Day 37: Hustle & Flow

Listening: Yeh-ee, yeh-ee, yeh-ee-yeh... yeh-ee, yeh-ee, yeh-ee-yeh (It's a Thai pop song I keep hearing)

What's my problem? Culture shock!

Well, I made it. I'm in Hanoi. The flight was... well... short. I almost felt like it was as short as the flight from Nantucket to Hyannis. When I got here, though, I was shocked.

Luang Prabang is a pretty small city. I mean, realistically, it has only a few major thoroughfares covering only a few square kilometers. Hanoi, on the other hand, is a very busy, bustling city. There are motorbikes everywhere. I mean EVERYWHERE. Apparently, there are streets so narrow, no cars can pass, only motor bikes.

When I got to Hanoi Backpackers, it was kind of loud and rowdy. It was a true Aussie backpacker's hostel. It was clear that the beer was flowing and the backpackers are young. Unfortunately, they were booked for the night, so I had to wander around Hanoi, pack on front and back, looking for accomodations.

I looked at a number of places, but they were all for upwards of twenty five US dollars a night. Finally, I went back to the street that Hanoi Backpackers was on and found a place for fifteen a night. I think that tomorrow I'll check out of my hotel and try to find a bed at Hanoi Backpackers again. I'll probably end up booking my HaLong Bay trip with them too.

For now, I think I'll end up going to HaLong on the ninth, being there for the ninth, tenth and eleventh, and then coming back to Hanoi for at least one night before going to Sapa.

So, there's a guy looking over my shoulder at the sketchy little internet cafe. He's looking at my screen and I can tell he can't read a single word I'm typing. I think he just asked me if I was writing a love letter. HA.

Anyhow, after I checked into my hotel, I instantly bought a sim and called Caroline. Caroline is pretty much a friend of CTodd's, but I met her one time before at one of his parties. Even though she was having a night in with the boy, she came out to the Old Town (where I'm staying) and took me to a restaurant with a good view of the street below.

It was there that I had these amazing Hanoi style spring rolls. Instead of being wrapped in rice paper, they were wrapped in uncut pho noodles. They were divine. I asked her if there was an indicative or a distinctive Hanoi dish, and that was it. Oh, yes. I will be having them again.

From there, we went to the night market. I have to say that I was vastly disappointed in the schwag. Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Luang Prabang all had better schwag. The people watching there is okay though. For a while, we tailed a group of pick pockets, after one of them bumped me and figured out I was sporting a chain. It's people like that that make me want to fight. But I am very good at the self restraint.

Anyhow, I'm so used to country life that this whole urban thing is wigging me out a little. It seems a bit different than in Bangkok. Maybe, like Bangok, I just have to get used to it. It's a little tough though, being on the run, being pressed for time.

Finally, in other news, I tried to move back my flights while at the airport here in Hanoi, but the agent there said that it wasn't a ticketing office. She said I should try the ticketing office in town. So, I have the card and I'm going to try to get there the day I get back from HaLong Bay. I think it'll only cost me a hundred US dollars, which is better than paying a hundred and twenty to go to San Fran round trip when I get to California, plus the upcharge of eating in America. Now, I can pay a hundred US dollars, spend more time in southeast Asia, and spend less money while having a good time. So maybe I won't have to hustle through Vietnam. Hopefully I'll just be able to take it easy.

Day 37: The Things I Carry

Listening: Let down your guard just a little. I keep you safe in these arms of mine.

What's my problem? Wondering how much a tuk-tuk to the airport is gonna cost.

Right now, the things I carry are out of necessity and out of security. In my pockets, I carry my passport, my airline "ticket," my keys, an eyeglass cloth, my chain wallet with half of my bank cards and credit cards, some cash and an ID, and my Canon SD890 IS digital camera.

Today, I'm also carrying my DaKine backpack. In my backpack, I carry airline reservation information, two cell phones, another wallet with the rest of my bank cards (not to mention my Charlie Card), and a DVD of my SCUBA experience.

