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Published: February 10th 2006
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Hard day at the office
This pretty much sums up a day in Vang Vieng. I thought I'd start out with a little insight into how my mind works. This is important in two ways. One - it is cathartic for me to write these things down and, second, it gives each and every one of you empathy for Aneta. She spends each and everyday with me (and forever) and listens as I share some of this with her. I feel particularly empowered as I am reading a collection of David Sedaris short stories which make my neurosis seem quaint and quite mainstream. Today I was thinking about how jipped I feel about the whole Malaria thing. Maybe the whole medical travel thing. Firstly, let me say that we are grateful for our relative health during this trip barring some skin infections and stop offs for immunizations. But, really, the "exotic world" isn't nearly as exotic as it sounds. If you stick to bottled water and a regimen of hand washing and antibacterial gel, things run rather well. If I went by the laisse faire attitude and misinfo that the first travel doc gave us then I'd assume I was 90% covered for everything imaginable. If we went with the Aussie doc we saw, we'd assume
Dive in!
Occaisionally it is necessary to cool off while lounging by the river. likely death or serious illness. We land in the middle. About where Crazy Josh told us we'd be. Okay then. We have been now taking Doxycycline for Malaria prophylaxis for some 3 weeks and happily have not terrible skin rash or other unpleasant side effects listed in the insert. And we read it too. But when we planned the trip, daily meds seemed too much, and we planned to take Lariam. So for months before this trip I geared up for strange technicolored dreams and near psychotic breaks. Maybe a forgivable homicide that could be linked with the once weekly meds. But alas we went with the reliable, albeit more inconvenient, medication. It's like a funny morning ritual- pills with breakfast seen at tables all over Asia. And of course, the other travelers who swear it's unnecessary. One guy even said, "I had malaria, it wasn't so bad". In truth based on his limited and unlikely story we later shared a mutual feeling of BS for this guy. On that same note, I considered opening a guest house here in Vang Vieng- an idyllic backpacker wasteland on the river, and calling it Anopheles, after the malaria carrying mosquito. I thought
it was ironic and pretty catchy. Maybe later.
As for health issues on a more imediate note, yesterday we went tubing on the river. This is a rite of passage here in VV. Everyone does it and mnay do it a few times. Same as most places, big tire tube and beer. Sunscreen is a must. But here is Laos the 3 km journey takes a minimum of 3-4 hrs and more since the river is very low, very mossy, and there are numerous bars, both big and small, to sell drinks along the way. Imagine lazily rolling down the river in a quasi-exotic foriegn country when you turn the bend and come upon MTV's spring break in full swing. Bizarre, and some would even say- surreal... They just pull you in with bamboo poles and you hand them the soggy bills from your pocket. These bars, some of which are quite large, also have bamboo seating areas over the river where you can sit and watch the entertainment. Entertainment consists of a giant rope swing or zip line which hurls you toward the water from an elevated rickety platform to the constant thumping of top 40s music
and primal screams of other travellers. FUN! We have video of each of us doing the ride which we'll show to the horror of our parents when we return. We even met some Aussie's whose friend swears by the local hospital after they relocated his injured shoulder two days ago. And so I had some time to ruminate about the adequate nature of procedural sedation in Laos. The image of a large bottle of Lao lao whiskey and/or opium pipe came to mind and I shuddered. Maybe they need a guy like me here. Bring a friend and a sarong for countertraction and vwallah, shoulder reduced. Sorry for the technospeak.
But in reality this is a lovely town and quite relaxing. In fact, our second day here we did just that- pulled up on a bamboo raft along the river watching children having moss wars and tuber
lazily floating by. I swear we are only spending time in the internet cafe b/c it's too hot out to go to the river before afternoon and the bar scene makes us feel super old and crabby at nite. I guess that is about it for now. I hope this gives you a River Scene
View up the river as we tubed down. little chuckle as Aneta has tired of much of these ruminations.
( almost 2 days later)
News news news!!! The Belgians arrived in time to have another day of tubing down the Nam Song ( yes- so much fun we had to go again- rope swings and all!) and we plan to leave VV via kayak tomorrow. Believe it or not. In our effort to not be totally removed from western civilization, we awoke early and took over the common area in the guest house to watch the Steelers kick some serious butt in Super Bowl 40. That's XL to the Greeks. Hope eveyone is well. Now onto Vientien.
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Alex Ten
non-member comment
This is probably your best entry so far. Or maybe I liked medical details and slang! Malaria is something one read before in novels (and wished to experience?). You know, drinking quart of whisky every third day with gram of quinine. :) Do insect repellent work? Don't let third world mosquitoes suck civilized blood of MDs!