Lolo's Travels

 Hi guys!
         I'm having a bit of a down day today, so I thought it would be a good time to do a little writing.
           I arrived in Vang Vieng 2 days ago, what was meant to be a 6 hour bus ride (8am-2pm) stretched out to a 6pm arrival....the bus broke down on the side of the road about halfway there, for a few hours, in the baking sun.  Shit times.  And to top it all off, my camera was stolen off the bus, sometime during that 10 hours.  I'm not quite certain how the theif managed it, but I have no regrets re. the precautions I took; it really could have happened to anyone.
              In and of itself, the loss of the camera is an inconvenience, but the fact that both the memory cards were with it, and FULL of pix, is a little more heartbreaking.  I've filed an insurance claim for the camera, and hope to replace it in Vientiane - at least something to get me by until I can find a good camera shop somewhere.  I might need to go back to Thailand to pick something up! And worst case, when I get to Beijing my friend Skotty tells me that the biggest electronics market in Asia is right down the road from him.  So I guess there are options.
           Luckily, the people I've been travelling with are burning me some cds of their pix so I will have some photographic evidence that I really was in Luang Prabang etc!  I'm going to try and get some more pix up sooner than later.  Helps me remember details too, to get the captions up with them!
           So...Vang Vieng.  Its about midway between Luang Prabang and the country's capital city, Vientiane.  What should be a very small town has exploded, on the traveller scene anyways, due to the spectacular scenery around here.  The town is right on the banks of the beautiful Nam Song (river) and is smack dab in the middle of some pretty amazing limestone cliffs - full of tunnels and caverns for exploring.  That is, once you get bored of the main activity here - tubing down the river on inflated tractor tyres.
          Basically, you pay $3 and they take you about 3km upriver, then you set off in the tubes and float for about 5 hours, baking in the sunshine.  And if that weren't enough, the locals have set up bars and swings and 'flying foxes' all along the riverbanks...if you paddle close to someone yelling, 'beer lao!!' they throw you a bamboo pole attached to a line, and tow you in.  So all along the river you have ample opportunity to go flying down a zip line into the water, swing way out over the river and jump in, and get thoroughly drunk on beer lao.  Or, if you're me, on fresh pineapple shakes with rum.  Yum, and only 80cents!   They even have sunbathing areas with straw mats set out, and 'western' music blaring.  A lot of Jack Johnson and Queen, with a little Wham thrown in for good measure.  All in all not so bad!!!!
            So, thats what we did all day yesterday!  I got a LOT of sun though.  Not feeling so good today, so I'm camping out in the a/c internet cafe as a result.  We had planned on renting bicycles and doing some cave exploring today, but no-one is really feeling up to it.   Theres a little island on the river, with bamboo bridges from the main town area, that is full of little outdoor bars - which is where we spent the evening last night.  Liz and Kate and I had a bottle of wine with our dinner (yummy Indian food!) so that kicked off our night.  The bars all serve buckets filled with ice, lao whisky, and pop (coke or soda) for about $3, with lots of straws for sharing.  Keeps you up ALL night thats for sure!  The island bar has little bamboo huts on stilts over the river, some with roofs and some without, all kitted out with pillows and straw mats, hammocks everywhere, and a huge campfire in the middle.   Was pretty great; would have been heaven when I was 21!!!!!!!!!!!!
       This place is pretty cool, but you can definately forget where you are.  Could be any vacation spot, anywhere.  Overrun with westerners, many of them completely disrespectful of the Lao people - ie. wearing bikinis through town, etc.  But the locals seem pretty cheerful despite this; I guess we bring a lot of money to the local economy....but at what cost..??   I'm enjoying it here but will be glad when I move on to a place that FEELS like the country I'm in.  
              Just to keep everyone informed, looks like Christmas this year will be in the south of Cambodia, in Sihanoukville.  Finally, a beach!!!  I had been hoping to make it to Vietnam, but doesn't look like i'll be moving that quickly!
        I'm feeling a little homesick so letters from all y'all would sure be nice!
Lots of love, xoxo Laura