Much of it we recognized but some remains a mystery.

We had a toral blast over the Chinese New Year 3 day holiday. Every
night the streets filled up with food stands, street vendors of every
kind and thousands and thousands of people celebrating the year of the
dragon We wanted to sharie a bunch of photos. Keep in mind these were
all taken with an iPod Touch so photo quality isn't terrific.

Another BFM on a long tail boat.

We've come back to Bangkok to see the celebration of Chinese New Year
(January 23rd).

We are staying at a beautiful hotel right in the middle of Chinatown,
the Shanghai Mansions. The street out in front of our hotel will be
closed off later this afternoon and the dragon parade and festivities
take place right here.

The streets are festooned with banners proclaiming the Year of the
Dragon. Fireworks are everywhere.

Last night we went out on the street to wander and were blown away by
the overflowing crowds which sat at street restaurants eating the most
amazing food preparations. These people really know how to eat. For
dinner we had roast duck (our favorite), crab with tofu in chili sauce
and deep fried prawn balls (not our favorite). The streets were full
of people and smells of cooking, frying and roasting. Everyone was
buying fruit and candy and decorations to celebrate what they hoped
would be an auspicious new year. Traffic flowed around and through the
crowds.

The new year is the year of the Dragon - very lucky everyone says.
There don't seem to be any gods involved. It's all about Luck - a very
practical approach. People are smiling and wishing strange passersby a
Happy New Year. Everyone wants to collect merit for the year to come.
They are buying bright red jackets and t-shirts decorated with dragons
and symbols of luck and happiness. Kind of like catholic indulgences.
They set up tables with food, flowers and incense (ofrendas?) and set
off fireworks to bring attention to their offerings.

More to come later. For now we are going out to eat some more.

We are stuck in paradise.

We've been staying on a tiny island called Don Khone in the area known
as the 4000 Islands here in southern Lao.

When we crossed into Lao from Thailand we first travelled to a small
village on the Mekong called Champasak. We stayed at a simple guest
house right on the river. We spent two days there doing pretty much
more than laying around out in the perfect weather and reading. We
walked into town (about 2 kn) but finding nothing of interest we
returned to our hotel. We stayed 2 nights. The beds were terrible -
hard and unforgiving.

We took a ferry and a bus to move from Champasak to our next
destination. While waiting after the ferry for the bus to arrive Susan
noticed that the guy who walked into the photo she was taking wasn't
me. But it sure looked like me. We approached them and on closer
inspection determined that we could have been brothers. The
resemblance is uncanny. Eberhard and his wife Inez (from Stuttgart)
both agreed that we were virtually doppelgängers of each other. We
arrived together at Don Khone where we wound up staying at the same
hotel and had the opportunity to get to know each other better and to
laugh together about the resemblance calling each other "brother' when
we spoke. (photo2)

After two nights we moved south to an area known as the 4000 islands.
Some of them are no more than a single tree. (photo1). Two are of most
interest to gringos. Don Det is the backpackers' island and is full of
young people staying in cheap guesthouses lined up along the river. It
the other island of interest is Don Khone which is adjacent. It is
populated (besides the local folks) by an older, more mature gringo -
our crowd. The guesthouses are nicer and the restaurants better.

We found a room that is built on a raft floating on the river. We are
wow'd by the beautiousity around us (photo 3).

The simple village life going on across the channel (photo 4). Our
time spent in the balcony overhanging the river. We planned to stay
for 3 days. It grew to 4 then 5.

But we bought bus tickets out of here for tomorrow morning so we're
leaving for sure.

Did I tell you about we also ran into a couple of folks we know who
also live in Ajijic? They were staying at the same hotel as us here
on a tiny island, 1 in 4000, in southern Lao.

Go figure. But that's another story (photo 5).

Thinking of you all.

Every time we see a BFM we think of you. This is a typical long-tail
boat used throughout this part of the world.

We are crossing into Laos today and from what we've been reading
online Internet connections are not as common here in Thailand. Just
letting you know so you don't worry if you don't here from us for a
couple of days between emails.

If a connection is available we will check in.

Hope all's well. Stay in touch.

We went to Central World, a mega-mall that is Bangkok's equivalent of
Times Square. Several hundred thousand people gathered to drink beer
and take photos of each other.

All of my photos were taken with my iPod Touch so the quality isn't
terrific but as they say, "the best camera is the one that's with
you".