Adventures in Laos

We are in Laos right now, and I'm typing this bit of an update on the iPad. (edited later to add photos)
Wed  morning we hustled away in a great hurry to catch our bus, only to sit and wait at the office for a while until it arrived... This is life! Our ride was fairly uneventful. The children did quite well. We got to the border town around 4:30 or so, and were shown to our nights lodging... It was quite a luxury suite! Not! But I figured we'd still sleep just fine. There I was mistaken. It was under a bar and by another bar, so that about the time we settled in to sleep for the night some other folks were just beginning their evening's activities. The druken noises continued till sometime around 2:00 am, and shortly thereafter John awoke and decided he was ready to get up. Besides which my part of the twin sized bed in our fan-less room had a few extra comfy springs to massage my ribs!
Anyway, the night ended at last and after some toast and jam as our substantial breakfast we were on our way to cross the border.

Our crossing was by boat...quite the boat! Mom would have LOVED this! I was holding my breath and praying for safety, and definately relieved to reach the other side safetly!Maybe I wouldn't be so petrified of rickety overloaded boats if I knew how to swim, but since I don't and with two little ones besides.... And the life jacket you see on John was an adult one that didn't buckle... How much help that would have been God knows, but I'm glad we had no cause to find out!

We were taken to the bus station by our tour coordinator, and then a long wait for the bus while we found ourselves being closely observed by the Laotians around us. I had to wonder how often they had seen foreigners before, especially little foreigners!  The man you see beside Darren in the photo is from Israel. He joked about us being aliens and our our ufo being parked further down the road.
I spoke to him about the Lord, but he is not religious and looks at Christianity and other religions as being simple a product of the brain to make us all feel better about ourselves, so it was hard to get any where. He just smiled as if to say - Yes, it's so nice you can have such a comforting belief!  But of course I know better than to think it is reality.
Soon we were on our way on long bus ride to the village town we are staying in. On the way the driver stopped and said something in Laos. I asked a lady who spoke some English what we were stopping for and she said with a heavy accent and a gesture around her. "You can go to bathroom... Anywhere you want"
We arrived and got a taxi to a very nice guesthouse for around $8.50 a night. That's nice, especially since food is more expensive here than we expected. Today we spent some time exploring the town as well as in prayer and reading.

These two little girls were enjoying some desert together at the table outside our guesthouse

 

Here is a picture of the strange rotor tiller powered type vehicles that are common on the roads here in Laos - Driven by a youngster

 

Two cuties that we passed enjoying a secret

The landscape

The houses of the rich are quite a contrast to those of their poorer neighbors

 

John loved the riding toy that the guesthouse owners allowed him to use

 

Our cutey!

 

 

Refuge from the pouring rain

      We took public transport on the way back. Observe the speedometer reading and gages - We were going full speed though they do not show it.

      The Lord orchestrated our trip and led us to a man from Laos who wants to be a Christian.  Please pray for him that he will be real one. He wants to talk with Darren more on the phone today or tommorrow. Pray that God will give Darren the words to say and wisdom to make truth plain to him. His name is Sene.