Waking up to Vietnam

I took the sunset flight to Hanoi. It was beautiful, the golden reflection on the plane's metallic body was something I haven't forgotten. We landed in this foreign land and I wondered what to expect. I had been told so much about Vietnam, mostly by disgruntled backpackers in uniform. I was happy to arrive with a clean canvas and decide for myself.

We landed, I made friends with a group of 10 loitering people of the same species and soon I was riding along with them in a van hurtling towards the old city quarter of Hanoi. Of course we got there and within minutes scam no.1 was pulled off. An Aussie guy who I had been chatting with - he too was traveling alone - decided that he would join me to get away from the rather large crowd in the search for accommodation. It is easier to find a home when you are solo or in small groups. So off we trotted. I was fully loaded, backpack, day pack, a little bag and a 5 kilo box of goodies that the post office in Vientiane wouldn't take off me. Within minutes I had serious problems.... one of my flip flops broke. But low and behold, all the 'horrible' Vietnamese people the crazy backpackers had spoken about were not there that night. I found a lovely Vietnamese lady (well she found me) She stepped out of her shop, grabbed my flip flop and took it into her shop. She produced a needle and thread and began to sew my flip flop (!!) back together. I tried to offer her Dollars but she refused. She was Amazing! I got to a hotel and slept very well that night.

I woke up to a Vietnam that I adored. The chaos and the traffic I simply loved it. There are a million and one motorcycles on the road at any point in time in this city (and maybe one four wheeler). In order to get across the road, you just walk, you don't wait (you'll be there until you receive a pension) you just walk straight across. The only vehicles you have to watch out for are the four wheel variety - yep, they don't stop - Otherwise the motorcycles perform a ballet around you and you are left completely unscathed. I used to walk to the middle of the road, stop and take pictures of the oncoming traffic, I simply loved that buzz (and secretly knew I was safe, they are more afraid of Forangs crossing the streets than we are of them!!

I spent a few days in the city and met up with Maya and Matt once again. We had a drink at The Little Hanoi, recommended if you're ever in town. Followed by a mixer at the Jazz Club.

We then headed off to Halong Bay


TBC

The Highlights of Laos

Washing Vegetables

Luang Namtha - 15th March 2007

Matt and I decided to take a bus from Houy Xai to Luang Namtha. We had to take a Tuk Tuk the 8 kilometres to the bus station and I remember feeling very curious as to what we would be presented with, in terms of the shape and form of transport, on our outbound journey to Luang Namtha. In Laos you could even expect to be driven 5hrs, crumpled up like a squashed sardine in an open sided Tuk Tuk. It turned out to be a proper bus, a large thing on wheels (yes all there) with padded seats and glass windows, a good sign! It was so colourful and it reminded me of our lovely Maltese buses so I couldn't resist taking a pic.

We bought the ticket, 65,000 kip each and were told that we would be sitting on the floor in the aisle as all seats were sold out. This is also normal in Laos so we weren't too surprised and instead we promptly got down to the business of making friends with those around. One picks up a lot of useful information when you strike up conversations with other travelers. First of all, I met a Laotian lady. She turned out to be lovely and really enthused by my desire to learn some Lao. She kindly translated about 10 words, which I promptly wrote down thinks like: Pa: fish, Good Morning and the like. I think I made her day when I told her that I wanted to try the Fish Laap (a traditional dish made of raw fermented fish and jeow paste (chili) She told me that she has lived in the US for 32 yrs - ever since the revolution. She was taking the same bus to Luang Namtha and was traveling with her sister who still lives in Laos.

We were incredibly lucky, when we boarded the bus, we did find two seats and therefore were relatively comfortable, almost luxurious in terms of backpacking, for the 5 hr journey.

Below are pics of: Matt and two German travellers, peak at the aisle for the unlucky ones and on the extreme right, 'the unlucky ones' themselves, my neighbours on the bus who drew the short straw and sat next to me on the floor. Having said that there's always a sack to sit on or a small plastic chair, they had a sack.

