Kip

Kip is the Lao currency. There are no coins, only bills, and they come in denominations of 1,000, 2,000, 5,000, 10,000, 20,000, 50,000 and 100,000. 

Thoughts on spending Lao money: I find the 20,000kip and 50,000kip bills to be the most useful by far, especially when buying food (which is the main thing I buy). Lunch is typically 20,000kip.

And when I spend 100,000kip on a night out, I think 'man that was expensive!'

Jus trip out that in perspective, 100,000kip is about $13.

Lao Drivers License

I look like Morticia from the Addam's Family...

But I officially have my Lao driver's license ! (And yes it is spelled with an 's' on all the application forms)

Also they misspelled my name.

But whatevs, time to get this girl a scooter!

Vang Vieng day 1

After a rainy and nail-biting three hour drive through the mountains (after dark), we finally got to Vang Vieng, a city north of Vientiane, at 9pm on Friday.

Vang Vieng used to be an opiate-filled backpackers' haven but since government crackdowns it has become more of an Aussie hippie getaway. 

Mountains and clouds 

Woman pulling her cow

Hand-woven scarves on display near the Blue Lagoon 

Also, it's rainy season...

Which is a rough time for a city known for its outdoor activities. It seems that the major 'things to do' in Vang Vieng are 

1. cave exploring / spelunking 

2. hiking 

3. swimming in lagoons 

4. biking

5. tubing down the river, and 

6. getting high.

We did #1-3 today with plans for #5 tomorrow.

The area around here is incredible :)

Yogurt

This is yogurt, Thai-style.

This is also why I rarely eat yogurt here.

Corn and two kinds of beans. Gross.

I miss Yoplait/ the random 'hippie brand' Cascade Meadows that they have at Whole Foods.

Also I miss Whole Foods.

Green café

Food in Vientiane is delicious, and Asian food is cheap.

One of my favorite restaurants near work is the Green Cafe. 

A watermelon shake is 5,000kip and green curry is 20,000kip. That's like $3.50.

40 hours in Bangkok

We spent approx 40 hrs in Bangkok last weekend. Using Central Lao airlines it was $120 round trip. And they give you dinner (shrimp fried rice, which I thought was an interesting choice for a flight... Seafood smell circulating? Not great)

But here are some pics from that weekend :

Tuk tuks in Thailand are a lot cuter, and the drivers speak MUCH better English.

Yeah we went to a movie- The Wolverine.  The Siam Paragon was really nice, plus there are no modern movie theaters in Laos.

Griffin eating a scorpion along Susie street.

Soi cowboy.

Work deadlines

It's very weird when your countdown for rollout at work goes from this...

To this...

Sigh

Making a Phone call in Laos

This has nothing to do with me or my experiences in Laos...
But it's hard to figure out how to make a phone call here.

Our office admin sent us a how-to guide and I thought it might help anyone who randomly stumbled across this site.

HOW TO CALL A PHONE IN LAOS

Laos Country code: +856
Home line 021	Cell 020
How to Call:
Cell - Cell 59999999
Cell - home  021 499999
Home - cell  020 59999999
Home - home  499999
eight digits number for cell (standard)
six digits number for home line (standard)
Call from other country to cell in Laos +856 20 59999999
Call from other country to home line in Laos +856 21 499999

Bangkok hanging lanterns

Ant genocide

Every Friday our office admin brings breakfast- half the time American breakfast (bagels, pastries, oranges) and the other half of the time Lao (fried noodles, pork stuff, etc).

Today she brought Lao sandwiches.

And I am a very messy eater.

I dropped a bit of pork on the floor. In human world it was no big deal but in tiny ant world it was like Christmas- a deliciously enormously porky Christmas.

I hear 'Oh jeez! Look at all the ants!' 

Even 15 feet away I knew my inability to eat neatly was the cause. 

So Nick (he was the first to notice it) grabbed a couple paper towels and picked up the pork.

Then the ant massacre happened. 

It was like the Bounty paper towel ads- in a couple graceful circular motions, the mess was cleaned up. Except rather than the random blue liquid from the Bounty ads, it was ant LIVES. Hundreds of ant lives extinguished forever.

Reminded me of the scene in Mockingjay. I won't ruin for those who haven't read hunger games. But it was just like that.

Sunset from the office

Sunset is between 6pm and 7pm, and from the riverwalk it is beautiful. 

But 90% of the time we are at the office till after 7pm. So we get to catch glimpses of it ...

Bruise day 2

Painful as all get-out

Nam Ngum Lake

Today (Sunday) a group of 12 of us went to Nam Ngum Lake, a two hour drive outside Vientiane. Rainy season means that at least part of the time is spent dealing with rain, but we had a great time. Lunch at the Longview resort restaurant way REALLY slow...

Lake is man-made - from a dam that displaced apparently hundreds of small villages. 

We rented a boat - for 2.5 hours, it cost about 400,000kip ($50) and fit all 12 of us.

It took us out to a random island in the middle of the lake, where we swam and skipped rocks.

Then we jumped off the boat. 

This is Seth.

This is Nick.

This is me.

But now that means I have both a nasty sunburn ...

... And a massive bruise in the shape of a heart on my upper thigh (from awkwardly climbing into the boat)