2001-07-19 - 10:30 p.m.

luang prapang, laos 10.30pm

i don't have time for a full update. i'm sitting in a steaming room with other stinky foreigners. the air is heavy tonight with an earlier downpour and the town is quiet. this is an ancient city in the middle of laos, which used to be a closed city, so it is smaller and quaint. it is filled with buddhist monks. i will get up early tomorrow morning to see their morning procession through the town to obtain rice and food for the day as they cannot buy anything and they have to rely on these gifts. every block there is an amazing temple, called a wat, covered in gold lifted above reds and oranges with sweeping roofs and intricate designs.

there are two hot english guys at my guesthouse and i'm traveling with an aussie woman and an american. the american has been traveling a year and has adopted an irish accent, which i find strange. i think she's trying to be anyone but herself, anywhere but where she lives. i hope to go back to find the baby boys ont he balcony and i hope to chat one up into the night and make a little kissy kissy. hehe.

i am leaving for hanoi tomorrow, as this town is too quiet for my very loud brain. i would like to have the courage to stay calm in one place, but i feel this urgency to keep moving. maybe i'll calm down at the beaches, besides, the peruvian is in vietnam and wants to meet up, so there is that. this is a town for a person set to write a book, who wants a calm, serene private land. or a town for lovers. it is sunday here everyday.

soon i will update you on my motorcycle adventure, my trek through the jungle and some tasty lill french thing i had there .

cheers, l