Vientiane

We had little over 24 hours in Vientiane, which I think marks a change from our lazy 'Friends' watching days in Vang Vieng. We are heading into the final 3 weeks now before Lorna leaves for Ireland and I start my volunteer work in Cambodia. I mentioned before we were having extremely vivid dreams from our malaria tablets. Well, the other night I happened to be a ghost buster with telekinetic powers trying to save my family from a massive poltergeist. Lorna on the other hand dreamt of being late for her brothers wedding and was wearing her dress underneath her hippie pants on the plane home from Asia. Both of us woke up in a sweat.

Anyway, back on topic. Vientiane is a definite change from Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng. It's very much a faster paced city where stuff looks like it might actually get done. It also has its own 'Arc de Triomph' in reference to its past relationship with France. To be honest, I didn't have much expectation of the city. So many people told us nothing is happening there and were only passing through to catch a flight out. Such a pity, I think. Now, I'm not saying stay a week but two days at least. Within our first hour we caught a Tuk Tuk out to the COPE centre which is an excellent centre teaching visitors about unexploded ordinance leftover in the Laotian countryside by the US 'secret war'. I actually can't believe a bigger deal hasn't been made of the US bombing in Laos. A massive third of the country still needs to be officially cleared and deemed safe again. The worst thing is that the metal the bombs are made of is worth money as scrap and people, particularly children who don't know any better, are killed and injured trying to make a few extra quid for themselves. The centre teaches you about this and also about how they are giving injured people back their lives with physiotherapy, counseling, prosthetics and occupational therapy. I was only able to donate a few euro on my budget but if the chance arises again I'll try do more. It only costs 75USD in Laos to create a fully functional modern prosthetic limb. Not a lot to give someone back their future. 

The rest of our few hours were spent walking by the Mekong river, visiting the National Lao Museum and climbing up the Laotian Arc de Triomph (I forget the real name). Me and Lorna got into a heavy discussion about 'ladyboys' and what's the big connection with this part of the world. I had read somewhere before that Kathoeys in Thai are grouped together in the 'third gender', not specifically a man or a woman but more belonging to the feminine space. It's a pity because us westerners who don't understand the acceptance of the third gender have turned them into a tourist attraction. We took a look at Wikipedia. Thousands of years ago civilizations were honoring those neither typically 'male' nor 'female' and being plainly heterosexual itself was only a minor part of the plan. In some cases ancient civilizations classified up to 6 different gender types and a hell of a lot more to talk about sexuality apart from gender. From the Greeks to the Incas to the Polynesians, they all accepted and wrote about something as complex as the 'Third Gender' and sexuality. So...why are we having such a hard time with something as straight forward as same sex marriage? 

And that's us in Laos. A good two weeks in the country and still haven't seen enough. If I go back I'd love to spend more time exploring villages and hill top tribes. I'd make sure and visit the prehistoric site of the Plain of Jars and I'd absolutely go down south to see the 4,000 islands and highest waterfalls in South East Asia. Laos is special. It's official name Lao PDR (people's democratic republic) is affectionately known as Lao Please Don't Rush. I am only two hours in Vietnam and beginning to appreciate the 'please don't rush' motto very, very much. 

Viva Vang Vieng

When I was getting my vaccinations before I left Amsterdam the nurse told me to absolutely stay out of local rivers and lakes. I think in this week alone I've spent more time in local water sources than I have in my entire life. Tuesday, we booked a full day tour cave tubing and kayaking. What's cave tubing? Pretty much what it sounds like. You strap a torch to your head, sit yourself in the inner tube of an old tyre and pull yourself through a cave in the dark. We felt really adventurous until a group of elderly Koreans passed us out, splashing us and laughing like maniacs. Kayaking was a bit of fun too. I was just complaining to Lorna that the river was too quiet (not enough 'rapids', you know) when we went over a bump and crashed sideways into a massive tree at the side of the river. Lorna fell out of the boat instanteously. I more or less launched myself out in total panic. It was funny because the river was shallow but we were taken away by the strong current, holding on to our kayak for dear life. Our tour guide rescued us, pulling us up by the scruff of the neck into the boat.

