photos of laos part ii

here's the second load of photos i took from laos.

if you'll notice, in some of the photos you might see dust spots. this is dust that gets into my camera from changing lenses, or going through the lens rings from zooming in and out.
the dust gets on the ccd sensor (whatever the hell that means) inside the camera. you can use a hurricane blower (an air blowing hand blowing device.....hmm, that sounds funny), but sometimes the dust sticks to the surface of the sensor (big pain in the arse), especially in hot, humid climates like southeast asia (where i was and where i will be in a couple weeks). anyway, the point is, today, i had my sensor cleaned here in melbourne. this is lucky for me and my camera, since the only other place i know where this can be done is in the u.s. of a. and i probably won't be there until late spring '07. so the point of the previous point hitherto henceforth is, i'm so damn happy to have a clean camera, that i'm going to get pissed tonite.

anyway, back to our regularly scheduled program:

me and a couple of english lads rode motorbikes through the lao hillside, and bought a couple of bottles of laobeer and drank by the river next to this hut. since the villagers don't have too many western visitors, we were the main show in town.

in nong khiaw, you can rent huts overlooking the nam (river) ou. these kind, novice buddhist monks were nice enough to look after them across the river while i was away. my hut is at about 9 o'clock.

sunset in nong khiaw. look at all those dust spots on the ccd sensor.

cockfighting in luang prabang

butterfly

one of many wats (temples) in luang prabang

lanterns in the night market in luang prabang



village girl weaving

rice fields and bamboo huts. laos has plenty of those.

weirdest waterfall i've ever seen. it goes right through the jungle.

rice field and bamboo hut.

lao is communist (well, sort of), and this is a photo of their old, long departed, communist brethren to the west, the soviet union.

last photo, sunset over the mekong river in vientiane.


laos is wonderful. it's such a nice respite from other countries in asia with it's laid-back nature, ruralness, and slower pace of life. this is especially true after coming in from the massive population center that is china. laos capital vientiane, feels like a small village. small towns in china are larger than the entire laotian population...of course, a small town in china holds only 2 million people.
if in southeast asia, i highly recommend laos, especially if after you've down the usual tourist circuit through thailand, it's more decadent brother to the west.

life, love, and Dónde está Ché Pelotas?