The occasion of my birthday

damn. a hard days rockin, betta slip off my shoes...Ok so I have embarked on my 27th year and it's been a crackerjack so far! What did I do on my birthday, well I'll tell ya.whoa, lemme back up to June 26th... the bus was suppose to leave at 2 so of course it felt at three. waiting in the staion, which was a regular bus station not the pick you up at your hotel tourist shindig that usually compromises travel for foriegners around here, and people are just staring at me like I'm a unicorn or something. Vietnamese napped, shouted and lounged waiting for their busses and sporadically came over to confirm what had already been murmered throughout the terminal "he's going to Mai Chau!" someone would then would walk up and ask "Mai Chau?" to which I would reply "Mai Chau." nods of approval, raised eyebrows. I was fascinating. Even when I try not to be fascinating I am, it's a damn curse.  whatta bus ride, no place for luggage for one. And luggage there was! One sour old lady got on the bus with a chicken. Another man boarded with a tv, a lady had a huge sack of rice and misc bags and boxes stacked and stacked and stacked. The van/bus seats 15. try to guess, just try. 36. no shit, Joshie don't lie! At one point we had 36 people in the bus, 3 were not actually in the bus but clinging to the rail and flying in the wind. If someone wanted on we made room and if there was no room then by god we made room. the attendant fell out once, we all had a laugh. my legs cramped, I ate a Valium, my legs were still cramped but I noticed a tad less...We rolled into our destination in a lightning storm. It was dark and the sunset over the mountain pass was amazing. The clouds competed with the mountains for grandure and even those who plyed this route regularly craned their neck to watch.  I stayed in a White Thai village called Ban Lac in a stilted house on a split bamboo floor. They fed me like a king. It was alot like camping but with lots of beer and fried rice. bupbuddaba! June 27th and I was up with the sun. So was everyone in Ban Lac. Even the kids who don't really work are up at 5 am ( and making a dreadful racket!) The White Thai are one of the many ethnic minorities of northwestern Vietnam and are principaly employed at the loom and hunched in the rice paddies. We were surrounded by green mountains on all sides, swathed in mist the dawn is magical. I spent the day on an epic walkabout. through paddies and down trails, across farms and past goat herders. I wandered through a village and was manhandled by a grunting local who, while attempting to be friendly yanked me like a plow to see my tattoos and offered me a mixture of Ox blood and water. All I know is that is tasted like blood and he dumped the quagulated skin from the top layer. I took one sip and was like "yeah, so I gotta go and...what's that? I think I hear my mom calling...bye!" About 100 meters from his stilted house a bamboo thicket creaks in a gentle breeze and I follow the path. I'm a real path junkie, if there's a path I just gotta follow it! soon the path goes up a mountain, and folks, it's a steep one. about five mintutes into my climb, I'm dripping, and I look up and 30 feet ahead is an elderly woman in tradition garb ( hand stitched clothing, head dress and no shoes) is footin down the rocky trial with a woven basket backpack thingy ( that looked very uncomfortable ) filled with corn! she was old, not sorta old, but properly ancient. I forgot to mention that much of these steep moutnain faces have been cleared by seminomadic people for the cultivation of corn. She passes me and spits out a big glob of betal nut chaw ( red and black, semi-euphoric nut the elderly chew to make them feel groovy, it also turns their teeth black) and still has miles to go to the market. damn g.I make it half way up the mountain, having to scramble on all fours at points it is so steep and look out at the valley. amazing. it's good to be alive and 26! I find a frightful spiders lair and giggle as I feed ants into her web. Back down the mountina and suddenly I'm face to face ( and other certain bits 'o the body) with a bathing maiden, washing in the stream. It was like something from classical greek literature (or a porno! ha!) she didn't pay me no mind and I suddenly found my feet very interesting. I back tracked and hung a left down a muddy lane that snaked into the jungle. There were ox and cattle grazing everywhere, somewearing wooden bells could be heard munching far off the trial. I wound through another small village and the path got smaller and smaller. I had gone a few miles when I came upon a man stacking bundles of sticks and binding them with jungle vine. He will carry two huge loads and his scowling wife will fill her basket and they will hike though the jungle to sell their sticks somewhere beyond. Whoa. Reality check. They sell sticks and walk barefoot through the jungle...jeez. I won't bore you with further details, but eventually thge path, which I though of abandonning since it had grown very small and rocky opened to a wide valley. Thached huts dotted the hill side, corn and palm and coffee grew in abundance. It was clear that it was the end of the path so I turned around, stomach grumbling and made the walk back home. Well, I'm in Laos- the crossing to is the subject of my next blog,  and have been invited to take part in an important Buddhist cerimony in 1/2 hour. I don't now what is going on something about 50 years, the moon, flowers and candles. I'll let you know.