Luang to Pak Bheng..and on...

The next leg of our journey through Laos took us on a two day slow boat trip.. Had to stay overnight in Pak Bheng, interesting primarily because the whole town is run on generated power, which means that you have from between 6 - 10pm to get things done, like wash in warm water, cook eat, make coffee, and anything else that you may need lighting for in the evenings.

It also happened that it was going to be Jax's birthday the next day, so the group leader and I took off to this little bakery and had a cake made for her... Brilliant.. Went there for breakfast and although everyone complains that Laos is expensive, it's all relative.. Breakfast and lunch (because we needed to take our own on board... the family whose boat it was would have cooked for us, but they needed a minimum of two and I was the only one who wanted to try it :o( ) was 40,000 kip... and that was French toast with maple syrup, Chicken fried noodles and a bacon salad baquette.. (1 US is 8,500 Kip) so all of that and a latte too for about 7.50 NZ.. Not bad I say (which is why I'm ballooning but I'm blaming the heat and fluid retention not apetite)..

The Mekong gets incredibly tricky the further north you go, with rock formations and undercurrents that generate huge whirlpools across the river.. You have to be incredibly vigilant.. But all the seats reclined, the curtains fold and tie across each beam and the roof can be slid open or closed dependant on the heat of the sun..

Temperatures are sitting in the 30's it's hot, humid and making me so damned envious of all the locals we're passing who are swimming in the water... So making the best of a fine situation we're emptying the chilly bins daily.....

On route we had to visit a village.. When I asked what was unique about this particular one, our local guide (Nikon) said that it was because the government has made it a requirement for all local guides to take their tour parties there.. This particular village is in the beginning stages of development. This means adding fresh water, drainage systems, and the building of a local school. The children there have to walk 5 kilometres each way to attend the school and the heat and distance take a toll on them... The government has diverted the majority of funds into building the infrastructure of the country and a major road is being built that will connect Thailand, China, Laos and Vietnam together in the hope of attracting more tourism to the country which in time will provide more funding to improve the locals lifestyles.

There are many unique customary habits of minorities in Laos, but one village Nikon told us about was: A village of 150 inhabitants now, and when weddings occur it is a great cause of despair for the brides (nothing new about that I'd have thought) because when she gets married, she has to leave her family for good.. In essence she becomes a chattel of the husbands family.. So if the husband dies, then she can only marry the brother, the father or the grandfather of her husband. The government tried to legislate against it but the village said that it was their custom and they didn't want it to change.. Given the difficulty of both policing and enforcing this law, and the fact that it wasn't wanted by the villagers it was never passed into law.. (Somehow though I think they completely missed the fact that their custom only allows the men to speak, so why would they want to change anything.. duh!!)

Also another interesting custom in Laos, was until 5 years ago divorce was easy and rampant, but the government implemented a law that said, upon getting married, the man will deposit 5million Kip. If the marriage fails ie: if the man is at fault, then he is liable for child support until the child / children are 18, if the woman is at fault then the man gets his money back from the government... Additionally they have 12months from the time of engagement to see if either of them want to change their mind, so it's a pragmatic mix of no-fault cessations to marriages, and also the "are you sure??" blend thrown in for good measure.... Also both families are now involved, so whilst it's not an arranged marriage as I've come to understand them, it is a union based on familial knowledge of compatibility and mutual respect with full knowledge of consequences.. I like it.

Dudu and I have been chatting, and whilst we're not looking forward to going home, we will be happy to do so... And I guess that's all one can hope for after all..

BTW, Stefanie has drawn up a tudu (<--- like that?? I did) list of things for us in Chiang Mai.. One of the major ones being to visit the elephant nature park where she worked for a couple of years... street markets saturday and sunday night, visit Patty (her friend) old quarter.. but we've already booked a thai cooking class and if the wallet and energy levels hold up, also a trip through the jungles on a flying fox... can't wait..

Must away the markets are yelling (BTW we are in Thailand now!! 2 sleeps to go now)

Tutu and Dudu :o)

Food in Laos

Thought we'd post some of the interesting menu items found in the local market in Laos.. Luang Prabang.. Things that look like huhu grubs, moles, rats, frogs, blue crabs, magpies and bat pooh... Ok they don't exactly eat bat poo, it's used for dyeing... It makes cloth a bright red... again, how on earth they found that out is beyond me..

