cream of sum yung gai

i made it out of laos and into the land of smiles. although, at present it is also a land of tear-gas induced grimaces and bloody baton battered fat-lips, i.e. there are protests, riots and strikes going off in thailand at the moment, in opposition to the former in-exile PM whom the opposition considers to be influencing the current administration. Or something. For us, that means the trains are not running so we'll be taking an overnight bus instead. Political dissent can be so inconvenient.
my last few days in Laos passed pleasantly. Just walked around to various wats (buddhist temples) in the town of Luang Prabang, including one at the top of a long winding stair up the side of an impressive hill, wherefor to see the entire settlement and to appreciate that it enclosed on all sides (with just the river carving a low route through) by some very impressive limestone/karst mountains wearing dark green jungle garments and ostentatious billowy cloud hats. The boat racing festival was just kicking into gear as I left, as it falls on the last weekend of each month. I saw people practicing though, its like crew with more people-per-boat, short stumpy paddles and dugout canoes rather than carbon fiber whathaveyou. its ok though, because during the festival the governor is in town and the curfew of 1130 is strictly enforced, meaning walking down the street at 12 can get you thrown in jail.
I split the journey from LBP to Vientiane in two, allowing me to go out on the vaunted 'backpacker mecca' (copyright Lonely Planet 2008) town inbetwixt.
I think I was the old man of the town. but i met up with some brits/israeli's/germans and one girl from Millbrae all of whom I'd met bowling in LBP. Also, i wandered around the 4 square block extent of the 'foreigner oasis' and beyond, encountering a mini-night-carnival with bumper cars, jumpy things, a merry go round, and throw-darts-at-balloons-to-win-beer games. i was the only falang and nobody seemed to enthusiastic about my presence, so i skulked back off to whitey ghetto.
this was a very low-denomenator bar scene established to compliment river tubing. basically it was many clumps of 19-24 year old brits (with some israeli's, germans, dutch thrown in for exotic flavor) rehashing tubing highlights, and getting stoopid dunk viz-a-viz a beer bong and free rice whiskey shots. i had some ok conversations, observations and also ignited a dinner conversation about comparitive religion that was really interesting i.e. everyone talking about their idea of what it is to lead a good life and what god might be, and personal admissions of struggling with various religions various precepts and the quest for knowledge and divine support- and then going out and getting obliterated. only a few of those involved passed this consistancy test.
nobody seemed to notice we were in Laos, which country is rightfully inhabited by Lao people.
i got a tiger-balm massage two days in a row.
i can't remember if i blogged this but i had two consective great days in LBP that really changed my opinion of the place from grotesque-yuppy-synthetic-look-at-the-charming-local-culture to append that it also has some nice waterfalls and jungle around it. swam in waterfalls and jumped off waterfalls and slid down terraced waterfalls on my ass, rode (another) elephant but this time got to sit right on top of the elephant bare back, fed a baby elephant, watched a poisonous snake paralyze a frog in someone's kitchen, rode a mountain bike with iffy breaks up and down lots of hills through villages, sat out a heavy squall on the banks of the muddy mekong under the awning of a french cafe, fine-tuned my inadvertant British accent, kayaked for 4 hours while my guide sang in Lao and Thai down a sluggish, flat river in the jungle, etc.
played some guitar at the bar last night complete with mic and amp and a crowd. there was a lot less of a crowd by the time i finished.
on to bankok tonight or tomorrow and then...................
TURKEY!

Dan