Want to be a millionare?

Sabai-Dee…

At the moment we crossed the border and finished at the immigration office, we stood in the middle of that small border town’s(Huay Xai) main street…
A wonderful feeling gently crept back to my mind…
I’m back in asia!

The streets are joyous and filled with happening:
children running around –
playing with bicycles to hight for them to mount…
people transporting good on over-over-over-loaded
scooters, cars and tuk-tuks…
and occasional merchant passes by trying to sell stuff…
dogs making sweet love in the middle of the street…

Reception rooms/lobbies are actually the people’s living rooms,
the whole famility practically sits on the street watching TV in their pijamas…

This feeling that these people actually LIVE here and feel at home is so precious,
people don’t close themselves away from the street as we do in the west, the opposite: they annex the street to their living rooms!
There is not alienation between them and being in such an atmosphere does the same to you,
you lose your privacy concerns!

There is no problem with addressing each-and-every-one on the street, there is no problem with being addressed back…
I found myself wanting to say hello to every passing person… just for the purpose of saying hello.

From Huay Xai, we mounted a boat ready for a breathtaking fare along the great Mekong river – to Luang Prabang.
Here are some pictures from the way…

The boat trip turned out to be a lot more fun than the expected,
the view was spectacular and there was a never-ending party in the back of the boat…

My french picture… This is what happens to you if you speak with a french accent too much…

We stopped for the night in a small village called Pak Beng, we were picked up by the guesthouse keepers right from the boat,
given a cheap place to sleep, lao lao(Rice-Whiskey), weed, local lao coffee and bananas

Later it turned out that every guesthouse in luang prabang supplies free coffee, tea and bananas.

Luang Prabang has a very surprising atmosphere considering the fact it’s the second largest city in laos, it is as laid-back as can be imagined… feels like a tiny and peaceful town.
There is a beautiful night-market right in the center… and generally, it is not clear where are the residential quarters of this “city”.
Here are some pictures of Luang Prabang…

A Waterfall nearby…

A genuine cock-fight!

so… Who want’s to be a millionare?
Come to laos and experience the feeling of having a 7 figures
amount of money in your wallet!

Lao money is counted comes only in bills(no coins) from 500 to 50,000. The rate is 250Kip for 1Baht (1Shekel to 2,500Kip)…
so what basicaly happens is that everybody is a millionare

The country’s historic name in translation is:
“The land of a million elephants and the white parasol”
you can imagine in how many ways you can play with that sentance considering that the WHITE people are all MILLIONARES…

I had the opportunity to play with a pet monkey… she was very-very gentle and cuddly with me…
she even went through all of my hair on the head, arms, legs… she found a special interest in my eyebrows!
In addition to that, she is used to men around her and is jelous and aggressive when other girls are near…

she attacked charlotte when she approaches her… and even after charlotte fed her – they did not become friends.

A monkey hand… look how human it is…
sorry for the bad focus, she moves fast…

Tomorrow we are heading north to a place called “Old Muang Ngoi” (I think)… hope to find a wee peaceful village to settle in for some time… then head south to Vang Vieng, Vientiene and finishing in the 4,000 Islands.
But you all know what plans are good for…… nothing

Sunset on the mekong… from Luang Prabang…

I hope all of your plans change for the best… a million times…
and a white parasol

Khap Chai La-Lai (Thanks you very much in Lao) for reading.

me.