Vang Vieng...with parents in tow

So they are here, and here's the proof. Although the picture of mom in her best Cleopatra impression (laid back, relaxing, while a young Lao boy paddles her down the river) didn't make it on here. I'll put it on next. Anyway, Luther and Marilyn (and Katherine) got to go with me on a fraud investigation this morning, as it was in a village about 10KM from Vang Vieng, across a narrow bridge. We're crossing the bridge in one of the pictures.

It's a village of 200 Hmong families that were repatriated from Thai refugee camps in 1994 and 1995, given land to farm and help in resettlement.

Anyway, it was in a beautiful little spot between the river and the huge limestone karsts. Lucky for the visa applicant it's beautiful, because she's going to be spending more time there. Her case was more fraudulent than that $10 Rolex I bought on Broadway.

The pictures are: Dad, in his most common pose (he's taken well over 300 pictures in 3 days; the beauty, and curse, of a digital camera); me on my way to work (crossing the bridge to the village to bust the scofflaw); Luther and Marilyn on the deck of their room; and, a couple of Luther paddling down the Nam Song River.