Louise gives me one last check-up before we get off the boats and declares me virus-free. I’ve been feeling just about full strength today, but it’s nice to have confirmation.

Vientiane, the capital of Laos, is more mellow than the other capitals were. Where Phnom Penh bustled with tuk tuks and cars, and Ho Chi Minh had its crazy rush of scooters, Vientiane has a little of everything on its sparsely populated streets. The van we hired doesn’t have any trouble getting us from the boat to the press event a little early.

I start our presentation with our report on clearing bombs and mines, which gets us a standing ovation right off. I do my regular spiel about the filters and all that, but this time at the end of it I get to tell them about our results so far. The sensors on the collectors in the delta are already reporting a 90% decrease in every kind of pollutant we can measure. Chad breaks out the details, presenting charts with the before and after levels along with the estimates for increased crop yields, fish harvests, and other benefits. Thunderous applause greets every line he delivers, which makes us all feel pretty good about things.

Once we’ve done our PR duties, we get to take a couple hours to go sightseeing. We see a few temples, each one decorated mostly in gold. The architecture here is distinct and very ornate. While I normally like seeing whatever cool buildings a new city has to offer, my favorite part of this town is the Buddha park with a whole bunch of statues ranging from the conventional seated Buddhas to huge multi-faced and multi-limbed titans.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Simok and Mek take us to a French-Asian fusion restaurant which is amazing. The duck in a citrusy curry sauce might be one of the best things I’ve ever put in my mouth. At least the best thing I can remember. There’s no rush to get back on the boats, so we linger for a while after the meal, taking our time to choose from their extensive dessert menu. I get what would have been a very classic French tart, but with mangos and longans filling it instead of the traditional apples or pears. Evan and Valerie are cute sharing their chocolate mousse. I hope Lin and I are fun to be around like they are.

I get in one of the vans the guides arranged and we get to the boats just after sunset. Once we have the catamarans unmoored and floating up into the river again, I breathe a sigh of relief. No more press parties this trip. I put the fleet on autopilot and check the trip map. Looks like we should hit the next dam just after morning workout. I wonder if Andrea will let me skip one more day before I get back on the exercise train.