Hello!

Well I am feeling a lot better today. I may leave here with an addiction to electrolyte solution though. After forcing down one and a half plates of steamed rice and coke (not together) yesterday I woke up ravenous so went to the restaurant next door (where I've become quite well known), and decided to mix up my diet of inoffensive carbs and sugary caffeine-laden drinks with some bread and tea. I was hoping for Lipton tea (which is the only Western tea available anywhere in Asia and I've learnt just to ask for "Lipton" - asking for black tea causes confusion) but instead got Lao tea. Most of the other teas I've tried on my travels have been some variation on green tea but Lao tea is apparently some variation on stagnant pond-water. I also had a shower, which miraculously turned hot for around ten seconds while I was washing my hair, so I'm feeling a bit more human. It helps being able to sleep a lot. Although my sleep was broken quite frequently by the loudest freaking rooster ever which lives next door on top of a hut, which is conveniently right next to my window. It's actually within throwing-something-at-the-rooster distance but I have refrained from doing so, as it is after all entitled to be a rooster, I just wish it would do so more quietly, less frequently and further away from my window.

Anyway, my time of rest and solitude has afforded me with some time for reflection and watching the world go by. Here are my observations on Lao culture thus far:

Lao people are considerable richer (or appear to be so in this town at least) than their Cambodian and Vietnamese counterparts. Which means that they're still strikingly poor from a Western point of view, but compared to their immediate neighbours they're comfortable. Comfortable in the Western sense of the word is I guess a detached house in a leafy suburb, a couple of cars and a plasma TV. In the Asian sense of the word comfortable would be a relatively new wooden shack on stilts, a motorbike and an opportunity to participate in karaoke regularly. Incidentally, there is a lot of misunderstanding around the gap between the relative wealth of the Western world and here. Don't get me wrong, I completely see and understand that I am so much better off, in terms of money, education, opportunities, etc, but a lot of people (mainly men) seem very resentful of this. They see me coming here with to them vast amounts of money (I earn more in a month than they earn in a year) but they don't understand that whilst we can live comfortably here for a few months, when we go home we get paid ten times as much because everything costs ten times as much, and I can easily spend the same amount I do in a month back home over a year here. I guess the argument there would be why don't I just move over here and whack up a noodle joint in the street and have done with it, but I don't really want to do that :)

Most Lao women wear a traditional sarong every day. Some women, particularly the young, slim ones, look rather elegant with their matching blouses and high heels. Others choose to team these beautifully embroidered sarongs with bomber jackets, trainers, polo shirts and even a pair of furry teddy bear slippers. Ironically most of the bomber jacket/sarong combo ladies are older, butch and fairly large. Apparently they wear the sarong to retain modesty whilst bathing in public, of which I have not seen, and I'm pretty sure most houses here have some sort of bathroom (likely to be a wooden hut with a bucket of water). Maybe it's one of those traditions which has just stuck.

The gender gap seems to manifest itself in the provision and operation of vehicles. I'm back in motorbike land. Well, the men drive motorbikes, the women drive scooters. And young boys and most of the girls are driven to school by their parents whereas the older boys can ride their bikes to school. I don't know what the legal age for driving is here, but I'm sure I saw a 12 year old driving a motorbike yesterday.

Anyway, those are some of my observations on an entire country and culture from one day watching about five houses/shops. I think I'll go off in search of further carbohydrates. I may spice things up a bit and attempt noodle soup. Then I think my new friend Mr Lan (the tour guide) is taking me to see some of the sights of Huang Say on his motorbike.

All things going well, I'm planning on going on this 18 hour boat journey tomorrow so if you don't hear from me for a couple of days it's more likely I'm on the Mekong than back in hospital.