Somewhere remote along the border of Tay Ninh and Binh Duong (north of Saigon)

Rubber tree farms. Wild animal noises at night. A simple house with a smaller room across the yard for the mentally unstable brother - he wasn't invited to the party thank god. All the neighbours and uncles and aunts were though. I'd been to a few acquaintance's houses whereas this one was different. The males and females each had their own party. I know what you're thinking. You go with a girlfriend and you're separated and put with a group of men who you don't know. How could that be entertaining? We sat cross-legged on the front porch with a feast of food whilst the girls had their party around the back of the house. I had already had a few beers on arrival, however the drink of choice in our group was rice wine. A small glass was passed around constantly and I barely had time to chew and digest the sinuey meat in my rice bowl before it came around again. At least when there are beers beside you can drink at leisure, but then the constant beer chants come "One. Two. Three. Down the hatch". so you'd have to swallow the food and quickly pick up your beer glass and cheers the glasses and drink.

After an hour of so there were red cheeks and full stomachs and I tried my hand at holding a conversation with them in Vietnamese. I kept the sentences short, but sweet. These men, none younger than 60 had no command of English whatsoever so I wasn't going to start asking them about the war or economics or anything like that. After two hours of drinking with younger men you'd expect them to become more boisterous, however with these old men it was a quiet competition about who could offer the most wisdom. It normally ends up with just the one man talking and the others listening and trying to keep awake. It got to the point where 3 or 4 hours in the hot shade without fan that I was starting to think about leaving for a hammock which I did just as I started seeing double.

Ban Houay Ngat village (2 hours hiking west of Luang Prabang, Laos)

There's only one route into Northern Laos from North East Thailand - the Mekong river. Complete Jungle and no roads or towns for hundreds of sq. kms. Until twelve years ago that was how it was. There was talk of clearing the forests for a road. I guess there had been little progress. Travelling by boat from Thailand to Luang Prabang took two days. A European girl and a Dutch guy were my companions and we made a new friend with a Laotian who was travelling back from Thailand. He was returning home for his first born's baptism. He invited the three of us to the Buddhist ceremony. It was scheduled for a few days after we arrived and he left us rough directions to his village.

How to cross a river with no bridges and no boat station. We walked alongside the river until we saw some kids rowing a canoe type boat about 2 foot by 12. Shouting at the boys we bargained for a trip. If my memory serves me right it was 10-25 cents. Then on the other side we followed a dirt track on foot for an hour. At the first village we again asked small children for help. All we could say in Laotian was the man's name and village name. We had found the right village, but the kids led us to the house of a five year old boy with the same name as the man! Eventually we found Sit's house and were welcomed in by his wife. If I told you that the ceremony lasted all of 20 minutes and we spent the next eight hours drinking, eating and dancing then you'd know we were in SE Asia.

Plates and plates of barely edible looking grub to some. I recognized the papaya salad with buffalo skin dipped and made a beeline for the fish too. Sat outdoors at two long tables making an L shape eating and drinking the only interuption/call for celebration or cheers was when the sound system was turned on and everyone stood up and dance. We copied the locals who jumped into action side stepping and twisting their hands in manner familiar for those expats of Thailand and Cambodia. After a few minutes the loud music would be turned down and everyone returned to their food, beers and conversation. This would be repeated every twenty minutes throughout the day. This party had well over a hundred guests throughout the day so we few foreigners were more inconspicuous - well if that was possible for farangs.