Top Ten Things Learned in Laos (recently):

• 10: Hot water is NOT necessary to wash the dishes.

• 9: Any temperature control for that matter is a luxury (such as A/C, hot/cold water, refrigeration)

• 8: Dirt is THE way of life... you will meet dirt in this world.... in Laos it comes in enormous clouds.

• 7: Following that, clean is relative to dirty. The less dirty something is, by default, makes it cleaner!

• 6: Some food is universal... some food is NOT! (unless you are starving, then almost all food is universal)

• 5: Road rules and rights are reborn when an oncoming bus is passing a slow tractor on a less than 2 lane road... and you are the one facing the oncoming bus with a motorbike!
  
  
• 4: Everything is cheaper in Laos... except the foreign stuff that is cheap in America... such as Peanut Butter, Jelly, cheese, and butter. (Exception: the cheap Asian food like ramen noodles, they are cheap here too!)
  

• 3: I cannot get out of things by talking my way out... especially since I don't know the language! Instead, I get out by "memory lapsing"... if they ask me, I don't know any Lao and I can't speak it! Smiling also works better than talking most times!
  

• 2: People in the States tend to be waaaaaay to worried and high strung. I haven't met any worried Lao person who has a single anxiety problem and most of them are struggling to survive on a day-to-day basis. Loosen up America! They also let things go waaaaay faster.

• 1: Life is still very similar. They laugh, cry, eat, sleep, and live life with all the same emotions and needs. Its not so different here on the other side of the world.... when you add everything up.