Adventures in Laos

So, after our evening of massages and internet, you can only imagine the appetite that we had worked up. Dave and I headed off to find somewhere to eat and ended up at a restaurant in the main street named Tum Tum Gardens (we think). Dinner was interesting. Not good, not bad, but interesting. Of course we had our sticky rice which we are slowing getting addicted to. Then we had some chicken dish with celery and some other greenish mini tomato thing, mushed together by coconut and a prawn dish that had 6 shrimps and some type of lemongrass mush on the side. Like I said, interesting. Oh, and we started with possibly the best chicken satays we've ever had.

After, we went to the Hmong night market. It's amazing over here. 9 at night and the streets are packed. We walked through aisles of stalls selling basically the same thing, t-shirts, homemade scarves, bedspreads, purses... By now, you probably already realized that we bought a few things. It was still raining and we were tired of being wet, so we headed back to the hotel that of course still had the stain on the bed. Plus, when we went to shower, we noticed a stain on the towel. Oh well, can't always live in the lap of luxury.


We woke up this morning and were anxious to begin our day. Luckily, the rain stopped right as we were waking up at the ripe time of 6:30 am. We got ready and headed into town to have breakfast and get ready for our tours today. Breakfast was at the Scandanavian bakery where I had the croissant and fruit salad and Dave had ham and cheese on a croissant. I forgot how good European pastries are!


After breakfast, the tour company put us on a tuk tuk and we headed down to the pier (basically a break in the trees along the hill to the river where we crossed over several other long boats to reach ours. We ended up on a tour with 4 Laos Ladies and an entire ecosystem. Most of the time on the boat ride found us staring at the ceiling waiting for the snail that was crawling over our head to fall on us or one of the many bugs to land on our legs. Did I mention that we had taken the slow boat and I am not exagerating. We were passed by everyone! After the 2 hour ride (it was supposed to only take an hour) we stopped at the Pak Ou caves which are caves used by the village for religious ceremonies and filled with hundreds of Buddha statues. The first cave was ok, but the second cave was extremely dark and went back 54m. Very cool, but thank goodness for the light on our camera! Along the way, Dave was terrorized by a snail that decided to move slowly back and forth right above his head.

Next stop after waiting for the lady who was 15 minutes late to get back to the boat was the whiskey village where they make Laos rice wine. Of course, we were able to find ladies sitting at their looms and we could not walk by and not help them, so we made a few purchases. We finished our boat ride back in Luang Prabang without incident from mother nature (except for some rain) and took a quick tuk-tuk back to the travel office for our next tour. Luckily, we had 10 minutes to spare (becuase our boat was so slow) and we grabbed some crepes for lunch. Nutella for Dave, peanut butter and fruit for me. YUM!

Next stop was on a crowded minibus to the Kuasi Falls. We were left off in a small village and walked up the path to some amazing falls. High, but not huge, however, the power was amazing. Probably becuase of all the recent rain since there were picnic benches being covered in the flow. We decided to follow the young, barefoot backpackers up a steep slope to go check out the top of the waterfall. Not only was it steep, it was wet and slippery and was the first time I have realized I am no longer a young student who can do these things gracefully anymore. Going up was fine and the view was beautiful from the top (probably even more beautiful if you're willing to go to the edge, which Dave and I were not. But the climb down was another story. We did it well, but very slow and let every group pass us so as to not slow them down. But we made it and I didn't have any help and felt very proud of myself, as well as wet and smelly!

(author change) Back at the bottom of the hill we took a left and headed to the bear rescue center. There were a bunch of bears- Asian bears are much skinnier than the bears we have at home. These were very playful and seemed happy.

Back in the van and on our way home. We stopped at our hotel and headed to dinner at a place called The Pizza. I had pizza (not a fan of Laotian food) and Carrie ate yellow curry and sticky rice. Both were good (I enjoyed a bit of the curry). We walked home thru the market and bought more things- some gifts and some self-gifts. Then, off to bed- monks in the morning!

Rain Drops Keep Falling on My Head...

Its raining, its pouring, Dave and Carrie are walking around Laos thankful their plane didn't crash (knock on wood). I can't believe my wife got me on a friggin propeller plane. Run by Laos airlines. Seriously. The two Tiger beers I drank did not calm my nerves. The delay in the airport did not calm my nerves. The turbulence did not. Flying at only 18,000 feet did not. Landing did. But, reading an article today how Laos airlines contracts with Air France for maintence help and a Chinese airline owning 60% of them is a bit calming. After our flight on Tuesday to Chang Mai, I will be nice and relaxed.

When we landed we went thru customs very easily- $36 for a visa ($1 more for them working on the weekend). Then we went to find our driver from our guest house but ended up with a taxi for 50,000 Kip (8,500 kip = $1). We arrived at Merry Guest House #1 and I am reasonably sure they had no idea we were coming. There was no one at the front desk and we finally found someone in the first room to check us in- while they were wearing their pajamas. Of course, she was wearing PJs for most of the day today, so maybe that was her clothes. We went to our room, and found it to be a 5/10. There was an incredibly musty smell in the bathroom (moved the room air freshener in there). And there is/hopefully was a very gross stain on the mattress cover under the sheets. Sleep sacks for the evening!