The day after that we went tubing. Tubing is possibly the most infamous backpacker pastime ever. Last year alone 27 people died tubing. That doesn't even count all the accidents. That statistic alone should have been enough to keep us away. I suppose the fact that only 3 bars are open now was a strange reassurance, the other 16 closed due to an Australian MPs son dying during the summer (I heard someone say 'There's always one that ruins it for everyone else'). They've also closed down the ziplines and the subtlely named 'Slide of Death'. Anyway, we rented our tube and took a Tuk Tuk 3kms up river. Lorna asked for a life jacket and they said it was in the truck. It wasn't. And so off we went floating down a river, going from bar to bar to bar, drinking, collecting bracelets for every drink, and talking rot to people we just met. At the second bar there was body paint and after seeing a local woman paint a gorgeous flower on a girl I asked her to paint me (yes, I am that cool) but instead she paints the word FREE on my stomach and a big arrow pointing towards my bikini bottoms. Lovely. We stayed out in the last bar until 5.30 which doesn't sound wild but it takes a good hour and a half to float back to town and here it gets dark at 6. At least there was a group of us together; ourselves, three Germans, an Australian lady and her 12 year old son (imagine your mam taking you tubing!) and some other Irish we picked up along the way. Which would have been fine only I got separated from the group and floated in total darkness by myself for a solid twenty minutes. I also fell into the river out of my tube at one stage since one of the Germans got excited trying to take a picture and flipped my tube accidently. No, I wasn't annoyed at all. 

The next day was a write off. I was so hungover from the day and night before (because a days drinking just isn't enough) that I stayed in bed all day. Lorna was fine but she had the good sense to quit while the going was good. I only left the guesthouse to go next door to the restaurant where they play Friends all day long. I watched a lot of Friends that day. Which is fine, because if I'm traveling for six months I'm going to have to have days where I do nothing so it wasnt wasted...what?!

Yesterday we were full of motivation after sleeping our lives away. We vowed to keep walking past the Friends restaurant and rented bikes. As soon as we paid, and I mean literally handed over cash to the lady, it started to drizzle. Looking at each other in total dismay we said 'Fuck it, sure we have our ponchos with us' and on we went. Our goal was to get to the Blue Lagoon for a swim. Everything was fine for about two minutes til we turned off the road on to a rocky lane way and saw a sign that said 'Blue Lagoon 7km'. I know Lorna was frustrated trying to navigate her way in and out of stones in the road so when we saw a sign for a cave we said we'd take a look. We turned off the rocky lane way onto an even rockier lane. We came up to a small river that looked like it might have appeared overnight. We rented a guide to take us the rest of the way and so we continued on our water themed week by wading up this temporary river for about 2km. I tried very hard not to think about leeches. He took us into this amazing cave hidden behind a tree. It was really something to see apart from the fact he made us crawl through a tiny opening. Note to self: do more yoga because me crawling through that hole was not elegant. After the cave we cycled on. We met a crowd of Laotian children on their way home from school and they all wanted high fives. Like a hero I cycled past a line of children slapping their hands. They were all so cute. So cute apart from one little fella who instead of giving me a high five punched me in the vagina. Not so cute. Anyway, so the blue lagoon wasn't blue. Turns out after a nights rain the lagoon turns a lovely shade of poo. We bought a bag of crisps and after 5 minutes munching we put our ponchos on and cycled 7km home in the lashing rain.

So that sums up our time in Vang Vieng, the most unlikely backpacker party town in the world. I read in the Lonely Planet visitors either adore the place or detest it and that the locals aren't really happy with the rowdy behaviour of tourists. I'm a bit indifferent but then I haven't been here in high season when the town is swamped full of tubers. I suppose we did meet a couple of absolute knobs 'working the season' here. You know the type; young, enthusiastic and thinks he's the shit because he's getting free accomodation and beer in return for talking crap to strangers. We were chatting to a particular fella who said he could never go home to live with his mam as all she does is give out to him for the amount of cups he has in his room. (in fairness my ma goes on about that too.) We were able to do some cool activities here though. The scenery is amazing and we had a few good nights out as well. Which brings me up to this exact moment, having to cancel our onwards bus to Vientiane because we are just too hungover to deal with life. A few episodes of Friends, perhaps? 

P.S. Lorna went on a hot air balloon ride here and it crash landed in a rice field. She's fine. 

That one time.

Our journeys between stops have been consistently eventful so far. Koh phi phi to Phuket airport we lied to the bus company and told them our flight was within the hour and we got this crazy lady taxi driver that raced us the whole way there using her horn instead of her indicators. Chiang Mai to Pai was the worst bus journey ever; 3 hours, 770 bends and 10 very, very hungover bus mates. Pai to Luang Prabang, well I wrote a whole post on that during the week. And now we just arrived in Vang Vieng. The journey wasn't so crazy considering some of our previous adventures but still out of the ordinary for us poor sheltered Irish lasses. We are just used to order and (possibly over the top) safety precautions. For instance, I was the only one with a working seat belt, some of our luggage was piled up on the seats next to our co-passengers and there was a baby on board without a child seat. To be fair he drove (mostly) cautiously but at one point stepped heavily on the brakes and the baby's head did snap back a bit. Thankfully the mother caught him. I don't know, being here I'm starting to wonder if we live in a little uptight bubble with rules and supervision for everything and anything. I think we live in constant fear of 'that one time' it could go wrong. It hangs over us like a rain cloud. I know myself I have a bad habit imagining every single thing that could go wrong before I do something. I'm a worrier, can't help it.  

