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| Fat American Asses! |
| 05.29.04 (1:25 am) [edit] |
yeah that's right!
I went to the Cu Chi tunnels today. WHere the American army base was near Saigon. And the tunnels the Vietnam war is so famous for in their defeat of the American's.
We were sent on a tour with about 50 other people on an extremely hot SE Asian nearly summer day. The temperature was well in the 90's with unbeleivable humidity.
we missed the video in the beginning... but our Vietnamese tour guide from Saigon filled us in on the surrounding areas. This place was hit hard with Agent orange. and there are a complex maze of tunnels with different levels too small for some "fat American Asses" as he so bluntly put it.
I was warned beforehand from another American NEw Yorker that the guide liked to use lots of negative descriptive adjectives about the Americans... but was dissapointed when he didn't.
we were led on the tour of the ground in a hoard of hungary western tourist. taking photos of tunnel entrances, booby traps set up to kill the American's (he never once mentioned the S Vietnamese Army, only the Vietcong who killed the Americans and liked to eat their dogs.) I began to wonder who's side he was on... but it was interesting indeed and I wasn't the least bit offended. I was more so by the people who poised Ramboo style in the American Army tank which was destroyed in 1970 complete with the bulletholes and burned edges still sitting there like a ghost ship. And the machine guns in the distance that you could shoot... kind of added to the intesity of the place. But our guide kept us amused by stating again how fat American asses are. I was beginning to think he really liked are fat asses! maybe he was jealous...
He also mentioned just how strong Vietnamese legs are by sitting in the traditional Asian Squat.
"you know why?" he said.
"Because Vietnamese use Squat toliets and learnd to sit this way for a longtime."
"American's use American style toliet that you have to sit on. so that's how you get fat asses."
LAUGHTER IN THE CROWD (INcluding me)
"Can you sit like this?"
...yeah
"For how long?" he challenged us.
Next we entered the tunnels widened for our Western asses and desended into the pits going deeper and crawling along in the clay tunnels. there were small light lining the tunnel to see where you were walking but I could only see the person walking in front of me. You had to crouch down and walk like a monkey using your arms to hold your balance. 100 meter's! I backed out after 30. Couldn't deal with all the people and the lack of sunlight being underground. My heart started to beat faster... get me out of here! THe brave ones made it though the full 100 meters.
Then you could enter the "real" one's not widened for Westerners. No thanks! I took a look. not exactly my cup of tea...
THe final leg of the tour included the opportunity to fire different guns and rifles. costing a dollar a bullet. you could shot a Machine gun, an AK 47 and various other's.
THe sound of the gunshot's were deafing and made my ears ring. Most of the boys signed up to shot one, but I decieded not to. Didnt' like the sound... maybe when I get to Cambodia... I heard you can shoot a cow there for $200! with some kind of bomb... now that's different!
We journied back to Saigon in the minibus and wittnessed a motorbike crash inches in front of a giant bus. there' heads nearly squashed by the screeeching bus... our driver just laughed and continued on... crazy place!
Saigon is a hectic place of Exhast fumes and no traffic laws. Imagine trying to cross the street by weaving in and out of Motorbikes... Anything go's in this place. watch out for Rush hour!
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| VIETNAM!!! |
| 05.28.04 (5:04 am) [edit] |
Can I just say that Vietnam as been a dramatic place!
I forgot about the Vietnam song sung on the boat... VIETNAM VEITNAM VIETNAAAAAAAAAAAM!!!!!!
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| Booze cruiz |
| 05.28.04 (5:01 am) [edit] |
On a lighter note. I just spent some time in the beach town of Nha Trang In Southern Vietnam and had the lovely opportunity to go out on a boat tour of the surrounding Islands.
Let's just say that Nha Trang is a party town. The beach was quite beautiful and the water was actually refreshing compared to the bathtub water of Thailand' Gulf. This is the SOuth CHina sea baby!
