Glad you feel sophisticated by association, but hate to disappoint you--I am the least sophisticated person I know! What sophisticated person would bring a used bike named Rover in a cardboard box to a World Championship, and haul her other belongings in a Chinese "peasant bag"?
(Yes, I have a transition bag, and I brought it, but it's rainy season, and the plastic peasant bag keeps it dry and clean. And no one in the developed world travels with such a bag, especially a rainbow one, so I can always pick my luggage out of a crowd. So classy.
)
One reason I love Laos is because you get to eat mostly with your hands. On a trek, and in many rural families, the food's served on a banana leaf on the ground, and you just grab some sticky rice, a bit of whatever you want, dunk in chili sauce of choice, and pop it in your mouth. Have actually never had a bad meal here, including in that setting.
(OTOH, Vientiane and Luang Prabang are some of the best and cheapest places in the world outside France to eat good French food. But you do have to use table, chair, and utensils in that case.
)
51-ish minutes of running this AM, including all the way up to the hilltop temple
(210 steps--ouch
). Sort of built up to it with several shorter ascents. Running back, was surprised to see a younger woman running in the opposite direction with a finisher's shirt from 70.3 Worlds. Found out from someone at last week's conference that one of the new teachers at UNIS in Hanoi had done it......I think all the schools in our athletic conference have fall break this week, and it was probably her as the woman running with her looked familiar. Very small world!
Hoping to get in one last run tomorrow. Plus buy a new peasant bag to haul all my fabric shopping back with. At $2 a pop, they're the world's cheapest luggage, and most actually last several trips.