Happy Valentines Day!

So, to start things off we think it's appropriate to address the issue of the contest. There were many guesses, many tries, and many hopes. Congrats to all of you for participating. It was wise of you to use a wide range of resources to take on the challenge. Some of you used help from the world wide web. Some of you drew help from a Loas class you may or may not have taken when you were in high school in the 40's. Some of you tried to tell us what the rules were; making some sort of feeble attempt to bring down the hopes you your apponents who clearly had made more educated guesses, rather than just commenting 7 or 8 times with hopes of impressing the judges by chosing every possible option available. (we're not impressed)

yes yes, perhaps we should have told you what the rules were at the onset of the games, but we didn't. We left if up to our friends to use common sense, and to play fairly. We give our thanks to those of you who did.

B&E are pleased to annouce that there is no winner. This brings us much delight, since will won't have to lavish the vast riches of Indochina on any of you when we return. The correct answer: It's a store where you can bring your pet who is without a valentine. It's there that the helpful staff will match your furry friend with an appropriate mate. It seems to be very popular. (however we did see Bob Barker protesting outside)

We are in Vientiene, the capital city of Laos. It's good to be able to write that. We spent our day on a bus yesterday...it wasn't one of our better days.

We spent a good night in Luang Prabang after our long biking trip. The night market has an amazing vegitarian buffet. You fill a plate as full as you want it for only 60 cents. Right beside the buffet is a mouthwatering BBQ. You can add a peice of meat for only a dollar more. It was a great way to fill our stomachs.

The vegetarian buffet!

Amazing, BBQ'd Mekong fish!

The next morning we got up early to find breakfast, walk through the morning market, and watch the monks make their alms rounds on the street. We then headed for the bus station.

You pick your cup of fruit, and the ladies behind the table turn it into a delicious fruit shake, complete with coconut milk, condensed milk and ice.

We had the option of booking either a "VIP" bus, or an "Express" bus. Both promised airconditioning and trip times of 9-10 hours. The VIP bus included a vegitarian lunch, whereas you bought your own lunch on the express bus. The only other difference (or at least the only other difference they told us about), was that the VIP bus had a bathroom on board. Since we don't like the smell of the standard onboard bathrooms, we wanted to chose our own lunch, and the Express bus was cheaper, we opted to take that one.

Let's just say, that was a big mistake! Perhaps we were just really unlucky, but we had one of the worst bus trips of our trip yesterday. As we were sitting on the bus yesterday, waiting to leave, we could see the big, spacious VIP buses sitting at the bus station with air-conditioning pumping, and Westerners reclined in extreme comfort. We thought briefly of switching our ticket before our dingy, dirty, local bus departed, but opted to stay in hopes of a good cultural experience. And, as Brian said, "you want to remember this bus ride. If you took the VIP bus, 10 years from now it wouldn't stand out in your mind." Well, remember it we will!

The first two hours into the trip, it was shaping up to be a good bus ride. We had only stopped once at the side of the road for a short bathroom break. The ominous plastic stools that are placed in the aisle for people to sit on when all the seats are full were still in a pile at the back of the bus, and there were still empty seats.

The trouble came at about 10:00 in the morning. Brian and I both woke up from a little snooze to the bus stopping at the side of the road. We soon realized that another bus had broken down. In kindness, or more realistically, in the hopes of getting some more money, the bus driver decided to help the stranded people out. In Canada, they probably would have sent an empty bus to load the passengers and their luggage onto, but in Laos, things are done differently. The plastic chairs came out! During the next hour, we sat at the side of the road while bags of rice, and boxes of food were pilled onto the bus roof. We were stuck sitting in our seats since people were crammed on rice bags and plastic chairs in the aisle of the bus. The finishing touches were the 2 motorbikes strapped to the top of the bus. Then, we were ready to go.

Our bus driver was by no means the speediest of drivers. Initially, we were praising his driving skills, happy that we weren't in a bus speeding around the mountain corners, or through the little towns we passed on the drive. Our praises slowed down after we were passed by countless buses, and heavy trucks laden with produce. It seems that our driver liked to break whenever there was oncoming traffic (despite the fact 2 vehicles could pass comfortably on a wide, two lane road). Anyway, he managed to drag the 9 hour trip into 13 hours.

We started getting a little bit anxious after it got dark. We heard accomodation in Vientiene filled up quickly. We had hoped to get there by supper time. To make matters worse, the little kids in front of us had had enough of the bus, and were starting to get sick. One of the little boys threw up 3 times. I felt sorry for his father (as he was unprepared for his little boy to get sick, and ended up wearing it), but my sympathy ran out when some of the emesis landed on my bag and my foot, and the father kept feeding the kid. (Hence he threw up 3 times instead of just one).

We eventually arrived in the city at 9:00, very hungry, and perhaps not in the best of spirits. The challenge of finding a room proved to be a little bit difficult. Every hotel/guesthouse had signs on the door, stating "FULL". We did manage to find a room for the night, although we paid a little more than we wanted to. We got some supper, and I can't say that a hot shower has felt any better than it did yesterday.

So, would I spend the extra $3 for the VIP trip next time. Maybe.....