On arrival in Luang Namtha I was really excited to try my luck for a room at The Boat Landing. This is one of the places that Nathalie recommends in her book 'Ant Egg Soup'. From the way she described it in the book, it sounded like a Bamboo Hut version of a Relais Chateau and there was no stopping me even if it did cost $32/night (keep in mind that we usually spend $5/room/night) I swung into action and suggested to Matt and Maya (we found her wandering around town - she had taken the super early bus to Luang Namtha earlier that day) that we all spoil ourselves and have dinner there. The restaurant was supposed to be the best in town. The gang agreed and Matt went to find a guest house and shower / changer for dinner whilst Maya and I checked emails and had Mulberry shakes waiting for Matt to return so that we could jump into a Tuk Tuk to head out there.

The Boat Landing was amazing... the food divine. I had Aubergine jeow to start with - a jeow is basically a roasted chili & salt paste made with other specific ingredients. It takes on the texture and flavour of the other ingredient used whilst adding a slight kick. Therefore the aubergine jeow was quite juicy and not too spicy - Delicious. The jeow is served in a tiny little bowl with vegetables cut into batons for dipping. As a main course, I had a fermented Bean Laap which was served with chopped fresh tomatoes and we finished off by ordering a round of fresh mint and lemon juice which sadly could not be adjusted to a Vodka Mint Lemon soda - delicious nonetheless and drunk on my terrace overlooking the river before loosing my friends to the dead of the night at the arrival of their Tuk Tuk lift back to town.

Matt and Maya were mightily impressed by my hut and Matt offered to be the model in the brochure shot. I'm afraid it's a little jumpy as it was taken at night without any flash after a few drinks! The other pic is the view of the river from the terrace.

The next day I woke up early and went for a walk around the river. I tried to take pictures of the locals washing their laundry in the river but they weren't very pleased about that so I had to drop the idea. I had a sumptuous Laotian breakfast and chilled out on my terrace until joy of joys, my pals appeared to whisk me off on a cycle tour of the surrounding villages. We cycled all day long and I wasn't hungry until after dark - no surprise after the feast of a breakfast I had spoilt myself with. That night we ate at a little roadside cafe that was home to a 'to die for' red chicken curry and fab Mulberry Shakes. We re-grouped at the same cafe the next morning bright and early for a quick vegetable noodle soup before Matt set off down south and Maya and I north, to Muang Sing.

Luang Namtha is home to silk weavers and paddy fields. This time of year the sky much like the rest of northern Laos, smoky and full of ash coming off the slashed and burnt fields in the surrounding countryside. It was quite rare to get a glimpse of the blue sky above in Laos and you could constantly smell the burning - right until we got to Vang Viene (half way down the country)

Muang Sing and the Trek to Hill Tribes on Chinese Border

Tai Dam Lady at market - do you think I should've asked her to take her coat off?

In Muang Sing, Maya and I stayed at the 'Adima'. A set of great bamboo huts overlooking paddy fields approx 6k out of town. The next morning we got up early to check out Muang Sing's famous market and it was amazing. The majority of people there were women and much to my disappointment, only some were dressed traditional tribal wear, the most colourful clothes. Only a couple of years ago authors describe the market to be jamming with women in traditional wear. Unfortuantely times are a changing and fast.

The people there were still in the main women, Hill Tribe people from either the Tai Dam, Tai Loa or Ahkar tribes. The few men there were dressed in drab western clothes - it is incredibly rare to see a man in traditional clothes in Loas which is such a pity. I got chatting with a Tai Loa lady and I bought a Tai Lao jacket off her. I bought a scarf off another lady from the Tai Dam tribe. We got there when the market was being set up but within minutes the market was a hive of activity. We shopped around, photographed the colourful food on display and then settled down to have breakfast: Noodle Soup. It was there that Christian, a French chap we met the day before, found us. He knew that we wanted to do a trek and in an attempt to make up the numbers for the trek to actually happen, he had kindly come looking for us. We quickly confirmed interest and made the intended tracks back to the trekking office were we set off. Christian, Guy, Irene, Maya, myself and Ong our guide. Maya and I had packed our day bags with enough to survive a 2 day trek and we were off on a 3 day trek so it was not before a quick dash to a local store to buy a pair of extra socks !!

