Vientiane - The Capital City of Laos

Pumpkin at the start of the Buddha Park

Three headed elephant

A hodge podge, great shot I thought!

Spent a night here, this city is the equivalent of Thailand's Bangkok but on a much smaller scale. Plus in Laos, being a communist country, most of the bars close down early by 11:30 or midnight by law. There are a few that can somehow bend the rules and stay open later, not sure how must have something to do with the laid back attitude. It has it's 'lady boys', bars, restaurants and Wats (temples) and the busyness of the traffic.
Funny I was only here an hour and I ran into 3 different people/couples I'd met in my travels so far. Small world or what?
Being here on a Sunday, lots of things were closed but I did manage to get to the Morning Market, which had a few shops open with their handicrafts and then hopped onto a local bus to go an hour out of town to Xieng Khuan (Buddha Park). I have seen so many Buddhas in my travels but I had to check this out as it was listed as one of Laos highlights even though they say it's quote- 'The flowering of one man's bizarre spiritual vision'. It's a mix of Hindu and Buddhist statues done by an artist with the name of Luang Pu Bunleua Sulilat who had a large local following for his teachings that merged the religions in the 1950s. It consists of 200 sculptures of humans and animals in a chaotic display. (okay I copied this as I am running out of time and imagination on here!)
I took about 50 pictures and stood at the top of the giant pumpkin statue (in which you enter by climbing thru it's mouth) after climbing a series of stairs inside and thru chambers of even more statues. Alot of these statues have humouristic qualities to them as well as some very serious ones.

Well off south to Pakse/ Tadlo tonight on a new adventure called a 'sleeper bus', I'll see if I sleep more on this than the trains!

Some more Fun Observations

The people here are so nice and laid back, in fact they are so laid back they often forget to place your order in the restaurants or bring you your bill after you ask (in SE Asia you always have to ask they won't bother you asking for refills or if you are done.) Then they look surprised and say something to the effort of - 'oh yeah' and dash off to do it. Patience and smiles goes a long way here.

Another thing is I keep seeing the odd Christmas decoration up, at first I thought maybe it's like home with the people who don't take down their outside lights, they just leave them up all year but then the other day I saw them taking an artificial tree apart.

Here in Laos I keep seeing signs for saunas....I can't imagine going to one and actually paying for it! I am in a constant sauna and even though I've adjusted somewhat to the heat the sweat just pours off of you all day!

Lastly I love how the traffic flows here, being so laid back (well maybe not the bus drivers) they just go along slowly, merge, let people in no matter what they are driving. Here the cars, tuk tuks, bicycles, motorbikes, buses, trucks all just flow along smoothly not like Deerfoot Trail at all!

Next stop, Vang Viang!

Two girls on the side of the road during my bike ride who were hollering and excited to see me so I stopped. Only to find they just wanted money, I shared with them some crackers instead but they wanted more and even tried getting into my bag. It's best not to give them money as it only encourages them to beg and candy is not good for their teeth. I probably shouldn't have given them anything but I did get a picture. Not sure why this little girl had a flower ring on her head but they were sweet.

This was on the path to the cave, a barbed wire fence to climb over in flip flops, first of two!

Beautiful scenery on my 'trek' to the cave
The village people working/playing in the river
View from my hammock.
Eating Deep Fried Mulberry Leaves with a honey/ginger sauce, very good!
Mulberry Shrubs on the Farm
Farm truck we saw on the tour around, didn't see any cows there so not sure how it got so damaged!
Loading up the buses!

