Who are you calling a Laos?

I stood outside with another Kelly I met at the start of the race (she took first in the 30-39 age category); we were talking and holding our trophies when a group of Americans that had run the half walked by. One of the guys congratulated us and asked if we rant the half or the 10k. Umm, the full, actually :) He was a little embarassed. They ended up coming back a few minutes later; Bryan kept trying to apologize but we told him it was really no big deal. We got to talking and it turned out that they were all studying in Bangkok but were going to Laos for a few days--me too! Bryan invited me along with them so I figured why not? After quite the ordeal of trying to find them--losing their number, wrong bus and bus station, I finally found them and we left for Vientienne, Laos.

The bus took about four hours and we had a lot of trouble at the boarded because one guy, Erk, didn't realize he had overstayed on his visa for almost two weeks, so he owed 11,000 baht to the Thai government--hah. We ended up being left at the Laos boarder along with all the other tourists and had to take a Tuk Tuk to our hostel, a 20 minute ride. This is one of their fun tricks to make you spend more money. Luckily, there were 14 of us in total so it didn't cost too much--no fun if I had been by myself.

We dropped all of our stuff off at the Selom Yen Guesthouse and took a little night wlaking tour of the city. Bryan has been living in Southeast Asia for a few years and knows, the Thai and Laos languages so he knows a lot of people in the area. We went to his friens place around the corner and his mother ended up feeding us all of this Lao vegetarian food with a lot of rice, vegetables, mushrooms and tofu--DELICIOUS. I was starving at this point from the race so it was perfect. We all tried to go out to a bar with live music but were pretty tired so left after about an hour.This is the first country I haven't seen million of 7-11s, Buger Kings, Mcdonalds or any other American franchise. It was so refreshing to be away from that.

The next day we did a little sight seeing--the morning market (which was pretty similar to any other market I've been to--food, crafts, faux designer duds, etc), Patuxay, and the Golden temple. After lunch. Bryan, Shannon , Wally, and Ii decided to go for a little spa treatment. We went to a sauna that was so hot you could hardly breath inside and afterwards went to geth Thai massages. I was on a mattress on the floor along with Wally, Shannon (a guy) and Nuum. These girls are tiny, but don't let the size fool you, they have no trouble bending and throwing you around. Shannon was laughing the entire time because he is ticklish absolutely everywhere. There is a point when you're lying on your stomach and they have you grab their hands and they stretch you into a backwards arch; Nuum accidentally let go and the girl went flying to the ground! A few minutes later, I get tapped on the shoulder and Wally says something about feeling really awkward. i look to see the girl basically straddling him--kneeling on his upper thighs. everyone was laughing and wally had to roll over for, ahem, male issues...HA!

That night we tried to do some Chinese New Year celebrations, but the city was a bit dead and we wound up at a bowling alley until 12:30 and called it a night. Bryan, Shannon and I got up at 6 am to go for a little job around Patuxay the next morning when the city was peaceful without horns honking and tuk tuk's heckling--perfect. After the run, Jeff, Shanon, Erik and I were all treated to a free traditional Vietnamese meal at Bryan's friend's mom's friend's restaurant (got that?). Noodle soup and pork noodle egg rolls--not spicy like Thai cuisine. The interesting thing about the food here is that you can literally taste every ingredient--here's some pork, there's basil and a hint of lemon-grass--all of it! For the last event of Vientienne, we all went to the shooting range where we all picked a gun and got five bullets for less than two dollars and no paperwork to fill out--this would never fly in the states. My aim isn't too bad, either; I used a rifle and got all 5 bullets in the target!

I left them at two to catch a bus to Vang Vieng to meet up with Lilly and Katie. the bus was small and packed with falangs (tourists)--I seriously thought it was going to roll over on some of the sharp turns. We got there in one piece, luckily, and Lily was waiting for me. We got some food and headed out to Jaidee's bar. This is a very small party town filled with bars, internet cafes, and Friend's restaurants where the tv sitcom Friends is always playing. Basically everyone goes out at night and tubes down through the river bars during the day--not the most cultural of experiences but entertaining to say the least. I ended up sleeping on the floor of Lilly and Katie's room for 10,000 kip a night--that's a little over a dollar. Gotta love Southeast Asia!

Food Corner

Kai Louk--Literally translated this means Egg child--a hard boiled egg with a half developed fetus in it--petrifying to look at but tastes like a hard boiled egg with the essence of Grandma's friend chicken (it's a little crunchy in the yolk due to tiny bones).


Taste: 2
Aftertaste:1