Into Thin Air vs Lao Air – Which is More Dangerous?

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Tuesday was a travel day to Pakse. Cute little town. On the way up I met a South African couple that will be returning from their travels while I am in Cape Town. So that was exciting! I will be in touch with them when I arrive. I purchased my tickets to Vientiane and Huay Xai. I hope they all fly and do it safely! The sign in the Lao Airlines office shows a bar chart where it spikes in 2000/2001 and then massively dips until 2005….i’m a little worried…although it will be fine..yes it will be fine. As an aside, Lao Airlines does not disclose any information related to accidents/crashes/deaths and most companies in Western countries advise employees NOT to fly…silly silly girl…

I spoke to my family on Wednesday morning…they are all in Florida now, where I should be headed for Thanksgiving but alas, I am heading to the Gibbon Experience…which I seriously cannot wait for! I have heard many many great things about it, especially from Ellman and he sells it well. My only fear is the LEECHES that lurk everywhere!!

I was ridiculously into my book, Into Thin Air, about the disaster on Mount Everest. What a story…

I got up and headed to the airport to fly to Vientiane on Wednesday…wow, you should see this international airport in Pakse…its pretty much a door and a room and a tarmac. The plane is a propeller jet but there were a bunch of other westerners so I deemed it would be ok…but still nervous. I had run into someone who flew with them and they definitely prepared me for the bumpy ride and interesting descent to landing. I will be thrilled to be on the ground!

Once in Vientiane I walked around the city aimlessly for a while. Everything that I had heard was it’s a nothing city and don’t spend much time there. I however found it to be quite lovely and wish I had more than just one night there. I did a little shopping of course which makes it “successful” and found a great place to eat and thus I was sold. The city is pretty manageable from what I gather…I didn’t do any tourist sites but I did walk the promenade along the Mekong and sat there to enjoy my new favorite drink, the banana shake. Tasty! I also got myself a new LP guidebook as the photocopies ones in Cambodia are still the old version. And also because of a discussion I had previously with someone (I cant remember, but it was one of the girls). We were chatting about how out in SE Asia there are tons of photocopied versions of the LP books selling for like $1-$5 and thus LP doesn’t get any profit from this type of activity…so on top of wanting the most up to date, I felt it my place to purchase the real book.

I also found TIME magazine…it may have been over one month old but the cover story is what caught my attention…Why Breast Cancer is Spreading Around the World. It’s a fascinating read and really just sparks something inside about wanting to do something more. While I am greatly looking forward to the work I lined up in South Africa, I am somewhat disappointed that nothing proved fruitful relating to educating underprivileged women the importance of self-exams and learning about the disease…especially after reading the statistic that only 5% of the cases are diagnosed in Stage I or earlier. It’s so sad. Anyway, I digress….

Off to Huay Xai…just one more flight! Crossing the fingers….

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