Waiting at the bus station is always interesting. This time I watched as people were loading up their motorcycles on top of the buses! One bus had about 1o on top, didn't actually get to see how exactly they got then up there, just watched them spending a long time tying them down.
The trip from Luang Prabang to Vang Viang, was probably one of the longest, windiest roads I had ever been on. Last minute I decided to take the VIP bus, I didn't feel very VIPish though as I was in the back row which meant there there 5 seats across and they didn't recline and you had people on either side. On the one side was one poor lady who held a plastic bag to her mouth the whole time from motion sickness. I was thrilled she didn't actually need to use it, taking with a friend who took the local bus the locals didn't have as strong of stomachs. Note-next time book the VIP bus a little more in advance for a better seat! Either way everyone on the bus got their share of shake ups with a few close calls with oncoming buses/trucks/vans and loads of honking. Not a restful drive at all!
Arrived safe and sound and again wanted to kiss the dirty ground but refrained. Went to stay at the Organic Farm just outside of town, sounded peaceful, tranquil and healthy. Alot different from an organic farm you would see in Canada. Here the farm is at the start of the popular tubing tour they have here where there are platforms of bars along the river with swings, slides, ziplines and loud music that goes all day. It's fun and worth doing once but it really took away from the ambiance of the farm. As far as healthy the Mulberry Pancakes were awesome but the deep fried Mulberry Leaves I'm sure weren't on the Eat Smart list! Also they had a sign there to promote drinking as proceeds go towards the children's bus that they donated to the community! Great people and fun times just a little different than what I expected!
Next day I moved into town on the quieter south end. They had hammocks along the river and I spent the day being totally lazy (this traveling can be very tiring I have discovered) It was great to watch how the village people live, using their souped up little tractors to haul rocks/mud/gravel out of the river. Women picking river weeds, children playing and swimming and later in the day families coming down to bathe. The animals here pretty much roam free and I watched 5 of them come across the river and start to go up the road into town. I wanted to jump up to see what chaos that was going to cause but next thing I know someone must of headed them back into the road and they carried on down past me and up into a field.
In town had a great BBQ'd kabob dinner and found the big thing to do is lay around in outdoor cafe/bars and watch reruns of mostly Friends, some places also showed Family Guy and Seinfeld. On the river edge the 'young' people partied and danced until late after spending the day drinking on the river. Luckily I can't drink in the heat of the day so I was very well behaved and home early, exhausted from the heat. It's their summer now and I heard it gets as hot as 40 degrees!
Next day I rented a bike, I really miss my bike at home but this one had a basket which is very handy here because you don't want a backpack on your back only to make you sweat more!
I toured around the villages and then across the bamboo bridge to find the Blue Lagoon and Cave I had heard about. After a good hour or so of biking in the heat and the very bumpy road I finally reached it. Things are less expensive in Laos but every thing you want to go visit costs money. If you want to see a cave you pay, if you want to see waterfalls you pay, if you want to cross a bridge you pay etc....only about a $1-2 so it's not bad but you have to make sure you have extra cash on you all the time.
I decided to go find the cave, a short trek after my long ride but the sign said only 100m to the cave so off I went. The arrow pointed out the direction but I came to a dead end except for a barbed wire fence that was sort of altered you could see. So here I am climbing over it in my flipflops only to find another one to climb over about 10 metres down the way. Walked across an old rice paddy field and got to another lagoon and up a small hill where there was a restaurant. Found some people who also went looking for the cave only to hear the base of it was 100 meters away but it was about a 400 or 500 meter hike up! I decided to scrap that idea being in flipflops and 40 degree weather! So down to the lagoon, full of 20 something year olds, I decided to go down to the first one which wasn't quite as nice but still peaceful only to find it now full of small children just out of school. I had gone swimming in the river with the children and Linda the day before and some of them are curious about you but most just ignore you. Off back down the dusty road to go for a much needed shower again!

Yeah! More Elephants! And kayaking!

Kayaking on the Nam Khan River, awesome views and so peaceful.
nHow low can he go?!
After the bath, we are all squeaky clean!
Kuang Si waterfall, one of the layers with a swimming hole below.
Pak Ou cave looking out onto the Mekong River

