Luang Parabang

Luang Parabang is a pretty town by the Makong river, with a morning market and a night market, young monks walking barefeet in the streets collecting pieces of sticky rice donated by the people living in the town every morning, many hostels, restaurants, massage places, a couple of clubs and a bowling place. The town of small attractions, we had our first massage here, 3 young ladies constantly laughing quietly while massaging our chair-looking bodies. Me and Inbal got addicted to Nam coc - a mixture of sticky rice, coconut milk and sugar, boiled into a thick mixture, and later fried a little - you can never have enough of it. We went on a 2 day trip including hiking to a local village, sleeping there, and continuing to a nice location with many small waterfalls, and an elephant ride. Our cherry on top was definitely our guide - corn (yes, like the vegetable). A crazy horny singing cursing English speaking Lao that claims he was born in a ricefield, raised as a monk for 6 years (12 to 18) and now he is 28, has 6 girlfriends, a band (he played us his songs) and everything he likes is "fucking nice!". While hiking in the jungle it is a true treat to hear Lao singing echoing all around us. We reached the village - it has a generator, an old tv, and a radio, it doesn't have anything else that reminds technology. There are many kids at the age of 4 carrying their 2 year old younger siblings on their hands, and backs. They have heart melting smiles, feet made of steel, they have no fear of getting hurt. Nobody is telling anyone to not do anything, walking out in the middle of a game is as normal as staying in a game, winning looks the same as losing, frustration doesn't seem to exist. I tried playing their game - like volleyball, only with the legs. My team had to run many rounds around the field for losing. Everytime we started to run the younger kids joined us yelling and laughing, some were pointing and laughing. Amit and Inbal became counselors, around 15 kids played "qua qua de la omer" and chased Amit-the-roaring-zombie. At night we met a few more tourists in the village, nice people- Americans, one girl is even living in Tel Aviv and knows a little Hebrew. We drank some wiskey the guide brought with him, if I had to guess first what was I drinking my guesses would be (in this order): gasoline, piss with alcohol, or alcohol with piss. Nevertheless we had a great time, our guide has a twisted sense of humor and a laugh that will make you wake up in the middle of of the night frightened with cold sweat. By the end of the night we were all trying to laugh like him. It is truly unbelievable to see the connection to nature here, their food and water all comes from the forest, they grow their own rice, and Corn- our guide, simply explained "no sticky rice - no life".  Sticky rice- their source of life. They have pigs and chickens running freely around the village, human puppies running around naked, or just a shirt, or just with a piece of paper, or a piece of sticky rice. Every once in a while some kids are starting a fire, and no one seems to be bothered, no one is worried that someone will get hurt.  The next day we walked to the beautiful waterfalls and had a short ride on elephants. They are the weirdest creatures, you can go to the zoo all you like, but walking by them, feeding them, touching them, it's a whole different experience, I'm glad we did it. Our way back to Luang Parabang we did with kayaks and again the singing of our guide was making the experience 10 folds more awesome, at night we planned to all go out together.  I miscalculated the dates, when I got back I noticed Yom Kippur is just about to start, my last meal was at 12, before the kayaking. After consulting some key Jewish authorities in Israel I decided to continue fasting, I missed out on the going out, but the next day I broke the fast with the smoothest banana shake and sweetest chocolate pancake I've ever had.  I've almost finished reading my book, it's awesome, reading a good book while traveling is an experience that cannot be mimicked. You have to be on the road to enjoy a book so much.