A real-scale model of a Soviet rocket, Moscow

Red Square under a blue sky

Here starts a flashback to the beginning of my trip. Being home i'm posting the best-of of pictures not yet posted, most of them taken with my Canon camera. And to begin, Russia: Moscow on a chilly automn day. This one was posted previously but this time it is rotated to be straight.

05 03 2009 That's just the regular, every day, normal Laos (three)

The rice crackers are drying on their racks in the streets of Luang Prabang.
Did you think it was cheese? Me too.

05 03 2009 That's just the regular, every day, normal Laos (two)

This is in Luang Prabang again, a city that has more temples and monks than New York has taxis and hot dog vendors.
As soon as i can, i'll post pictures of monks collecting the alms (food given by the lay men) early in the morning, at around 6am. It's beautiful to see the procession of these monks, all dressed in orange, walking silently when the city just awakes (and the Aussies just go to bed).

05 03 2009 That's just the regular, every day, normal Laos (one)

There it is, the normal Laos. Nothing to add, that's typical, pure Laos. Yep, just like that, at every corner and most everywhere your eyes fall. This picture is from Luang Prabang.
As for the title of this post, it can be sung like this.

26 02 2009 Choosing a bar in Van Vieng, Laos

A village with lots of bars, lots of tourists (mainly Oz), happy pizzas and happy milk shakes. Welcome to the most un-lao place in Laos.
They set up swings over the local river and invite tourists to get merry on local alcohol in the riverside bars, then get crazy on the swings. I did as prescribed. I fell five meters onto a rock where the water was too shallow. Much blood and two weeks of limping later, i suspect that the biggest industry in town is not selling beer, it is the local hospital.

24 02 2009 Sunset on the Mekong river, Vientiane

This pictures is from the terrace of a bar in Vientiane. Yes, this is the view from downtown in the capital city of Laos. I had just received the most atrocious massage. They call it Lao massage but it's closer to acupuncture given with wrists and fingers. My masseur was a strong guy, he said i should stop acting like a girl. Thanks.

23 02 2009 Me, enlightened in Wat Pho

I failed to levitate during the 10 days meditation retreat, and i still can't see through trees. But i loved every bit of it. Even the guy who woke us up at 4am every day.

8 2 2009 The power of now

A faulty Sandisk memory card, and most of my pictures gone with it, is
teaching me to live less in the blog and more in the now.
I m leaving Siem Reap and Angkor Wat in 2 days, destination a small
Thai island called Ko Pha-Ngan. There it will be 10 days of silence,
meditation, yoga, 2 veggie meals a day and wake up time before the
chicken, at 5am. No Nokia no music no internet no ice cream.
Apparently it s hard on the back too.
Why do it? Because i m curious and because it s there. More soon!