I’m in to double figures

When it comes, I for one will welcome Judgement Day and our new masters; for so long as humans create technology, it will always be imperfect and inherently unreliable. Until the birth of AI and the enslavement of mankind under new robot overlords, tech will never function dependably. Hurry up Cyberdyne; what are your Project Managers playing at?

From 01 Feb 2010

My first run was 8K, though shortly after my watch decided to greatly infuriate its flesh-ridden master by rebelling and “factory resetting” itself – losing the recording. Forced to repeat, this time I listened to my sister and waited until sunset. I detest that women are consistently right; it’s not their accuracy, more the smug look on their faces when hearing so. And I’m a man and never want to be proven wrong; ever. That’s the natural order of things, damn it!


http://connect.garmin.com/activity/23842921

I greatly enjoyed these 10Ks; a real buzz – the kind I’ve been missing since Bushy or Richmond Park, along the Thames toe path or heading off in to the wilderness of Weybridge at night (though sadly nothing compares to Salzburg yet.) And in writing this I’m still feeling the natural high; I can only guess it’s like Opium, just free, legal and healthy.

Starting out and looking up, I can see the sun gracefully retiring behind the hills as it changes shades from yellow, through orange and eventually to red, before allowing the veil of night to cover Laos. It’s strange how quickly this happens; I’m used to a good hour or so of twilight, but after giving us its full force all day – it’s like the sun ducks off quickly for a rest.

Turning the first corner, I’m heading towards a neighbouring town. I pass locals who all speak volumes with their facial expressions; “What are you doing, you crazy falang?” People here don’t smile quite as easily as the Thais, and in general I feel less welcomed, but still fairly comfortable. Ending up inadvertently racing two lads and a girl on bicycles and overtaking; the boys speak to each other and laugh. They’re lazy here, so much so that even at my paltry 11kph jogging pace, I overtake a dozen bikes along my route. They’ll even dismount for a 20% gradient. It’s a wonder that the population are so lethargic and yet so emaciated – although it’s an easy puzzle to solve; they eat far less. This is Laos Don’t Rush after all.

From 01 Feb 2010

I’m told the general population tends to consume flavoured rice, with the occasional vegetable and rare occurrence of meat, should they be lucky enough. Over seven hundred calories means I’ll be wanting plenty of everything khap jai (thank you), and for 17,000 kip it’s expensive street food for such a poor country. I can deduce three things from the general prices in Luang Prabang: Firstly that this is the richest province, secondly the prices are exaggerated due to majority falang ownership of businesses and thirdly, that Laos must import a great deal.

It’s obvious why most people speak of Laos so fondly though – there does remain one product that is cheap. Booze – especially BeerLao – is just the same price as water. That’s some good drinkin’. Last night I was told me of the chemically-enhanced nature of its production. I think I’ll stick with Gin and Tonic from now on.

From 30 Jan 2010