But then, things do go wrong sometimes. I'm contradicting myself now but it would be stupid to live in eternal optimism if one simple safety precaution prevented your family falling apart. What if there was one little accident today? I had a seat belt but might have been battered by flying backpackers and their backpacks and not to mention the poor little baby. A disaster for all our families. And what might be surprising is that I think Laos drivers are much more considerate than Thai drivers. 

It seems to be two different attitudes altogether on this side of the world even though we have the same things; roads, children, animals and traffic. Just two different attitudes to the same things. 

 

Anyway, myself and Lorna have booked a kayaking and 'cave tubing' tour for tomorrow. Let's see how much instruction and safety precautions we are given! 

Luang Prabang

At this exact moment I can be found sitting in a restaurant in Luang Prabang eating a plate of fried rice with tofu watching the heavens pour down. We've been in this little city 5 days or so, a few days more than planned but we liked it here. I knew the city had a very 'French' feel but I was still surprised at how familiar the streets felt. All the cafes on the main street have French names and offer croissants for breakfast. Oh and the best yet; the toilets are immaculate. 

I thought Chiang Mai would be hard to beat but I think Luang Prabang has done it. It's the locals. Of course we've been approached to take this and that tour but it's been in a far more genuine way than in Thailand. It isn't cut-throat and people are happy to see other locals do well too. Children play outside with other children (such a novelty now) and we've seen kids pretend to play guitar with an old tennis racket and play war with bamboo sticks (boys will be boys after all!). 

And then there's the side of things here that makes up for the elephant ride we took in Chiang Mai and the day we spent in bed in Pai because we were too hungover to deal with life. We've managed to clock up a few socially responsible activities which has been on my agenda since I booked my flight to Asia. Good for the soul.  

LIVING LAND PROJECT

Friday morning we took a tour out to a little rice farm that gives workshops on the traditional method of growing rice. A bit expensive at 30eur per person but the money goes towards the rice farm that feeds 7 families and provides jobs for the village also. Not to mention its just a great experience. We got to work barefoot with a water buffalo in the paddy field and plant rice with our own hands. We also got to see how they make all their tools from bamboo. They do not waste one bit of bamboo or rice, everything can be used for something. We were literally watching thousands of years of tradition in front of us. Our tour guide was called Lee, told us he was from a hilltop tribe but his parents sent him to school in Luang Prabang when he was 8.  In 20 years he has only been back 3 times since. We asked him if he came to live with some family when he was 8 but he told us himself and two of his brothers just built a little hut for themselves outside the city and lived there together going to school. Can you imagine?

LUANG PRABANG LIBRARY

I saw the library and popped in the door to take a look. Turns out the library runs a little charity where visitors can buy and donate a reading book to children in river villages with no schools. If you buy the whole lot of books (250usd) they will take you out to the village to deliver them. I could only afford one book, can't have money for everything I'm afraid.

VOLUNTEER AT LOVANH COLLEGE

We were approached on the street by a few students asking if we'd like to volunteer at their school to help teach English. We said we'd give it go. Such a great experience. We really thought we'd just sit and have little conversations with students. Wrong! We were both given our own classes and literally told to teach the class. I had no idea what to do and the poor students were so shy with me too. But I got on with it. Half way through me and Lorna swapped classes, this time I had a more advanced class and I could chat a lot more freely with them. One fella was even trying to sell me a Tuk Tuk tour to the waterfall. It was such a nice introduction to volunteering before I join the school in Cambodia. I think with a bit of training I might be ok at it...

Actually, in the spirit of giving I also gave a street beggar 2000 kip (20cent). I never, never do this normally but I felt so sorry for him with his one eye and his limp and he was so grateful. Two seconds later we turned around and saw the fecker sauntering down the street with the use of both his eyes having a laugh with a few fellas. I was so angry but it's a lesson learned for the future. 

There are far more Eco-conscious trips and community development opportunities than this in Luang Prabang. We just didn't have the time to explore them all. If I had a few more days I would have liked to visit all the craft villages outside the city and gone to the Weaving centre to take a look. Oh well, next time.

