May 30. Volleyball in rural Laos.

It is so nice to have 100cc of boiling hot metal shafts between my legs, that I decide to rent a motorbike in the afternoon and tour around Vientiane. We take the main highway north (direction Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang) with the option of taking a dirttrack to a beautiful waterfall. An option that we miss, since we take another sideroad and reach some villages where they are not accustomed to foreigners visiting. We decide to stop at some point and play volleyball with a group of youth. We are all laughing, having a great time.

At 8pm we meet Ly and a couple from New Zealand at the central fountain, the most obvious meetingplace in town. Chris and Marieke have interesting travel stories to share, and are very interested in our concepts and the tips we could give about volunteering and money-making your way around Europe and Korea. They return the favor by pointing out some terrific places on NZ north island. All this is done against the backdrop of the wooden patio of our restaurant, and we are immersed in the fresh air and mellow silence of backstreet Vientiane. It is a memorable evening - this is what memories are made of.
We zoom back to Ly's place on our hired motorbike and sleep well.