Napalai Hotel Udon Thani

well its been a bit of time since my last post and the last you heard from me i was wandering indonesia like a jew in the desert. well i finally made my way to jakarta and got back to my comfort zone of thai food and thai girls which is always a good thing. the only thing worth mentioning about this period was that while i was enjoying my carmel frappachino from the starbucks in the jakarta airport, i stumbled across a duty ...

... tout ça....et je me demande bien ou je vais aller manger ce soir....Vous avez une idée ? Tati Mik quand elle aime, elle ne compte pas..(bon c'est la dernière fois hein...Promis) Ben oui et ce soir c'était crème d'asperge en entréé et suprême de volaille avec purée accompagné de vin blanc car le rouge m'a un peu deçue hier en fait. Je n'ai pas repris de photo car hier ils ont cru que j'étais envoyée par le lonely planet pour écrire un article! trop fort! J ...

... cows grazing in the distance. We didn't do much at the house except hang out by the pool, watch TV, and play the occasional game of Trouble or shoots and ladders. Amazing the things you end up doing when you have no job. What we did like is that the house has it's own chef and we were prepared 3 absolutely incredible Thai meals every day. SHE SAID: After spending 9 days in crazy hectic Bangkok arriving in Udon Thani was just what the doctor ordered, with ...

... embassy. When I joked about how long travel by road was taking us in Laos, I got an offer for Matt and I, to fly with him and his entourage to Vientiane, however I never did follow up on it as there was quite a bit of alcohol flowing and I am not sure how serious he was. Next we headed to Vieng Vang. Now we had a lot of preconceptions about this place. It has a reputation for "happy" (ie. drugs added) pizzas and shakes and TV cafes that play "Friends" all day ...

... and went there one day. Its such a bizarre but pretty place. It was designed and built by a man who had (apparently) fallen down a hole when I child, into the home of a spiritualist hermit who taught him everything he knew. His philosophy is a mixture of Buddhist and Hindu principles (seems to be a bit of a cult) and the sculptures reflect that. Lots of half man, half animals. Actually, in an interview, when asked why ...

... America would be like if the classics had a wide circulation, it troubles my soul." And perhaps more relevant, if anything in the Cantos can be said to be relevant; "... the same of my old great aunt and that too big hotel, but at least she saw all damn Europe and rode that mule in Tangiers." Paul and Arvid began reading aloud Paul's favorite Cantos while Irina would explain the more obscure references. This on the border of Laos and Thailand. It was amazing. We had a ...

... through 20 years of non use, but the Thai's don't care. Through an appalling bit of loading i had 7 litres of bottled water in the excellently effeminate pink basket over my front wheel which did horrible things to steering, balance, and one's general poise. And no matter how many times we lurched in front of other vehicles they resisted the urge to use the horn. Look, I'll confess, its a trait I'm deliberatly and consciously trying not to pick up. Don't want to ...

... set up shop here. The rest of Nong Khai is a pretty standard Isan/border city, but Mut Mee exists in another world. I am very thankful to have run into Cynthia, Carolyn, Kat and Ally in Luangphrabang, because they told me to stay here....actaully, their exact words words, "If you don't stay at Mut Mee, you won't have fun," and they couldn't have been more right. Cynthia and I did hit up the giant sculpture park for about an hour, which is just ...

... had pretty much nothing, except a noodle shop and two grumpy kiwi girls! And Josef, from Austria, who thought it was all very funny! After our three hour loo break we were on the road again following the Mekong all the way and finally got to Nong Khai around 6:30PM, that's 18:30 for those who care! Instead of crossing over into Laos we found a nice place to stay for the night and went and drank beer with Josef.

... s doing quite well. I'm amazed at how quick she's picking it up. As for Callista's orienteering, after dinner, Callista wanted to walk back to the hotel on her own. Mom and Dad were ready to go, but she wasn't. She said, "I'll come home later". Of course that's out of the question, so we offered her the challenge to show us the way home. Farida wondered once if Callista chose the right way, then when I asked Farida if she knew which way ...