Yahoo festival on the water-Vang Vieng

So if you want to have special food, then this could be the place for you. I am talking special pancakes, shakes, tea and pizzas. Why are they special, because you can have them made with either, opium, mushrooms or marijuana. I hear they are pretty good! I call this place the biggest yahoo fest around because you can rent a tube and float down the Mekong river and stop about every 500-1000 ft at a new bar. Every young kid from Europe seemed to be here. This business is probably the most popular I have seen in Laos, people line up to get tubes for their adventure. Mind you, this is probably not the safest thing one could do, this morning I saw lots of carnage walking around the streets. But the beauty of the whole thing is, is that it is Laos and basically you can do what you want. That means setting up a bar on the Mekong, putting up some really sketchy swing into the river, or some really dodgy huge water slide and get away with it. Mind you a girl died here about a month ago. It was a trip to see, but not really my seen. The total float is about 3k's with a bar about every 500 meters. This business is rocking for Laos standards, and it is all cash! I can tell you the water slide and the rope swings were big, bigger than I have ever scene, put it this way, I met a kid this morning that dislocated his shoulder just on his entry into the Mekong after the swing. But hey ' it was worth it man'. So anyway, enough of the yahoo fest, I moved on this morning, going south and getting more excited about the the surfing to come every day! Hope all is well- cheers my friends

Mekong river slow boat and Luang Prabang

After the jungle the it was 2 days on Mekong river and three days in Luang Prabang. I took the boat to in order to get to Luang Prabang. The river was cool, you travel on what they call a long boat. Great time, like a two day party on the Mekong. Met some nice people. Basically you meet people from all over the world. I met a Finish man and a American who I hung out with in Luang Prabang for a couple of days. L.P. was nice, the city/small town is right next to the Mekong, good place to go to. I spent 3 days there, did about 60k's on a rented mt bike one day to waterfall, spent a little time in some caves, got myself a $5 one hour massage, it was good. I have now moved again, heading south! This is all great, but really getting anxious to get to Indonesia. How many Wats/temples can one see?

Jungle

Wow! A lot has transpired since the last post. I made it to the jungle and back, had to fight off the lions, tigers, bears and leeches. Not joking about the leeches, nasty little, blood sucking annoyances to say the least. So I was in northern Laos and did a three day trek. On the trek were two guides and three trekkers, including myself. The other two people were a man and woman from France. Really nice people. So the trek begins in like 90 degree weather with about 90% humidity. In the first 100 ft you are already completely covered in sweat, I am thinking it could be a long day when you are soaking wet so soon and mosquitos are buzzing around waiting to deliver Dengue fever or malaria. Ok - I dont want to sound cynical as we were hiking thru the jungle and it was really beautiful. Lushous greenery everywhere. Jungle vines hanging off the trees with the occassional snake on the trail. As we approach our village accomadations for the night, a lady is bare breasted just checking us out. Not your everyday trekking sight! We get our own little cabin that all five of us sleep in. The food is fresh as can be, hand picked vegetables and the chicken is killed for us right before our eyes.
After a good night of sleep it was time to start day two, we were warned of the leeches on this day, sort of excited and worried at the same time. They are not going to give you any disease, but the thought of these things sucking my blood really does not excite me. So at the height of the leeches, the ground was literally alive with leeches, you could not walk 100 ft without having at least 2 or 3 having a go at you. I managed to only give blood 2 times! It made it hard to enjoy the trail when all you are thinking about is not to let these things get you. Sort of crazy fun. At the end of the day we were rewarded with a gorgeous village, on the approach we were walking through these vast rice fields with big views of mountains all around us. This night was similar to last night except this time the main course was fresh duck! It was actually really tasty. So day three it was all over and I can say it was nice to get out of the jungle, even if I was only in it for 3 days!

Now in Laos

3 buses, 1 ferry ride later, now in northern town of Laos, called Lam Na Tha. The reason for coming here was to go into the jungle. It is so called virgin territory and has 37 large mammals as friends, ie , elephants, leopards, tigers. So should be a good time. I go in to the jungle tomorrow and should come out in about 3 days. It is also so called 'monsoon season' right now, you would never know it as it has been extremely hot and dry so far! Walking down the streets yesterday I think I lost about a gallon of water. Laos people are pretty cool and laid back, suits me much better than Thailand. One funny thing of note, up here there seem to be nothing but French tourist. It is like fashion, one magazine or book writes about what is cool and the next thing you know everyone is doing it! Lao Beer is the latest beverage of choice, just don't tell the Buddha on me. Life is good, doing the best I can to enjoy the moment!

Killing time in Chiang Mai

So I am sitting here getting all caught up, killing a day before I go see a hand specialist tomorrow. My wrist has been bothering me, so I had x-rays taken the other day. I guess it was good to have it done after meditating because the results were not what I wanted to hear. After 2 years, 2 surgerys, 3 cast, I found out the bone still has a non-union and that the screw has come loose. This news just about made the screw in my head come loose! So I am going to see a hand specialist tomorrow while there is one available. Not sure what they can really do now, but I know it is not going to be what I want to hear. DONT EVER TAKE YOUR BODY FOR GRANTED! It could be worse, and there probably is some good that will come out of this, just not sure what that is yet. So after that appointement, the plan is to head north, go to see the virgin jungle of Laos, maybe get lucky and catch Dengue fever. After that, Viet Nam, Cambodia, then what I really want to do, surf in Indonesia. I also plan on checking out Borneo, possibly the South Pacific, then hit Australia. So thats the plan, although you never know, things can change. On a downer of note, the Budha tells me that I can longer drink beer! I think I am just about to go put on the white suit and start walking around the streets!!!

Some things haven't changed!!

Going insane(ly) calm!

Well the silent treatment is now over. Ten days of Vippassana meditation. A real cool expirience. Here is how the day goes. Wake at 4am to the clanking of the bells at the monastary, meditate for 2 hours before 6:30 am breakfast. At breakfast there are about 150 people, including about 30 monks. Breakfast is normally some sort of noodles with vegetables, really nothing sweet. You all sit together but do not talk to each other, just enjoy your food, Alms food as they call it. Then it is off to your room and more meditation until 10:30 am lunch. After lunch, which is your last meal of the day, it is now time for more meditation which is continued on until 10 pm. That is interrupted one time each day for a meeting with the teacher, the head monk. He consults you and wants to know how things are going and then he tells you what he wants you to do in the next 24 hours in regards to meditating. Now there is no reading, writing, talking, cell phones or computers. Now you may think this torture, and I will say at times it can really be challenging, but it is only 10 days and a great way to calm the mind, or to at least attempt to. The meditations are composed of sitting and walking, anywhere from 15min. per to 1hr per, up to 3 hr sessions. It really is a cool experience when your mind goes quiet! Not easy to achieve, I think I must have played my whole life thru my head time and time again! After a while, it actually gets addicting, because you start to crave the calmness of meditation. And when you are not able to calm the mind, it can be very frusterating. I am by no means a master at this, but I will say it was a great exerience and if any of you desire to do such a thing, then Wat Ram Poeng in northern Thailand is a great place to do it. And don't forget, you must always wear your all whites and when you get out the world seems like a very fast moving place! Just thought of something else, one of the Buddhist precepts to follow is to refrain from killing other animals, yet you see Monks eating meat!? I asked the teacher about this one day, it is ok to eat meat as long as you have compassion for it. Teachers always have the answers huh!