ang and i have slowed down of late. slowed down by the heat, by age, indifference, laziness and amoebic dysentery or traveler's gut or whatever you want to call the force that twisted and contorted intestines and bowels and fevered and chilled my brain and bones.
i wonder if i have the guts for this travel any more. literally.
we started off from chiang mai in northern thailand, leaving old smashed hopes and dreams and plans behind, having formed new vague plans-going on to lao and then somewhere else, and somewhere else after that, probably. lao pdr to be specific, but it is commonly known as laos. why we didn't fly from chiang mai to luang prabang i don't really know. we went via land and sea, long bus ride to bus station to tuk tuk to another bus station to another sticky hot bumpy bus ride, to overnight in a border town--pause, good night's sleep and a simple pad thai for dinner- cross the border into lao and get on the big hot slow boat of discomfort and pain and anguish and oh lord why did i get on this boat.
before everyone got on the boat
the slow boat: two days down the mekong, stopping half way overnight. the boat is long as a church hall, maybe 12 feet wide awide, filled with primitave little church pews for seats. there is no way to sit comfortably on these benches. and i tried, over and over for the two hours we sat on the hot boat before we even departed. already full, the boat waited and waited to leave. then about fifty more people with giant backpacks board the boat and pack and shove in. we finally take off once everyone is fully uncomfortable and sweaty. the slight breeze is nice, and the scenery is beautiful, and i don't really care because my stomach and head and back are aching.
i'm starting to get sick, i can feel it, and i don't desire would could be my consolation on this hellish boat ride--a cold beer. some british girls are getting drunk behind me and one's voice is loud and corrosive and hits the exact frequency that registers old man annoynance in my brain. my god i'm getting old, not sure if i have the guts for this kind of travel any more.
boat finally stops, eight some hours later at some town whose sole purpose is to accomodate and feed the slow boat bastards who are cursing all of lao and humanity for having been shoved on that boat.
no place to get lao currency, we get raped on the exchange rate.
i shower, shake a little of the head back stomach ache off and try to find some dinner. ang orders rice and vegetables, i order tomato soup and bread. it takes about an hour for our food to come. all the other customers experience a similar slow boat type of service. some of them bitch. i put my head down and dread tomorrow's combination of squirming intestines and heat and aching aching slow boat. the soup eventually comes, more onion soup with some tomatoes in it than tomato soup, but i sip it and have something warm in my belly.
i swallow some pills and get the chills and get tangled into nots with the sheets and fever and nightmares and stomach cramps and wake up a thousand times asking "what time is it?" the power goes out and never comes back on. the fan stops, i sweat and shake and fevers break and new ones come back and what time is it? it is pitch black in the room and all I hear are the lizards outside and my own panting and sweating.
we get on the boat in the morning. a robust british girl is bitching at a local about how packed the boat is. she doesn't want to get on. we joing the group of the thirty or so people waiting at the pier and board the boat. the girl bitches a little more and calls the guy who has nothing to do with the boat service a "cunt."
we go to the back of the boat, right next to the engine. it's going to be loud but they have transplanted mini van seats here and they are soft and not made of wood. i get the chills and cover up with a blanket even though it is 100 degrees. i take southeast asian aspiran and fall asleep. i break a fever and spent the next eight hours staring blankly forward or playing tetris or reading a page or two before setting it down and trying to relax again.
and then we arrive in luang prabang. we get a room with a/c and a tv and i shower and watch hbo edited for south east asian audiences.
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