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.)