Tutu and Dudu :o)

The monkeys revenge... and off to Luang Prabang

Our last evening in Vang Vieng, we went again to one of the restaurants that are on the side of the river, and from which directly across you can see the bars that open in the evening...

The next morning we were leaving Vang Vieng for Luang Prabang, so Dudu and I were scuttling off to get some breakfast before boarding our bus... It was going to be a 9 hour ride... Scenery is stunning, but the roads are still in development so "twas a long and winding road"... Strolling along the street going to our favourite coffee shop ("Bon Cafe" if your ever in Vang Vieng) some coconuts started falling from the tree... Not an uncommon occurance, but still enough to be wary about... They do hurt if you're hit... Anyhoo, Dudu the smart one, moved into the middle of the street, I on the other hand figured that manouvering between two parked trucks was alot less hazardous than worrying about moving ones... Big mistake!!! One coconut got a little bit too close for comfort so to avoid being hit from above, (coconuts) and from in front or behind (cars and motorbikes) I headed to the only bit of mossy footpath there was in Vang Vieng, and ended up with legs akimbo on my side... Fortunately though a brick stopped the corner of my head so now I have a wee scar above my right eyebrow, to remind me of Vang Vieng... Had to talk my tour guide out of sending me to hospital for stitches, and in any event the nearest one was in Luang Prabang so not an option anyway... So how does the monkey thing fit in?? Dudu said that she saw a monkey in the coconut tree picking and throwing the damned things... I still think she's taking the mickey out of Monkey Island, but she has sworn black and blue that she saw one do it... so I will take her word at face value...

On route to Luang Prabang we stopped at a temple in the middle of nowhere... Stunning, the solitude, the peacefulness and isolation was just breathtaking... And before we headed down into Luang Prabang we stopped at this little lookout point, which has been developed (sort of) with hammocks, chairs, tables to picnic in and a wee and completely uneven pentanque field?? All of which overlooks Luang Prabang, which is nestled in a valley.. The province of Luang Prabang has a total population of 400,000 but there is only 60,000 based in the city... One of the highlights is the daily giving of alms to the monks who walk the streets so that it definately something to look forward to.... That night was only enough time for dinner and a brief stroll through the night markets before heading off to sleep... Orientation walk in the morning which given the size of the city isn't going to be too long... Yay... travelling takes it out of you, that plus the constant "Are you ok?, don't go to sleep now will you, Are you sure you don't want to go to hospital" can get a little bit tiring... Shoulders are sore, head a wee bit bloody and right side a little bit tender but nothing that can't be managed... Hate HAte HATe HATE being invalided so I'm fine!!

Oh, did I ever mention the two dutch guys we picked up in Vientiane?? The public bus had broken down, so the company put on a minibus for our group, but since it also doubled as a public bus, we had additional company with us.. Two young men from Amsterdam travelling for 6weeks... One is a scientist working for a company that develops genetically modified plants for enhanced crop production, the other is in marketing.. I did feel sorry for the scientist, he happened to be sitting between Dudu and I, and a fierce debate erupted over the issue of genetically modified food sources. They are obviously made of hardy stuff, because when we arrived in Vang Vieng they had nowhere to stay, so when the bus dropped us off at our accomodation they got off too and booked a room in the same guesthouse.... We thought we'd left them behind in Vang Vieng, but when we stopped for lunch on the way to Luang Prabang, guess who was there!!! They'd heard us talking about moving on, so decided they'd do the same... Good on them..

Guess who we ran into in Luang Prabang??? Yep the two flying dutchmen who threatened to join our day trip (see other blog) ... Thank goodness we were able to fill all available seats with the rest of our group..

Night market, Dudu decided she wanted a particular duvet cover... So sweet, the guy who was selling them was doing it on behalf of his mother, so every offer and counter offer was met with "hang on I just ring my mother", he'd hang up and so it would begin again... I think his strategy was to wear us down, and it worked... but Dudu has the most amazing silk duvet cover with detailed embroidery... but no pillow cases, although he offered to ring his mother and get her to make some for Dudu but given we were leaving at 7.30 the next morning and it's not called the "Night market" for nothing, so we'll have to see if we can match it at another market....

