July 5th & 6th

July 5th

I went on a long bike ride to the west of Luang Prabang. Village life is definitely simpler - some thatched roofed houses, young men sitting around drinking rice wine, old women and young children taking care of younger children. 

We were invited on a Mekong River sunset cruise on the Banana Boat, a very comfortable boat owned by an Australian woman. It was beautiful an relaxing. Sitting across from me was a beautiful young Laotian man. He is 20 years old and speaks very good English. He had just spent 8 years as a monk, and decided he wanted to try to be a "lay person."  After just a few months, he is thinking of heading back to the Wat and the religious life. "People invite me to bars to drink and to meet girls. It is too complicated." Also on the boat tour was an older Vietnamese born American man. He was born in Hanoi, then his family moved to Saigon in 1954, after the defeat of the French at Dien Bien Phu. He left Vietnam to study in the US in 1971 - Berkeley and then doctoral work at Harvard. He is a professor of Anthropology, and a very sweet man.

July 6th
It has been a quiet, hot day today. We are supposedly in the rainy season, but there has been very little rain in the 11 days that I have been in Luang Prabang. Tomorrow I head north to Nong Khiaw, and then to Muang Ngoi. These are small villages on the river (Muang Ngoi is only reachable by boat). I may not have access to the internet, so there may be no blog updates for a while. Bye for now.