Oy vey, no latkes in Laos

If we were hippies we'd be really happy here...as it is, we're ready to go, but it's too much trouble to change all our reservations down the line, so we're suffering by hanging out by the pool. Hard to believe that there's nothing Shelli wants to buy in the shops or the night market, which is set up every evening down the center of the main street, which is closed to traffic after 5:00. There are more than a hundred women spreading out weavings, t-shirts, bags, etc. on cloths covering the asphalt, but they are all the same and they are the kind of travel souvenirs that look good in situ but when you get them home you ask yourself what you could possibly have been thinking...or drinking.

We met a young Frenchman last night who has been living here for 4 years. He says that when he first came, all the women selling in the market were grandmothers. Since then the families have apparently gotten marketing advice and now send their youngest and prettiest daughters instead.

As for latkes, when we first arrived we spotted, would you believe, a Chabad House on one of the side streets. Haven't seen it since, but we're thinking of trying to find it to see how they manage Chanukah in Laos...maybe there really will be latkes.