Today I haven't really done a lot. The
big attraction in Viang Xai is the caves, and I've already seem them.
But there is some cool stuff to see from wandering around the town,
so I wandered some, and checked out the town. There are a lot of
dirt roads, and some of them are almost as narrow as paths. I just
kind of meandered for a while.
Then I went to the Indian restaurant in
town to eat some great food. That is becoming my go-to place in
Viang Xai. I have eaten almost all the meals I have eaten in Viang
Xai there. My next stop was the pharmacy, where I replenished my
supply of hydrogen peroxide. I also turned my laundry over to the
hotel's laundry service to be done. This will be the first time in
quite a while that my laundry has been done in a washing machine.
Even when I was in my apartment in Hanoi, I didn't use the washing
machine much, because I had so little laundry, I just washed it in
the sink as I usually do when travelling. Before I could wash stuff,
I needed to first take off my bandages, so I could take a shower, so
I could put my dirty clothes that I have worn for several days in the
wash. And I did that yesterday, and changed clothes after the
shower, so I was ready for laundry.
I also extended my hotel stay to a
total of a week, so I can sit here and recover for a bit.
Unfortunately I only have a month visa in Laos, so that cuts out some
time, but I think I might be able to extend it for one more month if
I need to.
I also did some preliminary cleaning of
my mud-caked gear today. I took it outside and scraped as much dry
mud as I could off of everything that was muddy, next I need to wash
it. But with all the gauze on my hands, that is going to be
difficult. So I changed the gauze on my hands again and will let the
wounds air out for the rest of the day.
Then I got back to the hotel and was
sitting on a bench outside my room (where wi-fi is available),
checking some stuff online. Then I sat there studying Vietnamese
from my flash cards. A Vietnamese guy staying at the hotel saw what
I was doing, and saw me struggling with the pronunciations of the
words and phrases, so he sat down next to me to help me with correct
pronunciation. That was a great interaction with somebody that I
could barely communicate with; he spoke no English, and I speak only
a minimal amount of Vietnamese.
You might say it was a pretty mundane
day. But it is extraordinary because I'm in fucking Laos.
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