I had my first mangosteen here in Laos. This fruit is so delicious. The outer skin is tough and thick and you have to stick both thumbs in quite hard to get it started. Once you've ripped a good hole you twist the top off from the bottom to reveal the white fleshy bits. It's tangy and sweet, light and chewy. It lives up to its queen of the tropical fruits title. [Here's a site where you can get mangosteen juice stateside]

I am so impressed by the gorgeous weavings done here in Laos. It takes one person about 3 months to finish one of the beautiful designs you see above. They use thin soft silky threads and turn them into these little masterpieces. Almost every local woman is wearing a traditional Laos designed skirt, there's obvious pride in the craft. Simply lovely. For three months work they make $20. The average person here lives on $382. per year.

I was able to get a bigger view of Vientiane today and see that it has some capital prowess. The hotel I'm staying at, the Tai-Pan [I don't recommend it as I feel like I'm in a 1970s dorm room] is right near the Mekong which is far from the city's government buildings and monuments, so I wasn't able to fully understand the city scale until I drove around. I ended the day at Pha That Luang Temple. The buildings are gorgeous and have so much rich gold detail it's almost too bright to behold. Some monks who were hanging out in front of a temple called out to me "hey woman, come up here". I did of course. They asked me typical tourist questions. But there was one [portrait above] who asked me to help him with his English study. He then asked me to define "What the hell are you doing here?" Holy hilarity! What a wise ass.

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