Pak Mong back to Luang Prabang

A little bit of adversity...
遇到挫折了
We had a great riding day yesterday. We covered a great distance while handing out close to a 100 pieces of equipment. Now on our journey to Pak Mong we ran to a French gentlemen who was cycling around the world. Very inspiring to hear some of his stories. Anyhow he had mentioned that crossing the border to Vietnam, you need to apply for your visa online. We were under the impression that we could get it at the Laos, Vietnamese border. Once we reached Pak Mong we inquire about the Vietnamese visa and it turns out that if you are travelling by land you have to apply in person. So we hop on a bus from Pak Mong to Luang Prabang. And by bus, I mean a pickup truck with benches in the cab pretty much. It was freezing! So Paul, I and the locals cozied on up for the 3 hour drive back to Prabang. Every turn or pot hole we would hit I would body check Paul into the cage of the truck. First my snoring and now he has to deal with my body checks and drool as I sleep on him. Poor guy. Send my guy Paul some love! He has a little bit of a stomach bug here but he's hanging in there and in good spirits.
昨天骑的很辛苦，走了很长一段路，送出了100多个器具。在我们去Pak Mong的路上遇见一位法国朋友，他在骑车环游世界，听他讲他的故事真带劲，但是他提醒我们到越南那边需要网上办理签证，我们原以为可以在老挝与越南的边境线办理。但是当我们一到Pak Mong就咨询越南签证的问题，结果是如果是走陆路必须去亲自办理。所以我们跳上汽车从Pak Mong到琅勃拉邦去。在车上，我是说那种卡车，货厢里有个板凳坐着，动弹不得。Paul，我还有当地人挤在一起，颠了3个小时。车子每转一次弯或者过一个坑，我们就要挨彼此的挤，以前是我的呼噜声，现在是我的大块头和我睡觉时流出的哈喇子，可怜的家伙，大家安慰一下他吧！他有点闹肚子，但是仍然坚持着，精神头好着呢。

We make it back to Prabang we are told that we won't be able to pick up our visas till the next day. So we enjoyed some good cuisine and got more rest. We love this place anyways for how beautiful it is and the fusion between French and Buddhist culture.
到了琅勃拉邦得知，我们必须要等到明天才能拿到签证。所以我们边等边享受美食，尽可能休息。我们太喜欢这个地方了，太漂亮了，这里融合了法国风格和佛教艺术。

Back at Sino the staff have a flag football series in which we call the Sino Bowl. Paul and I are bitter rivals and have been elected general managers for the 2014 teams. For those counting the series stands at Indome 2 Hayes 1. Hayes claims the game that he wasn't there wasn't sanctioned but I kindly remind him that although he is Mr. Big Time and all, the league games may continue without him, just as they would for any other member on staff. Regardless our team won the rubber match, which Hayes was present for, and we currently hold the Sino Bowl Championship Belt. 
想起在中加枫华中学的家伙们搞了一场我们称之为“中加碗”杯的足球联赛，那时Paul和我是死对头呢，我们都被选为2014队的经理，结果Indome队以2:1赢了Hayes队，Hayes声称他不在，那场比赛不算数，但是我善意的提醒他说，虽然他是关键人物，但是联赛不会因为他不在就不踢了。不管怎样我们夺得了中加碗杯。

Our second order of business during this trip was to draft 2 new staff teams. Paul and I negotiated for 4 days on how the draft format would unfold. The big issue was if the manager with 1st overall pick would have picks 1 and 4 or should we would do it the traditional way of going 1st and 3rd. Tons of pros and cons to each format which we won't get in to at this time. We decided on picking the traditional way of alternating the picks. We also had to negotiate on who gets the coveted 1st overall pick. This negotiation session took only 3 days, with talks stalling on day 2 but we finally decided to do an old fashion coin toss. The winner of this coin toss was yours truly Cyril "Boobie Miles Al Davis Jerry Jones Kevin Cheveldayoff Wade Miller" Indome...
这次旅行中我们的另外一个事情就是再建两支足球队。关于方案Paul和我讨论了4天，每种方案都有成吨的赞成或者反对的理由，现在我们不会来谈这个事了。我们决定还是采用传统的方案。。。我们还讨论了谁来得到令人垂涎的第一顺位。这些事情只讨论了3天，讨论到第2天卡住了，我们最终决定采用古老的方式：投硬币。你们的Cyril "Boobie Miles Al Davis Jerry Jones Kevin Cheveldayoff Wade Miller" Indome赢了。

Below are the listed teams in no particular order.
下面是团队成员（排名不分先后）
Outlaws/Raiders/ The U.               Team Gorgeous
koombaya sing along
  Indome.                                                  Hayes
Chong                                                       Lawrence
Casey                                                       Byron
Steph.                                                      Darren 
Kayla.                                                       Neil Rushton
Ron Berg.                                                  Wilson 
Ross Mck.                                                  Zhang Qi Jun
Dodd.                                                       Truong
Deirdre                                                     Gitske
Peffers                                                     Ian Alexander

The Outlaws have always been known as the villain, the heel or the bad guys of the league. But we embrace that role and understand that it is us against the world. Both managers feel very good about their respected teams. We are still negotiating field dimensions and official rules. I will keep you posted on the outcome.
Outlaws队总是被认为是联盟里的恶棍、不法之徒或者坏家伙。但是我们明白是我们在对抗世界。经理们都满意自己的队伍。我们仍然讨论着场地尺寸、正式规则。等结果出来我会告诉大家。

No matter what obstacle we face whether it is the Kassy 40km climb, Vietnamese visas, stomach bug, flat tires or anything that comes our way we rally around each other and attack the problem. We are very motivated to continuing our mission of reaching as many kids as we can here in Laos. We are in very good spirits and as you can see, have found ways to generate some laughter despite a few bumps in the road.
不管是什么样障碍，不管是在Kassy的40公里大坡，还是越南的签证，还是闹肚子、爆胎，或者其他什么困难，我们总是互相鼓励克服困难，我们继续完成着我们的使命，尽可能多的帮助老挝的孩子们，我们精力充沛着呢，你们也看见了，我们总能带来笑容。

Thank you all for reading and the support. 
感谢你们的阅读和支持！

We wish you all the best during this holiday season.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays
祝你们万事如意，圣诞快乐，假期快乐！

Cyril and Paul