- Sometimes you and several teammates decided to rent scooters for a day in Vientiane. Sounds harmless… until you completely wipe out in the first 3 seconds of having the scooter. Did I mention I was also in front of our hostel and in front of the guys we rented from? Yeah… They were a little hesitant to let me drive off after that. And then…Later that day, at Buddha park, we were gettin ready to leave and Sprads, while backing her bike up, accidentally hit the throttle and her bike makes a B-line for the van across the parking lot. But hey, with only a few close calls with semi trucks and utility vehicles, we all survived the day with no major casualties! #praiseHim
- For the first week of being in Laos we stayed in a hostel. For the rest of the month we were planning on staying in a house. We had payed for the house and had everything set up to move in at 2pm on Friday. Well, we had a rough address, but Laos doesn’t really use addresses. Tommy, Sprads, and Ronny decided to head out early to see if they can find the house before we start searching with all our packs on. Well 2 hours go by and 2 more and still no word of them finding the house. At this point I’m convinced we’ve been scammed, and actually the house doesn’t even exist. But finally, 6 hours later, Tommy finally calls us to tell us ,by the grace of God, they found it! So then we take an interesting Tuk Tuk ride to the house with all 7 packs and all 5 of us packed in like sardines. I thought the Tuk Tuk was going to completely collapse from all the weight. Needless to say, we finally made it after a rather eventful day.
- Sometimes quotes from SNL videos just stick for months. No one will ever understand the humor behind these quotes, but DTM… “Can you garlic ranch blast me now?” “There’s a Hidden Valley Ranch party in MY mouth!!” “HVR, HVR, HVR!” “It’s a BLAAAAAST!” … ok, ok, that’s all the quotes for now. But if you haven’t seen SNL’s ‘Pizza Eater’ or ‘Hidden Valley Ranch’ skits with Melissa McArthy… take 5 minutes to watch them now.
- You realize there’s a place along the window where light just pours into the room. Kaitlin is trying to casually fix the problem when someone points out that the poster Ijah gave us in Malaysia would be perfect to cover up the annoying light problem. That’s when Sydney randomly chimes in with “THERE’S AN IJAH POSTER PARTY IN MY MOUTH!!” Couldn’t honestly tell you why it was so hysterical, but it just was.
- Sometimes for an off day, searching for a pool to get outta the 101 degree weather sounds like the best idea. Well public pools aren’t really a thing, but there are a few hotels with pools. So I googled it, and the cheapest one was in Don Chan Palace. Yes, Kaitlin and I found the hotel, but let’s just say… We felt a little too grungy and dirty and way too underdressed for that joint. We walked in and were immediately greeted with a concierge who was dressed to the hilt in a fancy tux. The lobby was decorated in marble, a massive glass chandelier was hanging in the center, and I’m pretty sure the elevator was coated in real gold. Whew… While on the World Race, you just can’t go into places like that. My clothes smell like they’ve been fermenting for days, and I probably look like I haven’t showered in a year (possibly true).
- Sprads and I decided one afternoon we wanted to have some good QT time so we bike to a coffee shop. On our way there we pass by this van with a child hangin out the side window. I think nothing of it… until I see projectile vomit spewing from the child’s mouth. If we were less than a foot closer we woulda been wearing his projectile vomit.
- Grocery shopping when the stores are kinda far away and you only have bikes sometimes gets interesting. Let’s just say I take my bookbag and pack up my little bike basket and I’m still always strugglin for space. AND you always end up with a broken egg or maybe 2 or 3 by the time you’re home.
- When you open up your sealed oatmeal that you just bought from the grocery store and you see friendly crawling insects in it. Of course, Ronny ate it regardless.
- Ants always seem to find your food no matter how well you think you hide it. But with Brad’s granola, they didn’t just find it they basically started a colony in it. Didn’t matter though… He ate the entire box of granola anyway. As Brad put it, “This is my payback… They wanna eat my food, I’ll eat them!!”
- Group snuggle sessions on the couch in the living room while watching a movie or YouTube videos. Just gotta let em happen.
- Church in the living room on Sunday mornings sometimes looks like brining your sleeping pad and sleeping bag down and gettin comfy while worshiping and listening to Andy Stanley’s “Christian” series. As we like to call it BYOST Church (Bring Your Own Sleep Taco).
- I love being a part of bike gangs while bicycling through Vientiane. Feel like such a bad ass.
- Started the lovely 60 day insanity challenge this month with Brad… It hurts so good!!
