Laos on the List!

Over Cinco de Mayo celebrations this weekend, Laos officially made "The List". Keeping with my motto of "all good things come in threes," Laos has been mentioned three times in the last two weeks, therefore making it worthy of a visit. Here's how Laos got on my travel list: 

• On a flight from SFO to Newark, I sat next to a "talker", who in addition to telling me I needed to go to Laos, also schooled me on the bio-agriculture movement, probiotic studies done on rats, friends in LA that studied metaphysics, mind-boggling, new age modalities that somehow involve lying in the buff on a massage table (what?!?) and his latest psychedelic folk album (that was before he became a venture capitalist). Whew!
• While enjoying cocktails at my friend Siobhan's new swanky pad, my friend Angie mentioned she had heard good things about Laos.
• At a friend's Cinco de Mayo party, I was told if I go anywhere in Southeast Asia, I must go to Laos. I was treated to stories about elephant rides, friendly locals and tubing down the Mekong, where supposedly you can stop by huts for a drink as you ride along....

Something about riding down a river sounds simply sublime. And an elephant ride that moves deliberately and slowly, so unlike our every day lives, is something my soul could use. Friendly locals are an added bonus. Hope they are friendly to photographers.

And so Laos is on the List as an excursion from Vietnam in November. I already have a feeling it will be a place I'll never want to leave...