One of the mornings we got up at dawn to watch the 'Tak Bat', where people give food offerings to monks. This is supposed to be an old tradition where local people personally prepare food themselves. Now, it's a tourist attraction which is really sad. The monks who do the rounds are just young boys and tourists are sold food to give to them. Some tourists get too close to the monks. I'm not religious but I did have a good scowl at the French tourists snapping away in the boys faces at 6 in the morning. 

And then we also got the chance to visit the most unbelievable waterfalls yet, Kuong Xi. Forty minutes out of town it's easily accessible. Lorna got distracted by the rope swing and we nearly missed out on seeing the jaw dropping falls way in the back. My pic below doesn't do it justice but I did almost propose to Lorna it was that romantic. 

The paragraphs above might make us sound super motivated and full of energy but in truth this week has been touch and go. We are about a week into taking our malaria tablets and suffering from extremely vivid dreams, groggy heads, upset tummies and extreme lethargy. I didn't think I would have such a strong reaction but I haven't slept so much in a long, long time. If it gets any worse I might consider just coming off them entirely. I'm not sure though. It's a risky decision. 

A couple of afternoons we felt so unsettled we just left our guesthouse and set up camp in some of the more laid back cafes, reading, watching movies, even napping. I've listed our favorites below. 

- l'etranger, they let you watch movies of your choice in the afteroon and show a set film in the evening. They also do book swaps and have a little exhibition upstairs of Laotian culture. 

- Utopia has a deck outside overlooking the Nam Khan river with comfy cushions on the floor. They have yoga lessons there everyday at sunrise and sunset which is nice. Really chilled out place but their food isn't great. 

- Joma, the most European coffee house you will find in Asia, I think. Might as well be in Amsterdam. I'm not so much of a coffee drinker but Lorna was in heaven. 

- Icon bar, just off the main street, it's a cute little retro bar serving expensive (but awesome) cocktails. This bar could also be in the centre of Amsterdam. Worth a visit. 

And that brings me up to this evening, eating my fried rice and watching the rain. Our plan this evening was to watch the locals launch their homemade boats into the Mekong river to celebrate the end of the Monks fasting for this year. However, Lorna is feeling awful and I'm not far behind her. (Actually, I think my low mood has affected my tone in this post. I love this place, I swear!) Time to head home and rest up before our 8.30am bus to tubing country tomorrow. Bleh. 

Journey into Laos

This is going to be a long post, I can already sense it. We have arrived in the city of Luang Prabang in Laos. It has been an interesting journey getting here that has equally amazed me and tested my sanity.  It turns out me and Lorna have the same breaking points - only we break in different ways, me being the more dramatic of course. To be honest, the last few days have been relatively plain sailing but my sense of 'how things should be' has been put through an emotional obstacle course and the pair of us have been left in stitches every time we witness an organizational culture clash. 

First up, we were to leave Pai Saturday evening on a 5 hour bus ride to the Thai/Laos border. Fine. Only the bus ended up being a 7 1/2 hour journey. At one point it seemed the bus driver had went the wrong way but someone later mentioned to me that he was showing another bus driver his new house...Ok... He was also a fan of stepping on and off the accelerator giving us a nice new dose of motion sickness even on the smooth roads. 

We arrived at 2 in the morning and had to be up by 7 for breakfast, after which we were herded into the back of a pick up truck to be taken to Thai immigration offices. Of course, me and Lorna didn't have our departure cards from when we arrived in Phuket two weeks ago. Panic. Our 'hostess' person told us to fold 100baht into our passports when handing them in and hopefully we'd be fine. We were examined carefully but we got through. (By the way, Lorna, I saw a sign saying we could face two years in jail for not having all our documents. I kept that quiet.)

Loaded up again into little boats on the Mekong river we were taken across the water to Laos border control. We filled out our visa application and our arrival/departure cards. Three separate forms requiring the exact same information. Efficiency at its best. We handed our three forms, passport and picture to the man dressed as a hobo outside the office and waited for our names to be called. Exhausted from the night before, this was a big breaking point for us both. Lorna went off to find a quiet corner while I stood directly in front of the window like a psycho. We had each 35 US dollars on us exactly (a pre-meditated currency conversion strategic decision) the amount quoted EVERYWHERE to pay for our visa. Imagine our frustration being told that we couldn't get our visa unless we paid the full 36USD. Sure enough there was a minuscule sign way at the back saying an extra dollar charge applies on Saturdays and Sundays. We managed to scrape together two extra dollars leaving us with no cash on hand at all. (By the way, when I say hobo, I don't mean it in a horrible way. It's just that the people inside the Laos visa office were very smart looking in uniforms and the guy outside was wearing a shiny Adidas track suit circa 1992.) 

