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Other entries in Louang Prabang

fever :(

yeah, I have a fever, and can i just say that it's more than a little nerve wracking to have it in a malaria-infested country & bird-flu paniced continent. BUT before certain of you start freaking out, it's the only symptom I have and I already feel better. I really think it's just that luke ran me ragged and my body decided to shut down. he left yesterday and I swear we packed 3 weeks into 3 days. 

we met up saturday morning in vientiane. he'd been in bangkok for barely one night before that but still managed to get duped by a cabbie and taken places he never inteded to go. no worries tho - he's used to paying honolulu/NYC prices so a $10 cab ride into the city seemed like a great deal. and the rest of the night produced priceless photos, so he wasn't complaining one bit. (LOVE this boys spirit!)

we set out to wander communist-built vientiane - all cinder block and square corners and no ornamentation. (no wonder most backpackers skip it.) but beer lao makes every place beautiful and after our first beer break, we got chatted up by a tuk-tuk driver who convinced us to go to 'buddha park'. why the heck not. I bargained for as long as luke could stand it (nance, I would have paid his original price - its so cheap!) and off we went.

the park was surprisingly cool - like a buddhist theme park of sorts. loads of decaying  grey sculptures and stupas set into lush green grass with handmade floral offerings wilting away. some of the sculptures were really strange which screamed for obnoxious photo ops, but we tried to be at least a little respectful.

the best was this stanley kubric-style egg that, after entering through the buddha mouth (?), you walk up 3 flights to a sweet view over the park. once on top of the egg, there was only this tiny, crumbling railing between you and a 3 story fall so once again was reminded I'm in a land of so few lawyers (and hospitals) and to watch my step. inside, the egg is full of these crazy dusty sculptures of figures in all states of pleasure and pain. the guy that built this park was like a buddhist hieronymus bosch and the egg seemed to be the epitomy of his work. no regrets coming to visit this place.

next days' plan was hop a local bus to luang prabang. that worked out, more-or-less. cept that I insisted on not getting ripped off by tuk-tuk drivers so delayed us just enough to miss the bus (and we still got ripped off cause the first driver took us to the wrong station). grrrrrr!!!!!!! so now we had to wait 3 hrs for the next bus, but again as testiment to luke's excellent travel spirit, his response: "today was a travel day, we're still on that plan. no worries." and this from a boy with barely 3 days total before he flys back to bangkok. sweet!

to kill time we pull out his (sexy, fabulous, so beautiful to gaze upon and touch) mac book pro.....mmmmmm...... hadn't seen a mac since mine in the US!.... and look over family and life photos. we had loads to catch up on - hadn't seen each other in about 4 years - so the delay wasn't all bad.

it's finally time to go - so cue 10 hr bus ride of photo-taking mania. had no idea the limestone cliffs of viang vieng continued the whole way to luang prabang. we were in heaven. I think luke snapped over 400 pics (on this stretch - I think thre were over 3000 total) - cant wait for him to update his site so you can see em (with my lame camera, there's really no point in even trying).

a few things worth remembering tho: the 2 guys with guns on the bus - one military (that's sort-of OK), the other with a hand gun (that was creepy); we had like 5 500# bags of something sliding around on the floor - the one next to me got really irritating after 6 hours; the kid next to us got THE saddest whimper by about hour 7, I made him an origami bird and he clung to it the rest of the way (cool); I left my sunglasses at the rest stop! that'll teach us - everyone else was eating but we just had beer lao; luke brought chocolate-covered macadamia nuts and we devoured them later - what heaven!

finally got in around 10:30. found most guest houses full (gaaah - bariloche argentina flashback!), but finally got a sweet room. now in search of dinner. 2 irish dudes pointed us down a dark, deserted street to 'a pub'. hmmmm.....a little suspicious but we were starving and desperate. well irish were right and what an oasis! place was packed with peeps waiting for final world cup match, kitchen was serving full menu, waiters were adorably cute - we were both in heaven! but also exhausted. stayed long enough to see game tied 1-1. SO happy to wake up next day to learn italians won! (and zidane made an ass of himself but the french have alrady found it in their hearts to forgive him...of course they would...what if the teams were reversed? it's so damn transparent...)

next day we wander this beautiful city & temples - as picturesque as hoi an and also a world heritage site. luke was up at crack-of-dawn to take pics of monks recieving alms (offerings). guess this is a huge festival here - hence all the full rooms. his photos looked great. but my sleeping felt even better :(

dinner was at this place overlooking the mekong river. we downed more beer lao (of course) and at one not-so-smart moment, he almost convinced me to order crickets, as in bugs, off the menu. thank GOD I sobered up before the waiters could sort out what we wanted. no crickets were consumed that night. I swear they were just going to pluck em off the back of the restaurant...ew!

next day we hit the waterfall. plunge pools, rope swings, fresh water - so much fun! but luke met a fellow photographer and they chose instead to take (multiple!) pics of a poisonous caterpillar... oh well, whatever floats your boat, I say. tho finally DID get him to do a jump and he loved it!

from there we hiked to the main waterfall and these pools at the very top. loads of places to die if you really wanted to, but aside from that, killer views from way up there. I met my match on the way down as I've never seen someone in flip flops decend a slippery, muddy slope as fast as he. clearly this boy's been living in hawaii....

our last dinner (he's already leaving tomorrow!) was at another riverside spot. great views - horrible, but hilarious service & food. maybe we were just stupid-silly from being so hungry, but they had beer girls who'd dump your old beer off the balcony then replace with 'fresh' from your bottle, a waiter who brought the wrong dish, but only realized it after we'd both had some (i swear he still just brought it to the other table), lukes chicken that was so tough we had a 'see who can swallow one piece first' contest, and bugs everywhere! so even tho we didn't eat the crickets the night before, we had bugs tonight.....we couldn't stop laughing the whole time.

the last day was another up-at-crack-of-dawn morning to catch a boat to the pac ou caves. another cool sight - original limestone caves turned into shrines full of 4000+ buddha statues and one totally dark with just an eternal flame burning. never mind it took about 2 hrs to get up the mekong and I was getting SO sick - that eternal flame was enough to make it worth while.

so we got back, fed luke one last meal, then sent him off. SO sad to see him go! we vowed to apply for the amazing race as a team. I see no reason not to try. and in honor of the good time, I promptly got SO ill. found a cheap room, moved my stuff, then collapsed for 18 hrs. finally feeling a little more normal today and tomorrow I think I head upriver to the land of bamboo shacks and no internet, so don't be alarmed if you dont hear from me for a while!

in closing, here are a few choice quotes from luke from along the way:

"...but I think the deforestation looks pretty!"

(drunk) "we shall eat crickets"

"I love it when the monks do laundry!" (saffron robes everywhere)

(in best iowa-boy twang) "see, over heere in viet naaam, they put sinks n the floor n then they pee in em"

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