Overdue
Alright, it’s been quite a while since I posted anything offering any insight as to what I’ve been doing for the past couple months, so I will officially end my bout with procrastination and deliver the goods, with a small caveat. I normally spend a good amount of time preparing my blog posts, but this time around, I’m going to go with the mind-vomit approach. So if this posting makes no sense or reads like a 4th-grader’s book report, I apologize.
This update will come in installments, hopefully about one a day for the next few days.
Okay, we’ll knock down the big one first. Laos. I went to Laos over Christmas to meet up with Eli and his family in Luang Prabang. This trip took place right in the middle of a deadline pinch, trying to get an AIDS project proposal together in time for submittal on the 30th. So while the trip itself served as a nice break from the pressure of waiting for my Thai collaborators to complete their part so I could rush to get my part done, I also had the prospect of a few stressful and work-filled days to greet me upon my return.
I arrived in Chiang Khong on a Wednesday evening. Chiang Khong is a Thai town located about an hour or so from Thoeng (my town) and is the northern border-crossing with Laos. Chiang Khong is also home to the best Mexican restaurant in Thailand. Needless to say, I arrived in town with burritos on the brain.
To my great dismay, the nice lady at the Bamboo Guesthouse informed me that the kitchen would be closed that evening because there was a food festival being held in town. Damned food festival.
Things didn’t turn out too bad. I had some spring rolls, corn on the cob, and a brownie, and I met some of the locals. While it was nice to make new friends, I guess you could call it all a wash because a good burrito is as good of a friend as I’ve ever found.
I wake up on Thursday to a chilly morning on the Mekong. A pot of tea, a banana pancake, a short walk, and a twenty-second boatride. I am in Laos. Wow. What’s the difference between Thailand and Laos? Laos is a little more dirty and has the most ridiculous currency I have encountered in my limited travelling experience.
As soon as I cross the border, I exchange a decent chunk of Thai ‘baht’ for a huge pile of Laotian ‘kip’. The exchange clerk hands over a stack of crisp bills at least an inch thick. Each of these bills is worth 20,000 kip, or $2 U.S. Unable to fit the money into my wallet, I put the stack in the breast pocket of my fleece and walk over to make arrangements for my boatride to Luang Prabang.
