* * * * * Are you far from Washington, DC? Too far to make it to the Traveler's Circle? Experience the December tc live over the internet from anywhere on Earth! See special announcement below... * * * * * Rebecca (Laos) writes, "Sabaidee! "After travelling for over 20 hours from DC to Tokyo to Bangkok to Vientiane, I landed safely with orchids in my hair and a visitors visa in hand. This place is lovely--with huge old trees (don't ask what kind, I don't know, but there are teak trees and all kinds of magnolias), beautiful temples, markets with exquisite silks and streetfoods aplenty. I'm staying in this little hotel a few blocks from the main fountain in 'downtown' Vientiane, and a few more blocks to the Mekong River. Every morning at the hotel, I try a new item on the menu for breakfast (today was 'vermichelly with pork balls and soup'), then I walk down the road, avoiding the mopeds and tuktuks (3-wheel taxis), past the massage place where you can get a $2.50 hour- long foot massage-got one already--or $7 hour-and-a-half traditional Lao massage-also got one already--down past the fountain that sometimes turns on, past the idle tuktuk drivers, and past the fried banana guy, to the Mekong and I hang a left to the Lang Xang Hotel where our workshop is located. This used to be a 5-star hotel, and has since turned into what feels like a communist-era concrete building with pink curtains... "Anyhow, our meetings have been up on the top floor in a room that overlooks the river. And what a river. The colour of the water changes throughout the day, going from a drab greenish grey to a warm reddish brown. If you look long enough towards the Thai shore, you can sometimes make out the longboats and fishermen puttering along. "We went river kayaking on a tributary of the river as a group the other weekend, just north of the city, and boy was it fun getting there and once on the water. Twelve of us drove through countless villages with thatched roofs, colourful fabrics hanging by the door, women in traditional skirts on the backs of motorbikes, children walking barefoot alongside the road, and roosters and stray dogs and cats running around everywhere. We stopped at a village on the road to Luang Prabang and waited for our river guides. We watched the women and children of the market rush up to any and every stopped vehicle, be it a bus, mini-bus, or motorbike, all jostling to peddle their chicken kebabs, quail kebabs, bat kebabs, boiled eggs on skewers, boiled vegetables in little baggies, fresh baguettes and fruit to the passengers. It was chaos but there was an unspoken order to things. Kind of. "There seemed to be such things as 'first dibs on the motorbike', but it didn't matter if you were a young or old and bent. There were no easy passes for the elderly. On the way to the river, we walked through the back gardens of some homes, passing by drying clothes, whirring cicadas and unidentifiable birds ('it's a bird' was what I got from one of the regional coordinators), as well as the construction of a new dam. This means that the rapids we eventually paddled that afternoon will soon be reduced to some exposed rock with a teeny bit of flow. Very sad. But in the meantime, we kayaked through a few little rapids, coupled with two big rapids that flipped all the boats and gave everyone a good soaking. We passed through relatively dense regrowth forest, made up of smaller deciduous trees and bamboo, and were treated to some nice river carved sandstone. Just lovely. "When we stopped for lunch (which was fresh meat and veggie skewers, fried rice wrapped in palm leaf and fresh bread and sweet bananas... yum!), a few brave souls climbed up a sandstone cliff and jumped (some more gracefully than others) 8 metres down into the river. I was too chicken shite to do it. Our ride back to town was on an open mini-bus for an hour and a half, picking up random passengers along the way who held on at the back of the truck. The rules on the bus (displayed on the ceiling of the back of the bus) included making room for Laotians and up to 20 passengers on the bus. There were 10 of us in the back and it was already a tight squeeze (dang those Danes, Germans, Englishmen and Aussies with their long legs!), but nonetheless, we kept picking folks up and at one point we had 16 people in the back. It was pretty awesome to experience the bumpy road, the noise and dirt, and to see the folks who have come to depend on these mini-buses to take them into town for what amounts to about $2. "Aside from the adventures on the water and road, the culinary delights have been steady and growing. In one day, I managed to break almost every rule of the 'travellers guide to not having the runs'. I had a salad, iced water, water from a jug(!), street food(!), a fruit shake with milk AND ice, and fruit that I did not peel myself. I was playing with fire, I know. But the food just looked (and tasted) so good. There's lots of garlic, green onions, lemongrass, limes and chilis. It's fresh and just the right amount of spicy, and it tastes like home cooking. It has been great. There is a fairly large ex-pat community as well as a steady stream of backpackers and travellers, so there are also a few 'western' style cafes with pretty darn tasty coffee (ain't no charbucks) and fruitshakes. My favourite has been the banana mango shake... "Finally, the morning market where you can get everything from fine silks to pirated computer software is everything a bargain shopper has dreamed of. There are literally piles of stuff to sort through, some stalls are tidier than others, most without price stickers (for the purpose of price haggling I would assume) and all for sale. It was a bit overwhelming (I know. Even for me it was.) but just to see and touch all the different kinds of silk (raw, new, old, high or low quality, patterned, woven....) was impressive. The colours (lots of blues and yellows and golds, and pinks and oranges) and intricate patterns (animals, trees, chains, diamonds, etc.) were simply amazing. "It's easy to understand why ex pats stay here; there's an ease about the city, everyone is friendly and smiley and helpful, and the food, sights and sounds are seemingly endless. The weather has been sunny and warm during the day, cooler at night. What more can you ask for?" Rebecca's story--and more--will be told this Wednesday night, December 5th, at the DC Traveler's Circle (tc). tc meets 6:30-10pm (show up/leave whenever), at the Kabab House at 1108 K Street, NW, between 11th and 12th, 3 blocks north of Metro Center. This month's tc will be run by Mark and dozens of interesting characters, such as yourself. Special announcement: parts of this month's tc will be broadcast, live, over the internet! Will it be simply live streaming audio? NO! It will be a vEcotour which is much much more! Simply visit http://www.vecotourism.org and click on "Traveler's Cicle" tour and follow instructions! High speed internet is recommended, though dial-up may also work. The tour begins this Wednesday night at 8:15pm (Washington, DC time). It is recommended that you visit the website beforehand to register. To learn more about vEcotourism, visit Chimp-n-Sea's website below and click on Projects. Karen forwards this cool website...check it out: http://www.couchsurfing.com/ -tc [distrib 520] http://www.chimp-n-sea.org