Greetings Capitalists. Sorry for the delay on updating this page. Between getting E-Coli and catching up my schoolwork I haven't had the time and/or energy to do so. But, I'm going to try to do a post every 1-2 weeks from here on out. I will probably post things less often on Facebook so I'll have more to write on here.
Anyway...
So, since my last update quite a few things have happened. Most notably I contracted E-Coli which royally sucked. The most typical way to get it is from drinking non-treated tap water or eating poorly cooked food. I'm thinking I got it by eating a disgusting piece of street meat. It was beef that tasted more like rotten fish, so fairly safe to assume that was the culprit. Never again will I do that. I'm downright scared to eat meat of any sort now.
E-Coli is straight-up AWFUL and I now understand what the meaning of 'feeling like death' is. I dropped a good 10-15 pounds in a week as my stomach become bloated to the point of not being able to drink or eat anything. I took far too long to go to the doctor as I never had a high fever, but found out after going that I have an allergy to the antibiotic ciprofloxacin. This set me back a pretty nasty rash and allowed the E-Coli to stay in my body for an additional week. Eventually I was given a mix of different antibiotics by a doctor at the French Medical Clinic here, which is basically the best place to receive medical treatment in all of Laos, which isn't saying a lot.
On a more positive note, I have fulfilled a long-held bucket list wish of getting a moped. She's a beauty and is insanely fun to hop around Vientiane in. Seriously, I love this thing. It's a Kolao, which is a joint venture company between Korea and Laos. I was tempted to buy a faster Suzuki or Honda motorcycle, but those things get stolen constantly. The Kalao ended up costing only about 900 bucks brand new and I can get a weeks worth of gas for around 3 bucks. Francis likey. Here's a pic.
Alex and I finally have a pretty good feel for this city now. Here's a map (click on it to make it large enough to see). We live where the red circle is within the embassy part of town. The black square is the downtown area. That's easy to find because it's where all of the white people are. Lots of great little restaurants here where you can get a good meal for less than 5 bucks.
The weather here is insane. I've mentioned on facebook several times that it's the cool season, yet somehow is still 95 degrees every day. It's also the dry season. I think we've had a combined 5 minutes of rain so far in 5 weeks. Hot season is going to be an unbearable 110 degrees and 90 percent humidity, or so I've been told. Thankfully it only lasts for the months of March and April. I think I'll head back to Jersey for most of April to jointly visit family and friends while getting out of the heat.
Speaking of heat, it has made me already go through several haircuts and facial hair configurations. I think you'll notice a pattern here.
I'm also happy to report that I've gotten my driver's license back. On our second day in Vientiane I was pulled over for a cop for having my headlights on during the day. Apparently, that's a no-no for some reason. Once I was pulled over, the cops here (who are kind of scary looking communist police) took my license and drove away. Apparently, I was supposed to follow them but it was hard to know that considering they spoke zero English. Only later did I learn I could just give them 4 dollars and they'd walk away with no questions asked. Instead, Alex had to enlist the help of UN security to first locate my license. It wasn't until we offered $25 to a policeman that they finally 'found' it. Bribery goes a long way here.
Since we have gotten here two major things have happened at home - Hurricane Sandy and the re-election of President Obama. It was a very helpless feeling watching the reports of Hurricane Sandy and watching foreign coverage of the election helped me realize what an enormous impact US politics and policies have on the world, even here in tiny, communist, landlocked Laos. It's easy to see how the US affects places like Iraq or Afghanistan but seeing it from here provides a very different and very real perspective that I hadn't had before. I'm sure I'll write more on that in future posts.
Please note -I now have a US phone number that forwards to my cell phone here in Laos. The number is 908-514-4473. Call me! Reminder: Laos is 12 hours ahead of EST.
Lastly, escalators in Laos are called 'electricity ladders'. How awesome is that?
Over and out.
-Pat
