.

Swedish Pizza and Baking House this morning.

It's 9:24PM and I'm at Spirit House. I've been here for at least five hours. Wrote nearly all day. The article is at 3,075 words. I'll sleep on it and see what needs to be added or revised tomorrow. Haven't even had dinner yet. The longish walk back to my hotel will be very pleasant. It's cool tonight.

I have clean clothes, so I'm happy. Dropped off four kilograms of laundry yesterday, so today I paid $3.39, a very good deal. By chance, the laundry people turned out to be Vietnamese, and I only found this out by a slip among my clothes that said in Vietnamese, "Will pick up tomorrow." I said a few words to the lady and her husband.

She was amused, "I thought you were Japanese!"

"I was in Hoi An when I saw a sign advertising bus trips to Laos, so here I am."

"Are you going back to Vietnam for Tet?"

"No, there's nothing for me there." I was actually surprised to hear myself saying that, but for now, there's nothing for me there.

This morning, I paid for three more days, so I'll be in Vientiane for six more days, at least, then perhaps to Phonsava, in the heart of the Plain of Jars. From there, I'm thinking of going by boat and bus, or maybe just bus, to Dien Bien Phu, where I was in 1995. It would be good to see that legendary place again, but maybe I'm being too ambitious.



.