3/24-

3/24/2011
-spent the morning seeing the crew of the Hounde off on their journey (the boys from Vermont who built a boat to sail down the Mekong). they took with them 5 gallons of water, and 5 gallons of "True Manhood" whiskey, among other supplies, haven't heard any word on whether or not they made it, my guess is that they didn't make it past Vientiane, the boat is totally illegal (falongs aren't allowed to own property in Lao), also, they were having engine trouble almost immediately after setting off.

putting the Lao flag on the boat

-the boys left around one, didn't do much the rest of the day, spent some time wandering around the city to new spots, and swam across the Nam Khong river, until dinner time.
-Met Clay and Colin for some Lao Barbeque, which is a really excellent thing, i wish i had a picture, but basically you have a table with a hole cut in it, and they bring out a big pot full of hot coals, put this in the center of the table, on top of this goes a tin half sphere, with holes cut in it to let the heat out. this is surrounded by a small round basin where you pour a stock out of a teapot. generous slices of pig far are used to grease the sphere bit, which you use to cook yr meat, and then the surrounding broth takes on the flavor of all of the meat and pig fat in addition to a whole medley of delicious veggies and glass noodles to make a delicious soup.
-then to Utopia...
3/25/2011
-spent the morning doing interweb stuff, and the day, chilling by and swimming in the river, another delicious riverside dinner.