Vientiane Two

Saturday, I was still in the mountains of Laos, near the village of Vieng Kham. After hiking in the foothills until the sun started dipping towards the mountains, I dropped back down the trails to the village. Of course passing through the village meant greeting everyone again.

After some local teenagers used me for English practice, I made it back to the bungalow. There is a large hotsprings pool just below the bungalow on the side of the road. It is about 30 meters square and up to four feet deep. The Lao long haul truckers trying to murder their Chinese, Japanese and Korean trucks on Route 13 stop here for a quick bath. I could sit on the tiny deck and see them scrubbing away right below me. Crazy place.

I decided to make like a local so I donned my bathing suit and went for a soak. The tall pale falang with the many tattoos was quite the icebreaker.

Dinner, of course, was at the same restaurant, like most others in Laos, just a roof with no walls. I watched the fish in the pond below my table and occasionally flicked them some sticky rice.
After dark there is really nothing to do So I retired to the bungalow to read and sleep, finally making use of my silk hostel bag as the bedding looked pretty dodgy. Hardest bed so far and since the Lao love hard beds, that's saying something. Yet sleep was easy.

Be well!!
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