When Things Go Wrong

We were excited to go back to the town of Vang Vien. It was our favourite town and we had about a 7 hour motorcycle journey to get there. We learned the hard way that riding in the dark in the mountains was not only scary, but it took away the view. We did not want to drive in the dark again- and it gets dark here at about 5:30. Recall that we rented our bikes in Vientiane, and the original plan was to leave them in Luang Pratang. But we decided to head back to Vientiane with them, with a stop in Vang Vien for the night.

So we filled up with gas the night before and set our alarms for 6:45am, and went to sleep dreaming of the beautiful countryside we would see on this ride.

It all started with the food on the boat cruise, I suspect. When we were cooking the little bits of raw meat the previous night, we did make a comment or two, such as, “I hope this meat hasn’t been sitting out too long,” or “Cook your meat well.”

Whatever the case, that night the cute and cozy feeling of us all sharing 5 to a room with our own bathroom wore off. I was the unlucky one whose bed was next to the bathroom. All night, I was woken up as people stumbled into the bathroom. It was a treacherous route to get here, as our stuff was everywhere and my briefcase was a little too close to the door. So every time someone had to use the bathroom, he or she would trip over it, and thus cause a racket.

“My goodness,” I thought sleepily as I was woken up again. “These people have the bladders of children!”

Dana took such a mad dash to the bathroom at some point and tripped everywhere so much, that I thought she may have killed herself.


As you may have now clued in, and I had not clued in that night, a few of my travelling companions had terribly upset stomachs and had made mad dashes to the bathroom in fear of vomiting, or because of diarrhoea.

The next morning dawned bright and early, but half of us were sick, and the other half had no sleep because of the others being sick. But we had a long ride ahead of us, so suck it up and carry on.

We did have some breakfast, which was a good thing, because little did we know at that time that it would be the last meal in 24 hours.

We left on time and felt good about ourselves. Not only would we be driving in daylight to fully experience the view, but we would have a nice relaxing evening in Vang Vien.


We were on the road for only half an hour when Meaghan’s scooter broke down. Again. It had broken down a couple days ago in the city, but a mechanic changed a spark plug and it was right as rain again.

We groaned at being stuck at the side of the road. We all stopped and determined that Kevin should whip into town on his Baja and call the bike rental place.

A minor setback only. No problem. We did express some nervousness at the state of Meaghan’s scooter, but decided to wait before getting too bent out of shape.

We made the best of the situation. We played cards in a ditch, ate Myanmain treats and played...how shall we say...adult versions of “would you rather.”

After an hour and a half, our optimism was wearing thin. And every Lao person that passed us on the road seemed to view us as some sort of interesting event to stare at. They all stared; not one person offered to help.


Kevin came roaring on his bike shortly after that, followed by a Lao dude, who turned out to be a friend of the rental guy’s. This was the guy that originally switched out the spark plug.

“Where’s his tools?” I asked Kevin.
Kevin growled. “He didn’t bring any! I told him, but either he didn’t understand, or thinks we can’t start it.”

Well as we had already determined, the bike wouldn’t start. So this guy hopped back on his scooter, and zoomed away to get his tools!

When he finally returned after quite a while, he changed the spark plug again.

We’re nervous about this. Two spark plugs in two days?

We tried to communicate with him that “we have very long way to go! Bike okay?”

“Yes, yes! No problem!” He assured us.

We asked again, and again. “Long way! Very far! Bike break down?” It was a ridiculous game of charades, as most communication here is.

He waved us away, “No problem, I fix.”

We were suspicious, but we had lost a lot of time and really couldn’t be short a bike because we had so much cargo. So we utilized the power of positive thinking that this bike WOULD make it, told Dana to say a prayer for the bike since she’s the most spiritual of all of us, and carried on.

One hour later I groaned as I turned a corner and saw Meaghan on the side of the road.
Flat tire!

We slowly brought the bike to the next village (for now there were only villages within miles) and tried to communicate with them that we needed to use some tools.


To make a very long story short, the Laos people who tried to be helpful weren’t that helpful. Every time they put a new tube in, it would puncture! Finally as they reached for a third tube, Ben motioned vehemently, “Stop! It will puncture again! Something wrong!”