The plan was to trek 6 hrs the first day up a vertical climb to the first Ahkar village. We were going to stay in their village and enjoy a taste of their daily life. We had lunch in a pretty spot, in a farmer's open hut in the fields prior to the terrain becoming vertical... :) Before that we had the chance to drop in on a local school for hill tribe kids - it was such a treat.






We walked and walked until the moment when we happily heard Christian announce that he could hear other humans, oh the joy - we were finally close to our destination; the village! (We were also very close to the summit of this little mountain)


Evidence of the all too frequent signs of slash and burn, this shot was taken at the foothills of the mountain.

This woman farmer had red lips and black teeth as a result of years of chewing beetle juice.

Some cheeky little monkey that loved having his photo taken.

This old lady was dressed in the Ahkar head dress, the more silver on the head dress the richer the person was. She, although quite rich compared to her neighbours, had bad legs and could not walk.

The village was large, bamboo huts everywhere adorned with decorative bundles of drying garlic amongst other things. The village was full of beautiful, smiling kids in filthy but colourful hand me down T-shirts and bare little bottoms. Some of them wore a full set of clothes but things we take for granted like nappies and underwear were no where in sight. The girls would pee standing up feet apart, under cover of their skirts and the boys in trousers with gaping holes at the crotch, which we assumed was to allow for easy toilet access.

The first village, a shot taken from the hill above where the scool was located.

It was so lovely to play with the kids, take photos and show them the results would secure lots of giggling and plenty of opportunity to take the next shot. The mothers were harder to befriend but not impossible. It was amazing to see that all the huts had little blue French style plaques depicting the street address number. One thing the French implemented was I suppose, an address! It was even more amazing to see 4 year olds take care of 2 year olds, carrying them on their backs every were and being really attentive to them not to mention all the older woman, probably Grandmothers, do the same.

It was interesting to see that just a few women were there taking care of the hundreds of pre-school kids, the older kids were at school on the hill overlooking the village, a few men were there but all the women were out tending to the fields. Its amazing to see just how hard the women work compared to the men in this society... I forget, what is life like in Europe?

The two women above are spinning cototon and sifting rice. Even the pre-graders worked hard, it was an eye opener.

In the afternoon when the mothers returned from their day's work, they came laden with sugar cane which was handed out to the kids much like we would give kids a snack at tea time in the afternoon.

Sugar Cane

The picture below was taken when we left our second village. The man handing out the sugar cane was a giant, at least 6"5 tall.





Ong had brought with him the majority of the money we had paid for the trek, they pay the villagers directly for lodging and the food we bought off them. We had two chickens which were killed, plucked and cooked for us by Ong himself besides lots of vegetables and of course rice.

Eventually we settled down to dinner with the villagers, in our hut. We all sat on the floor and shared the food which was followed by copious (if you wanted it) amounts of Lao Lao the rice whisky that is not dissimilar to rocket fuel! It was a lot of fun and they would sing their traditional songs to us. Finally Christian, Maya, Guy and myself mustered up a treat for them - a Beatles Classic, 'Let It Be' - we laughed and they loved it. After dinner we were treated to massages (Much like a Thai massage, fully clothed and a lot of pressure points and pulling) by girls who must have been 14 years old. Boy were they strong - I remember our shrieks when our toes were pulled, one by one and half your body traveled off the mattress on the floor! It was hilarious but I would not like to get into a fight with any of these kids or adults!

On thing that we noticed especially in the first village which had less water then the second was that a lot of the kids had eye infections, there was one little boy who had been almost completely ousted by the rest of the kids and he had a patch over one eye, most probably he was blind in that eye. It was quite heartbreaking to say the least and Christian and I spent many a moment discussing how we would love to be able to go to a village of this sort, spend six months and provide basic health care as best we knew. He had some disinfectant with him and he took on the label of Doctor Chris amongst us. He kindly cleaned the wounds of many a kid.

The next day it was time to say good bye to our new friends who were just as intrigued in us as we were by them and off we set on a 6hr trek to the next village. We climbed even further to a height of 1600 metres and it got cold at the top.

We arrived at our second Ahkar village and after making it across a long and treacherous 'two bamboo plank' bridge we got to their lake and had a dip. Maya and I managed to catch the full attention of the village when we attempted to do the 'European change behind a towel' act after our swim. We made a lot of people laugh including the boys in our group who were quite happy to assist should we need it. We got to the village and were shown our hut which was even newer and nicer than our previous one.