After the previous night of drinking at the many Happy hours and discovering that I really like Bellini's and dancing the night away at the Sailing club (sound so yuppie! I'm kinda playin it up a bit) dagni and I set out on the boat hungover.
We met some extrememly hyper Girl who talked way to much for my liking. as did the tour guide who spoke in Vietnamese with a Karoke style mic and an echoing voice. Loudspeakers!!!!! The other guide spoke Engish and really enjoyed singing. what the hell did I sign up for? I thought we were going to see some marine life and some Islands... instead it turned into a booze cruiz and the foreigners were the entertainment for the Vietnamese.
Our guide asked us each of the foreigners on the boat where we were from and then proceeded to sing a song from each country stating that England and Ameican were the same. He sang "yellow submarine" for us, complete with a band and a drum set made from plastic bins and a guitarist that resembled the Vietnam Vet in South Park. He sang "Waltzing Matilda" some kangaroo song. He couldn't find one for the Swedish couple... nice try though! then The dancing began, La bamba and the twist.
We feasted on loads of seafood, squid, shrimp, tuna, noodles, pork, etc... we stuffed ourselves and ran around eating everyones' leftovers.
Then after our food had no time to digest our guide threw in the floating bar(ge) towed by a Vietnamese Cowboy/pirate with missing teeth, a wooden leg and a cowboy hat. (For real) we had to jump off (luckily they threw us life preservers so we wouldn't drown) and paddled off to the floating bar to get out free shot's of Vietnamese wine served with a pineapple. I got a bit buzzed floating in the water, as the sun beat down. Hey Never did this before!
Nesxt we got dropped off at an Island were we had to pay 5,000 Dong (35 cents) and watched people parasail.
When we arrived back on the boat they had set up a fruit party for us! Never did this before either! wahoooo!
I tried a rambutan for the first time and decieded it was my favorite.
The day ended in riding in some little round bamboo boats that resembled rub a tub dub three men in a tub, to go see some captured squid.
good times... the night ended with beef satay mmmmmmm and more dancing at the Sailing club drinking coctails from Jars... Vietnam's version of the famous bucket in Thailand only this didn't have that crazy Thai Whisky Sansung (Sp?) in it! Oh what a day!
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| War remnants in Vietnam... |
| 05.28.04 (4:03 am) [edit] |
what can I say... I was speechless by walking through the War remnants Museum in Saigon (Ho Chi Min City) today. I'm still processing everything in my head.
Countless photo's of the effect the American's had on this bloody tragic war really pulled at my guts. There were pictures which made me nausious. Let's just say we weren't dipicted in the best light (Big surprise). Vietnam is a war we don't go into great length about discussing in our American High schools. Something not many American are proud of. I'm still processing everything in my head.
Some of the most memorable images are as follows...
An American parartrooper falling to his death out of a plane... only a dark silohette floating down from the sky.
A woman seeking refuge by crossing a river with her baby in her arms and her crying children swimming beside her. Her expression explains her desperation and hope at that given moment... that they just might survive. Underneath was a photo taken later of her with the photographer who shoot it ( who won a presigious award for capturing the image).
Photo's of the effect of agent orange, Chidren with missing limbs and deformaties...
and perhaps the most disturbing of them all... a photo of an American soldier holding the torn blown to bit's carcass of a N Vietnamese man and smirking.
It was an eye opening showcase of photo's taken by people from various countries who risked their lives to make these images immortal to be seen by the eye's of many who weren't there or perhaps who were. I wanted to look at each one in detail and read every caption that was written underneath. Didn't want to miss a thing...
Kind of a strange time for me as an American to be walking around in such a place when there are people being killed in Iraq and war demonstrations all over the world. I was suddenly eager to talk about this event with my parents who were my age at the time.
I even saw a photo of a man who resembled dad taken in Austria protesting against the war... could'a been his twin... same glasses and smile... before the beard and mustache.
I noticed sweet Vietnamese father and son walking around the musuem together looking at the American fighter planes. Smiling.
