Day 34: I am the Mayor

Listening: Control yourself. Take only what you need from it.

What's my problem? Lao Airlines is closed for lunch.

It's true. I really am the mayor. Coming up to Luang Prabang from Vang Vieng, I thought that I wouldn't know a single soul back in town. Sure enough, when I drop Sandy, Pauline and Amy off at SpicyLaos, I see someone I know. It's Eris, the British guy who was with me for the entire length of my trek in Chiang Mai. He, met my friend Mikey from Canada, who went with Jennifer and I to the Khum Khan Toke, on the bus from Houay Xai to Luang Prabang. Apparently, Eris said to Mikey, "I met this guy in Chiang Mai who just loves his job!" And Mikey asked him, "Well, what does he do?" And Eris told him that I was a chef, and Mikey instantly said, "Hey, I know that guy! It's gotta be Jason!" And from there they proceeded to have a conversation about me.

Then later that night while walking around the night market, I ran into Jennifer and Kate, two British girls that I met at the Chiang Khong/Houay Xai border crossing. They went on the fast boat, and claimed that I way overhyped the dangers of the fast boat. To be perfectly fair, I told them that I had never been on the fast boat or the slow boat myself, but only what I had heard. So, they introduced me to a number of people that they were rolling with in Luang Prabang, and made a plan to meet for drinks at the Hive bar later that night.

At Hive Bar, I met up with Mikey, Sandy, Pauline and Amy, along with another crew of people that they were with. I made friends with a bunch of Israelis, and we all merged with Jennifer and Kate's crew. Fun was had by all, and when the bar closed at half past eleven, we all piled into a tuk-tuk and headed for the bowling alley.

Now, there were a good sixteen people in the tuk-tuk. People were hanging off the back and were sitting on the roof. One guy, Garrett, was hanging off of the side, near the driver and somehow let go. We were going full speed (like 30kph) and he bounced his ass first off the pavement, and then his head. Luckily the injury wasn't so bad. There was a little bit of blood and a few scrapes, but other than that, he was okay. He could have easily had a concussion, but he seemed fine enough after we got to the bowling alley.

At the bowling alley, I met some more people, Blaine and Kate from the States, and Luke and Alicia from Australia. It's funny how the bowling alley becomes such a social center when there is a midnight curfew and everything except the discotheque and the bowling alley are closed.

On the way home from the bowling alley (we walked because the tuk-tuk driver wouldn't except three thousand kip per person) we ran into some people who had just arrived from the border. One of my friends, Marion from Canada, offered her one of the extra beds in her guesthouse rooms, so this girl Bina from London took it.

The next morning, Sandy, Pauline, Amy, Marion, Bina and I, along with another tuk-tuk full of people headed to the waterfall. Bina and I ended up hiking to the top of the waterfall before heading to the swimming holes below. The heat in Luang Prabang is oppressive. At the height of the day, you're not only sweating your ass off, but youre' sweating your tits and your face off too. So, the ice cold water of the swimming holes was a welcome feeling. What was not really welcome were the fat French guys "diving" off of the rocks into the water. When I say "dive," what I really mean is start off looking like they're going to dive, but ending up doing the belly flop. If they did it in the ocean, there would have been a tsunami.

After the waterfall, we all went our own separate ways. While on the way to meet back up with everyone for dinner, I ran into Blaine and Kate. I chatted with them for a while, and while I was doing so, Goi and Lucky walked up. I knew that they were getting in that day, but I didn't know how we would find each other. So I chatted with them as well before I met the crew for dinner.

After dinner, we all went shopping around the night market. I ended up hangng out with this girl Kate (I seem to meet a lot of Kates and Jennifers) from the Hague, and bought a pair of pants and a tee shirt for twenty thousand kip (two dollars an fifty cents) each.

On my way back to my room, I run into Goi and Lucky again in a wine bar, so I go in and have a few glasses of wine with them and shit shoot before meeting the crew at the Hive Bar again. When I get to the Hive Bar, EVERYONE is there again, except for two of the Kates, Jennifer and Blaine. The British Kate and Jennifer flew out that day, and I'm not sure what the other Kate and Blaine ended up doing.

It was a good party at the Hive Bar that night. We knew the DJ that night, and everyone was in a dancing mood. Earlier that night, I said to Sandy, Pauline and Marion that I wasn't really up for a hyped night, that I would probably be okay just closing down the Hive Bar and going to sleep. Well, Pauline and Kate from the Hague went home, but I ended up... going to the bowling alley with Sandy and Marion and a huge crew of people.

I didn't actually bowl this time, though. I ended up talking to this guy, Ryan, who is a rock climbing instructor and who loves his job like I love mine, and this girl Chloe. Okay, this girl Chloe makes me drool. She knew me before I even knew her name. She knew me as Jason, the chef from Boston. As she said it, looking straight into my eyes, she could have probably asked me for all of my money and everything I owned and I would have handed it over. She has the most amazing green eyes. Anyhow, we had a whole conversation about loving what we do and how important it is to love what you do in life.

Actually that has been a conversation that I have had a number of times on this trip. Even last night, Lucky was saying not to do anything to get rich, but to do things because you love it. If you love your work, money will come for a job well done.

But... back to Chloe. We talked for a good long while. Ther was a cat in the bowling alley, that was the most chill cat ever. It was probably just grown out of its kitten-hood. For a while it stayed with my friend Ariel from Israel, then with me and finally with Chloe. Chloe wanted to take it home. I wanted to take both of them home.

We ended up leaving the bowling alley at about half past one. Chloe stuck around with the other people she was staying with. But, when I woke up this morning and walked down the street looking for breakfast, there was Chloe, all alone in a cafe, hung over, waiting for breakfast. So I joined her. It was nice having breakfast with her. She's just so beautiful. I'm like "ghaaaaaa...." whenever I see her. Much taller than the girls I'm usually into, light brown wavy hair, usually tied up, green eyes and a killer smile. But yeah, she was crazy hung over. Her friends came to join us just as we were both finished. She stuck around for a bit before heading back to the room to try to sleep off some of the hangover. I ended up just hanging out with her friends.

After breakfast, they went to go work on their hangovers, and I headed over to Lao Airlines to buy a flight to Hanoi. Unfortunately, when I got there at ten til noon, there was a sign on their door saying that they were closed from half past eleven until half past one. BASTARDS! So, here I am, blogging.

As you can see from my adventures over the past couple of days, Luang Prabang is a pretty small place. I've found out that it's also a really fun place to meet people and hang out. You wouldn't think that a small river town with a midnight curfew that makes businesses shut down at half past eleven would be very much fun, but it is. I'm having a great time here just relaxing and doing my thing. I've met some fantastic people (all of whom are leaving on Friday, which is why I'm trying to leave on Friday), and I hope I keep in touch with all of them.

Anyhow, I've got a half hour before Lao Airlines opens again. If they're on SE Asia time, it means I have another hour of waiting on top of that. Oh well, it's better than being out in the heat. Speaking of heat, I think I'm going to go try to find a cold beverage.