"I WISH I HAD A HAMMOCK"

VIENTAINE, LAOS
Temperature: 29 Degrees Celsius
Track of the day: Blue Monday, Jeremy Fisher
"Wake up, you have to call you're family," Alecs says at 4:00 in the morning. My Aunts Jo-Anne, Cindy and Uncle Dan's birthday's are all being celebrated at my grandparents house and I'm Skyping in to see them. As the computer rings, I groggily try to flatten my messy hair while Alecs drifts back to sleep. We hook up cameras and I am able to see the living room complete with all the kids and even Cooper, Kylie and Nathan's new puppy. We talk for close to an hour as the family has cake and appetizers that look quite delicious from my end. Maddy has new glasses and Cooper is maybe as cute as Shadow, MAYBE! Alecs can't help but get up to visit and the kids show us everything around including magic tricks, food and toy balls. After saying goodbye and wishing the three of them a happy birthday I am back to sleep for a few hours. "What do you feel like doing today?" Alecs says after I get up a few hours later. "Nothing really," I say, rubbing my eyes, "how about you?." Alecs agrees that today feels like a lazy day of doing nothing. We have a few things to take care of online and with the best connection we've had yet- this seems like the best place to do it. Around noon we wander down the stairs and out to the hotel restaurant for a buffet lunch. "Let's eat a lot now so we can skip dinner," I say as Alecs loads some orange glazed chicken ontop of his rice. Smoked Salmon Salad, Beef in oyster sauce, fried tofu, fresh fruit and lemon tarts fill the plate along with some soup and salads. As we sit in-front of the pool with a terrible view of a man in a speedo thong we try and enjoy our meal. "When this guy has left, we should come back to the pool," Alecs says discreetly gesturing to the speedo-man. We wait for the better port of an hour before hitting the pool and are rewarded with it being empty. We both jump, or maybe slide, in the pool, which is blissfully cool. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh," says Alecs, "this is the life." We race each other from side to side, test how long we can hold our breath underwater and just float about for quite some time.
Today we are heading to Pakse, southern Laos which is our jump-off point for Champasak where Angkorian ruins are the attraction. "Let's kill some time downtown before our bus picks us up at 7PM" Alecs says packing his bag and throwing it over his shoulder. The moment we checkout and step outside the hotel a wave of heat envelopes us yet again. We kill the time playing cards, at which Alecs is beating me, and eating freezies in the shade while watching locals and tourists alike hiding from the heat in every possible way. A tuk--tuk driver sets up a hammock in the back of his converted pickup and settles in for an afternoon nap. "I wish I had a hammock," I say jealously to Alecs as I split the deck of cards.
Now we are surrounded by heaps of farangs (foreigners) in an Internet cafe as we all send messages home. Our sleeper bus heads to Pakse for the 13 hour bus ride later tonight and we may be out of contact for the next week, but many posts will soon come from the Cambodia side - in Siem Reap.
So long for now,
Alecs and Meg in Vientaine.
Ps. Connection is much too slow for photos or videos - they will come in the near future.