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Hi guys - lack of updates: have been travelling through rural southern villages where electricity, water and telephones are a luxury, let alone internet. For now, feast on this:

"Sawadee". "Sawadee". We responded to the huge friendly smile characteristic of this region. It turns out that he is Laotian, and an epitomy of everything that is rumoured about Laotian people. Warm, friendly, highly-loveable and so laid back he'd almost fall over. Traversing and experiencing such beautiful people, one is a far cry from the familiarity of fear and unrest of the West, that it is difficult to believe the world is in certain parts, in turmoil. Ironically, the Democratic Republic of Laos is considered to be one of those countries. And for sure, it has its share of political instability, under-development and economic struggles, but, a certain flame of happiness dances in the eyes of the locals with whom I have interacted - a flame whose light is often missed in the West.

In Laos. In Love.

Asha Patel
2006-08-23 10:48:48

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it was. I re-fuelled as was soon on the road....

....Rice paddies. Farmland. Swamps. Straw huts. Farmers. Dirt roads. Heat waves. Sparkling eyes. Smiling faces. Although this time, the picture is not one I'm staring longlingly into at the glossy pages of travel magazines from the confines of my English home. No, this time, the picture is real. Disbelieving I am actually here, in Laos. I whizz through the countryside on my motorbike, hot, sticky air blowing into my face, rural smells wafting up my nose and my skin prickling in the heat as my flesh roasts in the heat of the dry season. Some water and Beer Lao provide temporary relief as we stopped for ten minutes. The roads were deserted but for a few hay stacked trucks, local farmers and the odd oblivious cow crossing over. The highlight for me though were the Laotian children who gleefully waved "sabaidee" as we whizzed by, and for whom I always slowed down and smiled. We returned, the bikes and ourselves, unscathed and exhausted. Rach and Eve ordered their fish and watched their supper being caught out in the river. No matter how delicios the food, I found myself unable to enjoy anything once the sun had set and the pestering, irritable, relentless swarms of flying pests came out to play. Constantly waving them out of my face, hair, ear, mouth and food, I was hot and bothered. To add, got the back of my thigh punctured in a nice paw shape by a local scrawny cat. Mannn.....

-- Don Khong to Pakse to Vientiane --

...In the morning we bid farewell to our travelling companions as they headed to Don Det and e to Vientiane. Another crammed sawngthaew took us to the water and across. I sat and watched in amazement as this wafer thin seemingly unstable raft loaded up an inestimable number of vehicles and floated to the other side. More than one sigh of relief as we reached he bank after the long wait (patience really is a virtue if not a necessity in Asia). The next three hour stretch ...