So I’m in Vang Vieng and the weather is beautiful. The town/village is nestled in a valley surrounded by huge jungle covered mountains. It really is beautiful. The town, like I mentioned in an earlier post is pretty much a tourist spot, with all the things that tourists would like to do here. You can rent scooters or bikes, go inner-tubing down the river or even go kayaking, all of which I’ll probably do tomorrow. Right now though, I’m sitting in an open café drinking a beer… a Beerlao to be more precise, and enjoying watching the people go by.

The bus ride to get here was fun, out of maybe a total of 200 miles… and that’s a stretch, it took us eight hours. There were places that there wasn’t any road at all, and there were places that the road curved so much that there weren’t any straight parts for hours at a time. Some of the people got car sick it was so bad. I thought a couple of times that I started to get sick too. The bus stopped occasionally to pick up people along the way, at one point an older woman got on with a live chicken. I couldn’t have been happier to see that. It’s like one of those things that you hear about and wonder what it would be like to live it. The chicken’s legs were tied together, and the body was covered in a plastic bag. At first I thought that it was dead, but when she lifted it up the chicken moved its head and made some noises. I’ve got video of a portion of the ride, but unfortunately it doesn’t have the chicken in it.

I was sitting next to a Brit on the bus that freelances as a writer for magazines, web sites, and newspapers about traveling. It really is remarkable to hear that someone has been traveling for about a year, and is going to all the places that I want to see eventually. After he goes to Vietnam, he’s heading to Australia, New Zealand, and then eventually to South America where he’ll travel up to the states for a bit. That’s exactly what I want to do. This is his second really huge trip. He doesn’t have any plans for Africa yet, so maybe after the summer when I meet another person like that, I can at least feel somewhat equal. So far it seems every one I meet has traveled more than me… I guess one of these days I’ll be a “world traveler” and be able to rub elbows with the best of ‘em. J