Laos

Luang Prabang. i got here around 3pm, hopped in a tuk tuk just as it started to pour and was dropped off in the city center just as the rain stopped.

Luang Prabang is a sleepy little city. nothing like the chaos i've been in for the last three weeks. everything and everyone seems a little slower here. in the six hours i've been here, i've already managed to gorge myself on the food here... twice. first fruit (mangoes, pink fury fruit, and dragon [DRAGON!] fruit, and later mystery foods which i have, for convenience, designated by number (1. spring roll-esque items numbering four; 2. half-moon items filled with taro [?], numbering three and one half; and 3. spicy noodle soup with unidentified meat). no digestive repercussions as of yet. i had considered adding stick-of-mystery-meat to my gastrointestinal onslaught, but in walking by the meat stalls, i saw a woman raise her meat clever and take a healthy, flat-sided whack at a VERY large wasp that had landed on one of her hunks of unidentifiable meat (that is NOT a euphemism) and decided better of it.

there are markets everywhere here. it's like someone knew i was coming and organized the whole town into a giant market just for my arrival. the persistent gloomy weather i've encountered everywhere i've gone for the last week or so was starting to get me down a bit, but there is nothing that cheers me up faster than walking through a public market and people watching.

i'm staying in a youth hostel called Spicy Laos. the room i am in is the size of my bedroom in New York and contains four bunked beds and four lockers. we also have a small bathroom (which thankfully is not included in the above-described space) and i'm paying 8 USD a night. to be honest, i'm not sure my spoiled little behind can handle it. i know there are guesthouses in town that would offer me my own room and my own bathroom for roughly the same price, but i'm giving myself three days here to try to work on my social skills (they have gone decidedly downhill in the presence of my solitude over the last few weeks) and maybe make some friends for a change.

our hostel, among other perks (i.e., free breakfast, free internet, cool people, free DVD watching, laundry on site, a mini mart on site, and rad tunes playing on the radio) also has an overwhelming number of kittens that sneak in your room when you are not looking and hide behind your pillow or bag to jump out and attack you when you least suspect. as far as i can tell, they are disease free (they weren't hiding behind MY pillow anyway, so i suppose it doesn't really matter) and cute as anything. i secretly hope they will sneak in the room every time i open the door, just so i will have an excuse to pick them up and cuddle them before i toss them back outside.

the hostel is organizing a trip to one of the many waterfalls in the area tomorrow. supposed to be lovely. hopefully i can drag my rear out of bed early enough to take part.

welcome to Laos!