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.

May 29. Borrowing vintage bike.

Shaun, a friendly Australian guy living here offers us his little vintage motorbike in the morning, and we gladly accept that enhancement of our mobility.

We will be taking that green bike to the friendship bridge and back today. Not that there's much to see - the friendship bridge is essentialy a concrete corridor secured by grim fences - but the ride was nice. It is also a tribute to Dennis Hopper. I read today that he died and recall the easy rider sentiment, even though I've never known it myself. On the way back from the friendship bridge we take a different route and almost get lost in the outskirts of Vientiane, until we decide to follow the flow of traffic and are finally able to identify some buildings. Blabla. It was a nice ride. The color of the bike was green, and also white.