100 happy days: week 9.

And so goes the 100 happy days project...  Who knew 100 days could feel like such a long time?

Day 44

Day 44: when this was one of my last views of Vang Vieng.  Drunk tourists in inner tubes aside, it was a really pretty little village with some of the friendliest people we've met so far.

Day 43

Day 43: when I first saw spring in Luang Prabang.

Day 42

Day 42: when I finally did what my t-shirt has been telling me to do for months now.

Day 41

Day 41: when we saw how paper is made by hand.  It looks time consuming but not difficult and I'd like to try it someday.

Day 40

Day 40: when trying something new on the menu works out extremely well.  (In this case, it was khaosoi - spicy pork noodle soup.)

Day 39

Day 39: when I hung back and took some photos of the red-blossomed trees we all came to love.

Day 38

Day 38: when I realized we still had sugar packets from Bucharest in our secret stash.  (We also still have wet wipes from Turkey.)  My, how far we've come...

100 happy days: week 8.

WOW. This was a hard week. I don't know if it was the heat, the humidity, the hormones, or some combination of all three but I was quite the Little Miss Crankypants. The first two of those three will continue for the foreseeable future so it's just time to roll with it. But I do hereby apologize to anyone who had to deal with me in any way, shape or form over the past seven days.

So the 100 happy days project was definitely a challenge, but here we go...

Day 51

(no photo available -
it's my project and I can do whatever I want)

Day 51: when we rode the equivalent of an old yellow school bus for about ten hours in 100 degree temps with no air con (but there were fans installed in the school bus ceiling - genius!). Why was this a happy thing? We were the only white folks on the bus. The hot air beat against our faces as we passed through villages of stick houses and dry brown fields. Ladies boarded at every stop to peddle grilled half chickens on sticks and fruit. Lao men in army camouflage boarded here and there; eventually people were sitting in the aisles on plastic stools. At lunch the monk sitting next to Patrick graciously let us know when to get back on the bus by punching the time into his phone. All in all a very surreal (and amazing) experience.

Day 50

Day 50: when our Thailand visa plan fell through and we stopped off at That Luang before heading back to the hotel. We probably wouldn't have visited if our visa plan had gone smoothly. It was a beautiful and peaceful space.

(I definitely wasn't in the right mindset to appreciate it at the moment but sometimes the "happy" comes later, and as long as it eventually comes that's all that matters.)

Day 49

Day 49: when we could see Thailand from the Vientiane riverbank. I looked down at my bracelets from Sapa and was reminded of sitting in Argentina, wearing a t-shirt I got in Ecuador and bracelets from Peru, looking at Brazil and Paraguay a few years ago. I am very lucky to have seen all that I have seen.

Day 48

Day 48: when we ran across this sign in Vientiane. Honestly, Lao is the last place I would expect to see something like this - although the actual state of the sign seems very Lao. Environmentalism seems a bit high on the self-actualization pyramid for such a poor country, but from what we have seen so far the government seems pretty committed to general preservation (of health, culture, green spaces). Lots of cities also proclaim themselves "smoke-free"... even though all the locals and a large number of the foreigners are chimneys.

Day 47

Day 47: when double rainbow aht happened.

Day 46

Day 46: when we crossed this bridge numerous times going from our bungalow to town... and it didn't fall apart. (This was a serious concern every day! Also a concern? Getting pushed over the side by the motorbikers! It was a short fall but that water was just gross.)

Day 45

Day 45: when we got to the restaurant before the daily rainstorm. (This was a particularly cranky day... Sorry again.)

100 happy days: week 7.

And so on and so forth with the 100 happy days project!

Day 58

Day 58: when the pictures of the carvings at My Son Sanctuary turned out better than the pictures of the ruins themselves. I loved these faces. So crazy to think that civilizations centuries before us found meaning in them. We are so small in the grand scheme of things.

Day 57

Day 57: when the most amazing little dog sat in this pose for a few minutes. I've seen dogs stretch in downward dog but I've never seen a dog hold this position. (I really hope it was intentional instead of it being that the dog just couldn't get up.)

Day 56

Day 56: when we returned to Hue.  I like that city a lot.  It's very reminiscent of Portland.

Actually this photo was taken on Day 54 but I don't have any relevant photos from Day 56 and it's my 100 Happy Days project so I can do whatever I want.

Day 55

Day 55: when the vegetarian restaurant still existed, and was open, and their food was delicious. We'd had a bit of a losing streak on food the days leading up to this photo so I would've just been happy if this place Still Existed. Open and Delicious Food were bonuses.

Day 54

Day 54: when I helped this little guy get up a steep curb near a park in Hue. He tried a few times on his own, appearing to stand on his little snake tippie-toes, but he couldn't quite reach the top of the curb so I got a stick and lifted him up. (At least I think I helped him - he looked a little confused when I set him down.)

Actually I didn't take this photo but it's my 100 Happy Days project so I can do whatever I want.

Day 53

Day 53: when we finally had take-away in plastic bags. This chicken curry was spicy, delicious, and about $0.50 - and served by the friendliest Laotians we have met so far. Perfect.

Day 52

Day 52: when stop signs are written in different languages. More often than not, it's the same shape as the US version with "STOP" in English (no matter what the local language is) - it's very disorienting! Quebec, Morocco, and Laos have been the only times "stop" has been written in the local language.

100 happy days: week 6.

It's a little late, but it's never too late, so here is the latest installment of my weekly 100 happy days project...

Day 65

Day 65: when we sat by Sword Lake in Hanoi watching the couples take their wedding photos. Most were dressed in fancy wedding garb but this couple went a little more casual with matching plaid tops; hers was a halter plaid top and she also wore a bright red hat and a white tutu. He wore black Chucks. I liked their style.

Day 64

Day 64: when I stood on our balcony watching the kids across the street play some bizarre game of tag. I tried to figure out the rules. I think they went something like this: tag someone, run halfway down the block while the rest of the gang runs in circles, run back and try to tag someone, everyone scream really loud and then giggle like maniacs. It was very cute.

Day 63

Day 63: when Kenny the Social Climbing Goat made me laugh out loud. Are you following Kenny? If not, you should be.

Day 62

Day 62: when all the clocks at the hostel had completely different times. Not time zones - times. We have seen this in other places too. And no city seems to have the correct time difference between Vietnam and NYC. There was a time (no pun intended) when this would've driven me batty. But sometimes (again, no pun intended) I love the little reminders that the world does not revolve around what time it is in the United States.

Day 61

Day 61: when the nice Buddhist lady at our favorite vegetarian spot in Ho Chi Minh City showed us how to eat our dinner. (Not pictured: nice Buddhist lady.) They do that a lot here - take your chopsticks from you and mix up your food, then point to various spices and sauces on the table and your food indicating you should add these spices and sauces to make the food taste better. Even though we've been here almost two months and think we have the hang of eating, it's still charming in a grandmotherly kind of way.

Day 60

Day 60: when nature shows up and my partner in crime is content to sit on a bench while I take a billion shots trying to get just the right one.

Day 59

Day 59: when Hoi An redeemed itself as the lovely little city that it is. Our second time around was much more pleasant than our first, and of the ten or so cities we've visited, Hoi An might now be in my top three.