Back In Vientiane.

Our last full day in Vang Vieng was spent exploring a cave complex a mile or so out of town. We'd spent a full week in Vang Vieng by the time we came to leave. It had been good, but we were glad to leave and move on elsewhere.

The night before we were due to leave I went and checked my emails. We'd had a reply from the CDEA, a newly established Lao not-for-profit organisation. They were very keen for us to volunteer with them, and asked that we got back in touch. Brilliant, the breakthrough that we had been looking for. We emailed them back to say that we would be in Vientiane by Tuesday afternoon.

Tuesday morning we got up, packed our bags, filled our stomachs and headed for the U.S. Air Force air-strip that is now the Vang Vieng bus station. We hoped that the bus would only take a couple of hours, as it had coming. Not to be, it took about twice as long. So by the time we hit Vientiane and got a guesthouse it was gone 5.00pm, too late to ring the CDEA.

A quick email was sent off explaining that we'd arrived later than expected and that we would try again in the morning. So this morning we got it together, had breakfast and decided to check our emails before we made the call. There it was an email from an advisor for the CDEA, requesting that we meet. The down-side being, they want to meet us in a week's time. That's the Lao way, 'people don't rush' remember.

We have beaten ourselves up a bit about what to do. We don't want to spend the week hanging around Vientiane, but we don't have enough time to head down south and get back for the meeting. A bit of a dilemma really.

What we did decide was that we agree to meet with them. We hadn't come this far to give up and walk away from this opportunity. So I've just emailed a thank you, and confirmed that we would meet on Wednesday the 12th. I also asked some questions about wanting background information about the work they are doing, how we would fit into the great scheme of things and how long for. Just so when we do meet, we can be prepared.

We are taking a little bit of a risk, this whole thing is a bit of a shot-in-the-dark. But hey, what the hell. If you don't take some risks in life you'd never get anywhere, or do anything. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. To use another well worn cliche.