Travel observations

I've booked a train ticket to Bangkok (12 hours, overnight) from here for Sunday, so I'll spend another couple days kicking around Vientiane with Margarita, my roommate. She leaves on the same day to fly to Siem Reap, Cambodia. I anticipate spending a little more time in Bangkok, and perhaps exploring a bit outside of the city, before continuing on to Siem Reap myself. I decided against arranging for my Vietnam visa here in Vientiane because it's Friday and it takes 3 working days (or 3 days working as it's often written here) to process. You can pay to expedite it, but what's the point? I'll just take care of it in Bangkok, where there's a lot more to do (and of course where the food is better!).

Not a lot to report, really, so I'll just post a recent pic from Luang Prabang and share some observations from my travels.

1 - White on vacation is just a bad idea. I've seen people rockin' the white linen pants and thought, "Ooh... how long 'til those are ruined?" It's hard enough to keep my white tops white, even when you "wash" them. Today I picked up my laundry from one lady and I question whether any soap was used at all. My white EMS shirt was a lovely shade of brown with a few white spots remaining. Hopefully I can handwash it and restore it a bit to its original state.

2 - Thai fisherman pants - cool concept, not so cool on. I haven't bought any for myself and although they're comfortable, and frankly probably made so you can eat to your heart's content in Thailand and not realize you're gaining weight, they're just generally not flattering. In Luang Prabang I saw a French guy wearing hot pink ones and this just drove the point home for me.

3 - Same, same, but different. How can I explain this phrase? They sell t-shirts with this slogan everywhere here. If you've ever spent any time in Asia, it just starts to make sense. Kind of like in every country there are tuk-tuk drivers standing around calling out to you, "tuk-tuk?" as if by simply saying this will make you realize that you do, in fact, need a tuk-tuk to wherever it is you're going. Tuk-tuk drivers are often best avoided, by the way, as they tend to way overcharge.

4 - Smoking. I could go on and on about this, but I'll just say that apparently Asia and Europe never got the memo that cigarettes are bad for you. And unlike in the US, you can still smoke all over the place here, sometimes even indoors. I don't know how many times I've had a perfectly lovely moment - a sunset, a boat ride - ruined by the second-hand smoke of somebody nearby. Ugh.


One afternoon as I was strolling around Luang Prabang, I came across a whole slew of these screens where papadum-style crackers were drying in the sun. Women were peeling them off and packaging them for sale at the market, I believe, and although I looked for them, I never found them to try. I heard they were tasty, though.