3/29/08

- Traveling to Loei today in a paddy wagon, well, a Thai Police Van with about 9 other people.
- It is 7:30 AM and they are already drinking! Oh yay…I’m riding cross-country with a bunch of drunken cops!
- I saw a baby elephant walking on the side of the road as if it were a stray dog. No one said a word about it! WTF? I may have been the only one who saw it. I am going to pretend that the little elephant made its appearance just for me. It was an adorable fella.
- There are rice fields everywhere
- We passed the hand-made basket town, sugar town, broom town, coconut candy town, and flower town, baby-banana town, all the way to Loei.
- We went to lunch with a posse of my Thai family, and I watched people eat live shrimp, or krill, or something that was still jumping in the bowl like jumping beans…Umm…no, thank you.
- We went to Gaeng Koo Koot Park. It’s right at a border town that features an outdoor shopping market with Thai goods. It is on the Mekong River and you can see Laos just on the other side. It’s a pretty amazing spectacle. I took some incredible pictures from this place.
- The Mekong River wasn’t as impressive or as vast and mighty as I thought it would be. The water was quite low, and I guess they said it has been so low because the Chinese has built dams (to which they deny) that slow the flow of this historical river. The river starts at China, through Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Southeast Asia History 101.
- We went to my Cousin’s house and sat around the front yard, while the drunken police officers (and Fred) attempted to play the guitar and sing American, John Denver-esque songs.
- We then went to dinner in downtown Loei; I was so not hungry…I’m SO over food at this point.
- I miss Allan terribly; he starts his 2-week cruise today- I think.
- I am sending him sweet thoughts and safe dreams…Whoa, I AM TIRED…reverse that.
- After a long drive back to my Aunt’s…Good Night.