i want to hug asia

waking up in asia makes me want to hug someone.

i can't really explain it, but there's just something about being where i am (specifically luang prabang, laos) that makes me want to hug the world.

no, i haven't been taking drugs, or dragged in to a cult. it's just ... let me see if i can describe it to you. you walk down the street, seeing beautiful mountains and palm trees in the background. you decide to walk along the mekong, and happen on a group of men playing that game where you bowl small silver balls and the one who gets closest to the red ball in the middle wins. not sure what it is called, it's like a form of lawn bowling. patonk, maybe? you say "saibadee" to them and they say hi back, looking at you curiously that you've stopped to watch their game, but also welcoming you with their smiles. so you watch as they hoot and hollar and use a straw or a stick to see who got closest to the ball. the old man with workman's hands, dressed in what looks like his sunday best is crouching down with a look of intense concentration, then jumps up and yells when his ball reaches the target.

after a while, you pop in to a nice restaurant to have a delicious snack of sticky rice sweetened wtih coconut milk, with sliced bananas on top. for a dollar. while you sit there, you watch the monks with their saffron-colored robes walking from the temple.

then, you see brightly painted tuk tuks scooting around,waiting to whisk you away to your next destination so you don't have to walk in the heat. (for the un-asia-initiated, tuk tuks are modified motorcycles turned in to taxis. the front part is a motorcycle. but the back part now has a covered bench. these are the cheapest (and sometimes only) means of transport around some of the smaller towns.)

but you prefer to walk, because you like seeing the sights. big temples with lovely golden buddha images inside. monks do their laundry outside and hang their bright robes in the sun to dry. another brightly robed monk sits in the internet cafe typing away, or kids shouting "saibadee" (hello) at you as you pass by.

then you decide to grab a mango shake because it's quite warm outside. again, for a dollar.

and then, to round out the day, you pop in to the red cross to have a specially trained masseuse get the kinks out, for less than four dollars.

seriously, i want to hug asia.



(okay okay, disclaimer time, it's not all sun and roses, there are of course the encounters with squat toilets and questionable water, people wanting to sell you everything and anything, etc etc but we'll get to those parts later. for now, i have to walk back to my guest house, as we are going to take a trip to the waterfalls with natural minerals that make the water milky blue. i've seen photos, and i can't wait)

PS photos are here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=70110&l=a57e6&id=791230081