All About Me!

You know all those really cool one-a-day videos that people take while they're traveling? With the sweet backgrounds and ever-changing, ever-tanning, ever-growing differences to their faces that you can track over the duration of the trip. Well I wasn't disciplined enough to stick to just one a day, or to take at least one a day, or even to center my shots, so here is a pathetic attempt at doing something similar.

SEA Games

Grinning stupidly from ear to ear, I literally skipped off towards the gate, filled with a new-found energy. Glancing at my ticket to find my seat I saw only a 'C' and realized that I had one quadrant of the stadium to choose from since the sections only went up to 'D'. Emerging from the entrance tunnel I turned and was met with an overflow of white T-shirts and waving moon flags, and accepted that I wouldn't be sitting at all. This was actually fine by me since it was too exciting to sit still so I elbowed my way into the hordes of people leaned up against the front rail, just happy to be here. 'Here' being the Laos vs. Malaysia semi-final football (soccer) match of the South East Asia (SEA) Games, in Vientiane, Laos. The match that had been the talk of the town, country rather, for the past few days. Everyone wanted to be there, so much so that when I arrived at the ticket office that morning, over an hour before it was set to open, there was already a crowd. All of whom would be disappointed when it was announced that the game was already completely sold out.

After spending the entire day bouncing from volleyball, to badminton, to track and field, to synchronized diving, I was resigned to catching the bus back to a pub to watch the match on television. That was when I passed a ticket booth that was being mobbed and was offered the most coveted ticket in town - at face value even (100,000kip, or $13Cdn). Hence my Charlie-and-the-Chocolate-Factory glee grasping my golden ticket and running inside.


Exhaustion was washed away by the energy of the crowd - the air was electrical! Before the match even began there was chanting, yelling, drumming, clapping and this only grew when the game began. Whether Laos was on the attack, or Malaysia was nearing the goal the crowd screamed their emotions. Even after Malaysia opened the score it took less than a minute for the energy of the open-air stadium to return.

Bursting out of the gate in the second half Laos poured it on, chance after chance, and I can't even describe the jubilation when they finally put one in the back of the net! I leapt as high as anyone, hugs and clapping and screaming even louder than seemed possible. Though I couldn't pick them out of the crowd, there must have been the equivalent of an entire marching band behind me - pounding drums, flaring horns and crashing cymbals (okay I couldn't help but see, AND hear, the cymbals which were right beside me).

In the end Malaysia came back with a couple of soft goals to win the match and end Laos' magical hosting-country run. But was it ever fun while it lasted! Parading out into the night with the most cheerful ~24,000 losers I've ever encountered I reflected on how unbelievably memorable this was, my first ever football match.

Odds n Sods

After exploring many awesome caves yesterday (one I had to swim the whole way through.. like 200m deep, as in deep from the entrance, not the water) today I am going tubing down the river. I hear there are rope swings galore. And tomorrow will be kayaking to the capital of Laos before my flight to Vietnam on the 15th evening.

Additionally the SEA Games (south east asia) are going on this week in Vientiane so I'm hoping to take in some sport, as a warm up for the Olympics in February.

A heads up that the Government of China has blocked blogspot and so when I arrive on the 21st I may or may not be able to contact you via the blog. (Unless my brother in law has figured a way around it by then). Gmail should still be working, and I'm not sure about facebook but I'll try to make contact in whichever way I can.

Can I be A Witness?

Almost imperceptibly the motorcycle ahead of me was drifting into the center of the lane as a mini-bus loaded with a dozen tourists and all their gear whizzed past me. Hugging the shoulder I watched as the motorbike continued further still into the middle of the road and it dawned on me, before it dawned on the driver of the minibus, that the bike wasn't drifting but was making a lazy arching left-hand turn. Minibus moved further into the passing lane with every intention of passing, while maintaining speed. I can't recall hearing a horn, though there very well may have been, regardless it would have come too late. The minibus attempted to brake, a tough task with all that weight causing great momentum. In fact I'd witnessed this the day earlier, as the driver of my minibus had slammed on the brakes to avoid crushing a family of chickens and the bus had responded by dipping forward but hardly stopping on a dime (and passing over the chicks anyway).
From my vantage point less than 50m trailing the scene the motorbike became obscured by the van and I realized that I wasn't going to see it come out the other side in one piece. Slam! Oh $*!~

Rolling up to the front of the van on my bike I saw the motorbike on its side tucked under the front bumper, directly centered with the bus. The two riders had been tossed only a meter or two forward and were both laying in the dust of the far shoulder. From this it was apparent that the bus had slowed a fair amount, and had tried to avoid the crash by moving further to the left, but this only resulted in meeting the bike square on anyway.

