Mr Balaclava

Today, while we were peacefully enjoying reading our books under the shade of a tree in a park next to the Mekong River, two men walked past. One was wearing dark pants, and long sleeved blue sweater and a black balaclava pulled down over his face. The other was wearing camo gear.

I was reading when Michael whispered to me "don't look at those men". I whispered back, "why not?". "They have guns", he replied.

Not little guns, big guns. I suspect they were the same as the one the soldier had on the bus yesterday - AK-47. Mike and I think that these two guys were probably also soldiers but I really wish he hadn't been wearing a balaclava.

Despite the fact that Mr Balaclava cheerfully called "Sabaidee", (Hello) to us and we replied. I was still quickly making a mental list of how much US dollars we had to give them and where in my bag it was hidden.

But of course we didn't need to do this, they sauntered off back up to the road, jumped on motorcycles and rode away. Phew.

Mike and I decided that we'd move along after that and found a nice public park and sat near some Buddhist monks. Safe and sound.

I don't want anyone to think that we are really in a dangerous place, as I said they were probably soldiers and the people here are generally very peace loving and friendly. Life here is very relaxed.