dear santa. all i want for christmas is a morning blessedly free from roosters. love, tasha.

this is how i envision melbourne, australia on christmas day: cars parked, houses with doors shut up, parks empty, dogs and cats left to fend on their own.

why?

because every goddamn person that lives in melbourne is currently in SE asia.

but back to us.

wow, vang vieng really sucks you in.

our first day, we did pretty much: nothing. wandered about, emailed, stopped for an episode of friends. then two. then three...it was dangerous. we did hike out to this cool cave just outside of town, hike a bajillion stairs to the top and inside the lovely cool cave. then we ran into the rest of our crew, had some dinner and hit the smile bar.

the smile bar.

it sits on the banks of the river and is a series of bamboo platforms with pillows, hammocks, and a big bonfire in the middle. the dj was irish and played me my sublime, the company was great, and then at 11:00 the national curfew hit. shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit. so, we were invited to another bar, the jeske bar. great, we thought, right behind our guest house. so, we tromp past the 1600 rotee stands and get there, and it's dark and quiet. we were confused. then we find out it's a SECRET bar. along the airstrip. so, we go out. some asshole australian guy starts yelling at us to shut up, go home, nothing is going on - we were so confused. we were like "buddy, we followed you out here to the party." turns out the cops were there and we were looking for a party that "doesn't exist"- until he pays off the cops. seriously - it's like a bad movie. oh - but it got worse. the "secret bar"was a dirty warehouse with a laptop and a couple of speakers, a toilet with maxim posters all around and about 50 really drunk australians. it was so lame it was beyond words.

yesterday, we got up (eventually) and went tubing along the nom khan river. oh - my - god, this is the best thing, ever. you get your tube, hop in at this farm, and within 2 minutes there's a bar. along the whole river there's a series of bars wtih bamboo platforms, music pumping, cheap beer lao and crazy rope swings, trapeezes and zip lines. there's dozens of drunken tubers making their way 5km down the river to smile bar, stopping every 10 minutes at another bar for some beer and fun. it was awesome, safety was questionable but whatever, it was so great. cruising down the river with beer lao (or an organic mojito, how i started), along these stunning karsts and jubgle, being pulled into bar after bar by long bamboo poles. at the end 30 lao kids come running up, drag you out of the river, yell ÿou! get out!"and demand money for yanking you out of the river. little shits. but you're so drunk at this point it doesn't really matter.

after that we went for dinner, had this girl tag along from canada who i actually suspect is mildly retarded. i'm not being facetious - i really think she might be. or insane. we've ditched her for now, fingers crossed. then we went to the backyard at our guest house and watched the end of pirates of the caribbean (what a stupid show - the third one) while having some sips from shakes made with a smile. today we're going to do some cave exploring, then maybe some nap time by the river.

so our big news: we're not going to saigon for christmas. the logisitics were so frustrating, trying to get ahold of le and tracey, book visas, busses, it was actually making me sick to my stomach and stressing me out, finally we heard from them and we just decided we're not going to do it. instead, we've booked a nice place in vientiane with the others we've met, and we're going to spend christmas together. there's a street kids program in vientiane, so rather than take toys to orphans, i'm putting the money towards putting a couple of kids through school for a year - so, teri, sorry there are no toys, but instead you'll give a kid a year's worth of education - hope that's ok. somehow that seems like the gift that keeps on giving.

oh - and as for pictures, every second person we've met has gotten a virus on their cards so i'm not risking it anymore. i'd be pissed if i lost all my photos now - so maybe when it's full up and i burn them on CD i'll post some more.