Laos and the Beatles

Last week I learned that the English Program was going to put on a performance at the party for the retiring teachers. We had nothing planned. Last year was awful and I volunteered/was conscripted to be the lead singer and thus I would be able to decide what we sang. I chose "With a Little Help From my Friends" by the Beatles. Stefan (a senior teacher from Scandinavia) got very excited and wanted to do it 100% with instruments, costumes and the whole thing. I am sorry to say that I do not yet have the pictures of us in the costumes, but I do have the picture we gave the costume people as a model to send us/make. Right here. Anyway we also got fake facial hair and the whole thing. Instruments. We were the life of the party. Everyone wanted to take a picture with us. It was fun. And ridiculous.

Two days later Sarah and I needed to make our way to Laos to get Non-Immigrant B visas. We stayed a night in Mukdahan where we got to see Laos over the Mekong at night (beautiful). (The Mekong is a tremendously long river that runs from Tibet and China, is the border between Laos and Burma and then the border between Laos and Thailand. It then splits Cambodia in half and runs through its capital only to end On the other side of Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City.) We then we ate at a little out of the way restaurant called "Wine Wild Why?" which was a Lonely Planet "Our Pick." We sat in their outdoor seating overlooking the Mekong which was beautiful and romantic and amazing. The food was good. Then after we left we decided to come back and have a drink in their indoor seating which was so beautiful it reminded me of Ms. Kay's back home. We also walked up to their 2nd floor seating, which, again, overlooked the Mekong. The next morning we left for Savannahket (Laos city just across the river from Mukdahan). The Mekong was just as beautiful and wide on that side, running fast and strong. The daylight made it even more picaresque, and we would sometimes spend a few minutes just staring at it. Laos, for me, seems like Thailand Lite. They understand Thai since they watch all Thai TV and they are even more laid back. They are less developed, their food isn't as good. But we did meet several (white) people who seemed to love Laos. A couple strongly recommended going North sometime for its beauty and activities. We saw many temples including the largest and oldest in southern Laos, one where Laos nuns were chanting (really cool to hear), a Catholic church, a Chinese Tao temple (one of two), and a Vietnamese Buddhist temple. All very cool. We also had the pleasure of tasting some French foods like some baguette sandwich things and some exceptional pastries. We had some lemon sorbet that was amazing too. All around a nice vacation, a nice time. Lots of fun. But back to work now; this week is exam week.