Laos

Time goes slowly in Loas. There is no hurry.

The day starts at dawn, when the sun comes up over the horizon. The monks walk through the streets to collect food for the day, the breakfast stalls pop up every here and there and the marked is already bustling long before I've finished my breakfast.

And then it starts to get warmer. The cool morning air is replaced by the heat of the mid day. All I want to do at this time of day is to go swim in the river. So I do. Because there is nothing else that really needs to be done except to lay in the hammock and read my book. But that can be done in the early morning or the late afternoon when the temperatures are cooler and the urge to jump in the river is not so strong.

By 10 o'clock in the evening the day is over in the little village in Northern Laos where I am staying. The generators are turned of and the few small shops and restaurants around closes. The village goes to sleep, and so do I.

Five days passes like this and life is good. But then reality hits in and all of a sudden it is elephants parading the streets in the morning, not monks. Elephants decorated in colorful clothes and patterns and we get to pet them, feed them and hang out with them for two days. Elephants are fascinating and beautiful creatures!

Afternoons are spent in the monasteries with the monks, chanting and meditating. And the people. Wonderful people that has come to mean a lot to me.



There is so much beauty in my life.