April 30
We sleep pretty well except that again our power has gone
out in the early morning and our bedroom feels clammy and moist by the time we
wake up. We head down to the eating area
and seek out a much needed coffee. We
are quite surprised to find a lovely breakfast that is offered with our room
fee. We all order our eggs cooked just
so and request the type of jam and either bacon, ham or sausage with our
meal. It is really good. The owner of this hotel is a Chinese man and
his wife. The man grew up in Singapore and suffered a stroke in 2003. He was offered a job to manage a hotel in
Phuket in December 2003, but had his stroke and was sent to the ICU in
Bangkok. At the end of December, Phuket
was destroyed by the tsunami and the resort that he was hired to work at had
been washed away. He refers to his
episode as a “Stroke of Luck” and he says that it changed his whole perspective
on life. The story gives me chills and
reminds me to be thankful each day for what I have and how lucky we all are to
be able not only to have this trip, but also to enjoy the lives we lead back
home. We had planned to go tubing down
the river today, but the owner discourages us by saying that the water level is
too low to be much fun and we should just save our money.….which we do. All day long, however, we all feel like we
should have a least checked it out for ourselves. We end up doing pretty much nothing all day
and we are okay with that. This town is
a party town and really caters to a completely different crowd than the one we
belong to. We do end up walking around a
rice field and over a VERY rickety bridge and meet a lovely couple from
England/Scotland that have been traveling for over 2 years. They just keep going and are planning to
return to their homes sometime around August of this year. Wow….I am in awe! We cool off with a nice lemon/mint shake and
return to the hotel until dinner. We go
to the same restaurant, much to Paulie’s dismay and eat a so-so dinner for our
last night in Vang Vieng. We get home
and semi-packed for our departure tomorrow for Vientiane.
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