return to Laos

Well, I am back ensconced in my usual habitat. 

Good things include humidity, lack of dry skin, lack of cold feet, and addition of sunshine. Bad things include mental inability to function due to time change, lack of friends, lack of family, and addition of mosquitos.

My house was somehow still standing despite being left to the mercy of the ants for two weeks (I think the landlady sprayed it up - found a few dessicated ant skeletons in the bathroom, also found a big dead spider in the guestroom - coooool!).  My bike tires were amazingly still pumped enough for me to ride to work this morning, and there were all the usual cute little kids out walking to school to entertain me.

The trip back here was fine - wiped out by the end, but it really wasn't too bad.  Cathay Pacific is definitely the way to go - lovely service, good food, reasonable seats.  The only problem on the flights was turbulence like I've never experienced before.  It was tur-tur-TUR-bulent up there.  Like a roller coaster, where your head bonks from side to side in the seat restraints.  Kept thinking there was the hand of god shaking the plane, and then a loud voice in the background intoning "don't - shake - don't - shake - don't - leave home!  Shake shake!".  Ok, ok, I give up!

Somehow the weather in Hong Kong was nicer than I've ever seen.  Completely sunny and crystal clear - I could see all the islands and ocean around the airport.  Thailand also had good weather, and when we took off there was an INCREDIBLE sunset, with brilliant bright pink background and this oddly shaped dark grey clouds in the foreground that looked, quite handily enough, like temple stupas in sillouette.  The Thai tourism authority really has done their work well!

The saving grace of the whole trip was finding a handicapped bathroom in the Bangkok airport (6 hr stopover) where I could wheel in all my stuff, and there was a sprayer-thingy (for spraying the toilet, like one of those sink sprayers at home, y'know what I mean?) and I was able to pretty much shower! That made everything about a mazillion percent better.  Changed clothes, fixed my hair, and ta-dah, brand new Thaba. [October-2000]