Turns out they hadn’t put the strip around the rim to protect the tube from the screws or rivets or whatever.

During this time we were baking in the heat (not that I’m complaining about that, but our shirts were soaked in sweat) and it was as if we were providing a real live Broadway for the town. They all gathered around and stared at the foreigners. They would leave and call their friends. There were mostly children, but by the end of it, adults had gathered around to stare. While this is assuming at first, after 2 hours, it wears thin.

Two hours later the tire was fixed and we were on the road again.

Within 5 minutes Meaghan was stopped again with that damn scooter!

“Kevin,” she said, in tears. “It’s not shifting right. I almost lost control.”

Kevin bravely relinquished his beloved Baja (thank goodness Meaghan knows how to ride a motorcycle) and took the decrepit scooter. We all followed him and held our breath when that thing stalled, and cheered when he got it started again. Sometimes he was only going 30 km because he couldn’t shift gears, but he was moving.

We just wanted to get to Vang Vien and we had already lost so much time! I wanted to get to Vang Vien only because I knew that I would get my own room and a hot shower for $1.50 a night.

After 2 hours, the scooter stopped all together. By this time it was most definitely dusk, and Dana and Ben were ahead of us.

We noticed the gas gauge was at empty. We hadn’t filled up that long ago, but we were suspicious that maybe it was out of gas.

“After all,” Kevin said. “I’ve been driving in second the whole time.”

So once again he zoomed to the next village while Meaghan and I sat by the side of the road, getting stared at by the Laos passers-by. We cracked open a laptop and one shameless Laos guy stood behind us and stared at what we were doing. It was definitely getting dark.

More than half hour later Kevin came back with a couple vials of gas. We put them in and held our breath.

Nothing.

We all growled. This was definitely bad. It was almost dark and we were in the middle of the mountains in the middle of a country with only primitive villages and no English. And most people still had upset stomachs. And we had missed lunch and now dinner. And Dana and Ben were separated from us.

Somehow Kevin started that scooter to be able to drive it to the next town, where Dana and Ben backtracked to find us. We knew now that the spark plug needed to be changed again.

It took forever due to language barriers, but we did change it.

It was so dark by this point that you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. We were still at least 2 hours away from Vang Vien and it was well into the evening, and we were tired, hungry, and in some cases still sick. Kevin was especially struggling with an upset stomach.

But carry on! Three kilometres down the road, the damn thing broke down again!

This was disheartening. If the spark plug blew after almost 3 kilometres, this thing could definitely no longer be driven. It was completely dead. And now the town was 3 kilometres away, so we had to push the damn thing back in the dark, through the windy mountain roads, up and down!

Ben drove ahead to buy some rope, and as he was opening the bag with a knife, he sliced his finger pretty badly. So his rescue mission went awry as blood seeped everywhere. Just asking the villagers for a band-aid was challenging.


While we waited for Kevin to push the scooter back into the village, as Dana’s scooter cast light in front of him, we felt extremely low. What to do with this scooter? If we did not get this scooter back to Vientiane, we would not get our deposits, or more importantly, Kevin’s passport would not be returned. But it couldn’t be driven. We had to call the rental place, but when we made motions for “phone” to the villagers, they shook their heads so vehemently, as if it was the craziest suggestion they had ever heard. Dejected, we were now completely annoyed as the whole town gathered round to stare at us. I mean, we were miserable, and no one wants anyone to make their misery a spectacle.

So as Ben tried to get his finger to stop bleeding, and Kevin successfully pushed the scooter from hell into town, we knew we needed a place to stay.

Everything had gone terribly wrong and we were feeling extremely low, not to mention stressed about this scooter, but one thing had gone right.

Back on the road while Meaghan and I were waiting for Kevin to get gas a couple hours prior, two Lao boys on bicycles stopped and asked in extremely broken English if we were okay. We assured them we would be okay, but I don’t think they understood.

“Guesthouse, 100 metre,” was all he could say in the thickest of accents as he pointed up the road.

Meaghan had grumbled after, “Thanks, but we don’t need a guesthouse in the middle of nowhere. We need to get to Vang Vien.”

