And i say arrived relatively in one piece because I for the first time in years i took a nasty spill. I was walking up the set of stairs from the river boat which had stopped at the town of Pak Beng for the night. In the pitch dark we had to ascend a steep set of concrete steps of varying height, a few pads which were wobbly broken chunks. As I slowly stumbled up laden with my backpack, guitar in my right hand and left straining with all 4 bike panniers ( though only 2 had stuff in them), I tried to skirt around a clump of 4 little Laos children who for some reason had made camp in the middle of the stair case, blocking the way up. As I squeezed around them I caught my right foot somehow and proceeded to fall up the stairs, the guitar bonged on the steps, followed closely with my right shoulder and then the grand touchdown of my right temple and cheekbone. I shouted something angrily at the kids as I picked myself up. I figured that my toes must be in shreds like when i gouged open my right big toe at 4am in the empty streets of Rio back in July. In the ensuing chaos at the top of the stairs i found my friend Milizza who gaurded my pile of stuff from the mob of Lao guesthouse salesmen and prying little fingers of a small army of kids, as i stumbled blindly back down to the boat to see about my bike which now had been lowered from the roof and into the enclosed bow of the neighboring longboat with a fellow bicyclists bike. Ok, thats fine. Well we follow a man up the steep pitch black road zigzaging up another lane to a guest house that overlooks the river and shortly are shown to our room which is just fine, and only 100,000 kip, or $12, which we split. As soon as i threw all my stuff down I inspected my wounds under the room's one and only ( and horrid) fluorescent light. The situation on the toe is not as bad as i'd thought, minor scrapes on top of the 3 biggest and a blood blister on the tip of the big toe. Phew... Now the shoulder- "AHHHH!!!!". Intense pain to the touch, i cannot lift it more than one inch with out shooting pain. although i can lift it up and all around using the left arm. So I guess its just bruised the bone, as still no external bruising can be detected (and now 2 days later its much better and i can lift it up under its own strength with only minor pain). Now for the head, i feel around the right temple and immediately swoon reaching for the bedside yelping in pain while a ringing fills the right ear and like after a loud explosion or a rock concert. A big bump has formed on the temple and on the cheekbones upper tip. Well that could be a minor concussion but nothing too major. I still know who I am and where i am and what the year is, though as any traveler can identify with i have no idea what the date is, or the day, which is simply the norm when one has no use for such trivialities. After a quick shower i join my friend and a German man at the guesthouse resteraunt which is on a balcony overlooking the dark and swift moving river far below and a vague visage of the farm studded hills opposite our lookout. Fish curry is ordered, and bottled pints of cold Beer Lao is delivered pronto, a native libation that has proved irresistable to everyone in SE Asia, including myself.
And i say arrived relatively in one piece because I for the first time in years i took a nasty spill. I was walking up the set of stairs from the river boat which had stopped at the town of Pak Beng for the night. In the pitch dark we had to ascend a steep set of concrete steps of varying height, a few pads which were wobbly broken chunks. As I slowly stumbled up laden with my backpack, guitar in my right hand and left straining with all 4 bike panniers ( though only 2 had stuff in them), I tried to skirt around a clump of 4 little Laos children who for some reason had made camp in the middle of the stair case, blocking the way up. As I squeezed around them I caught my right foot somehow and proceeded to fall up the stairs, the guitar bonged on the steps, followed closely with my right shoulder and then the grand touchdown of my right temple and cheekbone. I shouted something angrily at the kids as I picked myself up. I figured that my toes must be in shreds like when i gouged open my right big toe at 4am in the empty streets of Rio back in July. In the ensuing chaos at the top of the stairs i found my friend Milizza who gaurded my pile of stuff from the mob of Lao guesthouse salesmen and prying little fingers of a small army of kids, as i stumbled blindly back down to the boat to see about my bike which now had been lowered from the roof and into the enclosed bow of the neighboring longboat with a fellow bicyclists bike. Ok, thats fine. Well we follow a man up the steep pitch black road zigzaging up another lane to a guest house that overlooks the river and shortly are shown to our room which is just fine, and only 100,000 kip, or $12, which we split. As soon as i threw all my stuff down I inspected my wounds under the room's one and only ( and horrid) fluorescent light. The situation on the toe is not as bad as i'd thought, minor scrapes on top of the 3 biggest and a blood blister on the tip of the big toe. Phew... Now the shoulder- "AHHHH!!!!". Intense pain to the touch, i cannot lift it more than one inch with out shooting pain. although i can lift it up and all around using the left arm. So I guess its just bruised the bone, as still no external bruising can be detected (and now 2 days later its much better and i can lift it up under its own strength with only minor pain). Now for the head, i feel around the right temple and immediately swoon reaching for the bedside yelping in pain while a ringing fills the right ear and like after a loud explosion or a rock concert. A big bump has formed on the temple and on the cheekbones upper tip. Well that could be a minor concussion but nothing too major. I still know who I am and where i am and what the year is, though as any traveler can identify with i have no idea what the date is, or the day, which is simply the norm when one has no use for such trivialities. After a quick shower i join my friend and a German man at the guesthouse resteraunt which is on a balcony overlooking the dark and swift moving river far below and a vague visage of the farm studded hills opposite our lookout. Fish curry is ordered, and bottled pints of cold Beer Lao is delivered pronto, a native libation that has proved irresistable to everyone in SE Asia, including myself.
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