Tutu and Dudu :o)

Luang Prabang - Laos.. Monks offerings and day trip

Two amazing days.. First morning I woke up early with the intention of going to see the monks, but by the time I managed to get out of the shower (still a wee bit tender from the monkey incident) I had missed the main route, but undetered I still decided to head into town.. (ok so it's only one block over) but walking down our street I was ambushed by monks heading down towards me, so I ran back to the guest house only to find our hostess was preparing to give them alms directly outside our guesthouse... Every morning the monks also walk the streets back to their temples so you don't have to go to the main road to give them alms... I sat quietly to observe and she asked if I'd like to join in... Hell yes!!! and the really really really amazing thing was that the monks not only recieve but will give alms... I was given a wrapped banana leaf with filled with three sweets... Could've have cried it was just incredibly spiritual...

I told Dudu about it, and so for the next two mornings we were up with the larks, roosters actually to feed the monks... We emptied two shops of what the Lao call candies but are just individually wrapped biscuits... We were told by our host that to give alms, you wear a scarf over your left shoulder.. It's the only way the monks know to stop and when you run out take off the scarf.. simple really once you know, so then it was off to the market to buy some scarves...

Dudu's sleep has been broken with the call to rise that emits from the temples... It is done by the banging of drums or bells and it occurs at 4.30 in the morning.. From the age of 12 - 19 you are a novice and their roles in the temples are to rise first thing, to cook, clean and generally take care of the daily necessities of the monks.. In return they are fed, taken care of and given an education.. Many young men enter the monastery to gain an education, as all needs are taken care of by the people of the city... They eat twice a day (from that which is supplied at the morning alm giving) and whatever else they can grow for themselves, so it's not an uncommon sight to see monks tending gardens...

I was thinking that if a monk has to give 7 years of service as a novice before he can progress to the teachings of a monk, it reminded me of a conversation that I had with sensei.. He told me that between black belt gradings you need 7 years for our discipline... same same but different..

On the second day Dudu and I booked a day trip, and managed to talk the rest of our group into coming... We went mountain biking for 2.5 hours, went to visit a Hmong village where it takes 1 week to make a scarf, off to see monument built for the first European to visit Laos, kayaked to the "Wet season" waterfall which is the most beautiful one in Luang Prabang where you could have a ride on an elephant (not for me) and then kayaked back into town... Total of 9 hours..

My bike got tired, so had to push it up some of the hills, but the guides told me later that my bike set up was wrong.. Apparently if your knees are the same height as your earlobes when cycling the seats too low... and also with all the gears, the higher the number is not used for higher gradients... Now if only they'd explained all of that before I got on the sucker I'm sure my bike would not have been soooooo tired...

As for the kayaking, Dudu and I now rock.... I'm not sure what it is about the Ozzies but on our last kayak the only crew to go down under were the Ozzies, and it was the same again this time around... As for us two, we ended up taking a break in the middle of the rapids... You see we had it going on, and before we knew it, we'd left the rest of the group behind... We came upon a bunch of kayaks sitting on a river bank and not being sure where we were supposed to get out of the river we kept going, however the river split into two distinct streams both of which had strong rapids so we landed our kayak in the middle, pulled it out of the water and waited for the rest to catch up... Got another layer to our sunburn which the Laos people have likened to Cambodian black... woo hoo!!!!! 4 hours later it was time to get out of the boat, loaded the kayaks into storage, and then was told by the tour leader, we were cycling back into town... Bloody tired at the end of that day but was fun.... Would do it again in a heartbeat, with correct height adjustment to bike seats before getting on...

As for the photo of knives etc... All of these were reconstructed out of the shell casings from bombs... for a population nearing 6Million, 10million tonnes of bombs were dropped in the country, some are still live and have not yet been discovered... So warning, don't go too far off the beaten track in Laos... or Cambodia for that matter.

Tutu and Dudu :o)

k

just

Vang Vieng - 2 days..