“We’re in the middle of nowhere,” I said. “How can there possibly be a guesthouse?”

Now these words rang in our head. We needed a phone and a place to sleep, both of which seemed like non-existent prospects in the middle of the mountains. (I had at one point said “Guesthouse?” to a local, as most Lao people seem to understand that word. She shook her head so hard I swear it almost fell off.)

Kevin and I darted in that direction on our Bajas and found the guesthouse about 10 minutes later. They had 2 rooms and beds for only 4, but we didn’t care. We took them.

There was a strange shack across the street that said “police” and we figured that if this was indeed the police, they would surely have a phone. And they did! But the reception was terrible and we couldn’t make the call.

Kevin, sick, rode back to the village to tell the rest of the gang that we had accommodations. We left the broken scooter in the village and chained it up. One do gooder motioned that he would change the spark plug again. After frying 3 spark plugs, we knew this would be the temporariest of band-aids and politely declined.

They went back to the guesthouse where I was waiting for them. I was dying for a shower and didn’t realize as I stood there with nothing on and the water trickled out, that there was no hot water. I shivered as I washed my hair. Later when I went to brush my teeth, I realized the tap didn’t work at all, so I had to use the cold shower.

The rest of the crew came back and Kevin felt so terrible that we decided I should bunk up with Dana and Ben. This bed—which was more like a layer of bricks with a thin sheet over top—was very small and we had the worst sleep again. And Ben’s finger was still bleeding.

But things always look brighter in the morning when the sun shines. The wretched day did end and the sun came up. We realized that we were in some sort of Lao truck stop town and there was a restaurant. After going without lunch or dinner yesterday, breakfast was definitely in order.

We desperately hoped the guy who rented our bikes to us would let us leave it in the town. There was no way we could get it back.


The restaurant did have a phone! But the reception was so bad, it was situated just so, so it was the most Mickey Mouse way of making phone calls.

But we got through!

And he told us that we could definitely not leave the bike there. We had to get it back. He went so far as to ask us if we played with the choke to start it. Then told us to change the spark plug again. Did he think we were stupid?

Maybe it was the daylight, maybe it was the fact that stomachs were more settled, or maybe Dana’s prayers got answered in a twisted sort of way, but we got the scooter back to Vientiane.

We decided to tow it.

The guy called back on the cell phone and we told him, “We changed the spark plug, I think we’re stupid, we’ll be in Vientiane if things go well.”

And remarkably things did go well. Kevin towed it for 200 kilometres through the mountains while Ben steered it! It was ridiculous and completely Mickey Mouse. I mean, most people would tow for a couple dozen kilometres, but a couple hundred?

Yes, maybe it was dangerous, but considering our limited options, we were just relieved that we were able to get the damn thing back in one piece- with all of us intact as well.

So we’re in Vientiane, rid of the bikes, and in much better spirits. Let’s hope we never have a day like that again. Today we hop on a bus for a 24 hour ride to Vietnam...

When All That is Lost May or May Not be Found

I haven’t posted in a couple days because of some crazy mishaps. These mishaps resulted in the road trip from hell, but at least it makes for a great story! For now I’ll leave you suspense to post the entry I wrote a couple days ago:
It’s been a couple of relaxing days in Luang Pratang, which were needed. The town itself is a bit touristy for our taste, but still insanely far from anything you would see in the Western part of the world.


We strolled the markets and streets, visited a spectacular waterfall, took advantage of cheap massages ($4 per hour) and I even took my motorbike offroading by myself. (Though I must confess that it was more of an attempt. After the second close call getting stuck all by my lonesome in uncharted territory in the middle of the jungle, I realized that my power-packed bike could get me into some jams that I would be hard pressed to get myself out of, and no one would have the first clue where to find me if something went wrong. Yes, mom, let this prove that occasionally I do have some common sense.)

