thanks for crediting my sweet bus-station locating skills Gav. Anyways the true story is if I ever leave you lost and wandering at the bus station, I better steal your guide book, because your book definitely tromps mine when it comes to info on Laos (For those who keep track, it's an LP....i'm burning my Rough Guide book tomorrow)....which is fine, except that now Gavin likes to make up ways to compare our 2 books....which naturally reminds us of a little Mickey Avalon number we used to sing back at home. MY BOOK....
Last week when we ferried across the river to Laos, we were a little sad to leave mother Thailand. She has been good to us, especially the last few days in the town of Nan, where there are a few less tourists (excepting female German Mick Jagger), tasty treats like papaya salad, beautiful mountains, and a scooter to explore on. I think we've become pretty comfortable in Thailand, and being there feels friendly. Even the dogs are friendly in Thailand; they hardly ever bark at you, even though somebody put a sweater on them in 80-degree weather. In the first week or so of our trip, I started to have the feeling that everything in Thailand was about tourism. Of course there's so much beyond the tourist industry here, but everyone we came in contact with made their living from tourism, or had some connection with it. When we finally got out to Umpang (where we "trekked" from on the Burmese border), I definitely started feeling more like a person and less like a walking ATM. aaah, I like that.
Something else I liked - while were were our riding bikes in northern Laos, a 20-year-old kid from one of the villages in the area drove by us on his motor scooter and invited us to lunch at his house. It is amazing the lengths people go to to practice their English - at the same time it was also so cool for us to be able to visit his house. We sat on the floor and shared bowls of soup with lots of unidentified meats, and what may or may not have been raw pork. It was magenta. Hopefully the homemade booze that accompanied the meal killed off all parasites. Gavs and I learned a few words of Lao, which we promptly forgot.
Travelling on and along the Mekong in Laos has been amazing. The towns and river banks are crawling with people, but the Mekong is so immense that once out on the water you feel free of it all. I will probably have to start my own geology blog after all the pictures I have taken of river banks, limestone cliffs and the mountains that form this rolling, mellowed-out end of the Himalayas.
Okay, pictures now. And for those of you who have asked, I know it is Christmastime, but I do not take requests for Filson socks while in SE Asia, and it far too hot for me to think about these things.
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Pictures! Yeah!!! Socks... booo.
I had almost forgotten what you looked like when I found this old pic just layin' around.
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l232/lxfrnk80/emface.jpg0/emface.jpg[/IMG]
It looks and reads like you guys are having a lot of fun. I was getting jealous of all the neat things you guys are gonna see when I thought to myself, "Alex, you don't really need to go anywhere to be amused. All you need is to say out loud a fifth of the things you think and you will never be bored." (i.e. I annoy myself with how smart I think I am, poor you)
Anyway, tis well past a reasonable hour and I must be off to sleep.
Goodnight/morning/tomorrow/spacetime-continuum,
Alex
mouse-
i figure i better write since we dont want you to think your only writing to alex coldfeet. i can relate to you learning some loa language then promptly fogetting it. i spent 5 years in college learning things then promptly fogetting them. its easier on the brain. the common denominator? we were both drinking alcohol. i havent checked the blog since i left for our trip to san diago. We missed you guys, you would have fit right in, there were couples sprawled all over the "humble" condo's we were staying in. lets just say im glad shannon attended, or i would have felt a little lonley and pathetic, you know, not being engaged and all. Sounds like you guys are having fun, and looks like gavin is staying freshly shaved up top, for what, just to stick out a little more? he makes a sore thumb look like a camelion (sp?). i cant even imagine how bored that guide is of looking at those waterfalls. but i would sure like to see a few. Anyways it doesnt feel right around here at christmas w/ out you. We had dinner tonight w/ the Denby/brackett clans, dad cooked a spinich stuffed turkey to perfection...just when you think you've got someone figured out, they go and suprise the hell out of you. it was fun, and im missing you. be well and remember if you catch a man a fish you feed him for a day, teach him to fish...feed him for a lifetime.
love and white wine
chirstmas morning only child john
i have so much to say to you oi...i was greatly amused by the following in no particular order:
--sounds like you packed a travel troll as you appear to be having excellent luck
--i can't believe you got invite to a random's house for lunch...THAT is freaking cool. 'meat of questionable origin' should be the name a new blog from you & g
--if you start a geology blog you have taken your geekness to a whole new level
--i can't believe john signed off as Christmas morning only child...i started laughing outloud in this stank ass internet cafe (thanks for the smell polish dudes)
--i love hearing your voice! thanks for posting the pics, i can only imagine how long they took to load
love you, your second biggest fan
OH! one more thing, now that we're grown ups, i think its time you freaking BUY us filson socks...aka i want a woman's size and the freaking whatever greg menzel left in the box after he tore threw it.
Yo peeps-
Becks and I are crowding aound the heater here at Whitman. ALthough the fire is lit, the gass heater seems to expell much more heat. Plus red wine tastes so much better when warm. So this is the darkest week of the year here in the Great PNW. We celabrated the coming on the solitce by spilling red wine on the carpet. Don't worry, I poured white wine on it. Mandy wasn't satisfied, so she put a little baking soda on. BAD idea!!! Your living room carpet is now blue. Much like a smurff. Anyhow, the Christmass tree and the menora are lit, even though it is Kwanza. We are enjoying the gingerbread ornaments that mandy made and are in generall, avoding any new people. It is too dark out for that...
So yur renter wnats to know how the humidity is for baking bread in the kitchen???
OK. Oh, so I work with a lass from Laos. She said the wierd pink stuff you ate was most likley formeted pork. YUUUUUUMMMMMM!!!!!
Come home soon, the penguin is lonely and forgotted next to the fireplace, we think he might be melting? Most import. Stevens is full of snow. (not melting).
HaPPY CHANaka!!!
p.s. seattle is not the city you remember. I saw not one, but two people peeing today.
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