Mother, I just killed a man

My mother is in town. For a funeral. And she wants attention. Loads of it. I'm supposed to be flying north to see her next week, having taken leave, and had organised months ago. I was kinda hoping that I'd do the attention thing then.

Funerals are not the best events. They make cheerful people reflective. They make my mother, downright depressed. My sister has moved back home with a bunch of half-grown children, and has found that our mother's grandmothering is very much like her mothering. With less energy.

She's not happy about this. It's not going to be the easiest trip home.

Take-away lao style

pork, glorious pork!
Originally uploaded by deepwarren

Street food here so far has been very, very good. Fresh, yummy and very tasty. I've become a fan of the catfish on a stick, which is a local fish that tastes smoked, and very salty. For 10,000 they reheat it on the BBQ and pass it over on a banana leaf.

There is a line of fruit and meat sellers (pork, chicken, and fish - loads of fish) and people roar up on their scooters and motorbikes and buy bits of this and that, and disappear off home. Take away at it's finest. They also sell fermented vegies (okay, but not great) and lots of condiments.. which look fantastic.

I've looked very deeply at the duck eggs with the half embryo, and although it kinda looks better than I thought, i'm still not going there. Saw chicken heads yesterday, and I hope that they have more meat on them than chicken feet , cause they're a little scarier than the feet.

Tubing on the mighty Zhong

Tubing
Originally uploaded by mic*

The number 1 highlight of traveling through Laos so far been tubing on the mighty Zhong in Vang Vieng, Laos. It's a little side river of the Mekong, and the whole idea is simple - pay the money and take a inner tube and float down river..

It's brilliant - you flat. Get reeled into bamboo bars that are perched up and down the river by 'tourist fishers' who perch on rocks and fling little tubes that you grab, and they pull you in.
There are firefox's and rope swings for the foolhardy and the game. And loads and loads of alcohol. And even happy shakes at the Last Bar. Sun, water and beer - can't go wrong really. Any attention to local rules about not too much flesh are here abandoned, and at least 60% of the female population is wearing a bikini - often in their national colours. the day we went, you could add some mud, and loud Brit house music and you had a scene that made us wish we had our camera's.

In fact, we went back for day 2 - not as many boobs as day 1, but lots of fun. We got to try the bars that we didn't get to on the first go, and had to cope with the shortage of cash disappointment at the last bar - not enough money for happy shakes!

An unnamed member of our group asked: Where do the inner tubes come from? And when told tractor tires - went 'Noooo, i've seen tractor tires, they have bumps on them.' Giggles all round really. Tractors and bus tires would be my guess, and they are guarded by the tubing cartel of Veng Viang with a zealous charging system. $15 if you lost one, $2 if you're returning your tube after 6pm. They also run on a rotation basis in the town, so if one doesn't open for the day, the other tubing place will. It stops competition, and perhaps shares the profits around a bit more.

The odd bit of the tubing scene is the number of girls in bikinis wandering through town afterwards dressed in nothing but their bikini (that, and the drunken teary scenes of girls freaking out cause it's dark and they don't know where such-and-so is..). After doing tubing, you realise the answer is often, sleeping it off in some bar along the way, half way down the river or in the closest pub.

Vietienne, Laos

morning cup of tea
Originally uploaded by Scratchin Dog

Ahhh, money. I find it really hard to mentally change money into real australian dollars in my head.. and here, they will do the US$ into kip, then into baht if you want. Am now carrying 3 types of currency.

10.00 AUD = 74,107.17 LAK (known as the kip)

or approx 150,000 is AU$20.. or 50,000 is AU$6.70

In real terms: 10,000 = 1 longneck of Beer Lao (except for happy hour when it drops to between 6 -8,000 kip)

A dodgy hovel of a hotel room is 50,000 or AU$ 6.70. For that you get a bed, a shower (over the toilet) and no real windows.. and a fan (thank god!).

Off to watch the sun set over the Mekong and eat street food. Whole fried river crabs are crunchy!