fighting off the black dog

seems insane to be feeling down when in such an exotic location - but outside the beautiful box, Laos is a torn and sad country - during the vietnam war the US dropped over 250 million cluster bombs in 9 years - with a staggering 70-90 million bombs still unexploded....
and now the beautiful ancient city of Luang Prabang is invaded by tourists - many the rich and elite, many backpackers - many from each group with no respect at all for the culture or what the people have gone thru - the most common complaint I here is about the poor quality of service!

hmmm - so i sit at a little lao cafe on the banks of the Nam Khan river (which eventually joins the Mekong) - the guy at the cafe is so excited I've ordered a Mojito he proudly tells me he has made a special one.... it's pretty much rum and mint - but served with the biggest and proudest smile - I just have to love it - he then plays football with the local street kids until I wander off very drunk with a smile on my face :) the black dog disappeared somewhere along the way....