...A Japanese tour in progress with men who were probably alive during world war II.
...Young people like myself curious from all over the world. in fact I recognized quite a few N American accents... more then I have in the past 4 months I have been traveling.
Then there were the comments written by people who had just walked through the musuem. An American who was disgusted at our foreign policy and apoligized... I felt the same... As an American I was ashamed, but also disgusted at the easy comments once again at how disgusting "American's" are... as if we are all part of the foriegn policy, Bullies, Bush Lover's and so on and on and on and on... (just getting a bit sensitive... feeling a little of the weight of the world on my shoulders even though I know i'm not involved in it.) just feel shame... disgusted. not really sure what I'm feeling right now... could feel some tears welling up in my eyes but refused to let anyone see or any of them fall. War is such a disgusting, yet fasinating thing, why do you think so many people wanted to go and see this museum? We're all curious. I've seen so many war movies about Vietnam... known so many boys who have at dreams of being a soldier or pretending to be one.
it was gruesume. raw, unedited, unglorified... not like hollywood movies can make it. THese were REAL photo's of the casualties of war... the effects linger long after... even saw some people with missing limbs walking around... what must they think when they see my face... my "American" face... do they know? i've been told I look American... what exactly does an American look like when we have so many races living in our country? You can tell though... I suppose?...
The war wasn't even that long ago and Vietnam has only been opened to tourism in the last 10 years. But the name Vietnam conjurs up many emotion for some people. And the Name Saigon still stands as a powerful word which had an effest on people around the world... the fall of Saigon, the defeat of the American's... and now a new generation of money hungry people who I'm not sure are happy about tourism. But they're reaping the benefits of this facinating country with such a turbulent past. I am glad I came here... It makes me realize even more the impact the USA atill has on so many... still to this day... yet how we can be defeated. we too have lost. and we continue to loose in the battle of power that our government want so desperately to hold onto by spending tons on military... I couldn't believe how much money went into that bloody war!
enough is enough!
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| CRASH! |
| 05.23.04 (1:26 am) [edit] |
I've met up with two Australian girls whom I met in Laos, Nicky and Dagni. We decieded to go out one night to a bar we heard about in town along the river. Tan Tan.
We drank in our luxary rooms with beer in our fridge and watched at terrible Al Pacino Movie "Simone" and then headed out... but the bars close at 12 so we had an hour left we got lost along the way and a nice foreigner with a North American accent on a bike lead us there. Whe we entered the bar it seemed as if everyone I had meet (or almost everyone) along my travels in SE ASia was there. This can be a good thing or a bad thing. depending on who you want to see and )no offense to the British cause the one's i traveled with are lovely) but I would say 85% are English!
The bar shut at 12 and the only alternative if you want to say out late is a illegal bar called "the Full moon" about 5k away. So the three of us decieded to get get a motorbike taxi for the three of us. Probably the dumbest thing I've done. Three western girls on a bike double the size of Vietnamese people including a driver (who was a complete ass and drove too fast and kept telling us to shut up!!!! aughhhhhh. how did I get myself into this?
The bar was strange and in the middle of nowhere. everyone there seemed to suddenly go from sober to completly wasted drunk. Micheal Jackson was playing and some tiny vietnamese with no shirt on kept trying to dance between us.
The beer to drink there was called "Larger" not lager.
By the end of the night I looked around and eveyone seemed to be making out (except me and a few others) and the motorbike driver's where all waiting for us outside ready to rip us off... making jokes of us. "boom boom" grinding against my friend. I pushed one of the little shrimps away from Dagni and then took another's hat and threw it/ I refused to get on the back of a bike so the others and i decieded to walk it back. then they all came racing over to offer is better fairs... so we stupidly agreed.
Nicky had already left so it was just Dagni and I. we hopped on the back of the bike and the driver speed off full throttle. "SLOW DOWN!!!" i yelled but he just yelled back at me to shut up and not touch him. where the fuck was I supposed hold onto?
