Photo of the Day - Nam Khan loves Mekong

Being that I am planning on staying in Luang Prabang for a little bit, I'd thought that I could try to start doing more regular postings of photos. I look back through my Lao photos and see that I don't have so many pictures so am hoping that with this "photo of the day" type thing that I can start to take more and share more with y'all.

Where the Nam Khan (Khan river) meets the Mekong. I sat here and talked to my friend Nok for a while. Located at the very tip of the peninsula it's an incredibly peaceful place to relax and just be. I took this photo just as a boat was coming down the river, you can faintly see it in the distance.

Giving Blood - Luang Prabang

I think I've mentioned giving blood on either this blog or my twitter account but I just received some great pics so I thought I'd share them here.

I had never given blood before as I was usually two much of a wimp and also when I was fatter they always had trouble taking blood from my veins. But I'm thinner and less scared than I used to be so why not give blood in a developing country where it may be more needed. Actually, it was more needed as my blood type, O+, is rare and highly sought after in Lao.

I went with my friend Kelly who I met here in LP and both of us had never given before and were a bit timid. But both him and I did it and felt better afterwards. Well, we felt lightheaded first, then better.

Come on, just stick it in me and let's get this over with. I'm a bit nervous here.

It's in. Don't look. breathe... breathe. actually it wasn't so bad.

Only one liter? let's go for 2!

Chompet - Across the Mekong

In order to go any further in this story I should introduce someone to you, as well as introduce a common theme in SE Asia. The theme is of running into people you know from a previous time or of finding some weird connection you have to someone/something else. Enter Rachel, Rachel and I met in Vietnam about 5 weeks ago at the guesthouse I was staying at. Long story short, we grew up in neighboring towns, she went to high school with a cousin of mine and my uncle was her dentist. It's a small world. Anyways, flash-forward 5 weeks with no communication and then BAM!!! meet on the street in Luang Prabang.

We decided to hang out the next day and cruise across the river to Chompet. We rented bikes and drove around the area. I wanted to go to find a sugarcane farm (ran out of time) and she wanted to see some temples (there are a bunch lining the Mekong, though tourists frequent them less than on the LP side).

Near the end of the day we stumpled into a village and found a bunch of kids to play with. Rachel, the great biker, started taxi'ing 2-3 kids at a time up and down the road on her bike. Eventually they all started saying "pen, pen, pen" Rachel asked me what pen meant in Lao and I informed her "it means pen, they want you to buy them pens." She cruised over to the local store and bought all the children pens. Very sweet of her. I didn't buy them anything but did pick a few kids up and swung them all around and upside down. We all have our own way to effect the youth. :)

It was a nice day, but boy were my legs sore the next day from riding as it'd been a while and also I was a bit too big for their bike sizes.

On Chompet looking out onto Luang Prabang

looking down the Mekong

Rachel in front of one of the temples. This was one of my favorite temples, even though to get there meant walking up a shit load of steps.

some stupas outside the temple. I referred to them as the madonna stupas, in reference to the bra outfit she wore in the 90's during the Vogue tour.

wired design on a door in front of a cave temple

sunsetting over the mekong

crossing back to Luang Prabang on our "ferry"

Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang

Once again I'd travel on route 13 heading north from Vang Vieng and ending up in Luang Prabang, these roads becoming very familiar to me. Outside of Vang Vieng is incredibly beautiful with the karst landscapes and lush forestation. Past Phou Khoun on the way to LP you're driving along mountainsides swirling up and down and up and down and have access to the sights of beautiful valleys below. Just don't look too long or you'll drive off!!

Just outside of Vang Vieng. I love driving on this road as the natural beauty around just engulfs you.

A little south of Phou Khoun is this mountain lookout. A tourist stop with a little restaurant attached (how chinese) but beautiful full aerial of the surrounding mountains and valleys.

I love this sign. It welcomes you to a city that is 140km away. The first time I saw it I thought, "yes, I'm already there." Then I realized I'd barely been driving and had a long way to go.

Another ridiculous sign. Xishuangbanna (as you may recall from my travels last January) is in the southwest of China. Though somewhat close in relative distance, you're still pretty far away. Chinese tourism at their best.

A week in Vientiane

I left Luang Prabang to drive back down to Vientiane as I'd be teaching yoga for a week at the Vientiane Yoga studio. Unfortunately for my teaching, another guest teacher with more priority happened to be in town, but I was warned that this may be the case. I taught class every day at 7am but no one showed up. Toni, the other teacher did give me one of her classes to teach and it was a nice one. More importantly though I was blessed with the gift of new friendship. Marnie, the owner of the studio was a gracious host and friend. She put me up for the whole week gratis and shared with me much of her knowledge of Vientiane (she's lived there for over a decade) and also introduced me to many movies and shows I'd never have known about because they were Australian. (I know, who knew the Aussies had TV. hehe)

The week was very relaxing and restorative for me. I practiced yoga every morning to dvd's to remind myself of practices and forms long forgotten. I read everyday and also did my fair share of sleeping. I turned 31 on a beautiful friday and celebrated by practicing yoga and then basically doing nothing else but sleeping... I guess it's a good way to ease into the old age.

Besides all this, I also took a little day trip over the Friendship Bridge to Thailand to get a new visa as mine was running out. Already a month in Laos, can you believe it? Another place I planned to stay less time in and have stayed much longer in. I wasn't sure how easy it'd be to cross the bridge via motorbike as I've read it's not allowed, also I was never given the correct permits to bring my bike into the country. Long story short, I bounced around offices at the border to get permission to bring my bike back into Lao and I crossed over to Thailand. In Thailand I hopped from window to window and got my free stamps to which I then crossed back into Lao. I never declared my bike in Thailand as I was afraid I'd have to pay even though I was just there for about 20 minutes. Instead, I drove over a curb and zoomed out of the country, crossing the Mekong again.

This time in Vientiane I liked it much more than the first time around. I think it was here I figured the secret of Lao out. "If you come to Lao looking to do something, you won't like it. But if you come to Lao looking for nothing, you'll find it." It's not that Lao has nothing to do, quite the contrary. But so many countries in SEA (south east Asia) have all these "must-do" things that people come in for a week or so to do and then leave. Lao is more about relaxing, taking things slow and enjoying life.

So with that in mind, I'm signing off to enjoy some life here in Lao.