I decided I wanted to see more of the area around Luang Prabang and booked myself on a 2 day combo tour. I was the only one doing this specific tour so the first day me and my very young guide, Pang, who had an instant crush on me....here we go again.....went to the Pak Ou Caves. It's just off the Mekong River and is literally crammed full of thousands of Buddha statues of various shapes and sizes. Further up a couple of hundred stairs in the +30 degrees there was another cave as well which was hardly worth the effort but good for the exercise (keep thinking positive) then back onto the hour boat ride to cool off.
After that we toured a few villages which ended up walking past tables of handicrafts for sale and glancing over at their homes but I did get to try a shot of Lao Lao Whiskey, not sure what burns more going down that or the snake whiskey! Then off to the beautiful Kaung Si Waterfall. It was stunning to see, lots of swimming 'pools' and layers and you could hike to the top which I did! I so badly needed a swim after my day only to be told eagerly by Pang to go ahead but I only had 5 minutes before we had to leave. I chose not to and when we arrived at the Eco Lodge near the elephant village I enjoyed a nice long shower! Off to an awesome dinner where I luckily met a group consisting of an American, Australians, German and Dutch that I would be spending the next day with.
Up at 6:30am with a wake up holler from my friend, Linda, as Pang got the times wrong (he's a new guide, probably cause he just graduated!) and dressed quickly in my Elephant 'suit' and down to the river to go retrieve our elephants for a bath. I climbed on top of my elephant with very little direction and almost promptly flew over his head on top of mine except when I screamed (a little) they told me quickly how to hang on and where to stick my legs to 'drive' properly without falling over. Still took a bit of getting used to but by the time we got back to the river I was a pro, almost. Bath time in the river was so fun, some of the elephants were so playful slapping the water with their trunks and everyone literally got bathed. Mine laid down so he was pretty much immersed and then used his nose to spray water back on himself and me too, it's like he knew what he was doing!
After breakfast we got to go on a ride, much like the one I had in Thailand, only for some reason they let an Italian guy drive our elephant at the start who had his own agenda and we ended up going down a very steep cliff like embankment. I told him as we were going down and hanging on for dear life with the guides all panicked and yelling that he does not get a tip! I am waiting for a picture still from the people in front of us, they said it was priceless.
After we got down the hill the Italian hopped off and ran up the hill and out of site.....I think he was a little freaked out, didn't see him again until the end and he said he wasn't supposed to be on that part of the tour. So how did he get to driving our elephant?! Anything goes here in Laos, very laid back people here. It's great most of the time!
After lunch we headed off for our kayaking adventure. The big part of the adventure was getting there, a 1/2 hour ride on a Tuk Tuk with open sides, sort of like sitting in the back of a truck but with benches and railings on the sides so we don't bounce out!
By the time we arrived to the start point we were so covered in dirt even my really white friend from Holland, Linda, even looked tanned! We jumped into the river to get rid of the grime and then I was in heaven as I got my very own kayak to paddle downstream for 3 hours. What a beautiful, peaceful journey it was. Very odd in SE Asia, you really don't see any animals, reptiles or even birds along the river. Some people say it's because they hunt and eat so many of them but I prefer to think maybe cause its the dry season and they all went south (or north) for the season.

Laos- So Far So Amazing!

Me and my bike, love the basket! In front of a little bar called- Refuge by the Last Dreamers in a small village where this nice, young couple is trying to bring music to the locals including the young children and monks.
Sunset on the Mekong
Very small part of the Night market just setting up
Offering to the Monks at 6am
View of the Mekong and boats at dusk after we got to Pak Beng.
The shoreline
Inside the slow boat down the Mekong River into Laos
One of the slow boats
Me and the Canadians girls (Weyburn and Vancouver) as we were waiting to board.