Before I knew we were being led down a dirt road in the middle of nowhere far from town.
"where are you taking us!? the town is that way, I'm not a fucking idiot! " "
"A short cut!" he shouts.
"Bullshit!" i want to get off right now, let us off!" I shout back.
He continues on and the next hing I know we're headed straight into a pole going to fast around a corner. and CRASH!!
luckily Dagni and I where on the back and escaped from the bike easily but the driver's foot got aught under the bike and he winced in pain. ..and he continued to yell at us! We were alright just a few scrapes and bruises.
"I'm gonna walk back" I said. and then he demands more money... the taxi's bike ploy. wait until the foreigner's are drunk. take them far away and rip them off.
' just want to fucking leave you here!" he yells... I couldn't give a two craps at long as we were off the bike and away from him!
...and away he went... leaving us in a field, while another man runs out of his home to see what has happened. and us in a shocked state ask him... "Hoi An?" he jsut runs back inside more frightned of us then we are of him.
I'm not scared just angry more then anything!
Dagni and I continue down the dirt road towards the lights in the dark night sky. It begins to rain... and two cows walking in the night startle us as I practicly run into them... laughing and bitching at the same time. lost somewhere in Vietnam.
We find an intersection with motorbike passing us and try to flag anyone down. waving our hands frantically. finally someone pulls over in a minvan and takes us into town. They're young people like us. 3 boys and a girl. kind souls... asking for directions to our hotel to the street sweepers...
we arrive safely and jump in the pool to relieve some of the excitment of the night...
no more bike rides with angry asshole veitnamese men!
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| I'm not a bank! |
| 05.23.04 (12:40 am) [edit] |
Went to the Small riverside town of Hoi An. everyone seems to go there to have custom-made tailored clothing. And all the vietnamese know you've come here to shop so they are extra annoying... "HELLO!" become's an order for you to buy something from them. Children go around selling postcards and sunglasses and books that have been illegally copied. I've lost any kind of kindness to people who try and convince me to buy something or ask me where I'm from or ask me what my name is. what the fuck does it matter! So when you walk down the street you will get at least 15 people who ask you this...
Annoying person: [i]HELLO! wahooooooooooo!!! HELLO!!![/i]
Me : (No reply)
Annoying person: [i]WHere you from?![/i]
Me: [i]My mother.[/i]
Annoying person: [i]Where is your mother from?[/i]
Me: [i]My Mother's mother.[/i] etc...
Annoying person: [i]You buy something from me!![/i]
Me: NO!
Annoying person: [i]You remember me, you buy something![/i]
At this point I hold my hand up and continue walking almost running!
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| Morning in Northern Vietnam |
| 05.23.04 (12:29 am) [edit] |
We rise agian and continue on our trekking. we reach another small village for lunch and all the villagers crowd around the TV like when the TV was first invented and people watched the those TV test just cause they were so fasinated with the Television screen.
3 of us ride back on Russian Minsk motor bikes on the muddy dirt road from last night's rain. The drivers wear helmets but the passengers' don't! oh shit! there are no gaurd rails on the road, and we are driving high in the clouds. at times the visiablity is scarce and I feel like we're in an airplane rising up through the clouds ready to break through the sun like heaven. The bike fishtails and my driver just laughs. i do feel quite alive though with the scenary all around me. Green green green! and then smell of pine and smoky fire... wilderness smells. we pass three older foreigners struggling with their bikes and i'm gald I opted to ride on the back of one.
We arrive safely at the hotel and I sneak into my friends and stay with the 2 of them... free room... cause my travel agent ripped me off (big surpise)
Sapa reminds me of a European Alpine town with mountains and Asian faces. The room is luxary compared to what I've been staying in. HBO...6 feet under but the electricity goes out during dinner and makes everything look like a movie set. We are thick in a white cloud at night. it's looks like dry ice or that movie "the Shining"
and in the morning we are awakened to banging on our door at 5 in the morning. I've been found! the Nazi's have found me! but we ignore the banging and loud voices echo down the hall and we hear feet shuffling. what if there is a fire? I don't smell any smoke...so we try to get back to sleep but the construction men deciede to through steel rods on the street at 6am!!!!!!!!! no sleep in this mountain side town.
