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Published: November 6th 2006
alright, so let's see if I can remember everything that's happened up until now...
I had to part with Maya cuz she's off to New Zealand to work on a farm, it was a mixed blessing, I was sad to see her go but it's also kinda nice to be on my own again. i didn't cry though. thank goodness!
took an overnight train to the boarder of Thailand and Laos, go to sleep accross my 2 seats and then I get shaken awake because the person whose seat I'm slumped accross has finally gotten on, man it was hard to get back to sleep after that, what a bitch.
So I get to the boarder and on the other side I get swarmed by guys trying to get me to take their taxi or tuk tuk into Vientiane, this middle aged German guy decided to try to help me even though I didn't need it. I decided to take a tuk tuk cuz it was cheaper and he decides to come with me even though he's got massive amounts of luggage. Then he starts asking if I'm scared travelling alone. give me some credit here guy, people do it ALL THE TIME. it's not that I don't appreciate the concern but i'm not helpless. sheesh.
anyways, I get to the guest house I want to stay in and find that it's full, along with the next 6 I try, I finally find one that isn't and I get a double room with huge french doors and a balcony overlooking the street. It made me miss Maya a little cuz if she'd have been there she woulda got the extra bed instead of my backpack.
I wanted to mail a package home so I asked the guy at the desk where the post office was and he said he'd drive me for free on his moto. when he dropped me off he said he'd take me around if he didn't have to be back at work. I thought he was just being nice until he took me on a date later that day unbeknownst to me. but more on that in a minute. I spent a fortune mailing stuff home, expect it in about 4 months. but my pack is so much lighter and emptier. woo ha.
so then i went to the independance monument, literally a poor man's arc d'triumphe, and a monk starts hitting on me. he tells me there is a huge buddhist festival going on at the golden stupa and that I should go and that's why he's there and there are many many monks around town. so I thought it was my imagination that he was hitting on me, but then I met this Canadian girl who said that the same thing happened to her and that he actually asked her how to flirt with girls. odd behavior coming from a monk but I uncovered some interesting information: monks quit all the time. I asked the dude at my guesthouse about it and he said that he was a monk for 8 years and when he was 20 he decided not to do it anymore. so I guess you go into it as a young boy and then when you get older you wanna flirt with western girls and such...
anyways so he said he'd take me to the festival and i said okay and went up to my room to relax for a bit. I come back down and he asks me why I didn't change my clothes and I ask why I should and the other guy there says I look beautiful then some things are said in Laos and much laughing. Then I notice that he's slicked back his hair and put on cologne. and i get a little worried. so the festival was not what i expected, it was like a fair or a carnival with food and stuff on sale, bouncy castles and carny games. then i made like I was really tired and he had to take me back, I am a horrible person but I was a little put off. He seemed really disappointed, the poor guy. I'm hard to get over.
so now I'm in Vang Vieng, the most chilled out place in Laos, apparently. I met these 2 English guys on my bus and tagged along to a guesthouse on the river. Then I met an American guy who invited me along with him and his friends to go tubing the next day. you just hop in an inner tube and coast down a river, stopping now and then to have a beer laos and jump off a zip line or swing into the river.
the day after that (yesterday) we all went for a bike ride, which was supposed to be 20 mins and really easy. it was not. it was rocky and bumpy and I beefed it on a rock and fell right on front of 2 guys who kept asking if i was okay. the only thing that hit the ground was my knee, it was not much of a tumble, i was just supremely embarassed. not as bad as the time i feel in a bush though... but anyways, we biked out to a blue lagoon that had a huge cave to explore, we went really far in and then all turned off our lights (good thing I have that headlamp, thanks Karl!) and the blackness was overwhelming. and i broke a stalagmite. i think it was already broken but i was at the back of the pack and i went to put my hand out to steady my balance and a HUGE piece toppled right off and echoed and everyone turned back to look at me as i stood there laughing my ass off.
I was going to move onto Luang Prabang today but I'm way too sore from biking so I'm going to nap and read and relax all day then head off tomorrow.
oh and I scraped my leg pretty bad falling off a squat toilet, only people who have used one can truly understand how that could have happened. *sigh*
Emily and Chloe: I saw someone wearing a singlet today and thought of you even though we look way hotter in ours
much love
Alexis
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Shawnsie
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shmalexis
You make me pee in my pants laughing. I heart you. That story of your "date" is classic. You ARE hard to get over my dear, I picture the monk with his hair slicked back. i'm totally sloshed, just got back from my cousin's wedding, but I had to say I love you. Cause I just do. I miss you. I wanna see you sometime this decade *sobs* k, byeeeee, keep on being amazingly awesome.