The same routine unfolded and we fell happily asleep in a row along the floor on new mattresses and under new covers. The next day on our departure we received the most charming farewell, a group of kids rushed down to the gate of the village screaming 'Hello Falang' whilst waving their Goodbyes! Honestly during these fews days I joked about my orhphanage of stolen children but if I weren't such a model citizen (ahem - I wish!) this is where I'd start, some of the kids here in Laos are just sooo adorable.

The next morning we visited three other villages whilst crunching on delicious sugar cane during our walk back to Muang Sing. It was the end of a beautiful and awe inspiring experience, the best yet. (How many times will I say that? A good few I hope!!

Adventures in Vientiane

Yep I booked myself onto the 'Kayaking to Vientiane' trip where I met Marco and Bart a Dutch couple and absolutely fantastic fun. We got along so well. Bart kindly mentioned that I was only traveling for 52 weeks, believe me right now one month goes by and it feels like a day. May have to extend this trip after all! I have been invited to The Hague to visit them which will be a lot of fun.

We set off, Maya was there too, happy to speak Dutch for the first time in ages. I decided on a solo kayak, which was a mistake. Thought it would be lighter and therefore faster but I was wrong the kayaks were pretty heavy and it was mighty hard work.

The highlights of the trip were the rapids and a cliff off which jumped into the river. We were told (at the top) that it was a 7 metre drop but five minutes later the guides were giggling in a way only Asian men can (its quite feminine) and they admitted that it was 7mtrs in the wet season. It was more like 10 metres when we jumped! I did it. It felt like my body compressed on impact but it was OK. Marco took great shots of me doing so and they have promised to send me the pics of that and the rapids when they get home in two weeks.

We got into Vientiane at around 6pm. We all had a coffee at JoMa Bakery (God's gift to travelers in Vientiane and Luang Prabang) and then met up for dinner were I had a pizza for the first time in yonks. I'm the kind of person that eats pizza once a year if that.

The next morning I woke up really early with a slight fever and a really awful stomach. I decided to go to the hospital just in case but the docs looked so dodgy I didn't take their advice of antibiotics for a gastric infection. I actually slept most of the rest of the day and watched movies - luckily the town was fully booked when we arrived and so Maya and I joined up and splurged on a $16 twin room which comes with satellite TV, HBO movies, Air Con and a nice western bathroom. Maya left on the 5pm bus to Hanoi and exactly 2 hrs later and suffering from cabin fever I trotted off to an internet cafe. All of a sudden I felt really strange and collapsed. I've never fainted in my life and it felt as how I would imagine it does to be tripping really badly on some hardcore drug. Travelers here take care of each other and within seconds I had the full attention of 4. Eric a cool Marseillous guy with greeny brown eyes who was sitting next to me took care of me by keeping me company whilst I lay down on his bag as a pillow. Someone else bought me water and another pal of mine was offering support through Skype when I was better enough to sit back up. So all in all a very short but really weird episode. The medical services in Laos are the worst in SE Asia, the hospital actually shuts after dark... ummm and the embassies had no listing for a doctor so I called my Doc at home and he told me what out of my med kit to take. Happy again I watched more movies and eventually fell asleep.

Today I rented a bike and wondered around getting to know the city. I bumped into Eric again and we had a drink at the Talat Sao market. He is so funny and very charming. We didn't exchange emails but talked about bumping into each other in Bali or in Oz. It's like that on the road, you really do bump into people you meet, again and again, it's rather sweet just like a little global nomadic village. I quite like it.

Vientiane is an interesting place. The roads around most of the hotels are being rebuilt so there is still more dust. There are loads of mosquitoes and it is really hot. I ate dinner; Bamboo Shoot soup at a Bunmala Restaurant whilst I waited for the monsoon to stop. I was happy, the rain would kill most of the dust for at least a little while. I booked a flight to Hanoi tomorrow. Which means that tomorrow I leave Laos. It is sad as I really have enjoyed my stay and still haven't managed to see it all. Maybe one day I'll come back to visit the South. In the meantime the plan is to whizz through Vietnam and Cambodia (pity pity) and head off to the islands north of Sabah, Borneo. I need to get back to the coast, the sea and the diving. It'll be the season for Hammerheads and Whale Sharks and I can't wait. Jumpy is currently in Ko Tao and I'm really tempted to drop in... but I don't think it will be realistic to head back into Thailand, let's see what happens.

