Menu Items

Eggs with Another Thing's Inside
Prawn Dance
Tiger Cry
Crap Soup
Scrabble Eggs
Mixed vegetables with Oyster Sauce (though still "okay for vegetarian")
Furry Whiskey
(Birdie)

There were lots of reasons to cry while we were in Laos, but I'd prefer to remember all the menu items that made us laugh. Now a brief game of catch-up:

Luang Prabang was a gorgeous city tucked into the surrounding mountains and cut into a peninsula by the rivers that formed its border. The food was good, the people were lovely; we did not realize how good we had it.

Ahead to our exit from Luang Prabang: Vinyl deathtrap-rocket. Sitting in a mobile sauna. Blasting off on the road from Luang Prabang to Vientiene. Spewing bolts and spraying dust. We skidded along the edge of the cliffs, dodging motorbikes and honking enthusiastically at anything with movement.

Vientiene=nightmare. Walked around dreading a night in our stuffy cubicle. Tried to find some restaurants with more to offer our vegetarian than "mixed vegetables with oyster sauce". Found a bar offering "eggs with another thing's inside". Decided against that bewildering option and finally ate Indian for the third night in a row. It was Ross' birthday so I gave him the bone carving necklace I made in Rangitukia, New Zealand. Tears and sad speeches ensued. Next morning Kip and I rose before dawn to venture out to Pha That Luang, a large temple at which a yearly festival is held. 200,000+ monks waiting for alms from about twice as many people. Something to behold. We waited about an hour and a half for the chants and praying to begin then we started to leave as the alms-giving commenced as it was obviously going to become chaotic. I tried to snap some photos, but nothing could possibly capture the scale on which this celebration took place.

As we walked back to our guesthouse I started feeling nauseas which I read as hungry. I rented two double rooms in a posh guesthouse as a present to Ross and an escape for Kip and I from the miseries of the grey, lifeless city. After settling in, we grabbed some lunch at a harmless looking cafe. I felt sick immediately. I spent the whole remainder of the day in bed, sending Ross and Yoko to buy bus tickets to Pakse for 7am the next day. Unfortunately that night, well 4am actually, I passed out in the bathroom. I woke up under the sink, which greatly disturbed me. My lip was bleeding, my nose sore and my head aching. I started to cry loudly. I think it was more to assure myself that I was still alive than to get attention. I tried to sit up and fell backwards blacking out again though still wailing. Kip came in and I managed to sit up and ask her to get Ross. We would have to postpone the departure.

It took another day to recover. We set out for the bus with low expectations. They were not met or exceeded. It was an uncomfortable 11 hour ride, with about 10000000000000 stops for food. It seemed that we would barely pull away from a road side vendor when the brakes would screech us to a halt and we'd be waiting for the masses to purchase more sticky rice, birds-on-sticks, frogs-on-sticks, furry whiskey, egg with chicken fetus inside, on and on. The food stops extended the trip a good 2-3 hours. No exaggeration.

After a night in Pakse we headed off on a bus to Don Khong, the largest island in an archipelago in the Mekong, Southern Laos. It was a quaint, friendly area and we felt great relief to be in a hospitable place. We rented bikes for a leisurely ride one day and took a boat trip to spot the irrawaddy dolphins another. Kip and I managed to see five dolphins dipping in and out of the water. It was a poorly executed boat trip in a vessel loud enough to deafen the earless, but just to see them was exciting. There are only around 100 left in this river because of "explosive fishing" in Cambodia (basically a charge is detonated underwater which kills everything within range) so it felt special to see five. It was Ross' turn to feel ill that day, so he missed that part of the trip unfortunately. Hopefully we will go back there one day when we can see Laos in a more relaxed and optimistic way. Overall I believe the country has a lot to offer, we just happened upon some unfortunate people and occasions. I do want to see more of the north and perhaps return to 4,000 islands for more exploration.

It was so good to cross the border back into Thailand. We were embarrassed, but overjoyed to see a 7-11. Just the thought of all that "safe" food made us giddy. We took an overnight train from Ubon Ratchathani but they only had 3rd class seats which meant sitting up the entire 11 hour journey. Agony! But we survived. Ross went straight to an ATM when we arrived into Bangkok's Hualumphong station and figured out that he had more money than he originally thought, but less than he really needed. He and Yoko opted to stay in Thailand and spend some time in the islands.

Kip and I wasted no time getting to the bus station and hopping on bus for Aranyaprathet. From there we crossed the border into Poipet, Cambodia. This border just gives me the creeps. You feel like something bad could happen at any second. There are massive casinos that loom above you with dangerous distraction, children begging and, if you let them, pocket-pinching, men trying to shout at you, touts trying to bargain with you, dogs trying to infect you. Lonely Planet says simply "it's a hole". I think it's worse than that, but that's a good way to sum up. We rented a Toyota Camry and driver to take us the 3.5 hours to Siem Reap. We are here now, well-fed and grinning. It is lovely to be here. It's a blessing to be healthy. I adore Cambodia and can't wait to tell you all about Angkor Take Two!