Lao!

Phew,

The week/weekend has flown by sooo quickly!! It was one of those weekends where you wish didn't have to end so quickly!!!

Yes, I got through my first week of 'work'-work mates are really great people. Very friendly. I am interested in the work they do. Basically they are a consultant company who works in partnership with NGO (international organizations) such as World Bank, UNDP, and so forth. The projects that I they want me do are a few projects working with the World Bank and The Poverty Reduction Fund-basically they want me to assist them in some field work\studies-which is all good to me, because I enjoy field work. I have met some people who I believe are good networks. I think this job here is a good way to reach out and network in the development field. Funny how you read the paper here and most of the articles in the local English Newspaper is about development projects and many job vacancies for development workers. I think this is the place to be for development work. We will see how it goes..so far, so good, although I must admit I rather be traveling than doing work-but I think it will be a good experience for me.

I am very pleased 'the crew' stopped by Vientianne. Two Kiwis (Matt and Nick from New Zeland, and a Brit, David) hung out for the weekend here in Vientianne and the countryside. They are AWESOME mates!! We had a blast on our SUnday adventure into the countryside. We rented motorbikes-of course, I didn't drive it-Matt and Nick did the driving, while David and I were backseat feeling the wind...We made our way to these waterfalls around here, which is about 30 k outside the city. hahhaha, we basically were lost and it took us awhile to get there, but luckily all of us are about the adventure, so we just went with our instinct, and funny we found our way....A few memorable moments of the day was Nick's bike getting a flat tire, stopping for pineapple, having a live duck waved at Matt, getting lost in an 'opium field', but most of all finding our intended destination after many many many direction asking!

A few thoughts were running through my mind while riding backside...it felt nice to see how simple life is here, everyone is not in a rush, and seeing 'Falang'-foreigners-is a form of entertainment for them. ..although, many think I am a local-so there is this joke between my mates and I, we think the locals think I am Matt's escort...hahaha-because foreign men usually hire local woman, ya know! so that is our joke! Basically, I was Matt's "hooker"...not proud of that, but you should see the looks I get when I am with the foreign guys..hahah funny, eh?

Anyhow, they left today:( but will be passing through again but we have had great times...until next one..

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Part of trip: Departure to SE ASIA for 3 months!

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