... wait a second Maya just appeared!!! Bet she'll have a story to tell!

Relaxed on the banks of the Nam Song River

Howdy y'all. Its been a while since I checked in here - been kidnapped by the beauty of Laos and it is a Beautiful country. The people here are generally very poor, very friendly and very genuine. You see the poverty every where and then you happen upon a village (of bamboo huts - always) that have massive satellite dishes hanging off a few of the huts. It's a surreal sight. I'm looking forward to seeing Vientiane, the capital, apparently it too looks like a village. It is in fact a lot of villages joined together just like Attard, Lija and Balzan :)

Today I write to you from Vang Vieng which is a little (very touristy) town 3hrs north of Vientiane. I have been traveling on and off with both Matt and Maya ever since the 12th March. Matt's the Ozzie (chiropractor) and Maya is Dutch (a student in clinical psychiatry (masters))

So as you can imagine, between the two of them I have been re-adjusted: neck and back courtesy of Matt and positively analysed by Maya. I hope she's not just being polite! :) Today, I sped off on my own. I needed a day to myself!

It was great, got up late at 9am and went to the bank to pick up another Bundle of notes. The largest bank note is in fact 50,000 Kip equivalent to a $5 note. When I first got here I was told the largest note was 20,000 Kip ($2) The 50 is a good sign, obviously tourism is having a positive effect. I tend to exchange the equivalent of my budget for three days each time to avoid being weight down by a kilo of notes, it's so funny! Makes you feel rich.

I rented another motorbike today. First in Laos. Let's just say that it was just a little sub-standard. No tread on the back wheel, an engine that sounded like it had swallowed 1000 frogs but it got me where I wanted to go. It soon becomes apparent why the thing was in such bad shape. The roads and tracks are full of potholes the size of craters! Vang Vieng is home to the pretty Nam Song river and lots of caves. The caves are amazing. They go on for kilometres and most have rivers inside.

I headed north out of town north on Highway 13 - the country's largest motorway only it looks like an A road and tarmac, well there's some. First stop was Tham Hoi. Outside of which I bumped into Maya, thought I would :) she had just exited the cave with this rather dashing young Englishman called Alex. They were happy with their guide (not allowed inside without one) and so I took him over having made plans with them to meet for lunch and after having asked whether they thought the guide would be safe alone - reassured, we trotted off. Sure enough 10 seconds into the cave I was asked if I had a boyfriend to which I answered yep I'm married and have two great kids. Not that that has any effect however it just momentarily makes you feel safe :)

Anyway much to my content we were walking along in silence. We had to duck under stalactites, crawl through tunnels and climb up to higher ground. The first climb included a free touch up. The hand was definitely placed off limits and my stern but calm reaction did the trick (I thought) You can't do anything, stamp your feet and walk back alone and get lost in the labyrinth? Or march on and be on your guard (like I wasn't in the first place) People here are very small but as strong as oxes and that includes the kids! So we walked on and the Pratt behaved himself and we left the cave without further incident.

Re-grouped and had lunch at the organic Mulberry Farm. The mulberries leaves are grown to feed the silk worms. Laotian silk is lovely. We feasted on Mulberry Leave Tempura (delicious) and Fresh Spring Rolls (one of my fav Vietnamese snacks) We tried the Mulberry wine, it was definitely a dessert wine - too sweet but adored the Mulberry smoothie. Amazing.

All in all Vang Vieng is a place I am enjoying. I have asked about traveling to Vientiane by boat and was told it costs $2 and takes 6hrs. I need to verify that that is true, that sell you anything and stories of boats kicking people off mid route due to lack of water in the river are abundant. It is dry season here which means we can trek and travel safely on the new Chinese roads but it has cut down on my preferred option of water travel. Hey you can't have it all!