In another pocket, I carry a spare pair of glasses and clip on sunglasses. Somehow, in with that I keep an emergency tube of hydration tablets, and Caroline in Hanoi's phone number.

In the front pocket of my backpack, I carry several Sharpie markers, a few pens and pencils, my tiny pad, emergency contact information, zip ties, hand sanitizer, sun block, my iPod, my toothbrush, a bottle of Malarone, some Po Chai Yuen pills, a Caba seed from Thailand, and most importantly, toilet paper.

In the main pocket, I keep a bigger notebook, two Lonely Planet books, a copy of the Chefwear catalogue to show the tailors in Hoi An, an emergency sleeve of Oreos (so sue me), a knockoff Volcom cap, some plastic bags (not as many as my grandmother used to have), all of my electronics chargers and adaptors, and the book "Eat, Pray, Love."

It's a chick book, but I'm reading it anyways. Book exchange is a big thing out on the trail. People swap books all of the time. When I came to Asia, I carried with me a copy of "The Art of Happiness" by His Holiness, the Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler. I had read the book before, but thought that I would reread it here in Asia. As the first month passed, I only got a quarter of the way through. As I read, I remembered everything, and thought to myself, "I have already adapted most of this into my life and I still put effort into the teachings." So, at Utopia a couple of days ago, I traded my copy of "The Art of Happiness" with Chloe's copy of "Eat, Pray, Love" and spent this morning at Morning Glory Cafe eating a giant hashbrown, sipping coffee, and reading. For a morning that wasn't supposed to happen, it was damn fine.

There are a lot of intangibles that I carry with me. I carry with me a bit of paranoia, as I have had friends on the trail who have been robbed by peopleon motorbikes, or whose packs have disappeared in the blink of an eye. I carry a strong distrust of travel agents, for obvious reasons, and a strong respect for the monks that I see walking the streets. I carry an open mind and heart for my fellow travelers, and a smile for those I pass on the streets.

I carry my friends with me. I think about them often and wonder what they're doing right now. I carry the hope that maybe, just maybe, they'll be as lucky as I am to be doing what I'm doing, and seeing what I'm seeing. I hope that they won't have to trust the photos that don't give the scene justice. I carry the wonder of whether they think about me as much as I think about them, and the hope that they're as happy as I am.

I carry with me the dreams of my grandfather and my father. And although they aren't necessarily the same as my own dreams, I carry those as well. I wonder what exactly their dreams were or are. I wonder if they have achieved them. I wonder if the dreams I carry for myself are as simple as they seem to be, or as complex as I make them out to be.

And for now, I carry on, hopefully, to Hanoi. I'll be in search of a spicy beef noodle dish that Linh has told me to look out for. Maybe tonight I'll carry around a belly of that.

Next time I travel, I think I'll carry with me a copy of Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried."

Day 36: I'm REALLY Never Trusting Travel Agents Again.

Listening: Don't turn away. What are you looking at?
He was so happy on the day that he met her. Say, what are you looking at? I was a superman. The looks are deceiving.

What's my problem? Travel Agents.

Well, It's four o'clock and I'm not on a plane waiting to taxi to takeoff. I'm not in a gate waiting to board. And I'm not anywhere closer to Hanoi.

What, you may ask, happened? Well, the travel agent just about screwed me. I went to the airport in the travel agency provided tuk-tuk. I got to the check in, and was told that there was no flight today. The same agency had sent another person that day on this flight that didn't exist. BASTARDS!

Luckily, the guy from Vietnam Airlines was able to book me on tomorrow's flight for no additional charge, but I am stuck here for one day more.