This evening we took a boat ride up the Mekong river and had some dinner and watched the sunset. The dinner involved crowding around little barbecue style things and cooking our own bits of meat, rice noodles, and vegetables- a kind of Asian fondue. Once again, the scenery was spectacular. We were the only ones on the boat, so we got our iPods and speakers, bought a couple Beerlao (the local beer here) and had our own private party.
We’re heading back south tomorrow, back to where we started. It’s a long story why, and took us hours of debating or researching to come to this conclusion, but we feel this is the best decision given the information and time we have. Travelling sounds exotic and romantic, and it certainly is most of the time, but one fellow Canadian we met on our journeys summed it up best: Travelling is full of highs and lows. We’ve had a few minor disappointments in the form of not being able to see and do all that we hoped due to misinformation (or conflicting information) and fully booked tours, but we remind ourselves that we already have seen and done so much. At least this way we get to relive the glorious motorcycle ride through the mountains, which I just found out today is “arguably the best motorcycle ride in Southeast Asia”, according to one website.

The group dynamic has been great. One would assume that travelling with 5 people could be challenging at times, but we’ve all gotten along so well and have had so much fun together. We’re totally roughing it, and appalled at how our hygiene has just been thrown out the windows. Sketchy shower facilities, limited laundry resources, razor sharp sun resulting in sweat baths...it’s like camping without the ability to go swimming! I swear I’ve forgotten how to put on makeup, my hair resembles a bag of uncooked rice noodles, and I haven’t looked in a mirror for 3 days. I’m very afraid to do so. Ok, so we’re not that bad. I mean, we do shower, and have managed to find ways to clean our clothes, but we’re definitely slumming it out here.

The funniest part of the group dynamic is that we can all be quite scatterbrained. I must say that Meaghan, Dana, and I can be absent-minded on the best of days, but put us together and it’s gotten ridiculous. Ben and Kevin even claim that we’re rubbing off on them.

There's the Oakleys Kevin left on the back of his bike and drove away (he did recover them), Dana’s loss of her her motorcycle keys TWICE, Meaghan and I both lost a pair of sunglasses, the shoes I left by the river, Ben's close call of a missing iPod, Dana's misplacement of her motorcycle helmet...ok, ok, I’ll stop boring you, but these sorts of things happen on a daily basis. It’s amazing we all manage to function in remote parts of the world like these.

Anyway, stay tuned for the tale of our crazy day yesterday....
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Road Trip!

It was the ultimate road trip, our own version of The Motorcycle Diaries.

One of my favourite things to do in the world is ride a motorcycle. In Sarnia, you get the slightest thrill from tackling the “s” curves on the Indian reserve, or the curves by the airport. The ramp to an overpass is always a cheap thrill as well. And that's it, much to the chagrin of me and my riding buddies.

But driving through the Annamite Mountains more than made up for my deprivation. It was a blast to zip along on the bike, singing my heart out with my iPod, grinning like a fool, because I knew the day was one of those life moments that I knew would be permanently etched in my brain. Plus, biking with other people is always a riot, and to be doing this with 4 terrific friends...it was something I couldn’t have even fathomed in my dreams.


We went up and down, winded through roads, tackled hairpin turns, climbed up up up to be delivered to a cliff with a view so stunning I was certain I was watching a movie like “Lord of the Rings”. Then we would descend into valleys and be completely surrounded by mountains with rock formations and greenery you only see in picture books. Yesterday I surely witnessed the most beautiful scenery of my life- even more beautiful than South Africa or the south shores of Thailand.

I should pause momentarily to give credit where credit is due. An honorable mention goes to Dana, whose motorcycle debut was on these windy roads. The poor thing was a little apprehensive when we originally rented bikes. During her first lesson on her 110 scooter, she somehow hit the throttle with the brake, and when she released the brake, she was propelled into traffic on a busy street. Reduced to tears, she asked if there was a bus she could take to meet us there. But she valiantly tried again and did wonderfully (Ann, no worries- she has improved dramatically).

While the views were spectacular, equally memorable was the culture of the villages we passed through. The cattle did not pepper the road like they did on the early part of our journeys. Only once an obnoxious cow stubbornly planted herself in the middle of the street and stared at us defiantly while we drove around her. The further north we went, the more stray dogs and pigs we saw. We saw dogs fighting, pigs fighting, and even a new litter of piglet feeding off their mama on the side of the road. There was a family of chickens that crossed the road in front of me (Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side. It’s actually true! I saw it with my own eyes!), but the chicks were so little and cute that one couldn’t be annoyed. The one time I was annoyed is when the sun was long gone and it was black as asphalt, and a stray dog ran in front of me. That was definitely alarming.


