sabai di!

Finally, FINALLY, we have arrived in Vientiane, the capitol of Laos/our home for the next few months. Travel was...as painless as multiple-day travel can be. My flight from Newark to Tokyo was uneventful--I watched four movies (yes, I watched Babies for the third time...) and marveled at the ability of the couple next to me to not use the bathroom once during the thirteen hour flight. I met up with my cousin at Narita and, about seven hours later, we were in our Bangkok airport hotel--where we spent a grand total of seven hours before hauling back off to the airport for our early flight. My first impression of Southeast Asia: HUMID. My hair hasn't been this curly since I was eight. It's pretty hot too--probably 90 F, but it was 90 in New Jersey when I left (thanks, global warming).

So, after gawking at the modernistic Bangkok airport for an hour or so, we flew to Laos in a tiny but festive plane and Jacqui, our wonderful host, picked us up. Her house is incredible--tons of open space and light, views of the arresting Mekong River on three sides, bamboo all over, and, most importantly, the darlingest little kitty that already I have fallen in love with (never mind the fact that it has fleas). I thought I would be pining for Snuggle Bottom but now it's like Snuggle who? Anyway, we just finished a flavorful squash soup-ish dish for lunch with some delicious almost sour juice made from a local rosella. Jacqui's housekeeper has gamely agreed to teach us how to prepare some Lao dishes while we're here, which is awesome. Also, due to the opportunity to try tons of new dishes and the general impracticality while traveling, I have decided to suspend my pescetarianism for the duration of this trip. Bring it on, edible insects.

Well, the fact that I've only gotten about 10 hours of sleep in the past 3 days is finally catching up with me. I'm off for a nap before dinnertime. Pictures coming soon!