Morning was sleeping in - a bit lazy- cause it has been pouring all day long. We went down and tried to get breakfast, but the lady at the desk (same lady) didn't understand a word we were saying. Eventually we played charades and got a menu. Bread and jam- what fun. Tomorrow we will be more adventurous and get some banana pancakes. We also spoke to some fellow travellers - Dan, from America and his wife Morina (Italian) who live in Dubai and another Aussie. Fortunately, it was early enough that this Aussie didn't make us drink. Oh- and that cat. He literaly jumped up on my lap in the middle of my meal. Assuming I didn't get fleas, he was very cute.

After breakfast we walked around town, looking at temples, rain, and the MeKong River. Very very wet. Very pretty though. Lots of green everywhere and many old Wats (temples) covered in gold pictures. We at lunch at The Coconut Room and had Green Curry with Veggies, Stir Fried Chicken with Ginger, and of course, spring rolls. Very good spring rolls, and depending on which of us you ask the rest was either good or great. Oh- and the sticky rice was mysteriously sticky. Post lunch found us buying air tix out of here, and looking for tours.

We filled up our afternoon with a quick trip to the hotel (not so quick) and some replacement headphones for the pair I lost on the flight across the Pacific. Before our massages we got coffee at Cafe de Artes coffee house. Carrie and I also had a chocolate croissant and cinnamon almond roll. The massages- 60 min for 40000 Kip- were full body pressure point type massages. Definitley the best we have had. We tipped probably way too generously, but the difference between 20% and the 88% we gave was like $3 USD. And there were 2 girls that probably get paid terribly, so I did my good deed for the day (emphasis on I, since someone is angry at my frivolous spending). Regardless, it was a great way to spend an hour. Then we came here. So now you know what we know. Not a ton of pics for this blog, since they have been uploading for 30 min now. Peace.


***In fact, the pictures were uploading for 60 min to no avail, so you get nothing. NOTHING! We will add them as soon as possible***

Vietnam - General Impressions by Carrie

So, after what seemed like it would be a long 2 weeks, time has flown by and we're about ready to leave Vietnam. Coming here, I knew I would find it interesting and would really enjoy this country, but no way did I realize how much I would fall in love with it here. Some of my thoughts:

1)The people are extremely nice (people talked to us much more in the South, but our hotel staff in Hanoi were amazing).
2)The country side is beautiful. Miles and miles (or kilometers and kilometers) of rice paddies, cows grazing, water buffalo by the side of the road...
3) The people in Vietnam work extremely hard. I don't think I'd ever be able to do what they do. Women carrying pots of soup and souvenirs to sell from morning until after the sun has set. People in the farm all day in this extreme heat. Hotel staff up before you come for breakfast and still there when you go to bed at night.
4)Too many people ride one motorcycle at a time here. We have seen 3 and 4 people on one. And then you have the person who is making a delivery with packages strapped all over the bike, including in their lap.
5) Everyone is in a hurry to go somewhere here, but I'm not sure where they're going. On the planes, people would push past us to get to their seat, but they were flying on the same plane as us, so we could never figure out what the hurry was.
6) People here do not sweat. We would be dying, shirts soaked, weak as can be and people would walk by us on the street in jeans, a sweater and a hat without a bead of sweat anywhere.
7) People must love to shop here. There are way too many stores to only be supported by tourists.
8) The Vietnam people are definitely invested in the future. University is extremely important to the youth and it's obvious how much pride the people take in their family members studies as well as their own. Our hotel hostess this morning was so tense over her little sister taking the University entrance exam today. It was very sweet to be.
9) Babies do not always wear diapers here. And many times the mothers can tell when the baby has to go to the bathroom (not sure how this is done). For example, the woman squatting last night on the night market on the side of the road last night with her little baby boy aiming (if you know what I mean) at the street where a mass of people were walking by, while the baby went to the bathroom straight into the road right behind my leg (and I stress the word right).
10) The people here are extremely into fitness. In many plazas, you will see group aerobics going on. Plus, they do not eat a lot of sweets from what we can tell, but a lot of fruit. The food is terrific and not greasy at all (with the exception of all the fried spring rolls we have ordered).
11) People here love Obama. His face is on t-shirts everywhere.
12) Motorbikes can go anywhere. Seriously, they do not believe in streets and most often, if there is a sidewalk, they are driving on it.
13) To add to that, there are no street rules here, but the drivers are great. No such thing as lanes and barely any traffic signals, but somehow they make it work.
14) A two week trip of Vietnam is not nearly enough. There are so many other places here I want to see and experience. We are definitely in need of another trip here some day in the future.