After getting Vietnam Airlines to help me out, I proceeded to catch a tuk-tuk back to the travel agency, where I proceeded to give them hell. I told them that it was their fault that I was still here and that they sold me a bum ticket. I lied to them and told them that I had booked a room in Hanoi to guilt them some more. I told them that it was their fault that I had to pay for a room in Luang Prabang as well as in Hanoi, that I had to pay for the tuk-tuk back to town, and that I would have to go tomorrow. I gave him shit for a good half hour. He said he would pay me for the tuk-tuk, and would pay for another tomorrow. In the end, all I ended up getting from him was five dollars US to pay for my tuk-tuk today and for my tuk-tuk tomorrow. Fucking arseholes. The funny thing was that I only paid the guy five thousand kip to get back into town. Five US dollars is the equivalent of forty two thousand, five hundred kip. So, unless the tuk-tuk to the airport costs me forty two thousand kip, I'm up.

The real pain in the arse is that I did have to withdraw more kip. I don't want more kip. Luckily I only withdrew two hundred thousand. One hundred thousand to pay for the hotel room for the night and the other hundred thousand to get food tonight and tomorrow.

What bums me out is that I don't really know anyone else in Luang Prabang right now. If I meet people tonight, there's not really enough time to get to know someone. There's no more Chloe. And the rest of the people I know are in Vang Vieng. I really haven't figure out what to do with my night. I have already realy been taking it easy. There's not enough time to leave town for a bit. Well, I guess I'll figure it out. Tomorrow I'm going to the airport early. If I have to wait around for a while, that's fine with me. I just want to know that I'm getting outta here and onto my next base of operations.

Day 35: I Told Myself That I Wouldn't Go Bowling

Listening: I believe when I fall in love with you it will be forever.

What's my problem? No teaching kids today.

Well, it has been a gloriously wonderful few days in Luang Prabang. There's not an incredible amount here that's in the city, but I still found myself completely content with just hanging around. Of course, I saw the waterfalls. I didn't go see the caves though. I saw them from the slow boat on the way in. I did go up to the top of Phu Si and saw the city from its highest point. I wandered the night market and made some purchases. I ate street food and restaurant food. I drank at Lao Lao Garden and at the Hive Bar. And I went bowling.

And that brings us to yesterday. Yesterday, I spent most of the day hanging out at this place called Utopia. A utopia, it is. It's this wonderfully decorated bar and restaurant situated on the banks of the Nam Khan River. It has a bamboo patio up on stilts about three stories above the banks with couches, tables and games making it an amazing chillout spot. It was there that I ran into some Aussie friends, and then Chloe and her crew rolled in.

I have to say that the more and more I watch it, or be a part of it, the more I dislike big group dynamics. There's always someone who wants to do something that someone else doesn't want to do. And when it comes to making decisions, it always ends up coming down to what's the cheapest, not what's the best for the money, or the best for the group. Anyhow, that was just a little rant.

Earlier in the day, I went to go check out this free exhibit called Stay Another Day, which promotes sustainable tourism and encourages hilltribes and ethnic minorities to keep up with their traditional trades, whether it be weaving or hand forged scissors. Of course, below the exhibit is the shop where you can purchase all of these crafts. It's all fair trade and benefits the local communities. I thought it was a great little exhibit. They had some amazing jewelery and weavings.

Later on in the evening, I met up with Goi and Lucky for dinner. Originally, we were going to find some Lap, which is a traditional Lao dish, but we were told that the best place in town had run out for the day by the time we got there at half past six. That's right. They were eighty-sixed by half past six. So, instead we went to Lao barbecue.

Lao barbecue works exactly like Thai barbecue, which is kinda like Korean barbecue. You have some hot coals, and a pan with a raised center and a trough down the bottom. You fill the trough with broth, cook the meat on the raised part, and cook noodles, and vegetables in the trough of broth. I didn't realize until that point that I hadn't really eaten much by the way of vegetables in the past few weeks. I had been feasting on carbs, proteins, and fruit. Lots of fruit. The vegetables tasted so good to me and gave me this instant good feeling, that I must have needed them. I had to have had three big platefuls of veg.

Later on that night, after cruising the night market for one last time, I dropped my stuff off at my room and cruised over to the Hive Bar and Lao Lao Garden to see if I knew anyone running around. I thought that this girl, Andrea, would be kicking around. I saw her at the night market and she said she was heading to Lao Lao for dinner. When I got to Hive Bar, it was all new faces of people who must have floated in over the last twenty four hours. So, I headed over to Lao Lao Garden. Lo and behold, there was Chloe.

