Originally written on October 22, 2004

Today we decided to run some errands in town in the morning, and visit some of the many wats (Buddhist temples) in the afternoon. Errands, it turns out takes a long time in sleepy Luang Prabang. There are at least three banks, which we found along the main street. Each have different hours of operation, some cash US traveller�’s cheques (usually only to Kip (Lao currency), while others will only exchange US currency for Kip. We had seen many lovely items in the evening market and wanted to make sure we had enough money to make some purchases, and still be able to leave the country. I.e. have enough money also for food, bus rides, tuk-tuk rides etc. We had less than 110 000 Kip (11 US), hence the need to change traveller�’s cheques.

After walking up and down the main street a couple times, checking with each bank, we found out that the best method it turned out was to exchange our traveller�’s cheque at the travel agency where we were booking our flight to Hanoi. They were able to give us US dollars (less 3.5% commission of course-same as the bank) and all we had to do was go back to a bank and convert some of the US dollars to Kip (better bang for your dollar). This proved to be a more difficult task�. » Read the rest of the entry..

Originally written on October 21, 2004

Today we went on a boat tour up the Mekong River with a british couple Katie and Nick. The boat is owned by the guesthouse family and our guide is Tien our guesthouse manager, and the driver one of Tien�s brother in law�s. For $4.00 US per person we are going on a half day journey.

We stopped first at the paper handicraft village, where locals make paper out of mulberry tree pulp. These are the same trees that the silk worm feeds on. The pulp is soaked in water for a day, pounded out and then soaked some more to break down the fibres. The fine fibres then settle to the bottom, where there is a wire screen mesh and the mesh is placed outside to dry. Dried flowers (petals) and leaves are added to the paper before it is dry. They make books and various lanterns out of the paper, very beautiful. » Read the rest of the entry..

Monkeys are Fan-tastic. Monkey stories are even better. This one, written by one Ray Quintanilla (seemingly an aspiring writer) is awesome! Lyrical prose, complex plots and sub-plots, character development, its all there. And true!

Judicously quoted classic lines from the article: “Fear is turning to outrage,” “It would be very bad if these monkeys got to San Juan,” and perhaps the scariest of all, “fertile and aggressive,” how can you not read this Monkey story?

Excerpt:

“At first we all thought it was cute,” said Vasquez, 60. “Then it started tipping over all of my plants in the balcony and growling at me.”

When she called police, authorities from the island’s natural-resource department showed up wearing white body suits and masks to protect themselves. “That scared me even more,” she said.

Source: Seattle Times

Originally written on October 20th, 2004

The mouldy smell in Dokoun 2 finally got to us making us both sick? with at least the sniffles, so we were glad to get out of there. In the morning, we caught the bus on the old runway to Luang Prabang. Wheras the first bus ride was short, cool, and bumpy this ride turned out to be very twisty, sweaty, and a little smoother. The road to Luang Prabang is basically a series of switchbacks up on over successive ranges of mountains. Because these mountains are very steep all the way to the valley floor (which was the width of the river at the bottom usually no more) the road was always built into the edge of the mountain. One side of the bus had a solid green view of vegetation moving swiftly by, the other side had a steep cliff panorama view of the country side. These views alternated depending on whether we were going up or down a mountain. Regardless, the whole trip was either up or down, never really straight and flat for more than 30 seconds (and usually at break neck speed as the driver seemed to have a death wish). » Read the rest of the entry..

Originally written on October 19, 2004

Breakfast, of course, is a French baguette from the airport strip/bus stop street vendor and some water. The market does not always sell baguettes, often packaged bread with weird dried plant material inside and typically not fresh. We bought oranges once from the market, they were delicious. I would like to try more fruit, but this involves purchasing a decent knife, which we cannot take as carryon on our flight from Vientiane, Laos to Hanoi, Vietnam. So, we will eat fruit we can peel until then. Bananas of course are not one of them. It�s too bad that banana�s make me gag because they are plentiful. I tried papaya at our guesthouse in Bangkok and thought it tasted like coffee. Apples are also plentiful here and I look forward to having some!

Alas� Today we went on an inner tube down the Nam Song River. For US each we rode a tuk tuk upstream from the town with another couple. We were dropped off at a dirt road where they are building the library, currently only two to three rows of clay bricks thus far, and we were there! Luckily, the other woman traveler knew where the river was and we walked maybe 200 metres down the road. The river was flowing quickly where we were to embark on our journey so we held hands to ensure we stayed together. Agriculture was prominent on one side of the river, and treed mountains the other. » Read the rest of the entry..

Originally written on October 18th, 2004

Today Heather wasn’t feeling so good, so we decided to take it easy. She slept most of the day while I read, “From here to eternity” by James Joyce. On our third floor balcony, I can look out over the corragated metal and tile roofs to the steep walled jungled mountains. There is a nice breeze which takes away the heat of the day effectively. A few brief trips outdoors to exchange baht for kip, and buy water is all we have done so far. Dinner is to be eaten overlooking the Dam Nam Song(?) river at the Sunset Restaraunt. Then perhaps to a bar where we can lounge and watch a movie before bed. Tomorrow, some kind of adventure… tubing and caving most likely. » Read the rest of the entry..

Originally written on October 17th, 2004

Today we awoke (after hardly sleeping) and were happy to be venturing onwards away from Vientiene. A nice city, but really nothing going on there. We hoped to catch the 10:30 am bus to Vang Vieng so headed early to the bus station to secure a seat. We were not sure if there was assigned seating. We arrived at the station looking for the ticket counter for Vang Vieng, instead we found the 9:30 am Vang Vieng bus and a Laos gentleman (likely in charge of ticket sales) on the bus waving us on. Well, although Kirk had told me earlier that he was starving (we were going to go to the market after buying our ticket) he jumped on the bus, and I behind him. We weren’t sure if the gentleman understood that we did not yet have tickets and were hoping that we could purchase them from him on the bus journey. Did not want to upset anyone and break the rules in this (or any) communist country. The bus was equipped with many overhead fans (rotating for circling the cool air) and all of the windows were open. » Read the rest of the entry..