A little aloha spirit in Laos.

So it has been a bit since I last blogged. I have been busy tearing up Laos with an old friend  from my time working in Hawaii, Cato Cook. And when not traveling alone, you seem to find yourself with much less time to commit to the internet. Surprising I know.

"So, what have we been up to?" you might ask. Well, here is the abbrev. rundown.

-Left southern Thailand for the north after my scuba expedition. 5 hour bus ride to train station, 11 hour overnight train to Bangkok, 14 hour train Chiang Mai. Who said traveling was all fun and games?
- Linked up with Cato in Chiang Mai, the biggest city in northern Thailand and sort of its cultural capital. Spent a few days here, the best being an all-day cooking class on Sammy's Organic Farm outside the city. Can't wait to cook Thai food for the folks back home.
- 1st night in Laos, the border town of Huay Xai.  Met some French friends that took us along to a festival at a temple outside town they has heard about.  As the only foreigners, or falang, we first gawked at, then taught to dance Laos-style and given free papaya salad to complement our cold Beerlao, the national beer. Also played carnival games alongside teenage monks like throwing darts at ballons and knocking down a pyramid of cans.
- 3 day trek in Nam Tha National Park. One day kayaking along the boundary of the park; two days hiking through mostly pristine rainforest. Both nights we stayed in local hilltribe villages, one night actually in a family's home. We shared meals with villagers and the chief of one village and were able to talk (through our guide) with them about our differing cultures. All meals were delicious regional Laos dishes often with rainforest ingredients like rattan hearts and ginger and we ate with our hands off of banana leaves using sticky rice to scoop up the food. Saw some new bird and bat species (new to me, that is). The forest itself was the best part, absolutely gorgeous. Unfortunately, most of nothern Laos should be forested mountains but have been largely deforested for logging and rice cultivation. The US led "Secret War" that coincided with the Vietnam War  has also left the forest littered with unexploded ordinance. A good reason to stay on trail. Oh yes, and on the 2nd night of the trek at a Lanten tribe village, our guide got us drunk on local rice whiskey aka lao-lao. Cato proceeded to entertain the tribal ladies with his antics that included picking up our sleeping assistant guide Mei and carrying him around, swimming in the river, and slitting a chicken's throat with my knife to make soup at around 1 am.
- The Royal Palace, temples and historic homes of UNESCO World Heritage City, Luang Prabang.  A very interesting style of mosaic murals made of painted Japanese glass pieces is unique here. Sunset from the hilltop monastery of Phu Si. The might Mehkong River flowing along the city's western flank (actually really low right now as we approach the end of the dry season). Luang Prabang also has a lively and sprawling night market that sells everything from t-shirts to bamboo rice steamers to raw silk and hilltribe handicrafts. I bought some spring rolls.
- Vang Vieng, pretty much the only "party place" in quiet, rural Laos.  Backpackers rent tubes and float down the Nam Song River, stopping at bars along the banks. The bars have a variety of ways for drunkards to hurt themselves ranging from huge slides and trapeze swings into the water to mud volleyball to copious amounts on illegal drugs being sold openly.  Cato and I eschewed all the silliness and instead chose to contract food poisoning and spend most of our time running back and forth from our bungalow along the river to the outdoor bathroom. Fun times with a good friend! We did feel well enough to venture out to the river one afternoon for a couple hours, but mostly watched from the sidelines as trashed falang made asses of themselves with body paint, loud music, and overt displays of public affection.  Around 5 in the evening, local Lao adults and children got out of work and school and trickled down to watch the gong show going on.  As a bit of a sociologist, I was fascinated/appalled by everything going on and content to be the objective observer.  Yet I secretly yearned to be 10 years younger and not sick as a dog so that I could just throw thyself into the fray without reservations. 

Well, that's about it for now. Today, Cato left to meet up his girlfriend in Bangkok, so I am Mr. Solo Traveler again.  However, you are never really alone for long on the backpacker circuit, especially as I am sleeping in a dorm with about 30 people tongiht. It was really nice to have a good friend along for the ride, even if just for a little bit. Sometimes you get tired of just making quick friends that you say goodbye to just as you get to know them.  Deep conversations and true friends are hard to find! Cato, you'll be missed, braddah.

Tomorrow, I start the next leg of my odyssey: Vietnam. It begins with a 24 hour bus ride from the capital of Laos, Vientiane to the capital of Vietnam,  Hanoi. I at least have a sleeping berth on this huge bus that is billed as "King of Bus." Border crossing at 6am. Can't wait.

Oh, I finally got a bunch of Thailand photos loaded up on Facebook. Better late than never, I suppose! I hope to get my Laos pics up tomorrow before my bus leaves.

Hope everyone is well and looking forward to Spring back home! Oh, did we win the Olympics? Someone wins, right? Usually us, I think.