I arrived moments after the driver of the minibus had jumped out, followed closely by the foreign occupants, as a few bystanders came up the rear. There was confusion and not much done to help the injured so I knelt to see if they were okay. No Laos person could speak any English but I indicated 'phone' with my hand and repeated 'hospital'. Eventually someone was on the phone as I poured water on a rag to at least cleanse the wounds. This allowed me to assess the injuries. The driver, an older man had some blood and scrapes on his right forehead, near his temple. This appeared to be the worst of it but it was hard to tell - and he didn't try to move. The rear passenger of the bike was younger and leaner, and at first had tried to get up and walk but I'd indicated that he should sit and he did in front of me. With his help we wiped him down, him and I finding more and more cuts on his legs and feet but luckily nothing that looked too severe.

To me it seemed that a great deal of time had passed with little action with regards to actually getting these two checked out when finally a flatbed pickup truck arrived. The driver must have asked what happened because there was a flurry of words and the injured bike driver tried to defend himself from his seated position on the ground. I yelled to forget about what happened and help these people first and the argument subsided. Under one arm we led the driver with the obvious head injury to the front seat; he was conscious and aware, but slightly out of it. The other man was placed in the bed of the truck on top of bags of cement and he looked to be in better condition but still messy.

Lifting the minorly busted bike up into the back of the truck as well I locked eyes with the second man for just a moment before the truck drove off to the hospital. I believe it was a grateful look but it was hard to tell through the slight glaze.

Wandering Laos

On a hint from a traveler heading into the massive cave I'd left moments earlier I started down the trail away from town and into the trees. Trees soon became thick forest but the trail continued to be well-defined so I figured it must lead somewhere. Non-verbal instructions from a Lao lady who'd calmed the barking dog by her hut pointed me deeper into the woods. Considering how long I would dare wander deeper and away from my desired direction I came upon a temple, and eventually the small 'hill-tribe' village to go along with it. Waving "saabaidee" (hello) to a baby girl I was quickly approached by two 12 year old village boys. Declining their offer of a smoke they indicated they'd like to take me some place so I followed. "Some place" turned out to be no place in particular, but proudly they paraded the 'falang' (foreigner) through the village, and as we continued our posse grew in numbers. In fact, what began as two soon bloomed to six and once passing by the elementary school that had just let out I think the number must have been closer to 50 (or the entire population of the school).

They attempted to show me the temple again but I declined and off we went (just 6 of them now) down a dirt road, through the raised pathway of a planted field, past some huts, up and then down a hill with palms, crawled through a crouched-12-year-old-boy-sized slot in a bush and arrived at what I took to be their hideaway. It was simply a stack of boulders but one of them they pointed out had what appeared to be a fossilized branch or vine on the side. Time was passed snapping photos, sharing my banana chips and hanging out before daylight forced me to say 'saabaidee' (conveniently also 'goodbye') and trek back (this time along the dusty road and not through the woods) to return via long-boat across the river to Luang Prabang, Laos.

All of this based on a few words from that traveler - an American I would meet again. After climbing to a 20m platform, a few Beer Laos Dark, and some beach volleyball in the bar we decided to search out a waterfall today. Misinformation led to an extra 22km (to total almost 60km) but the falls and swim were great and company was nice!

For those of you wondering - yes Christmas is being celebrated. Actually my first Christmas carol was overheard walking in Chiang Mai, Thailand on November 30th. Some of the establishments here have trees lit up and I even spotted a waiter with a Santa hat on. I'm looking forward to Christmas with the family in Shanghai though!