~hot for seven weeks now, too hot to even speak now~

Greetings from Don Det of the infamous 4000 islands: a little establishment of fishing villages whoring themselves out for tourists. You'll find two bbq joints on the half mile strip of the 'town center' and a couple TVs rolling hollywood flicks where everyone hangs out. Here's The Big Lebowski entertaining us for the evening.

Its not as bad as Vang Vieng where a friends, big bang theory, and family guy rerun epidemic has consumed the town. The irony is that none of the locals speak a lick of English so it must seem extra weird for them that every tv in every restaurant is playing shows that no one understands punctuated by intermittent taped audience laughter.

But anyway, my last day in Vang Vieng was spent in the international ritual of drunkenly floating down the Mekong. It was everything it was hyped up to be. Meet a lot of fellow floaters, play drinking games, ping pong, and volleyball, and collect free shots and bracelets at the three river bars.

I managed to add to my rapidly accumulating wound collection by slicing my toe open in a vicious ping pong battle. We didnt make make it to the fourth and final bar as we'd lost track of time and didnt want to lose our deposit for the tubes. Of course, I got scammed when the tuk tuk driver lost my tube and they didnt want to give me my deposit back. But hey, scamming tourists is as deeply ingrained in Lao culture as Grandma's apple pie or FDR's fireside chats are in ours. I made a big drunken scene and occupied the vehicle before the rental agency agreed to split the difference.

Then came the barage of busses (VV-Vientienne-Pakse-little ferry town) before the ferry took us to Don Det (where Been There Don Det tank tops are the pinnacle of fashion). The night bus was actually pretty cool because it wasnt full so my bunkmate could branch out to a different cot; otherwise it would have been close-quarter napping for twelve hours.

The lights and stars winking out the window are a nice touch.

And as for biding our time in this humid, sticky paradise, napping seems to the national passtime but Jonas, our German-Swiss friend Sherine and I managed to resist yesterday and bike down to the waterfall where we dipped into the water and lounged for a few hours.

It's still part of the Traveller's Circuit here (aka Banana Pancake Trail) so at nights we meet up with trekkers from around the globe and discuss culture, religion, and the absurdities of US foreign policy. In the two nights here we've befriended a cool Dutch PhD student studying fisheries, a Californian teaching English and music in Cambodia, a Swedish wanderer. Today my vegan acquaintance from Pai just stopped by and we're expecting a group from our slow boat to arrive any minute.

The 100+ degree heat really takes it out of you so swatting flies and peeling sunburn seem to be the only manageable exertions of effort. Throw a few pineapple fruit shakes, a casual riverside sunset, a few cool beerlao and some easy chatting and voi la, I'm in bliss. The water buffalo have the right idea.

But no rest for the weary; tomorrow I board a train for Siem Reap, Cambodia. The Ankor Ruins await!