Originally written on October 24, 2004

We got up early and got in the Tuk tuk to take us to the bus station. The bus ride itself was much less eventful (no babies or pooping, snakes). Heather slept and I listened to “Against all enemies” by Richard A. Clarke. Amazon blurb: From the first thrilling chapter, which takes readers into the White House center of operations on September 11, through his final negative assessment of George W. Bush’s post-9/11 war on terror, Clarke, the U.S.’s former terrorism czar, offers a complex and illuminating look into the successes and failures of the nation’s security apparatus. » Read the rest of the entry..

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..