Vang Vieng is nestled in the middle of mountains and is beautiful... It so looks like home it's unsettling. We must be acclimatising to the temperatures now, as the airconditioner in the units make us head for blankets and duvet covers when it hits 16 degrees.. (ha, watched the news the other morning and saw Wellington had a high of 12)... On our orientation walk around the town (which is something that is done for every city / town we arrive in) we were taken to where the tubes begin... Tubing is big here... You hire a tube jump into the river and float down.. seems harmless enough, BUT... along both sides of the river are bars, with staff whose sole function is to throw you lines which you hold onto, so they pull you in... It's just a pub crawl in the water... Many of the bars have built flying foxes, so you fall into the river from a height of about 6meters, but most of the patrons are feeling no pain by then, which is lucky cause I didn't think the river was that deep... at the end, a group of children help you out of the water and also help you return the tube which if you don't you forfeit your deposit... Most of the children though just help themselves to your tube and keep the deposit...(entreprenuial little tykes)... And in any event if your sober enough to stop them, you win... simple really.. There are also restaurants along the riverside, and they all have tables designed for you to recline on whilst either watching the tubes float down the river, or else Friends or the Family Guy on DVD... Yep, West meets East... Every restaurant in town plays those two shows, so if you've missed an episode you'll be able to catch up at one cafe or another... There are also bars on the river not accessible by tubes, you have to walk over a rickety bamboo bridge but they open at 11.30pm... One of the bars "Rock" has an understanding with the local police.. They openly ingest drugs there and as our tour leader said within the compound your safe, but the minute you leave you get arrested if the police see you have been taking drugs.. in which case your on your own... Fair enough... There are many others to enjoy there though, and all of them have hammocks to rest in whilst your drinking or as Nye (our tour leader says) chillaxing...


We then wandered into a massage palour for a full body traditional Laos massage with oil... I won't go into detail too much, but when I was told to roll over onto my back, they really mean't full body... hmmm now as for Dudu, she had a Fafafine (spelling might be off, but in essence it's a male wanting to become a female without the operation yet).. She had opted for a back and shoulders massage... Needless to say that I had my suspicions as to the gender of her massuse but it was definately confirmed when I had to roll over onto my back... "It" was alive and I thought the attraction was supposed to be for men... But as Dudu was saying, her mojo's finally working and she has manly shoulders anyway... She also had an acrylic nail left behind in her back too...

Dudu and I decided that the tubes weren't for us, so we went and booked a day trip that incorporated caving (4) treking (1.5hrs) and then kayaking back to town (2hours).. Fantastic day..
We took the day trip the next morning, which began at 9.30...

We began with the caves, 3 different ones (but oddly enough, each of them had buddahs inside) pitch black and so we were given torches to use... To start them you had to connect the two wires just like one would have to do if you were stealing a car... (not that either one of us has ever tried it, and don't you either Kent!!) Our guide was singing the entire way... At the third cave Dudu had an adventure... She managed to slip and get caught... Stalagtites come down, and stalagmites go up... Well Dudu got a stalagmite up her bottom.... I got a sore stomach (cause laughing hurts) and then I got sore legs trying to keep ahead of her so she wouldn't hit me for laughing.. Then we stopped for lunch.. BBQ... Gorgeous.. then a 1km hike to the next cave, which apppropriately was called water cave... To enter you had to get onto a tube, there was about 6inches of clearance between your body and the top of the cave entrance, so it was hilarious ducking your head, then dropping your body into the middle of the tube and then almost sitting up to get your legs in... Pitch black again, and only the security of a rope to help you through... It ends in a cavern with a deep pool that you can swim in, however it had rained the night before so the water levels were much higher than the guide was happy with and he wouldn't let us go too far in... Still he then said let go of the rope.. Woo hoo, I now know what a pinball feels like... the current took us out to the entrance and Michelle got too enthusiastic, and managed to tip herself out... Just too funny... Must do that again...

After the cave it was a walk to the Hmong Village... When we passed they were making new poles for a new bridge... They weave them, make them into big repositories, position them into the river and then fill them with stones, and then cement... (how it hardens is beyond me but apparently it works) labour intensive though and everyone contributes..

We then headed off for the kayaks... Dudu and I again paired up, but we were much better this time around... Only a couple of minor hiccups... a major one for the aussie couple...on our first encounter with rapids, they judiciously managed to turn their kayak sideways and proceeded to tip out... She hit her head on the rocks, and he couldn't turn the boat right side up, so one of the guides had to leap in to correct / save them.... Dudu and I spent a great deal of time splashing all other boats who came near... It was fun, right up till the time Dudu went silent... I turned forward to find a wall of bamboo moving at light speed towards us... (ok, we were heading for the immobile bamboo) Since I was steering i had two choices, either try to turn us, in which case, I'd have given Dudu concussion and given her two recent experiences re: back and butt, figured head not good... or I could go right over / through it.. so we did.. Fabulous, the last sight I saw was the look of abject horror on the guides face as we disappeared through the growth... Current was alot faster this side of the river, and i managed to spot a relatively sparse growth pattern further down the river so headed back towards the rest of the group through that undergrowth... no harm no foul good fun really... One of the guides got a little too cocky and stood up to splash everyone with his oar.... He had a great time, right up to when he hit the water and had to swim to catch up with his kayak.... We kayaked right through the tubes and all was going incredibly well, until I got distracted by two wee naked boys (2 or 3yrs old) absolutely frolicking in the water... So innocent, so lovely so dangerous.. Dudu went silent again... As you can guess a quiet Dudu is a dangerous Dudu... Ok, so there was a bridge, and ok, so there was limited space between struts and ok, dead eye Tutu managed to hit the struts and not the gap... Well I thought it was funny, but then I wasn't the one in front who hit it head (sorry about the pun) on... Sorry Dudu.... xoxoxo

