Well, I did my first "border run" into Laos. The adventure has been simple considering it involved an overnight train, tuk tuk, bus, tuk tuk, lines, heat money papers and then the next 2 days isits to the embassy.
I am grateful that I met my new buddy for the time being Ben, 24 from England, who has been traveling for 6 months now, has been to the town of Vientiam (The capitol of Lao), and has done many border runs. This made the process smooth, fearless, and lots of moments for good laughs!
After getting over the border and heading into town we began to look at places to stay. It turns out it is MUCH cheaper to share a room so I had to let go of my "stuff" and share a room. Its been fine - we joked that he would be coming home from the bars when i wake up! Actually I think we have a lot to offer each other: he has travel experience and is mellow and simple and I have the mothering healthy thing that I think may be influencing him on some level;)
Lao is great, and the vibe is so much nicer than anywhere I have been in Thailand so far. I think to myself, if this is the capitol then the rest must be well untouched and beautiful. I am already thinking about when I should come back and explore. The people are even nicer, the air is fresher, and the river front view is spectacular with Thailand right there in sight! I may even come here for a little before I go to India...I hear so much incredible stuff about it and I cant do it in one day.
Last night we had a meal on the river front....You would not believe how LJ the vegetarian for almost 20 years acting. I was picking apart a fish's brain to find the cheek meat...I learned how yummy that was in San Franscico. It was neat though you go up and pic out your fish and veggies and their version of a rice balls and they cook it all up and bring it to you. The fish was HUGE!The eyes and all still on it...sorry Patty:) Then I had some bizarre dessert made with some guey stuff, bananas, and then some more gooey stuff that was purple.
Oh and I had an instant Karma moment when a told a Man from Laos I was from Canada (ben and I were just talking about it) and of course he likes to speak french and loves to sit and chat with foriegners (Folangs)...Oh it was horrible....and a bad joke:)
Today I rented a bike and have been riding all around the riverside and off streets and had my first heart breaking experience of a little boy, a sweet as can be, asking me for money. My heart melted when his hand rested on my arm. I also got to experince the whole embassie process today with one more trip there tomorrow to pick up the visa. Thank goodness Lao's are so willing to help: as nice as it is to have a bike the chain has fell off 4 times!!!!!!!!
I am conitinuing to learn Patience and am going with the flow of the process of it all.
More Soon............
LOVE TO YOU ALL!
