Ventured out on my own today, which was a little scary at first! I got lost finding the main road, which is about a mile walk. Then I had to find a tuk tuk. I have different important landmarks written down in a notebook in Lao, so I can just point to them and hope the driver knows what I mean! It worked out well. I had dinner at Khop Chai Deu, walked along the Mekong a bit, and saw the river market. This is already one of my favorite cities. It's small, mellow, friendly, beautiful.

Mekong river

A dog that lives near my house

Along the Mekong

Dinner

Gotta love this 10 day forecast

I start work tomorrow!

Hello from Vientiane!

We just arrived a couple of hours ago. It's a gorgeous house. We took an overnight train from Bangkok. It was actually pretty nice and I slept through the night.

I only spent about a day in Bangkok. Highlights included a trip to a very upscale, massive mall (with really intense security), dinner at a Korean restaurant eaten on the floor, and a 2 hour massage.

I'll try to write more detailed updates, and maybe start a blog, but for now here are a few pics:

Masseuses at the massage place.

Tuk tuk driver

Feeding a cat hot dogs from 7/11. In Thailand there are 7/11s EVERYWHERE. 

Sarah is adorable. I hadn't met her before.

At the train station in Bangkok. (Little) James wore a Spiderman outfit the day before.

Summer is about over

Brenda and Don left this morning.  I went to the lake and retrieved many beach towels.  I took out lots of left overs from the fridge.  We visited Susi and saw her new dorm room, and Kalyani's office @ UofR. The fire was our last night at the lake,  Don and Chandran burned the hedge branches that they had trimmed.  The kids swam.