Down town for dinner, a quiet beer, and then bed... Well that was the plan, but we ended up laughing about all the adventures we've had on our trip... Dudu thinks I should have said that the bridge moved, because an elephant was chasing a tiger, and the weight of the elephant on the bamboo bridge caused the struts to move... I think she's taking the mickey out of my monkey story which is true... Bless...

Tutu and Dudu :o)

Cat Ba Island the after effects of the typhoon and the monkey.

In Cat Ba, the recent typhoon had left many of the businesses without power and being Island based, all of the electricity was via generators.. Brilliant.. So quiet, the street was awash with vendors cooking over gas stoves, and candles (where they had them, but most of the town was using only the light from their stoves.) Some of the more tourist focused businesses, were open for business.. and the lights you can see are the pearl vendors... It was really cute at the hotel.. We could choose between, air con or water or tv or lights... And only one at a time... Some of our group went out to dinner and it took over 2 hours for the meal to arrive as the power kept going out.. The next day we were sheduled to leave at 2.30 that afternoon, so we opted for a morning row on a sea kayak... Dudu and I paired up... We rowed and rowed and rowed around islands, through caves and into bays.. all of which we were not supposed to.. but due to our skills we were zigging and zagging like crazy... Our local tour guide caught up with us and said that we were strong on account of the additional distance we were rowing compared to everyone else... He then went onto say, that perhaps we'd like to get a headstart on everyone since it took us twice as long to arrive as everyone else did... and that included a single rower (Stefanie).. Nah, we'd be fine... Got to Monkey Island (no photos from here on out) and pulled the boat out of the water... Relaxing on the beach.. Our tour leader got jumped by a monkey (In a literal way not the sleazy way), another tourist boat that had pulled in for a look, was being terrorised by a couple of monkeys who were literally jumping along the beach at the women, who screamed and ran behind some of the larger men from the boat... I'd decided to go for a swim, kayaking the equivalent of cook strait will make you hot and bothered... Big mistake... As I said before a damn monkey grabbed my camera and did a runner... Well so did I. Came flying out of the water, and took off after the monkey who was leaping and jumping down the shoreline... Not sure what it was thinking but I was hell set on getting my camera back.. Off down the beach the monkey thinking that it's companions antics would work, stopped turned and jumped at me... I was running full tilt and kept going at the monkey who then proceeded to stand look at me, swinging my camera around by the handle... then the little bugger let it go, and took off in the opposite direction... I followed the camera into the sea and the monkey went into the tree.. (rhyming poet in the making here)..

So lots of sun (read burn here), adventure, swimming... (apparently Kiwis float well), kayaking and running makes for a long and tiring day.... Now about the floating comment... I love the water, sea, rivers, baths, pools you name it, I'm generally in them... So each beach we landed on Dudu and I were in swimming.. Michelle the other Kiwi would frequently join us, so we'd go into deep water, roll over and float around for a while... Tara an Australian wanted to know if floating was genetic, or just taught to everyone from NZ... We hadn't thought about it, but she said she couldn't do it.. Adumb (bless) asked us to show him how, and the easiest way to explain it was to lift your pelvis when your in the water... Hmmm... there is something inherently wrong with a guy lifting his pelvis whilst trying to float... Told him to stop... Sonny yet again came to the rescue and said that for men, they float best face forward... Now what a brilliant suggestion that was.... We did try to convince Adumb to go for the guiness world record for a man floating and figured 15mins might be something to aim for, but alas, he was only good for 45seconds at a time... (ok, I'm not going to run with that comment)..

Hydroplane back to the mainland and a bus back to Hanoi... Really tired that night.. slept well..

Tutu and Dudu.. :o)

Re: the dark photos, I was using a flash but remember Cat Ba had extremely limited power, but notice how close the houses are to the mountains.. they are scraped to allow buildings to abut them... Lovely place... would go there again...