I have been in Laos for 9 days now. I've had 2 good days-- days of food and complete relaxation. For the past 7 days it's been raining. I cannot stress to you about the AMOUNT of rain and the INTENSITY of rain. It's COLD and suppressive and has everyone on the brink of hysteria. I'm trying to be Suzie optimistic, but these conditions are paralyzing. After a hellacious, freezing, uncomfortable 7 hour drive, we arrived in Vang Vieng. Linda was carsick the whole twisty, twurvy, bumpy ride and I was a severely nauseous myself- and I Never get car sick. Vang Vieng wasn't at the top of my list as a place to go. The thing to do here is Tubing. You rent a tube, float down the river, and get insanely "pissed". You get a free joint with your 'bucket' of booze. Most young travelers you meet say that this event was the highlight of their trip. Those of you that know me KNOW that this is NOT my cup of tea. When we arrived last night we ran into my German friend Philipp. He said that everyone in town starts drinking When they wake up around 1-2pm. You see them at dinner, "oh man im so wasted, I need to eat some food". After dinner when you're back home, you pass the communal bathrooms and everyone is throwing up. They take a nap and then they are out on the town at night for round 2. This is the usual behavior, so now that it's nonstop rain- the drinking has intensified. Philipp said that he's leaving for Vietnam early. All there is to do here is tubing, rock climbing, or trekking-- none of which can be done in the rain. Every restaurant in this town plays FRIENDS or FAMILY GUY (truly a stoners paradise). Philipp says that over his past few days here that he has watched EVERY episode and can't stomach anymore. I'm feel like I'm stuck, and I hate that feeling. Honestly, I don't like Laos. If it was sunny I could keep myself occupied with adventure, but it's not. Every encounter I have with someone from Laos, they try to rip me off. Most of the travelers here are different from those I met in Cambodia and northern Thailand- they are young backpackers here to "get fucked up". I'm 9 days away from my Bangkok flight to Bali...but 9 days is a long time. Friendships and love affairs can happen in less than this while traveling. I KNOW that I don't want to spend all 9 days in Vang Vieng, even if the sun eventually shows itself. I don't want To be cold anymore, and I don't care to be drunk all day. Ideally I would like to snap my fingers and be back in Pai. I'd have my Wicked Omlette for breakfast @ the Witching Well, hang by the river in the afternoon. Do some yoga and play some guitar. I'd have maasaman curry @ Na's and then have a drink and play some music in the evening at Buffalo Exchange. But I guess that this is what traveling is about. Seeing all of it. Some of it you like, some of it you loathe. You take away some of this and some of that and you carry it with you forever. Now I know that there is a little slice of heaven waiting for me in northern Thailand and that Laos is somewhere that I can say "yeah, I've been there...". Say a little prayer that this rain stops or atleast eases up a bit....
Thank God for Linda and thank God for cardgames like shithead....
Side note: woke up this morning, freezing- more rain. Said the F word about 50times. My apologies. I only made my "no swear word" about 2days
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