But the villagers were amongst the most interesting that day. I fear we gave the poor Lao people whiplash! I was surprised that they noticed that we were white people driving through their villages, but they all noticed. Perhaps it was the blonde hair peeking from under our helmets, billowing around our heads. Perhaps it was the cargo loaded on all the bikes. Maybe it was the 2 Honda Bajas in the pack, when you don’t see real motorbikes here too often. Maybe it was a girl on one of these bikes, and granted, my bike is ridiculously loud. But they stared and stared, their round heads following our every move through the town. Naked children lost interest in the games they were playing by the side of the road to giggle and wave. Men stopped working the fields to stare. Women paused while hanging clothes to dry, and adolescents doubling on decrepit bicycles hit the brakes, stared and waved. This happened in every one of the numerous towns we drove through. It was almost hard to operate the clutch, because my hand was waving around to all the children in the villages that were grinning at us and fervently waving, as if we had just made their day a little brighter.

They live primitively in these towns. Their grass huts all look the same, and it wasn’t uncommon to see children toting sticks and wood on their backs, or even carrying their tinier siblings on their backs. There seems to be a community shower, because in every one of these villages, there was a shower like contraption by the side of the road, sputtering water, while people wrapped in towels gathered around. I saw one old man get right down to his skivvies, but Kevin topped that one by seeing an old women in nothing but her birthday suit. He says he was traumatized. Later on a little detour off-roading, he ended up at the community shower and the half naked Lao people laughed and laughed at the white person who was so clearly lost.

We left at 11am and didn’t arrive until 8:30pm, but granted, we had some liberal stops. It was a very long day. It’s cold driving through the mountains at night, not to mention a little treacherous. It was definitely a road trip to be proud of! The funny thing is that kilometre-wise, it’s not that far, but going through the mountains is a slow process.

But we made it to Luang Prabang safe and sound. Most of the guesthouses were sold out, which we didn’t need after a long day like ours. But ironically enough we found a room that sleeps exactly 5, so we had a giant sleepover. I slept quite well, but all I could hear was the rumble of my bike and I swore I was still weaving in and out of windy roads through the mountains.

Backstory

After an 8 hour motorcycle ride through the mountains, I am so freakin' tired (but a good kind of tired, like after a day of skiing) that I don't have energy to do anything more than check my email. I'll update on that tomorrow.

Here's the post that I missed- I was able to upload it finally. It's the backstory of our group's reunion in Bangkok on Saturday, and our trek to Laos. Here goes:

There were squealish girly giggles of glee at the Bangkok train station the Dana, Meaghan and I saw each other. Finally we meet again, and in Bangkok of all places!

We bummed around Bangkok for the day, basically doing what we do best: eating and shopping. We had until 8pm that night to catch the overnight train to Laos. The good news: it was only 13 hours, not the original 21. The bad news: We had a choice to make. Do we select 3rd class for less than $8 and chance it? Or 2nd class sleeper for double the price?

They chose 3rd class (though in fairness to Meaghan, her vote was for the sleeper). I wanted to be part of the group, but jet lag has been tough on me and I simply couldn’t do it. I figured $8 was a small price to pay for 13 hours for an overnight bed on a train, even if I had to forego the promised “camaraderie” and “view of the countryside” that Meaghan had promised me.

It was a rough night for me. The train was a rickety old bone shaker if I ever saw one and the mattress was anything but comfortable. And strangest of all, it was cold that night! I tied my hoodie tied up over my head and put on a pair of socks, which helped, but not enough. I finally stuck my head under the covers; even then I was only marginally warm.

The next morning I felt pretty bad. But after one look at the rest of the posse after I got off the train, I almost laughed. Some random comments were, “the worst 13 hours of my life!” “I froze my ass off!” “I finally just slept on the grimy train floor!” I just laughed. Serves the cheapskates right! All they had were individual upright plastic seats, and the car was packed.

