the generosity of australians
we're staying in vientiane in a BEAUTIFUL apartment (sparsely furnished though it may be) with dvd player and a/c, the property of an australian who is the friend of another of australian who is a friend of my dad. this apartment-having australian is currently out of the country. he had offered us his floor for sleeping if we had come when he was here - when our schedules collided so that he would not be, i was ready to find myself a guesthouse. instead, he sent the mobile number of his friend pek who would let us in to his place and give us the key.
a DIFFERENT australian drove us around all day today in his Jeep. we saw wats with interesting concrete sculptures (a witch with huge saggy breasts and an owl on her shoulder tending a cage with three sad looking men in it? levels of hell? a penguin? a camel? what are these monks thinking...) and, bless our luck, came across a rocket festival. what's a rocket festival, you ask? oh, well that's a good question. now is the beginning of the rainy season, and to ensure that it's plentiful, each village likes to have a festival where they strap long bamboo sticks to pvc pipe loaded with gunpowder. then they set each of these "rockets" onto the launchpad and send them off into the clouds. this is accompanied by the drinking of neon yellow "rice wine" and general merriment, including crossdressing and dancing. it was fun. we stayed a while, but when the heat got too bad, we set off again in the jeep. this australian then took us to the best juice bar ever where we gulped down the best mango shake that ever existed. :)
Vientiane has been fun so far. we've got a nice (free) place to stay, bicycles to ride around on (for $1 a day, it's a good deal), dvds that cost $1.50 and a place to watch them, and our friend Wouter (met in louang prabang - actually he was on the slow boat with us, then we saw him in lp, in vangvieng, and now here) has been joining us for most of it, giving us a break from duo-hood, which is always nice.
i'm typing this with a kick-butt metal bracelet on my right wrist - it's about 3 1/2 inches wide and has chains wrapped around it. i've got to finish up because we're meeting wouter for lao barbecue before we watch some more movies and eat some more sweet potato chips.
to address your comments:
heid, i can't post recipes.. that would ruin the surprise and besides, then you wouldn't need to miss me anymore. and actually they only use chopstix for noodle dishes in thailand and also in laos. so you might be ok. and sticky rice you must eat with your hands. you smoosh it into a ball and then dip it into the sauce. mmm tasty.
surge: it's "sawatdee, ha". but the ha is really nasal. i expect you to be fluent in thai when i get home. and ladyboy is not my word. it's theirs. it's hard for me to remember sometimes which words i pick up out here on the road and which are ones i already had with me. like muesli. that's totally an australian thing. we have granola at home. don't get me wrong, you can GET muesli, but nobody does. it's all about granola. muesli was added to my vocabulary in australia.
and so, as it began, it shall end. with australia.
cheers,
amy
email me
a DIFFERENT australian drove us around all day today in his Jeep. we saw wats with interesting concrete sculptures (a witch with huge saggy breasts and an owl on her shoulder tending a cage with three sad looking men in it? levels of hell? a penguin? a camel? what are these monks thinking...) and, bless our luck, came across a rocket festival. what's a rocket festival, you ask? oh, well that's a good question. now is the beginning of the rainy season, and to ensure that it's plentiful, each village likes to have a festival where they strap long bamboo sticks to pvc pipe loaded with gunpowder. then they set each of these "rockets" onto the launchpad and send them off into the clouds. this is accompanied by the drinking of neon yellow "rice wine" and general merriment, including crossdressing and dancing. it was fun. we stayed a while, but when the heat got too bad, we set off again in the jeep. this australian then took us to the best juice bar ever where we gulped down the best mango shake that ever existed. :)
Vientiane has been fun so far. we've got a nice (free) place to stay, bicycles to ride around on (for $1 a day, it's a good deal), dvds that cost $1.50 and a place to watch them, and our friend Wouter (met in louang prabang - actually he was on the slow boat with us, then we saw him in lp, in vangvieng, and now here) has been joining us for most of it, giving us a break from duo-hood, which is always nice.
i'm typing this with a kick-butt metal bracelet on my right wrist - it's about 3 1/2 inches wide and has chains wrapped around it. i've got to finish up because we're meeting wouter for lao barbecue before we watch some more movies and eat some more sweet potato chips.
to address your comments:
heid, i can't post recipes.. that would ruin the surprise and besides, then you wouldn't need to miss me anymore. and actually they only use chopstix for noodle dishes in thailand and also in laos. so you might be ok. and sticky rice you must eat with your hands. you smoosh it into a ball and then dip it into the sauce. mmm tasty.
surge: it's "sawatdee, ha". but the ha is really nasal. i expect you to be fluent in thai when i get home. and ladyboy is not my word. it's theirs. it's hard for me to remember sometimes which words i pick up out here on the road and which are ones i already had with me. like muesli. that's totally an australian thing. we have granola at home. don't get me wrong, you can GET muesli, but nobody does. it's all about granola. muesli was added to my vocabulary in australia.
and so, as it began, it shall end. with australia.
cheers,
amy
email me
posted by theonetheycallamy at 6/05/2005 07:12:00 AM
2 Comments:
Hey Amy, I thought it was high time I posted a comment since I read your blog all the time (I'm Kim's friend Jen by the way, we've met I swear!). Your trip sounds amazing and I noticed over on Brooke's blog that he too is in Vientiane so keep your eyes out for him. I'm living in Scotland right now so if your travels are taking you near here at all you and Nabia are free to crash with me. Have fun dude!
Ok, So all these stories are great (really great). However, I need some pictures. Its been too long. I'm glad you are experiencing such wonderful hospitality and getting some r&r. Your blog, with its accounts of cool people all over the world, gives me such a wonderful perspective on how many lovely people there are out there. Maybe the wold isn't as terrible as CNN would have us believe.
Love,
Em
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