After going to the Cambodian Embassy twice yesterday, I decided to give up and let my guesthouse take care of my visa for me. So I woke up at 8:00am and gave them my passport, some money, and filled out a few forms. I should be able to pick it up today at 4:30pm.

I met up with Rob, the German I had met in Bangkok a month ago, and am going to stay with him for tonight and possibly tomorrow. He runs an export business here and knows a lot of really good people that could be helpful in setting up the NPO.

I am meeting him in 40 min, so more later!

This is a long one, so click through to see the pictures and the rest of the post.

It was time to leave Vangvieng , even though it was a fun place, it functions much like a black hole. You get there, and simply don’t leave. I made sure to get up early (7:00) so that I could catch a morning trip to the capital. When Thad and I were leaving last time we made the mistake of waiting until afternoon, which put us in the city after nightfall.

I went to the station, and found a pick-up truck leaving in 15 minutes so I jumped on board. That is to say, I crawled over the Lao people and squeezed in between an old lady and a little kid. I was the only farang (foreigner) on the pick-up. You know when you see a bunch of Mexicans in the back of a truck and chuckle? Multiply it.

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I spent the first day here tubing the river again, and then the second one on a Motorbike, exploring caves, lagoons, and rural Laos life. I have been here before, so this time I went in some different directions, following an irrigation ditch, going to a different cave, etc… This place has not changed much, but it is evident that it is experiencing growth like the rest of the country. I am staying in the same place I stayed a month ago, and already I can tell that the family is much better off. This has been one of the biggest (if not the biggest) tourism season Laos has ever seen. The family is dressed better, has new motorbikes to offer, and seems happier than last time I was here. There are new buildings under construction all over this place, which is proof that it is doing well. I sat and watched the sunset yesterday, as well as the constant stream of people who were coming off of the river on tubes. I would say that about 25 percent of the town’s tourist population takes a trip down the river every day. It is a pretty big event.

I have been trying to put some pictures up, but the Internet here is giving me no end of problems. I will post some when I am able.

-Ben

Back here for the second time, and I am staying in the same room I stayed in before, so it was kind of like a homecoming. I went back to Pizza Falconi, and they were really exited to see me, and gave me hugs so it was really like a homecoming.

I will probably stay here for several days, to spend some time on the Internet doing some work, and to try to set up the non-profit I am working on some more. It is only $3 a night to stay here, so I can remain for quite some time.

Plus, there is a river, mountains, caves, rock climbing, motorcycles, music and a lot of really fun people.

More updates on the projects I am working on in good time…

So I don’t know when the last real update was… but, some things have happened since then.

1. I have really started to like Laung Prabang.
2. I have met some amazing people.
3. I am ready to leave Laung Prabang.

First day I spend being lazy (what is new, right?) and I justified it by saying I had just come from a long three days of traveling. Valid point. Today I woke up early and went for breakfast and some Internet at a place I found that has free Wi-Fi, where I promptly forgot about updating my blog and focused in on some good facebook stalking, coupled with a feeble attempt to download the last episode of Heroes. I failed at the download due to the excruciatingly slow internet they have here in 3rd world asia. Seriously, when are they going to get with the times and get high speed cable internet to these beautiful bamboo shacks? In facebook stalking I was much more successful, so I am caught up on all the gossip going on at home, without even needing to talk to anyone.

(disclaimer / spoiler) I found heroes at the Pirated DVD store that every street in South East Asia has, and am pissed that once again, nothing is explained, and we still don’t have a clue as to what is going on. Now Peter can do everything and is good again, and Silar is back? Come on and finish already. Just kidding, please don’t go on strike, finish the series.

After I wasted a good hour on the internet accomplishing nothing, I walked around most of the temples and gardens in this city. Laung Prabang was originally a French Colony, as was most of Laos, so it has a lot of old french architecture, and most of the buildings are still built in the old French style. The whole town is very small, and this took me about 3 hours. So I had an early lunch, followed by a nap.

I made it up to the temple that is on top of a little mountain overlooking the town for sunset, and was rewarded for my 400 steps up a hillside covered in tiny, 13-year-old, “help me sir, for I am starving and need money for my school, so please buy a little bracelet that I hand made to pay for my school… Yes they are different from that girl over there’s bracelets, because she copied me,” sales people by a stunning view, which I have kindly shared with you below.

You have to realize that these children selling goods are everywhere in Southeast Asia, and they rarely get to keep any money they get. After a while, you just get callused to them, and shrug it off. If I were to giver to everyone, I would go broke in a day, and nothing would get done about the situation. Seeing the vast amount of poverty, coupled with a desire to do something effective about it, has let me to start a new project where I will be investing money directly into a community with the goal of long term benefits. Yes, I have already set up a site to work on this, and am just starting to look into what it would take to get it set up as a legal NPO in the USA. More about that later, because it isn’t ready yet.

Whew… Too long…

The people I met: Some Kiwis who I am going to teach how to climb in Vaing Veing.

Why I am ready to leave: Vaing Veing

Sunset at the top of Phu Si

Flower reflection (there is a different shot of this on the photos page)

So click on the map to get an interactive map, that will then allow you to see where I am by way of a nifty pushpin looking thing that will only show up after you click on the map. Yes. ok.

This is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and pictures will be coming soon.

The past few days have been a blur… I woke up early Friday morning and put my bag on for the short hike to the boat pier. I showed up at 9:30am for an 11:30am boat, and am so happy I did. The boat slowly began to fill up and get more and more crowded, but somehow (and I swear I didn’t try to make this happen) I got the only seat by myself. Over time, people began to move the seats around, and get up and walk and more people were sitting alone, but I was happy I didn’t have to worry about it. The seats are simple straight backed wooden benches that loose their comfort after approximately 35 seconds. The trip went from 11:30am to 6:00pm, and half way threw people were sitting on the floor, sleeping on benches, by the engine room, anything to avoid sitting up. I spent some time goofing around with a few people from New Zealand and Australia, and made plans to meet up with them on that night, but as things go, I couldn’t find them later on.I shared a room that night with one of the people from the boat, and we were the only westerners staying in the guest house we found (for only 30,000 kip or $3USD) so we spent dinner joking with the owner and her son, who was about five or six and had a flashlight that projected an image of Pamela Anderson. This he went shining around onto my shirt, thinking it was the most hysterical thing he has ever seen in his life. I got the light from him and chased him around with it, because heaven forbid Pamela actually show up on his shirt!

The next day found me back on the boat, but this one was probably 20 percent smaller than the first boat, with just as many people. We were sitting on the gunwale, on the floor, on bags… it wasn’t until some people got off the boat that everyone was able to spread out a little and become comfortable. the same group of Aussies and Kiwis were playing poker the whole time, drinking some lao lao home made rice wine, aka moonshine, and doing a good job of enjoying the trip for everyone on the boat.
Over the two days of the trip I read all of Mark Twain’s “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court”, and a fair amount of Bill Bryson’s “The Complete Notes”.
Last night we got into Laung Prabang, (I ended up staying in the same place as the Aussies) and settled into a really nice old French house for $10 a night. This whole city is like a French town set among palm trees on the river, and we wandered around through the markets, taking it all in before we found a street stall that had whole plates of food, buffet style, for 8000 kip (80 cents). We sat down for a great meal of vegetarian food.

I am about to go out to explore the city some more…
-Ben

Fun with exposure settings. The sun over the Mekong River 

Rows of slow boats waiting for people. The Lao families live on the boats year round. 

Just some others