This is a surprisingly small city, after arriving I managed to walk twice as far as I thought I had and wondered why I couldn't find my guest house, anyway I eventually found the place and went for a walk along the Mekong. The river is so low at the moment I reckon you could wade to Thailand, even some one as dodgy a swimmer as I could doggy paddle my way across, surely some traveller with one too many "beer Lao" (reputedly the best beer in Sth East Asia) inside them has attempted this.
Beer Lao may well be the best beer in Sth East Asia it is not completely vile, I will never be a beer drinker but it's a hell of a lot better than the stuff in Thailand.
Ahh yes, that's right I was walking along the banks of the Mekong. "Don Chan" the Island in the mekong is actually connected by a land bridge and has a couple of soccer fields set up on it's arid surface, you can also get pony rides (oh Daddy, buy me a pony), young people flock down here as the sunsets, it's Manners mall on a Friday night, every night of their young lives.
There are food stalls all the way along the river, it's great to sit and watch the sunset over Thailand as you chow down, I had Lap fish and a fresh coconut to drink, the Fish was delicious, a little spicy (and that's without chewing on the two whole chillies it came with) but really good and it comes with a fresh salad and rice. of course as soon as the sunsets it is open season for bugs, there was a minor plague but hey I was finished anyway.
Tomorrow is visa day, stay tuned. Well actually it was "International women's day" so no visa! What is it with me and visas, we seem to have a natural antipathy toward one another, perhaps it is because I don't believe in their validity. This whole thing with borders and who should and shouldn't be allowed into each others country is all a load of socially constructed bullshit in my opinion. But hey no-one's asking me so tomorrow is visa day!
Today I went and visited a bunch of temples and the museum which was full of references to the "American Imperialists" (tee hee), Lao is a country full of contradictions. It's ok for women to fight in the glorious revolution and even a number of them received medals for their efforts but none seemed to make it into parliament when it was formed. The national dress for women is a long skirt and basically a scarf wrapped around the breasts and another scarf worn like a beauty pageant sash, and yet at the public baths it states women need to swim covered at least from shoulder to knee?
Down on the banks of the Mekong each day is public aerobics, you can stand and watch people exercise! It's a bit of a public spectacle, of course it is swelteringly hot and the music is fantastically awful (the venga boys no less), about six people on a concrete stage the rest on the floor below, weird!
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