So anyway, we arrived in Laos yesterday morning, completely exhausted from basically no sleep, but happy at the new stamps and VISAs that decorated our passports. We took up at a guesthouse (hostel) for less than $2 a night each. The only problem was that they only had 2 available bedrooms with 2 twin beds apiece. So Dana, Ben and I took one room, squashed the twins together and slept horizontally. Not bad, considering. (Though I do have a sore back, but it’s no wonder as I haven’t slept in a proper bed since last Tuesday night, when I was still in Canada…)

We’re in the capital city of Vientiane (pronounced “Vin-chin” by the locals). It has a very charming, peaceful feel, unlike Bangkok. It’s a similar feel to Thailand, but a little more laid back. We’re close to the Mekong river, which actually isn’t as picturesque as you might imagine. Mostly this is because the water levels seem really low, so you can see a lot of the brown shore. Vientiane actually reminds me of the Phuket because there’s a lot of shore and view of the water (though the Mekong river is not near as nice as the Indian ocean) and there’s just a quaint, lazy feel in the air, like no one’s in much of a hurry.


We ate lunch on the river, sitting Indian style. Dreadfully tired, we flaked out on the ground and napped while we waited for our food. The rest of the afternoon was nice; we strolled around searching for places to rent motorcycles for the week (unsuccessful so far), crammed 5 of us on tuk-tuks to get around, and had Indian food for dinner.

By 7:00am we all flaked out on 2 of the twin beds, crowded around a laptop and watched a couple episodes of “The Office”. I was asleep by 8:00pm.

Today we leave Vientiane, hopefully on motorbikes, and start exploring the countryside of Laos!

P.S. Here's a pic I forgot to post taken in Bangkok.

Exploring Caves and Tubing through the Mountains...

What a beautiful country!

Today was another action packed day. It started off well because the cheap hostel bed did not disappoint! Mind you, it was my first real bed in almost a week, so perhaps anything would have been good. But I got a good night of sleep without Gravol and finally feel half normal today.

And what a good day to feel normal it was!

We went for a lazy tube ride down a river. The mountains and lush greenery were simply breathtaking. The tropical terrain is always a treat to us Canadians, I suspect. There were some stops along the river such as zip lining and rope swings. I did a couple, but that sort of thing doesn’t do it for me. Dana was having a heyday. When I did the rope swing (which is just grabbing onto a rope on a high platform and swinging over the river, Tarzan style, then letting go to splash into the water), and being the brilliant person I am, kept my shades on. Needless to say, they didn’t surface with me. To add insult to injury, I left my shoes at one of the stops. And I was just laughing at Meaghan the other day for being scatterbrained...I blame my father's genes for this!

There was a 100ft rope swing that I took a pass on. I’ll jump from high places, provided it doesn’t give me that “whoosh” in my stomach. That feeling makes me want to vomit, and I'd rather keep my delicious Lao food down, thank you very much. Meaghan, Dana, and Ben did the jumps with screams of glee. Kevin was jealous; he would have loved to, but couldn’t get his knee wet.

After lazily floating down the river, we took our scooters and bikes and drove to explore a large cave. This was pretty cool; only pictures can describe it. I won’t even try. I’ll try to post some pics soon.

On the way back from the cave, we had to cross a suspension bridge. We thought it might be fun to rock the bridge, and didn’t really notice all the Asians crossing the bridge in front of us. Well, rock it we did, and couldn’t help but laugh as the scared Asians scampered off the bridge like lemmings over a cliff. But we felt bad when a toothless monk clung to the side for dear life, so decided that perhaps we shouldn’t try to get our kicks if it involved scaring poor Asians. They did seem somewhat amused, though, because once they took refuge on solid ground, they whipped out their video cameras to hopefully catch the crazy White people swaying the bridge.

I tried a bit of off-roading on my motorbike which was quite fun. I've never been dirt biking before. I did get stuck. I did take a tumble. I am a little sore. But hey, isn’t that what a Honda 250 is all about? It was a blast; I think I need a dirtbike now.

