Auspicious days

It is an auspicious day in Luang Nam Tha according to the elder- and thats why I'm nearly drunk at 2pm. I ate fish stew and pork with fried spinach, rice and boiled eggs, oranges for dessert and several glasses of Beerlao. The Lao are very social and any excuse for a party will do. It's for good luck, after all. I had to escape the party, right after the falang dance, so I wouldn't be forced to do any more shots of Beerlao -wouldn't want to disturb diplomatic relations with the Laotians by refusing a drink, now would I?
After an amazing trip from Nong Khiow through mountains, valleys, villages clinging to the sides of cliffs above rice paddies, children playing mere feet from the asphalt, the blue sky above a complimentary contrast to the lush green of the hills, and a woman in ornately embroidered traditional dress vomiting the entire four hour journey in a cramped minivan! I ignored the heaves and concentrated on the spectacular scenery.
In Oudomxai I had my backpack thrown onto the back of another, proper-sized bus and munched on a bamboo stick full of red sticky rice as the bus started its three hour trek. The hills flew past as the bus literally careened down the narrow road. In Laos, many of the major highways are barely wide enough to accommodate two buses at the same time, so often we ended up with a couple of wheels on the soft shoulder and the driver did not hesitate to use as much of the road as possible- frightening when rounding a blind corner. Rice sacks and bamboo shoots sliding across the floor for hours, we finally made it to Luang Nam Tha.

And now it's almost three and I might rejoin the party. After all, auspicious days are few and far between. If I were a villager, I could party hop all night with the four weddings in addition to this party. But I'm not, and it's probably for the better I just take a nice walk around town as I plan a bit of a bike tomorrow to a small village near the Chinese border. But maybe a nice Beerlao with ice after my walk...