what was eaten...

ok, i will try to remember some of what i lost last night.. since internet is relatively cheap here and there's nothing much to see in Pakse and i sent most of my clothes to the laundry in another 'hotel' so they'll only be ready this evening and its the middle of the day and too hot to be walking around...

ok, the night at the village house... they have tv but no reception, but the women and kids were watching some thai or lao karaoke vcd, then i watched the first half og Ong Bak (no english subtitles) with them. The kids kept staring at me when they thought i wasn'y looking. The slightly older girls would giggle and turn away then peep back when i smile or make faces at them but the younger kids just stare at me with theor big unblinking eyes... and the even younger ones are not so shy and just laugh and climb all over me. The women were inspecting my toes, and while bathing with them, were quite fascinated by how white the normally swimsuit covered part of me is...

There's a nice doggie who guards my door at night and keeps me company in the morning and at night. Afternoon its too hot on my balcony cos i am on the 'sunset strip'. of course, lovely sunsets.

the day before yesterday, my last day on the island, i finally managed to get away from the village to do some sightseeing on the neighbouring island. on a bicycle. on many LONG. HOT. ROCKY. paths. But the views at the end of all of them were worth. The Li Phin waterfalls (and lots of thai package tourists), the dolphin pool, where i didn't see any, but still it was perfect, and cambodia looked so damm close...

yesterday i went to Tat Fan waterfall in the Bolavan Plateau as a side trip before heading to town. Actually the angmohs are really helping me make my decisions. I always can't decide, but when i see a group of angmohs going where i had intended to go, i would head for my second choice instead =P the attitude i get and th hospitality i receive is really different when i keep away from them... anyway, Tat Fan. impressive. very tall, falls into a gorge/canyon. I tried to trek down to the foot but the path was very very slippery and had almost no handholds and many times were right at the edge of a steep drop and was quite overgrown... so i gave up before reaching the bottom...

Last night i was a little sick.. couldn't sleepin my cell of a room (the cheapest private and non-angmoh infested in town) with no window smelling of the indian restuarant downstairs. Puked out a little something, had a massive headache, and couldn't get myself out of bed till abt 11.30am, when i figured i need to see some sun and get lunch and maybe change more money (the banks close at 3.30pm). Stopped at the roadside stall for lunch. rather randomly. Turned out to be some laksa like thing, except with pig's blood.. the woman was very nice to me, and turned out knew a bit of chinese, knows someone from hongkong apparently. I speak and understand enough lao to apparently confuse them and make them keep trying to speak to me in lao even though i keep telling them i can't... btw, the yes is actually 'er' as in er4.like hungry in mandarin.and no:'bor' is not really 'boh' like boh tea but more like 'baw' or 'bor2' a in no in teochew or hokkien.

Other than the last horrible night though, the experience here has been good. esp as long as i stay in the countryside. It almost seems as though i was meant to be here now. The weather always works out in my flavour, and i almost never have to wait for my transport to start moving (unlike most of the angmohs =)

Wish you guys were here. I was lonely for the first time last night. And the pictures and descriptions sinply cannot do the beauty of the sights and people i have seen and met justice. Will probably go to another waterfall in the bolavans: Tat Lo tml, if i feel up to it.. if not, may just go to city after city: Tha Theak and Vientiane ahead of schedule... will give Tham Lot something something a miss cos it's really hard (and expensive) to get there...