We’re moving at a keen pace around Laos, but loving it. The scenery here is just breath taking. It feels rural in a lot of ways- primitive almost. The English here is very broken, much more so than in Thailand. But it’s what makes it fun. We are really enjoying the food. The French colonized here, so it's like Thai food with a French twist. Deeelicious! Plus, they make a mean mojito here.

Tomorrow we move on to Luang Prabang. Oh yeah, I finally learned the name of the city we've been staying in- Vang Vieng. (Now can you see why I can't get these names straight?)

PS I’m posting some pics to yesterday’s blog. I don’t always have access to upload pictures, and most of today’s pictures were taken by Meaghan and Dana’s camera. I promise I'll post them when I can!

Honda Baja 250

I skipped an entry, but hopefully I'll be able to post it soon. On to today...

We woke up in Vientienne (the capital of Laos) with a stiff back thanks to the ever-so-uncomfortable hostel beds. But, at $1.50 a night, who would dare complain? Besides, they were short a room/bed, so I bunked up with Dana and Ben. We made do by squashing two twin beds next to each other and sleeping horizontally. Yes, we're slummin' it! I think they only way I slept was to pop a couple Gravol before bed. Jetlag has been kicking my ass...

But our dream of motorcycling through Southeast Asia materialized today. Of course, these sort of dreams are never quite as exotic as in your mind. For instance, it's expensive to do so. I coughed up the extra dough for a Honda Baja 250 instead of a scooter. I would have paid even more just to let loose on the throttle in the heat. For those of you who know me, you know it's one of my favorite things to do in the whole wide world. I couldn't have been happier.

Trekking through the countryside was amazing. There were grass huts everywhere, barefooted children playing on the side of the street, ladies walking with dozens of baskets, and palm trees swaying. It's very peaceful here.

One minor challenge was that there are all kinds of animals running around the countryside, from ox to cows to stray dogs to goats to chickens. I even saw a pig running around! Never mind the crazy Asian drivers- the animals are what you have to watch for. The first time I saw a cow lazily cross the street way ahead of me, I thought it was funny. The second time a cow crossed the street and I had to slam on my brakes and swerve to miss him, I didn't find it as funny. There was also a cute little boy on the side of the road cleaning something with a bucket of water. Well, the cuteness wore off quickly when he chucked the bucket of water at me as I was driving by!

But the drive was beautiful. We trekked through the mountains, up and down, swerving around, hitting the brakes for the hairpin turns. Night came quickly and when the sun disappears, so does the heat. We were still an hour from our destination and this is when the romance of driving a motorcycle through the countryside started to wear off. I was leading the pack and since the sun had disappeared, it was black as coal. The headlight of my bike cast a milky glow which enabled me to see, oh, 2 feet in front of me. On curvey roads with hairpin turns in the mountains when you're shivering, this is challenging. Add the memories of stray cows and it's downright dreadful. But we made it.

Now we're in some city (I can't even remember the name...how bad is that? Some odd combination of lots of vowels and few constanants) but we're happy to be here because we're now warm and alive. And this city is cool- it has a real pulse and some nightlife. Plus, we each got our own room in a hostel with our own little bathroom for 2 nights for $16US for all 5 of us (for both nights). No word of a lie. Mind you, if some of you saw these rooms, you might choke, but hey, we're a travelling caravan on a budget! We just ate some local food and drank a local beer and are feeling full and happy. Here in Laos you sit on the ground on cushions to eat your meals, so we lazed around while we waited for our food. Like I said, it's peaceful here.

Now it's time for me to crash. Hopefully I can sleep peacefully, kick my jetlag, and have no nightmares about smoking a cow on my motorcycle. Steak, anyone?

Laos

Sorry, but this entry will be terrily quick. I had a whole entry whipped up on my laptop, complete with pictures, as they told me yesterday I could plug my laptop into their Internet connection. Langugage barriers and IP address changes just don't go well together.

Anyway, we made it here in Vientiane, the capital city of Laos. It's been very nice so far! Laid back, calm, clean- what you expect captital cities NOT to be.

I have to meet up with the crew for breakfast and then go on a mission to rent motorcycles to explore the countryside. I will try to give a proper entry tonight.

But we are safe, alive, and Laos is wonderful!