Luong Prabang

Luong Prabang is a really nice town. Set along the banks fo the Mekong, the streets are lined with well-maintained, French-colonial buildings, big trees, colorful flowers, and nearly antique Mercedes Benz left over from the days of the French colony. I spent the day walking through town, visiting numerous Wats, enjoying my fill of fruit shakes and fresh springrolls, and taking care of all of that stuff that you can't do when you're in a remote village, like catching up on the blog, going to the post office, etc. Even here I have errands to do! But I did have the oppotunitity to flex my alturistic tendencies today by dontating blood at the local chapter of the Red Cross. There is a desperate shortage of blood in Laos and many lives are lost in emergeneices everyday because there is not enough donated blood to go around. The staff was eternally grateful and very professional, plus, I found out that my blood type is O-....universal donor. Too bad they won't let me donate blood in the States, I'd be in high demand!