Finally feeling up to moving again, I took the afternoon bus from Vientiane to Vang Vien. By the time the bus arrived it was pitch dark. We are dumped out of the bus out into the noisy street. Everyone on the bus is completely disoriented as to where to go. First impression: There are restaurants everywhere and they are all filled with young stoned westerners who are all pointed towards the big screen TVs that every restaurant has. At least 4 of them are playing reruns of Friends, all next to each other. It’s the Friends block. Then there are the bar/restaurants that are showing movies like Star Wars, The Longest Yard, Chicken Run, Big Fish, Action flicks, etc. It’s really sort of sick, but mesmerizing too. I found my way to the river where I wanted to stay, but all the riverside rooms were taken… Oh yeah, I guess it’s now the busy season here in SE Asia. I have been used to easily finding great, cheap places to stay, but now I am here Vang Vien and I swear it’s like SPRING BREAK. I sat down to eat dinner at one of the few restaurants WITHOUT a TV, and across from me was this bar playing obnoxiously loud music, LOADED with drunk, tanned tourists, and I saw in the middle of the crowd…a beer bong being raised. Hoots and hollors. Obnoxious young college guys and scantily clad women, which seemed so offensive to the locals, if a pleasant view for me. I found a cheap box of a room to sleep in for the night, only three bucks but ice cold showers and the ceiling fan was broken. I got up the next day with the hopes of moving into an opening room in Saysong Guesthouse, right on the river. I was wondering what the big deal was here. Unless you we here to get drunk or stoned off your ass and watch Friends reruns, it seemed like a rather boring, dumpy little town… Then I took a look outside my guesthouse from the balcony. Wow. Beautiful mountains. Gorgeous river. Too bad it’s a bit ruined with beach umbrellas, loud speakers pumping out Bob Marley, and “chill out” bars right along the riverbank. Anyway, there’s kayaking/tubing to be done, caves to explore, and “happy” pizzas to be eaten… …who am I to judge before partaking of this particularly westernized kool-aid? I’ll find out…tomorrow. Today, I’m just going to chill in my new place, swinging on the hammock on the balcony overlooking the river valley and mountains beyond, while reading Anna Karinina, an 800+ page Russian classic by Tolstoy. Life has just gotten a whole lot better. However, I am still awaiting news about Grover, so I am still uneasy about things. I pray he’s ok, and I don’t pray often.