I actually thought that I wouldn't see Chloe again. She was catching a minibus down to Vang Vieng with her crew at six in the morning, so planned on having an early night. I even planned on having an early night because I thought it might be fun to teach some English at Big Brother Mouse, a non-profit organization aimed at getting books to kids and helping them learn English.

Anyhow she and Maita from Chile were out having drinks with some Canadians and some Aussies. I was psyched. So, I sat down and joined them for a beer. The Canadians and the Aussies had just arrived that night, so they really weren't all that familiar with the city or how it worked. So, when the bar started closing at a quarter past eleven, they kinda freaked out. At that point, Chloe was the only one of her crew that was left in the bar. The rest had gone home to get some sleep.

We told the newbies that the bowling alley and the discotheque (which I still have not been to) were still open, and we got pressured into going. I swear I wasn't planning on going bowling last night. Both Chloe and I told ourselves that we wouldn't go bowling. BLASTED! We were bowling.

Ended up hanging out until about half past one before we walked back to town. It was nice walking back to town with her at one in the morning. I really wanted to tell her just how smitten I was with her, but I bailed out last second. She has my e-mail and I have her picture (which I didn't have before). I was out by two thirty and, needless to say, no kids learned my awful English this morning.

My impressions of Laos, overall, is very good. It's perhaps the most beautful country that I have ever had the privelage to lay eyes on. The cities are a nice blend of French and Asian. The food available is both simple and elegant. And the women, well, they're just beautiful. They run around in these long skirts, and wear little or no makeup. It's all natural, elegant beauty, easy smiles and polite demeanor. It's truly a beautiful place that hopefully won't succumb to the homogenization that's taking place across the world. I hope the hill tribes are able to stay hill tribes and that the land will only crumble in the face of nature. Anything else would be a crime.

So, my bags are packed and I head to the airport in about three and a half hours. Off to Hanoi. I'm going to try to push back my Bangkok and my Hong Kong flights to shorten my stay in Los Angeles. I think it would just be more economical for me, and more fun, as I would have more time to check out Vietnam or I would have an extra week to go diving. If it all works out, maybe I will go for my PADI Advanced Open Water Cert. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

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.

Day 31: Love/Hate

Listening: And the lovers that you sent for me didn't come with any satisfaction guarantee. So I return them to the sender, and the note attached will read, "How I love to hate you."

What's my problem? Other people's drama.

So I came to Vang Vieng to hang out with Jennifer and Adam. Since I split off from them in Chiang Mai, they acquired a large group of people and now there's big drama in the group and it has affected my relationship with Adam and Jennifer. I just don't feel as welcome and as meshing with them as I once did. Maybe it's the fact that I don't want to drink nearly as much as their crew does.

Anyhow, I think that the main problem is this guy Rob who is 100% full of himself. He's kind of the alpha male of the bunch, but he's a complete prick. All of the men follow suit behind him as if they have no minds of their own. The there are the girls. All of them stick together. So that leaves me somewhere in between. And now I am choosing to extract myself.

I could have stayed an extra night in Vang Vieng, but I'm leaving tomorrow instead to go back to Luang Prabang. I know that there's not too much for me to see and do there, but I figure it might be a nice place to chill out for a few days before I head to Hanoi.

For a second, I contemplated going to Phonesavanh where the Plain of Jars is, but it would cost me three days. It would be one day to get there, one day to see the sites, and then another to get to Luang Prabang. I decided five minutes ago to nix it and just go to Luang Prabang. It might be nice to write some postcards and hang out with Goi and Lucky, as they will be there from the third to the sixth. I'm planning on flying out to Hanoi on the sixth, I think. I have to book my flight when I get to Luang Prabang. I think it's going to cost me a hundred and fifty US dollars.