- Getting to be the host and having Rooted in Love come over for a movie and pizza night. Felt so legit with our snazzy house and stuff… We fancy huh?
- Nothin like a relaxing bike ride to the park to have a picnic with your awesome teammates, Ronny and Sprads. Besides the million ants that attacked us, it was still a rather splendid day with rather splendid company. O… and Ants? come at me bro… You can’t win this war.
- That moment when 5 hours before the GMF (Gospel Music Festival) event is scheduled to begin, you hear that the government has closed the location down and is not allowing you to have it. In a frenzy, you are asked to help move the entire stage, chairs, and speakers to the church so the event can take place there. After 4 hours of moving chairs, sweating like no ones business, lots of laughs, small world connections, and a 20 minute ride in the back of a pickup truck full of lose metal beams, swaying stereos, and dangerously high plywood panels we finally got everything moved to the church. Talk about one crazy day that was pretty much awesome to be a part of actually.
- When you’re getting ready to leave the Gospel Music Festival and some lady comes up to you and tells your team you need to leave in groups of two, with the people of Laos, and now so you don’t get arrested. So you immediately grab a partner, grab your bike, and sneak past the police. I felt like I was in the last scene of the Sound of Music when the Von Trapp family is escaping the country from the police.
- So one morning Brad opened up his container of crackers only to find a little surprise creature waiting. I know what you’re thinking… More ants! False. No, it was a friendly little lizard that had made his home in his crackers for the night. Hey, I guess lizards like midnight snacks too.
- The owners of our house warned us that our neighbors like to have parties. They failed to mention that “party” to them means 48 hour awful karaoke session that lasts all day, all night, all morning, and all afternoon of the next day.
- “You guys!! My bike is broken! It won’t go.” Kaitlin, no… you just have the lock on it. Ya’ll, let me tell you, she’s a keeper 😉
- When you’re bikin home from church and Sydney’s tire pops. We stop by one shop and they air it up. 5 minutes later it’s flat again, so we stop at another shop, and he pulls the tube out and cuts it off. That’s it? You’re not gonna like maybe put a new tube on or anything? Nope, ok, looks like we’re walkin then. 6km was the farthest I’d ever been away from home on our bikes and of course it was the time when they gave us problems. Why would they break when we’re like a mile from home? That would just be too easy haha.
- That moment you begin referring to everything as spending a ‘grand’ because Laos currency is in thousands. “I spent 20 grand on ice cream today.” “That beer was 9 grand!” Yeah, we rollin in the doe.
- Watching the sunset at Victory Gate was the perfect end to a great month. Especially when you have Laotians doing sit-ups on every horizontal surface they can find. Gotta stay fit, folks!
- Public restrooms in foreign countries can sometimes be scary. And the one at the bus station didn’t disappoint. As I walk in, I see its a squatty potty. I think to myself, “joy, this is gonna be fun seein as how I have my bookbag, a jacket, a water bottle, and my purse all to juggle”. Instead of placing all my belongs on the urine infested ground with a family of mosquitos I decide I’m going to squat it out while holding everything. Talk about professional squatty potty usage right there, my friends.
- When the 12 hour bus to Pakse is so packed full you have people sitting on plastic chairs in the isle way to fit everyone on, you’re surrounded by luggage and plastic bags that are shoved in every crevice. And the seat next to you is for someone with no legs, yet people keep trying to sit there. Training camp scenarios coming true right before our eyes. Typical international travel day.
- Potty breaks when you’re on public transportation in Laos actually means… stop by the road in the middle of nowhere and pick a tree or bush. There are girls bushes and boys bushes. Funny things is? I’m not even surprised anymore.
- Day two of travel to Cambodia was interesting to say the least. It actually included one 3 hour bus ride that ended with us being dropped off on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, one 20 minute van ride to the border across the bumpiest dirt road I’ve ever seen, one long walk across the border which was actually a vacant road with absolutely nothing in site and 2 railroad crossing barriers across each end, one hour long van ride to a little town for lunch which was actually just fruit shakes, one 5 hour van ride to Siem Reap, and finally, one 7 minute Tuk Tuk ride with a friendly fella to our hostel. Probably one of the most interesting travel days I’ve had.
Here’s our Laos highlight video. I know it’s longer, but it’s totally worth it. At the end there are a few clips from the Gospel Music Festival event. Hope y’all enjoy!!!
Love ya,
Jaz
