Jazzercise

I never thought I'd find Jazzercise in Laos. Well, it's probably not Jazzercise, but it's pretty close. Some form of aerobics. When I first saw it, I thought Jazzercise so I'm sticking to it. They do it in the evenings and apparently at 6am too. Not that I've been up early enough to catch that class. There is an open structure near the river where you can hear the music and see the arms fly overhead in sync with each other. And if you look to see who is watching you can see all the leery-eyed, middle-aged white men looking for their next wife. Gross.

Speaking of exercise, I wish I could get some. The occasional bike ride on a dilapidated single speed whose chain falls off repeatedly does not count. Nor does the ride on the Trek 3900 whose chain slipped every 5-15 pedals. Any exertion on that bike and I would have likely taken a nose dive. At least they have bikes. And at least they are cheap to rent.

Walking is about the only form of "exercise" I can claim to be doing on a regular basis. Like walking upstairs to my 3rd floor bedroom. Or walking to the restaurant. Or walking to get another beer. I can gauge how much exercise I am getting by how much tread I have left on my flip flops.

Last week was actually a good week for being active. Good is relative. Compared to normal, it was not good, but compared to my regular routine here, it was good. I went tubing. Yes, that is technically just floating, but you should have seen the stillness of the water. And you should have seen how fast I paddled. I also went rock climbing. And that was about as strenuous as it gets. I need more of those days.

I am trying to incorporate an exercise regimen into my vagabond existence. For maybe 10 minutes every other day. Hey, every push up and abdominal crunch counts. At least it makes me feel better. Add to that some side bends, some downward dogs, maybe a couple warrior poses and I'm as good as new. I'm going to even start handstands against the wall. A minute a day. Maybe I'll work up to two. You try it! At least I'm not Jazzercising.