Muang Sing, 11/13/05:

Muang Sing is a fabulous area. I think it has been a difficult transition for me to go from absolutely stressed and without spare time to having lots of free time. I am trying to keep myself busy going around to temples and things, but the pace of life here is, to say the least, much slower than what I am used to. I think I will be able to adjust in time, but it is strange. And I am so worried about reading my book too quickly and then having nothing to read that I have hardly read any of my book. It makes little sense, but I never claimed to be fully logical and without neuroses. I have been riding my bicycle (that I rent for a whole $1 a day) around to different villages and trying to go into the main building at the temple to see if there are banners and of course photocopy them. I think I have been largely successful, although certainly not all buildings are open and I tried to ask a couple of questions and had little luck. I have been splurging of eating – I spent a whole 20,000 kip on lunch today and then another 20,000 kip on dinner tonight! OK – one dollar is about 10,000 kip so that’s $2 per meal, but that is definitely decadent in this part of Laos.

I am now just waiting for the festivities to begin. There is a temple festival tomorrow and the important That Xieng Tung festival on Wednesday. The townspeople were really getting ready for the temple festival today. The women were all working on making food and offerings all day. You could see this all over town. And the men at one point were practicing their instruments. Oh, I love it! Can’t wait for the festivities, and I am sure they will be as rewarding as I think they will be.