Vang Vieng, Laos

Not much happened today on account of me being terribly ill. I had woken up with a sore throat and stuffy nose two days ago, but was still well enough to see the waterfalls and travel for six hours on a cramped minivan; however, my sickness had worsened and I spent pretty much the entire day in my hotel room coughing and blowing out mucus. I tried working on the website, but the internet is very sluggish in Laos and I gave up after a few hours. I grabbed lunch at a nearby backpacker hostel and had a mixed fruit shake, beer, tomato soup, and a pizza with chickens, onions, and mushrooms; with a high temperature and a high sun, it felt very hot outside and I quickly went back to my room. I spent most of my waking hours lying in bed and watching movies on HBO and Lotus Macau (I saw ‘The Hangover Part III’ for the first time and it was disappointingly unfunny), as well as the news on CNN. I slept some during the late afternoon, woke up again, and fell asleep in the late evening. It appears that I will not be performing any “extreme” sports (i.e. rock-climbing or dirt biking) like I had previously hoped to do while staying in Vang Vieng; instead I will use my time here to get healthy again so I can attack Vientiane, Bangladesh, and – most importantly – Nepal in tip-top shape.