On the Road

The Lao people have won my heart. Pushing the peddles has made my interactions with the native people so much more intimate. I stop for water or a bowl of foe (more rice noodle soup!) and soon the entire family and a few neighbors are gathering around to ask questions and show their interest or shock. Here the people expect you to pull up a chair and chat; it doesn't matter if most of the conversation is hand gestures and grossly mispronounced words.

After Luang Prabang I ended up in Vang Vieng, the strangest place I’ve been in a long time. It’s a tourist depot to the max, but I did have a great day tubing the Nam Song River with some new German friends. Then road the bike down here to Vientiene, capital city of Laos. Vientiene is a very interesting city with a very long history of foreign occupation. One gets the feeling that the city has sort of surrendered itself to the wheel of time. Most buildings are decaying and, as far as I can tell, not much happens here. Not your average national capital.

I’m heading out Monday morning for a 300 mile schlep to southeastern Laos. Couldn’t be happier to finally be doing this trip by bicycle. Laos got “real” all of the sudden. Will check in when I get to Savannakhet. Peace and Love.