Number 42

I'm sitting in my hotel room in Vientiane, Laos. Now there's something I had no idea I'd be writing when I left for Thailand. I flew from Chaing Mai to Luang Prabang, Laos. I had heard it was a pretty town in the mountains and very popular with the tourists. When I got to the airport in Chiang Mai, went through security, checked in at Laos Airline and got to the gate I saw that the plane was a smallish prop plane and not a jet. We had to walk outside, ride a bus over and walk up the stairs. It wasn't real small and held about 60 people. The one hour flight was very nice.

I had a three hour layover in Luang Prabang so I went into town. The surroundings are beautiful but the town is one long tourist trap. Stall after stall of basically 5-6 different items. Some were nice but why do you need 35 stalls all selling the same bags or t-shirts or fabric? There is a second perpendicular stretch of streets that sells food. I walked around for about 1 1/2 hours and headed back to the airport.

The second flight, which was on the same plane, was 40 minutes and equally smooth and pleasant. When we landed in Vientiane we went to the luggage carousel. I say "the" luggage carousel because there was only one and it was really old. It was so old it didn't go around it simply went about 100 feet and ended. One straight line. My friends were there to pick me up and I was surprised to see one of the Lao men I met at GAJE and one of the Lao students I also met there. Again the level of hospitality continues to surprise me. They came to the airport to meet me as a gesture of respect and friendship. I spoke with each of them at GAJE but didn't really spend a lot of time with them. We went to a restaurant on the Mekong River across from Thailand. There were 8 of us so we sat on pillows on the floor on a platform over the river and had a really nice dinner. And once again they wouldn't let me pay for anything. The seven of them combined probably don't make what I make but they would not listen to my insistence on paying. It's really a humbling experience to be constantly treated so well.

I'm at my hotel and the Internet seems to be working now. Tomorrow we have a full day of sight seeing and I'm going to get to see Sam and Dave's wives and kids. They didn't burn any monks here but it was a pretty nice evening in Vientiane.