We take the train back in the evening. an overnight one. this time I'm able to sleep. No strange men in my room .only foreigners...
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| in the mood for... |
| 05.23.04 (12:10 am) [edit] |
Home... I've decieded is in the mix after my travels. it's been almost 2 years and I'm ready for a home again. Nomad life is fun but I need to settle my trail of dust I kick up behind me constantly on the move.
Well let me tell you about Vietnam, there's so much to tell, and I haven't kept up with my journal entries...
Some quick random notes to spark my memory. I took a boat trip to Halong Bay jumping off the boat into the water. Walking through a cave with phalic symbols. Sleeping on a boat with a roach in my bed and a Canadian stranger in the next bed with no place to sleep. A generator that runs all night... no sleep.
I spent some time in the NOrth... a 10 hour overnight train ride from Hanoi. In a compartmant with a chinese man... worried cause there are no other foreigners around and the women who works on the train throws the blankets on me an yells down the hall. Then I can't depart from the train station cause I can't find my ticket and they've locked the train and the iron gates to outside. "No" a Nazi like Vietnamese women yells at me as I try to find my guide and hope they don't leave with out me. " lucklily they open the train again and I find my ticket and wave it in the women's face.
We drive to Sapa on a mini bus. The air is cool and the cloud hang around the mountains. it smells like pine and there are no palm trees. The land is cut by rice paddy tiers and locals are plowing their fields with water buffalo. We ride on with hairpin turns honking at the motorbikes in our way.
I met my guide and 3 brits, and a south African girl.
we walk along the windy road and our guide tells us it snows in these parts in the winter. we walk along the rice paddy edges. through the mud up and down over hills and to a tiny village where we stay with locals in their home.
The village women come running over to us trying to sell us blanket and trinkets. to pushy and persistant. they stand hovering over us crowding our personal space which doesn't seem to exsists in Asia. "You buy from Me!!" a young little girl Ju about five catches out attentions. her English is amazing. SHe's dressed in traditional clothing and she keeps asking us "WHY!?" we don't buy from her. Later we befriend her, Kila and I. we sing songs with her and her friend V. Hmong and English songs. swinging arm and arm. laughing and trying to remember the Hmong songs...
we fall asleep quickly that night to the sound of rain on a tin roof and no beeping horns. aughhhh, every now and then I hear the sounds of crickets and the bubbling of water from a wooden tobacco bong.
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| ANother email from dad... |
| 05.19.04 (11:20 pm) [edit] |
Robert Lockman wrote:
Dear Julie,
Loved your newest news. You speak of watering your
roots, but knowing that the call to another
adventure would shortly come up once you are home.
While reading Jimmy Buffets travelogue-biography
about traveling in the Caribbean, he closed with
this poem, which echoes you so much...
The Double Life by Don Blanding
How very simple life would be
If only there were two of me
A Restless Me to drift and roam
A Quiet Me to stay at home
A Searching to find his fill
Of varied skies and newfound thrill
While sane and homely things are done
By the domestic Other One.
And that's just where the trouble lies;
There is a Restless Me that cries
For chancy risks and changing scene,
For arctic blue and tropic green
For deserts with their mystic spell,
For lusty fun and raising hell
But shackled to that Restless Me
My Other Self rebelliously
Resists the frantic urge to move
It seeks the old familiar groove
That habits make. It finds content
With hearth and home - dear imprisonment
With candlelight and well-loved books
And treasured loot in dusty nooks
With puttering and garden things
And dreaming while a cricket sings
And all the while the Restless One
Insists on more exciting fun
It wants to go with every tide
No matter where...just for the ride.
