Unsolved Hearts ~ Vientiane, Laos

Ever inpatient to know the future? Yeah..me too! Super inpatient at times...,but I want to learn to live in the now. In this very moment, I want to always try to think about what I can be grateful for and excited about in the present second- things big and small and live them patiently and happily. This is difficult... Or at least for me it is. I need the gift of Patience for Christmas Dear Saint Nick, And I need it now, Sir! ;)

 Though I am still a firm believer in a healthy addiction to planning and list making. - Yes, it's true! I make lists for fun. - But I want to turn my focus on living the now and celebrating the moments as they come and truly soaking in life and the beautiful people that live in it.

Below is one of my favorite quotes of all time, such beautiful words.

“Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language. Do not now look for the answers. They cannot now be given to you because you could not live them. It is a question of experiencing everything. At present you need to live the question. Perhaps you will gradually, without even noticing it, find yourself experiencing the answer, some distant day.” ― Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

Queen of the Chickens - Laos Market

Imagine this being the residence of your queenly crib. Right smack dab in the middle of your submissive subjects -- dead, raw, delicious chicken. She looks a bit like royalty amongst the chickens. Her mom works at this chicken booth in the market. Can you imagine all the different things that she sees everyday? An interesting childhood, not like most of us in the West experienced. That is one of the things that I love the most about traveling it gives me a glimpse of just how many different ways you can live life. Normal for her is nothing like my normal, but neither normal is necessarily bad or better than the other, just different.It is the funniest/saddest thing when a person goes to a foreign country and they try to change the customs to their own in order to 'save' the people and bring 'civilization' to their land. They don't realize that maybe that this country is just is different not worse or better. And that the people are more comfortable eating on the floor, and using a squatty potty, instead of tables and chairs and a sit down toilet <--- actually enjoying a squat toilet is a concept that I still struggling to comprehend.. But it is actually true! Astonishing, I know!But everyone is just different. Some people like cream in their coffee and others like sugar, no big deal. -- So stop worrying, there is no need to revolutionize the world by shipping tables and chairs with a few toilets to the jungles of Laos or Myanmar, it is much better to join their madness and get your squat muscles stronger. Besides the people will like you much better in the end. :)

Quote of the Day:

“When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.” ― Clifton Fadiman

Picture note: This day my good photography friend Dave Smith and I went to the Vientiane market in with our massive cameras, looking for a good cup of coffee - with cream AND sugar, fresh vegetables and good light. We had a 100% success rate.