a bowl of water for like a second and then rubbing them together. Yuck city! Not eating that food, thank you very much! And you can bet I've got my little arsenal of handy wipes and hand sanitizer ready. One of the other American guys was like, "You're a little bit annal aren't you?" And I'm like, "heck yeah I am!" But you can hardly call me miss priss! I've been showering with spiders and ants. Sleeping with geckos and crickets. Whatever, I'm learning to deal, as long as it's not bed bugs and cockroaches I'm cool. If the bugs leave me alone, then I leave them alone.
So yeah, yesterday we stopped for lunch at this super local type place just on the side of the road somewhere, and there was no freakin’ way I was eating there. I’m sure it would have been fine, (maybe) but that was the first day my stomach felt completely normal, and we still had hours on the bus, and especially after walking through that market and seeing all the meat, I was just totally grossed out by the thought of food. They had a big pot of soup and I could have just got it with vegetables, and I’m sure it would have been fine, but then they had all this chicken just sitting out and a bunch of beef and stuff that just looked all cold and suspect. No way! I ate my little pumpkin bread I got from the bakery the day before and my Ritz crackers. And then for dinner I ate a margarita pizza and it was great. Yeah, I’m in Laos and I’m ordering pizza, whatever, I have no shame. At least I’m not at Pizza Hut. Yeah right, there are no Pizza Huts here! I haven’t seen one chain restaurant or hotel the whole time we’ve been in Laos. Not even Starbucks, if you can believe it! I'm sure it's just a matter of time though. I think most of the stuff that's here in Laos, like the little wifi cafes I'm sitting at and such, have only come about in the last couple of years. Maybe 5 years at the most. Before that there was almost nothing. And there is still almost nothing, but just like any place else. Today it's backpackers, tomorrow, it's Hilton's and Starbucks.
So anyway, we are in Vang Vieng, which is a cute little town right by the Namsong River. I’ve heard there are 25,000 people here and I’ve heard 40,000. I’m not sure which it is. There are quite a few tourists and backpacker types here, because it is a good stopping point between Viengtaine and Luang Prabang and because it really is beautiful here and there is a lot of nature to explore. There are limestone mountains and lots of caves. And the river is supposedly really clean and clear (I saw it and I don’t know, it was really shallow so yeah you could see the bottom, but it was no Lake Tahoe!) Anyway, they do tubing and kayaking trips on the river. And you can swim and supposedly snorkel. You can go for multiple day treks into the mountains (but we are only here for one night) and you can even go rock climbing, which sounded really cool, but it takes a whole day and we don't have enough time. Otherwise I totally would have wanted to do it. If I were in charge of the itinerary I would have stayed here a little bit longer. You can also rent bikes and ride around to the caves and the surrounding villages. It is super hot and humid, though! Today I felt like being lazy. I'm over feeling like I have to do everything. The other's went tubing, but the sun's not even out and they had to leave early, and I'm annal and I didn't want to have to deal with a bunch of wet clothes for the rest of the day. And besides, I didn't come to Asia to do water sports. I'm saving all that for Australia. So instead I slept in and then had mulberry pancakes at this little organic cafe. (Actually, almost everything grown here is organic because they can’t afford fertilizer.) And then I found this little cafe with free wifi, so here I sit. They guy at the cafe has his hair colored really orange, and his finger nails are painted and he's like tweezing all his facial hair and wearing a bright pink shirt. Kinda funny.
Oh, also I just have to say that maybe I was too quick too judge and too harsh on the other American’s on this trip. I spent some time talking to them last night and turns out the men just got dragged along on this trip by their wives, and had no idea what style of a trip this was or what they were in for. These guys are used to traveling on 5 star cruises and stuff, so I can kind of see why they started out complaining about everything. They've quited down a bit, and toned down their drinking and their behavior and they are perfectly nice people and I think this trip is going to turn out to be a great experience for them. And the older Australian couple is so happily married and they never talk bad about each other and they are always watching out for one another and they seem perfectly happy and content together. So I guess not all marriages are doomed to the relentless nagging and griping. Some people do find a way to make it work. So I guess I have to take back everything I said about all of that too. This is actually not a bad group at all, it’s just sort of a funny dynamic. But that's all part of the adventure I guess.
Anne and I are the only one’s continuing on to China, so we will get to meet a new guide and a whole new group of people on Sunday.
Laos is getting better. I really like this little town. I think I was just in a foul mood when I was sick and everything. One of the other ladies cut her finger really bad and broke another finger trying to go off a rope swing into the water. She also had her atm card eaten by an atm machine. So actually, I'm feeling very lucky and thankful for the way things have been working out for me so far. We have the rest of this week in Laos, and then this weekend it's into Vietnam. I'm excited for Vietnam and China. And Anne has been to Hanoi before, so I'm hoping we can go off and do our own thing, since we'll be there for a few days.
My Laos pictures aren't coming out so good. They sky has been gray and my camera doesn't seem to good at picking out the contrast in this sort of light. But I'm going to work on getting some pics of Laos posted. I did take some good ones of the market that I want you all to see!