 

And so we were herded up again and taken to the slow boat. Our passports were taken for the third time so we could be 're-issued' with new tickets. I'm still confused about that. Meanwhile we got a speech from our 'tour guide' to say that the town we would stay in had no ATMs, no electricity after 10pm, no wifi but there was also only one hotel there and he could offer us a great rate. I didn't hang around for his sales pitch and went in search of an ATM. No use though since the one ATM I found would only take visa (which I don't have). Lorna managed to get about 15Euro out. We bought a small sandwich to share and vowed to sleep outside before we'd book a night in yer mans hotel. 

6 amazing hours later we reached our little Mekong town, Pak Beng, for the night and lo and behold there was a string of guest house owners lining the dock offering rooms for a third of the price of yer mans hotel, with wifi, hot showers and electricity after 10pm. Score. But before we could get a lift to the guesthouse in yet another pick-up we had to form a human chain down the length of the long boat to get everyone's bag off. I thought this was a nice 'we are all in this together' moment. Actually, the best moment came when we realized there were two ATMs in the town and we would be able to eat that night after all. High five! 

I slept like a baby. Although I should point out that a side effect of my malaria tablets is to have very vivid dreams, verging on nightmares and truthfully I was a bit exhausted at having to chase Leonardo Di Caprio for a work project and entertain him AND his 3 unicorns at my parents house for a weekend. Or it could be down to the fact I (along with a dozen others) took a shot of 'Lao Whiskey' from an obscenely drunk waiter in a restaurant where half the slow boat ate themselves sick. One or the other. 

And so the second day of the slow boat was spent looking at the scenery, reading a bit of James Joyce (my new thing) and sipping slowly on a beer hoping I wouldn't have to use the toilets down the rear of the boat. I wasn't able to sit beside Lorna the whole trip and while I was next to the smallest Laotian man on record he took up 80% of the seat (seat being loosely defined here). 

The above is just a summary of how we journied into Laos. The reason we did it was for the view. It was truly out of this world. The Mekong region is a special place and the lifeline of the Laotian people. The length of the river to Luang Prabang is dotted with small villages, traditional fishermen, craggy rocks, farm animals getting a drink and the occasional naked child taking a dip. A different world than we are used to. My pictures don't do it justice I'm afraid and while I know I sound moany above I would recommend to anyone to take the slow boat into Laos. 

On my way to Laos

So I'm having a bit of a panic. I am just starting to realise how very little time I have to do all the things I want to do in South East Asia. 8 weeks to travel Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, then 8 weeks volunteering in Cambodia and then 6 weeks afterwards to fill in. It's not very long at all. I think it might be good to fly from Singapore to Phuket, have a few days on 'The Beach' and then on to Chiang Mai, Laos etc. etc. That sounds good to me. I'd prefer to focus on Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia first. And at only 40EUR per flight it's a bargain. We'll see closer to the time how it will take shape.

But just take Laos for example. I know little to nothing about the country and would have thought I'd only spend a week there. Now I change my mind after a brief Google and I have no idea how I am going to travel all these beautiful places in such a short space of time. I've been told by many that Laos has been their favorite out of the 4. I didn't realise they had been through so much. It's basically the world's most bombed country, with 2 billion tonnes of bombs having been dropped on the country in a couple of years. There's been a brutal, brutal civil war and many of the bombs dropped on the country did not explode nor have they been cleared. And yet the country still maintains it's soul.

On the sightseeing side of things, Laos also has ownership of the biggest waterfalls in all South East Asia, The Khone Papeng and home to the Plain of Jars, 3 sites of megolithic stone jars pottered around the landscape and more.

What I absolutely will not be doing in Laos is 'tubing' or engaging in the drunken tourist brigade floating down the Mekong river in a rubber ring being pulled into ramshackle bars along the banks. Ok, so I might float but I'm not drinking. Ok, I can't promise that either. Fuck.

So this is the truth

I think it's safe to say I haven't been completely truthful with how much the travel bug has been eating away at me. I've got the notice handed in to work, the flights booked and the vaccination appointment made. Eeeek! It's becoming real.

So what's my plan? My plan is to leave Amsterdam on the 1st September, spend two weeks in Ireland and then jet off to South East Asia for a couple of months. It'll be the usual route of Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. However, in Cambodia I'll be staying two months to volunteer in a school there. More info to come on that.

After volunteering I have two months to fill with whatever takes my fancy.

This is going to be epic.