Like yowling cats the two selves brawl
Until I have no peace at all.
One eye turns to forward track,
The other eye looks sadly back.
I'm getting wall-eyed from the strain,
{It's tough to have an idle brain}
But One says "stay and One says "Go"
And says "Yes," and One says "No,"
And One Self wanys a home and wife
And One Self craves the drifter's life.
The Restless Fellow always wins
I wish my folks had made me twins.
What do you think? I love it. It makes me think
of you ...constantly.
Miss you, LOve Dad
Should I stay or should I go now? that is the question?
I'd like to have a home to call my own, but how quickly will I get bored?
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| Catching up |
| 05.19.04 (10:55 pm) [edit] |
I havent' written in awhile. I've been trying to sever my arms form the computer. I've been using it too much.
I spent some time in North Vietnam. I met an Vietnamese American who fled Vietnam by boat when He was ten. He spent 5 days on the boat until he reached indonesia. He's now a chemist in San Fran.
Another funny twist of fate. I met another American who happened to be at a Wong Kar Wai (Hong Kong Director) in Queen's in 1996 the same time I was there for a one and onlu screening. he was the only one to ask a question to the director. I somehow remembered this. and years later I met him in a prison musuem in Hanoi of all places. I guessed he was western by his clothing even though he had an Asian face. just a funny meeting in a time when I don't meet many american's...
...some more 6 degree's of seperation.
I'll write more on my travels when I have time. I think I'm going to rent a bycycle and ride to the beach.
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| Gooooooooooooood Morning Vietnam!!!! |
| 05.08.04 (4:38 am) [edit] |
Took a flight to Hanoi from Vientien Laos. A short one hour flight in the rain.
The temperature is cool. My digs are nice. A TV, hot shwoer and a tub, what luxuary, even a small balcony and a refrigerator stocked with beer and soda, for only US$7!!!
Hanoi is a dynamic city, again with French influence from the time they colonized in the 1800's. So there are many french inspirece buildings and food, such as excellent baquettes and coffee (like iN Loas).
THe traffic is mad in Vietnam, and I haven't even been to Saigon (HCMC) yet! There are motorbikes everywhere and you push your way through intersections with no lights or stops signs by honking your horn and swerving around pedestrians and cars, and whatever else is in your way... but it's facinating and So far I dig Vietnam.
Today I wandered around on my own. First to Ho Chi Mihn's Mausoleum to see his resting place and his preserved body. creepy, like when I saw Mao's body iN Tinnenimim (sp?) sq. IN Beijing. Everyone walks in a line and is only allowed max. 3 minutes to view the corpse. Next I walked around his living quarters and the Museum.
Got lost walkiing to the Temple of Literature, but found it and watched some traditional N.Vietnamese music, similiar to Chinese music, in fact I think it was...
I keep thinking about all the American war movies I've seen in the past and wonder when I see older faces what they most have witnesses at that time. I picked up a book today about a Vietnamese man in the war... haven't really heard from that perspective.
I'm Hot now, but I'm want to go and see the water puppet show tonight or tomorrow.
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| I love Laos PDR |
| 05.05.04 (4:15 am) [edit] |
Took a drive through a mountainous road in Northern Laos from Luang Prabang to Vang Vien. Misty mountains, clouds passing low, as the rain headed in another direction. I almost felt as if I was in a NOrthern Climate. THe smell of fresh trees almost like Alpine. crisp cool air, refreshing after the common heat of SE Asia. something I'll never get used to even the hot summer heat on the streets of NYC. I think I prefer cooler climates.
These hills and mountains were breathtaking. we passed small Mountain villages with children running along the side of the road waving at us. We had heard that bandits frequent these parts and target the local buses, luckily we were in a minivan comfy and cozy. I was listening to french music, quirky and fast like the landscape and the windy roads with french themes and the almost alpine air. I could almost be there, if it wasn't for the green rice paddies and asian faces, water buffalo and pigs constanly crossing the road. Our driver drove city style, honking at everything in his way, mostly lifestock.