I love this country so far even from the start of the adventure of getting into Laos! It took 3 hours alone to get across the border which included going thru a long line up of departure procedures and then taking a small boat from Thailand over to Laos to a long line up at the immigration on the other side. Found out Canadians pay more than any other country ($42 USD rather than $30-35 USD). I thought they were picking on Canadians for some strange reason but apparently has something to do with our Canadian government....I'll have to check that out because it just doesn't make sense not to support such a beautiful country!
I had decided to take the slow boat down the Mekong River, it takes two days on a crowded boat with little wooden benches. One of their most profitable incomes here is selling cushions decorated cutely with little pink and blue bears or plaid if you are lucky, to sit on to make the trip more 'bearable'. haha Doesn't sound like a great time but it was one of the most memorable trips I've had. In such close quarters over 2 days of course you are going to meet people and make friends and that passes the time so quickly we were sad to see the end of the trip. Plus the scenery and peacefulness was amazing even though the Mekong is a murky brown color and there was the haze which seems to loom over most of SE Asia alot. The feeling of peace and tranquility here definitely adds to the 'feel' of the country. Luckily too we stopped overnight in a small town, Pak Beng, that had electricity from 6-10pm only, no internet but awesome restaurants and cheap rooms!
The next day they must have thought we had too much luxury on the first day and decided to fit 3 boatfuls of people into 2, oh joy! It was even more crowded but made even more friends.
Arrived in Luang Prabang at 5:30 after 8 hours to find the most peaceful town with so much ambiance and character.
I have no plans to leave here quickly, just enjoying the cafes, walks along the rivers, watching the children play, hanging out and talking, riding/walking my bike around town, night markets, day markets, going to the museum, volunteering at Big Brother Mouse (talking with Lao people and helping them with their English), going to the bookshop/cafe for evening movies upstairs in the loft, sitting on mats and pillows with low tables (so far have seen Indecent Husband, Elegy and tonight is huge- Slum Dog Millionaire which I've heard so much about, hope its good!).
I also set my alarm (yes I still have to do that occasionally, especially if I don't want to miss a bus!) yesterday morning to go and watch the offerings to the Monks, it was very amazing to see.
Tomorrow off on a two day tour to see waterfalls, caves, villages, sleep in an EcoLodge then wake up to bathe the elephants and ride them. This time I get to drive! Then end with a 2 hour trek and back to town!

Valentines Day in Thailand

Two girls making a heart sign
My gifts from the school children

The Thai flag

A few of the school kids made me some Valentine treats on the last day of school, this meant so much to me and was such an honor that they welcomed me so readily, what true little sweethearts they were!
The next day I had a great day, treated myself totally! I had met fellow Canadians from Vancouver Mike and Sherry and she took me off window shopping. Sherry is like one of those girlfriends who loves to go shopping and tells you how good of a deal it is and how fabulous you look in it and how you so deserve it! I like her, we hit it off and of course I did the same for her!
I now have a new shirt, new bag, earrings and a ring......all for the price of 1000Baht which is $30 Canadian. :)
Then I went for my final Thai massage. 250Baht or $7.50 Canadian for 2 hours of bending, twisting, stretching and yoga type moves went home so relaxed and slept like a baby!

Today I leave for Northern Laos! Two days on a slow boat down the Mekong River!

Back in School

With the winners of the bingo game. I gave them Canada stickers and tattoos for awards
Peter and the kindergarten class, they were adorable!
Loved to have their picture taken!
Sweet
Getting ready for Valentines Day with cards and roses

Back from the meditation retreat I stopped in at the Wat Suan Dok Elementary School next door. I have been trying to find a place in Thailand to do some volunteer work where I don't have to pay to do so. It's tough as most large organizations need money more than actual people to help out.
I met a really nice Thai lady teacher who then introduced me to Peter Pope, an interesting Englishman, who's been teaching there since May. He was a terror in school back home he explained to me with no real teaching experience, he just took a TESL course in Chiang Mai, so he figures his teachers would be just shocked to hear what he is dong now. The kids now adore him and have learnt so much English and even better, to trust a foreigner. Peter said it's been a challenge with usual politics and him being male, but he loves every minute of it. We decided I would come help teach the next 2 days with his English and Computer classes.
The first morning I arrived excited and eager to teach. Then we found out a teacher was away that day and instantly had an extra 20 kids for the morning! Mass chaos and noise, I had a headache in about 2 minutes.....these children come from an assortment of backgrounds and a few have learning disabilities but they are sweet, rambunctious and happy. We ended up playing Bingo with having to yell out the names of actions in English and they matched up with the picture on the card. Every time they got one they cheered loudly.
It's a very relaxed atmosphere but I am so impressed at the knowledge these kids have especially on computers, they love it! I helped the patum (grade) 4s with typing on Excel spreadsheets which they race though so they can play games, even the kindergarten kids were whizzes at the games that Peter spent all his own money on and his spare time downloading onto each computer in the class (they have 18). He also rearranged the classroom and got upgraded equipment for the school as well.
After the first day back at school, I left totally exhausted and wondering how some one can do this 5 days a week! Kudos to you Peter, the kids are very lucky to have you!