(postscript- re-check the boating op and have now been told we can kayak to Vientiane. It takes 6 hours and costs $20) Umm first time round I probably heard what I wanted to hear but this kayak option sounds like just the adventure. I'll let you know if I do it. They'll be guides of course but generally it'll be a group of at least 10 Falangs too)

Take care you lot and speak again soon.

PS I'm afraid I've got 3 draft postings waiting up my sleeves before this one so one day soon you'll have to back track to get the update.

The Long Awaited Gibbon Experience

The Gibbon Experience

I first came across the Gibbon Experience off a forum on asmallworld.net. I remember sneaking a peak on the web whilst sitting at my desk in London dreaming of the day. The girl said it was the best thing she'd ever done. I have to agree with her. It's pretty pricey when compared to the rest of the traveling in Laos at STG75 for a max of two nights but I tell you it's worth every penny. Try and do this soon, everyone now is talking about it in Northern Thailand and Laos and they plan to expand the cable area and build more tree houses, it may become a village soon (but actually more cables sounded just perfect to us when we were there!!!)

When a hoard of kids clad in hand me down clothes come running at you smiling and screaming Sabai Dii Falang, (Hello Foreigner) you know that you're in Laos! They are extremely friendly and very cute.

We were dropped off at this village where our one hour trek up the vertical hill into the rain forest began. The Bokeo region in the North East of Laos is a mixture of rain forest and jungle and it is where the Gibbons live. I've been told that there is more wildlife in Europe than in Laos due to the methods used by local farmers and hill tribes.

It is here that we learnt how to walk over bridges that were three lengths of bamboo tied together or even one at times. The bridge below was an easy one :)

We were given baguettes for lunch, and then we set off in earnest up the vertical slope.

This was the first cable we saw. We couldn't wait, we were all so excited.

The cables would either connect two hills so that one would fly over the valley below or provide access to the tree houses. The picture above was taken of Matt leaving Tree House 1.

'Take off' would involve running off the slope or sitting into your harness and letting gravity do the rest. Maya and Tom are watching one of the guides in the photo above.

Here's Matt getting to Tree House 5, our group's home and that is the scary moment. there were two particularly scary cables. This one above is a true example of a cable you had to pull yourself in on at the end and when you are hanging 40 metres above the forest floor it feels so odd, just don't look down, easier said then done! In the pic above you can't even see the forest floor, we were that high up.

Tree House 5 - Our home for two nights. We all wanted to stay there forever. This pic was taken on my first sighting of the tree house and I was hurtling through the air at speed so I'm really lucky to have captured anything at all!

There were three cables connected to Tree house 5. One from the main area of the project, one leading to it from the kitchen (on the hill) and one leading to the hill giving access to the kitchen and the start of the 5 hr trek we did on the last day through the jungle.

The Bathroom!!! Glorious! There were massive bees everywhere but as long as you didn't step on them you were ok. It meant looking out for them all the time though. The best thing about this was to watch the droplets of water fall to the forest whilst you showered.

The bedroom. Open air but not cold and under the cover of a huge mosquito net which made it feel more like a little tent in the air above the forest. We could hear the gibbons calling amongst the millions of other forest noises. Quite something.

This is a shot of one of our guides bringing in the salad. They delivered all the food over the cables.

'A Table!' - Dinner Served. The food was good.

Me, guide (i've forgotten his name), Cat, Tom and Maya. Oh and I think the person in front of me is Jon.

Sunrise

Sunrise through the mosquito net chez Maya & I (happy snapper or what!)

The forest

Crossing rivers on the trek out.

One of our guides

The water was refreshing

A jungle Bong found along the way!

The Jungle

Maya contemplating the view

Swimming before lunch mid 5hr trek to a village close to our final drop off where we all started in Huay Xai. They're small but if you see two black spots in the water on the left same height as the people's heads, there were two water buffalo taking a swim at the same time.

Matt being an Ozzie (hehe) and Jon looking uncomfortable.

The 18th hole. Finally made it to the truck pick up point! At this point the conversation was all about Beer Lao or G&T's by a pool!

Would I do it again? Boy someone try stop me! But if I did it again I'd take someone special, no Mum not you :)

I don't have any pics of me on the cables but I have been promised a few by Matt and Maya so maybe one day I'll add some more.