notes on laos

here are some things i saw in laos:

food in plastic bags: street stalls sell take away soup, curry, roast pork, sugarcane juice... and more in clear plastic bags. i even saw a boy buy a bag of drinking water. he hooked the bag on his handbars as he rode off.

breast in a temple: a mural on the wall had a several topless women dancing around a deity that looked like budda. a woman in a charity shop said that laos women used to go around topless all the time so maybe it's something to do with that.

a monk smoking: in luang prabang there are more temples than restaurants (or so it seems) and those shaven headed, orange cladded buddist monks are everywhere. as you visit temples you can see their living quarters. sometime they sit outside their dorms, smoking. you can also see them in the morning. they walk around the town in single file and collect alms.

i saw other stuff too. i will tell you next time i see you.

now in pai, a small town north of chiang mai. tomorrow: white water rafting and a night in the jungle.