We made a stop where the local kids came to stare as we ate our lunch and I drank my Cosco cola with a almost identicle label to that of Coca Cola, could it be...
I love Loas and the tiny mountain villages and the clean crisp air and less populated parts.
Vang Vien was a bit of a bust, touristy but the happy shakes were interesting...
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| Mao Mao from Lao Lao and lets dance! |
| 05.02.04 (3:50 am) [edit] |
The five of us from our guesthoue where brought to a local village 30 km from Luang Probang. I don't think many foreigners visit this place cause when we arrived the children swarmed around us or hid behind their mother's to get a glimpse of these strange creatures with blue eyes, and different color hair, and white skin. hmmmmmm peculiar.
We took another tuk tuk to the village, and made about 6 stops along the way to pick up a large speaker, beer (which we later found out was Lao Lao ( potent moonshine) dried fish and some surprise food wrapped in banana leaves.
THe owner of our guesthouse was like the cheif of the village. he had just donated a drum made from leather to the people of the village and noe there was to be a celebration in his honor.
We carried desked and chairs from the school to the center of the village and set them up in feasting style. They women and brought out the food and orange drink served in plastic bags, while the men sat and got wasted off of Lao Lao and Beer. Everyone waited for a sign from the monks, which was to throw candy out to the window for the kids, then sit under a tree like sitting Buddah's.
Then everyone took their respective seats, the men on one side, the foriegners on another and the women and childern in another. Drunk men kept running around and giving us each a shot of Lao and beer, even the women too! then the music began and our host got up with a mic and spoke to us in English how happy (and drunk) he was that we were here to celebrate with him, followed by a funny laughing burst. I couldn't stop laughing. he kept repeating himself, the circle of Lao Lao drinking kept repeating itself... as did the sythesized music beat and Karoke style traditional Lao singing. ANd here I thought we'd be hearing traditional instruments, this is it though, and honor to see the real people and be a part of their celebration.
The music did get mixed up a bit when our German friend Gerret found a different beat and rapped for us all in German and English. The people loved it as did us! a surreal site to see in Lao, a german guy rapping, while Lao and foreigner danced together.
The Lao dance is like a shufle in a circle. You twist your wrists around, and have a dance partner. the Lao men loved Hannah and I. we were giants among the men. and I felt like a boy wearing my shorts while the Lao women wore their beautifully woven skirts. oh well... they continued to tell us how beautiful we were though :wink: haha!
One of the tiny pissed drunk men had never seen a foreigner before. (or maybe he doesn't remember :)
So we left pissed drunk... they made us drink that Lao Lao!!! Mao Mao from Lao Lao (Mao means drunk)
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| do chase this waterfall! |
| 05.02.04 (3:29 am) [edit] |
I went to the most amazing waterfall the other day, just outside of Luang Prabang. It had mult-levels ad crystal clear water, blue blue blue! Oooooooooooooooo! I went with a bunch from the slow boat crew, it was one fo the girls birthday.
We took a tuk tuk to the falls. One of the first stops along the way is a tiger and baby bear cubs. wow real live creatures, only in cages, but it was amusing to see the bear cub climb up a tree. alright... on to the falls...
There was one part where you could swing on a vine into to the swimming hole, I watched the young lao Kids, show off to one another and a young monk strip from his orange robe still wearing his knickers though!
the color of the water was just amazing though! the closer you got to the main falls the more extrodinary they became, how can I even really describe them! A huge cascade falling from a giant hill, green vegetation, a huge swimming hole with loads of rocks to jump and dive from. a second tier up above high in the hills, overlooking the swimmnig hole. you could look over the edge at the other below, or have a shower in the refreshing water again pounding down on you from up above. ahhhhhhhhhh!
later that night was spent in good birthday fashion with free shooters and stupid drinking games. damnnn that Lao Lao!
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