#62 I'm gonna go broke if I stop traveling.

Here is a day in Laos. I spent $3 for a bed in a guesthouse. Had a banana bread, pineapple bread and water for breakfast-$1. Rented a bike for a day$1 and biked all around town going through little villages and along the river. Had a baguette for lunch along with a sugar cane drink $1. Stopped to get an hour Laos massage $3. Went back to meet with others and go for a walk around the main downtown and outdoor market. A quick rest before going out to dinner where for 50 cents I get a bowl to fill as high as I can with a mixture of salads, rices and such. That along with a whole grilled fish stuffed with lemon grass $1. In the night market in Luang Prabang you walk down these little sidestreets and can buy any kind of fresh food you want. In the end, the fish was always my favorite. Sitting along the river, drinking a couple of beer lao $2 to close out the night. When I sit back and look at this I don't know how I could possibly afford to ever stop traveling.

When I arrived in Luang Prabang I spent the first day walking all around town looking at the local schools, shops and just admiring the old buildings and houses. I ended up meeting these local boys who offered to take me to see the junior national botcheeball championship since they were going anyway. I jumped on the back of their bike and went to see about a half an hour, it's all my mind could take of it. I then met up with little Lane and we walked around town and stopped along the river in a couple of spots to watch the local kids swim and play around the water while others washed in the river ether themselves or clothes.

The next day a group of 9 of us got in a tuk tuk and headed up to the famous waterfalls outside the city. When you are at the top level you can see the biggest one which has to be over 150ft high. The water had a beautiful blue tint to it and stood out more among the lushish green trees and bright flowers all around it. This big falls would cascade down through about 4 different levels to smaller pools where we would swim under the smaller falls and enjoy the scenery only stopping to have lunch. Near the waterfalls we were able to see a bunch of black bears that were orphaned and being taken care of in this compound. There was also a tiger in a seperate compound that had been rescued from poachers and was now being watched over.

My last day in Luang Prabang I rented a bicycle and biked all around town, usually cruising along the river and just enjoying the day to day hustle of the local people. I crossed this old bridge which didn't look to be the most stable of all bridges I had come across and as I pushed my bike I looked down through these thin wooden boards to the shallow river that was over 100 ft down. In the end I survived and it was a really great view from the bridge. I celebrated the end of my bike ride with a half a watermelon 70cents.

I went to eat my final night market meal with Michelle aka-mybelle, little Lane, and Vicki (who loves eating fish with us because she wants everyones fishheads if they aren't going to eat them, although little Lane did eat her fish eyes) before getting on a night bus to Van Vieng where I am at now.

I find myself wanting to stay in places longer just because the food is so good and so cheap, it is dangerous for me not to only travel based on what my stomach tells me.

Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie. ~Jim Davis