Oh My Buddha!

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market, as seen from our guesthouse.

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This is a great little town on the Mekong.  There isn't much touristy stuff to do here, but they people are amazing!  Met some wonderful twenty-somethings that were overjoyed to sit and teach language lessons.

Went for a run here... if you've ever ran in se asia, it's completely hilarious.  The concept of running is not one that's understood by most se asians.  You run and the whole town stops to stare.  Pople ask why you are running.  People think that you are going to die from moving so much in the heat.  Moto and taxi drivers will pull u-turns to drive up beside yu and isist that you catch a ride with them.  They laugh when you tell them that you wnt exercise.  They then repeat "exercise.  Where you go?  I take you."

It's amazing though when you conceptualize just where you are running.  Your feet hit the dirt ground and you struggle for every breathe, as the 90+ degree weather sends sweat burning in your eyes.  How many people can say that they took a water/stretch brake on their run and were greeted by six monks and six chilcdren.  Just staring at you.  One monk speaks english and can't wait to share is knowledge with you.  One second you are running... the next you are invited to stay at a wat and study buddhism.  I asked the monk if he would like to run with me and he respectfully declined my offer.  While studying, he is not allowed to exercise of "have fun".

Shopping at the psar market, I was reminded of all the "whitening" products that I saw throughout Thailand.   They are everywhere.     I had to step back and laugh at how different and how similar our women are.  Here are women in a third world country purchasing pastes and podwers that will make their skind color whiter.  It seemed so silly to me, but then I realized that westerner's do exactly the same thing with our tanning beds and creams.  I guess we will always find someone else more beautiful than we are and find ourselves wanting what someone else has not matter where we are from.