On the flip side of things, Laos is beautiful. I have never been anywhere this beautiful before in my life. The mountains are stunning, and the landscape is like something out of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. I haven't been able to take many pictures of the landscape though. When I was on the river today, I left my camera in the room. I didn't want it to get wet. And it's hard to take pictures out of the side of a minibus. Maybe I'll try tomorrow.

What screws things up in Vang Vieng are all of the bloody immature backpackers. I have never been to a place so devoted to drunken backpackers. Buckets of booze everywhere, places playing re-runs of Friends and The Family Guy, and cheap bad food fill the streets here. It's so lame. The place could be perfection if you just removed the assholes.

Anyhow, tomorrow I go to Luang Prabang. Tonight I hang out in backpacker-land. Pray for me.

Day 30: Four Solid Days of Travel

Listening: You convince yourself that you want it, but you don't know. You keep trying to wash the blood from your hands, but it won't go. We're gonna keep you on the run.

What's my problem? My body aches.

I'm here at Vang Vieng, finally, after four days of travel. It took a day to get to Chiang Khong, a day down river to get to Pak Beng, then another day to get to Luang Prabang, where I met back up with Jennifer and Adam. Today I caught a minibus down to Vang Vieng.

The trip to Chiang Khong wasn't all that bad. I made friends with a Canadian couple and a couple of chicks from Scotland. When I got there, as I said before, the hotel was shit and I'm never buying a package again.

In the morning, I (along with other people staying at the same shithole) was shuttled to Huay Xai to pick up my passport with a fresh new visa (not as fresh as the Vietnam one though). In Huay Xai, a shitload of us waited around for a few hours for the slow boat. In the mean time, a guy tried to scare us off the boat telling us that the first leg of the trip would take eight or nine hours and that the second leg would take us eleven or twelve hours. We think he was a guy working for the bus company, because all of a sudden, about half of the people who were supposed to go on the slow boat ended up going on a bus instead.

In Pak Beng, I shared a room with a German girl who was a solo traveler as well. We got bait and switched though. At the boat, we were told two hundred baht for the room. When we get to the place, we were told that we could have the room for two hundred baht if we ate dinner, breakfast, and bought lunch to go there. Hellz no. She said otherwise it was three hundred baht for the room. We argued for a long time until we got her down to just breakfast, where I bought the cheapest thing on the menu, which was bread for five thousand kip (about fifty cents). Laos wasn't looking good to start.

On the boat, I met this great group of Germans who I hung out with the entire time. We drank beer and played card games. I learned two new games, and refreshed my German a bit. When we got to Luang Prabang, I met up with them for dinner and drinks. Hopefully, I'll see more of them on the trail.

At my crappy hostel in Luang Prabang, which is another place I won't be returning to, I met up with Jennifer and Adam, who had been on a bit of a bender the night before, and hence were having a quiet night in the hostel. That just left me and the Germans. We hit up Lao Lao Garden, an amazing bar and restaurant where you feel like you're really eating in a bamboo grove. It was truly beautiful. From there, we went to the Hive Bar, where I danced my ass off to everything from MGMT to A Tribe Called Quest to the Basement Jaxx. Drinks were cheap and abundant, but I stuck to beer. There were two for one cocktails that were a mess waiting to happen for some people.

After the bar closed at midnight, the only things open were the discotheque and the bowling alley. I hooked up with some other people I met on the boat to go bowling. I have to say it was kind of crazy. Bowling in Luang Prabang.

And that brings us to today. The minibus ride was perhaps one of the craziest road trips that I have ever been on. It wound its way through fantastically beautiful mountains on bumpy cliffside roads. It was a kind of "take your life in your own hands" kind of experience. But we all got here. We have a crappy guesthouse, but I'm only going to be there for two nights. After that, I head back north and then over to Vietnam. Tomorrow is tubing.

In other news, all of the ATMs in Laos are out of service until at least Monday. I've been operating off of my US dollars, but I think I'll need a new infusion of cash in the next couple of days. There's beauty in developing nations, and then there are convenience annoyances. We'll see how it all works out.