Some observations from Laos

I'm taking it easy a bit here in Pakse, which is not so hard to do. Yesterday I just wandered around town a bunch, and wound up taking a nap in the shade overlooking the Mekong River. It just fits with the pace of life in this town, especially during the heat of the afternoon. I finally managed to do a bit of shopping here; I found a shop run by a woman who makes her own jewelry (stamped and formed) out of old silver. Expensive for Laos, cheap for the US. But very nice, so I bought a few things. I also had a traditional Lao skirt made for me at the market. It's plain, with a thick band of embroidery at the bottom. I hope I don't look ridiculous wearing it around :)

My name is really hard for Lao people to pronounce because there is no d- or r- sound in Lao. It usually comes out sounding more like "jeblah"!!

I love this town so much because I am practically invisible. Aside from the random tuk-tuk driver, no one calls out to me as I walk down the street "Hello, how are you, where you from, what's your name, how old are you, etc...". I can browse the stalls in the market without being swarmed by shopkeepers wanting me to come to their store. I actually have to ask someone for help if I want it.

In America, schoolkids get to and from school via schoolbuses. In Laos, they use tuk-tuks. It is absolutely adorable seeing this beat up open-aired truck full of little kids in their matching school uniforms (ok, it doesn't look that safe, but everyone travels this way).

In Tad Lo, it was impossible to sleep past 6 am, even if you wanted to. Not only did the sunlight begin to stream through the windows, but we began to get all the morning sounds from the adjacent village. The women cooking breakfast didn't bother me. The babies crying didn't really bother me. But those damn roosters...

Aftetr getting tons of advice on how to ride a motorbike last night from Annika the German and this really nice Cuban couple (who now live in Spain), I decided to attempt it again this morning. And it's really not that hard!!! I had gotten myself so psyched out about the idea of having to change gears while driving, but you don't need to. You can actually start the bike in neutral and then change to second gear before you start driving. Ok, this is not the "correct" way to drive, but it works just fine. Having to increase gears once you have both feet on the bike and are driving is something I can handle. And the sense of freedom having your own wheels brings is unbelievable. Once you get out of the city, there is not much traffic and it is just you and the open road (and the goats, and the cows). And it's so much fun!!

I finally drove this morning the 15 Km to the weaving village I had wanted to visit for some time. The good news was I saw groups of women weaving on wooden looms set up in the shade under their raised stilt houses. And I was the only falang (Westerner) there. However, most of the weaving they do there is with artificially dyed non-natural fibers, which was not exactly what I was looking for. I did find a nice length of cotton cloth in the market, and another fancier length of silk cloth in a store, so I can't complain. All in all, a very good day.