Vientianne

after a rather torturous four and a half hour bus ride, Jimmy, Kelly, Adam, Mani, Brice, Thea, Laura, Dawn, Benny, Max, Hugh, and i arrived in Vientianne, managed to find a guest house that was willing to put ten people in two rooms (Benny and Max are too good for guesthouses and stay in hotels) that were each supposed to fit four, rented every bike the guest house had to offer and wasted no time getting out to see some of the sights.

there really aren't a lot of sites in Vientianne. it's a very mellow, very quiet, comparatively sparesly populated capital, but we hit what sites there are to see and then stopped by the old fairgrounds which are now nothing more than a set of rickety old buildings with a moat (containing two drowned clowns [pictures to follow]) and an old bumber-cars (dodge-ems') rink. we took loads of creepy pictures, then headed back to our neighborhood for some food and drink, before passed out in our over-populated rooms and waking up this morning to grab a few tuk tuks to the Buddha Park about 20 mintues out side town.

on the way back to the guesthouse, we dropped Brice at the road to the Friendship bridge that crosses the Mekong and then the Thai boarder.

at 5pm, Hugh left on a bus headed for Bangkok.

at 7pm, Jimmy, Kelly, Adam, Mani, Brice, Thea, Laura, and Dawn hopped on a bus for Pakse.

tomorrow at 2:30, Benny and Max will get on a Hanoi-bound plane.

tomorrow at 4:30, i will fly into Bangkok, and spend one more night in my second home before a late-night London-bound departure.

it feels very strange to be preparing to leave SE Asia though i'd be lying if i didn't say that i am very excited to part ways with all the hippie clothes i've aquired here in order to battle the heat. i can also think of no better way to end my time here than to have been able to spend the last week with such an amazing group of people. my eyes cried a little when the big group left tonight, but it's looking like i might actually be able to meet up with a few of them in various places before i fly back to New York and in the meantime, Benny, Max, and i are still managing to rip it up and eat too much in Vientianne.

might actually be able to upload some pictures in the next two days... we'll see how the innernets feel in Bangkok.