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It's July 5th. I guess that means yesterday was the 4th. I just realized that, so happy fourth of july. There's not much of a celebration for it over here. After my last entry, I spent one more full day in Vang Vieng. I rented a 100 cc motorbike for 24 hours for 5 dollars. They just take your money and your passport and send you on your way without a word of instruction. I spent one afternoon sitting in some restaraunt laughing with the locals at the travelers almost crashing. There must be an exceedingly high injury rate on those things. First, I took mine about 50 km away from town on the only paved highway in the country. I ended up at a sign to a cave, so I paid the parking fee, the fee for a boat across the river, the entry fee to the trail, and then I was finally way off in the Jungle. I was right up against the enormous limestone cliffs that dominate the area and it was all just so prehistoric looking. Every inch that I walked on the trail was met with some new kind of bug or reptile or alien slithering away. After making it back down and riding home, I just sat on my porch to escape the heat. I almost resigned myself to taking it easy for the rest of the day when I noticed huge, dark thunderclouds rolling in from the direction of the little dirt path that leads away from the town and into the cliffs and mountains. I promply returned to the motorbike and headed right in. I was going maybe 30 km one second in cloudy but dry weather one second, and the next I was in the middle of the most soaking rain storm imaginable. Massive puddles soon formed all over and the dirt turned to mud. Exactly what I was hoping for. I took that little bike through hell and back. I don't know how it made it. Several times an innocent looking puddle would end up being a 2 foot deep rut. I tipped over in pools of water several times, but to no injury. I ended up cracking the plastic pretty good, but luckily it went unnoticed when I returned the bike.
The next morning I bought a ticket for the "VIP" bus to Luang Prabang. The VIP bus was really a van with bench seats and NO AC that was packed with sweaty guys (and one poor girl) for a 7 hour drive. Not a lot of fun. Last night we made it to Luang Prabang. I met some cool people on the van, but they were all European and therefore there whole evening revolved around the soccer game that didn't come on until 2 am last night, so I split off from them. While trying to find a good guest house, I found myself caught up in the local transportation cartel. I got on a tuk tuk and told him to take me somewhere. I was dropped off somewhere else. Someone on a motorbike asked where I was going, he told me to get on, and I was dropped off at some other random point. I considered riding the cartel all eveing just to tour the city, but eventually just picked a place. Luang Prabang was one of the last French Colonial towns, and the influence is everywhere. It's such a unique little city, right on the banks of the massive Mekong River. I can't stop eating. Mango smoothies are $.40. I bought an entire pineapple today and ate it in 20 minutes. I can"t walk down the street without my arms becoming full with pastries and fruit. I'm already starting to feel the beach calling me, though. I will probably take the two day boat trip down the river to Thailand in the morning, which I have mixed feelings about. It will probably be several days before I can update again!
This computer apparantly can't handle my pictures. It's actually probably part of a local synicate of internet cafes who intentionally make pictues load slowly to rack up the bill...
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Don
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mmmkay..
The 4th here in the US wasn't the same without you. Your passion for fire and explosives was missed. Hey, I got the potato gun/launcher to work with hair spray... no one was injured. You are missed!!! but your room dowstairs (and half the garage) is already occupied (with a non-paying tenant). Have a great time in a van down by the river... Keep writing and posting pictures (if possible)