Adventures on the Water

We’ve booked an all day tour to experience this stunning town the best way you can…on the water.  We are picked up early morning and make friends almost instantly with our new partners in adventure.  They are four delightful young travellers from Asia which is quite refreshing and a nice change from the mostly western travellers we have befriended so far (no offence guys)!  Elle, is a Thai 23 year old who is on vacation in Laos with Fei, her Chinese 25 year old boyfriend.  They’ve met at Uni in Thailand.  Miller is a young Korean man who has been travelling for awhile and is on an amazing journey of exploration.  Then there was Raf, who we had met on our bus journey here - a 25 year old from Taipei exploring Asia on a 3 month backpacking trip.  I will introduce them to you more fully in my next post as they have interesting stories themselves.  

We drive a fair way upriver and Jane reminds me this means we will be kayaking all the way back.  I try to not think about this..my kayaking skills are not great…and I am always a little nervous about being in the water.

We are given some basic instruction in kayaking and off we go.  I needn’t have worried.  There is a slight current in this river and it helps carry us downstream.  We don’t have to work to hard and I am sharing my kayak with one of the guides.  We don’t go to far before we pull over at one of the villages where we stop for our next adventure.

None of us have ever done tubing in a cave before..so this is a first for all of us.  We are given head torches and a massive battery that we hang around our necks.  I should have remembered my more modern Kathmandu head torch but this will have to do.  We’ve got our stuff in a water proof bag…and we are ready to go tubing….

The cave is quite low in parts but the initial journey is fine as we pull ourselves on a rope that follows the cave wall.  We then get to a shallower part and the rope ends.  We hear this thudding noise as the guide disembarks and starts banging his tube against the bottom… He explains he is frightening the water snakes away.  He has a sick sense of humour..and I know this will freak Jane out a little.  She doesn’t like snakes (:

We walk a little further in, admiring the formations along the way and then it’s time to get back in the tube..only this time..no rope to hang to.  We hook on to the tube in front of us with our feet and begin to drift further.  We pass other travellers who decide they want to splash us.  Squeals of laughter disturb the stillness of the cave.  We are definitely having a grand time.  We stop for a few more tales from our guide..who then decides to regale us with stories of how they had slain some pythons..and cautions us to make sure our butts are not hanging out in the water..of course they are…and we know he is kidding..but…

And then I hear Jane piping up  - “Can we go back now please” !  :)

We are ready for lunch when we get back..and they have a great treat ready for us at the village.

After lunch its time for the serious kayaking.  It’s a 15 km trip back to the village and its time to get started. The scenery is truly spectacular and this is without a doubt my best kayaking experience.  It’s a hot day and my guide decides to jump off our kayak to cool off…and then teases me that he has been bitten by a snake.  I am not playing..and ask nicely that he please not rock the boat over when he tries to get back in.  He’s a pro..and he’s back in the boat before I have even turned around to watch how its done!  I try not to think about the last time I went kayaking..I ended up in the water..and had to swim ashore…:) !!

It’s been a long hot afternoon and then we hit the party strip.  We stop for a taste of Lau Lau – the Lao whiskey..and for a few buckets of cocktails!  We are on the quieter side of the river and we watch the twenty somethings on the other side partying.  The party starts around 2 in the afternoon and doesn’t end till the next day.  I’m glad we will only stay for awhile..

There is one more activity to try though…which was completely out of my comfort zone…and initially I was determined that I would not climb up to the 12 m platform and swing off on the rope swing..so I could end up in the river!  But after everyone in the group had given it a go..they all got behind me and supported me in my attempt to try one more thing that I had never and perhaps will never do again!   The rush of adrenalin as you step off the platform is quite amazing..!  I’ve been strapped with a life vest so I am safe when I land in the water.   We eventually leave the party and drift back to town.  What a great day.. and the evening is only just beginning…

“Tourists don’t know where they’ve been.  Travellers don’t know where they’ve going.”- Paul Theroux

An Introduction to Van Vieng

We travel by local bus with Kung our Intrepid guide to Vang Vieng.  The trip is pretty uneventful and I decide to veg out and listen to Thirsty Merc and the four hours pass by quickly.  We’ve been joined by Wong, a local guide from Laos.  We now have a guide each for this leg of the trip..it seems a bit of overkill..but hey...let’s just go with the flow.  

Kung our main guide is Thai but the languages are similar and she is able to communicate pretty although even she has trouble in the Vietnamese laundry place where Jane has left her stuff!  Jane eventually gets her stuff washed after being shown the fridge, the toilet, the shower and the washing machine on her first attempt!  All in a days travel in Laos.     

The scenery changes as we travel and we suddenly see the famous limestone Karst this area is famous for.   These mountains are peppered with similar caves to those found in Halong Bay and we know we are in for a treat exploring this area.   There are many rivers that flow through Vang Vieng and the town is a popular destination for many water sports from kayaking to tubing..but more of that later.

I think what surprised me about this place was its fame as a party town.  The party starts for many young backpackers as they hop off the bus and we’ve heard stories of travellers who have ended up leaving their tour groups to party on in Vang Vieng.   People come here for a day and stay for ever…

It is a bit unfortunate for the culture of this sleepy town but the bars are mostly along the river so life goes on in the village as the kids party on by the banks of the river.

Like all great travellers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen. – Benjamin Disraeli

The Invitation By Oriah

I thought I would share this poem that has always inspired me!

-------------------------

It doesn’t interest me
what you do for a living.
I want to know
what you ache for
and if you dare to dream
of meeting your heart’s longing.
It doesn’t interest me
how old you are.
I want to know
if you will risk
looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn’t interest me
what planets are
squaring your moon...
I want to know
if you have touched
the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened
by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.
I want to know
if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.
I want to know
if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations
of being human.
It doesn’t interest me
if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear
the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.
I want to know
if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”
It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live
or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.
It doesn’t interest me
who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.
It doesn’t interest me
where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know
what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.
I want to know
if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like
the company you keep
in the empty moments.

By Oriah © Mountain Dreaming,
from the book The Invitation
published by HarperONE, San Francisco,
1999 All rights reserved

COPE

Did you know that Laos is the most heavily bombed place on the planet?  I certainly didn’t and learning about the problem of UXO’s (unexploded ordnances) here has been absolutely staggering for both Jane and myself.  

The Ho Chi Minh trail passes right through Laos and was the supply route of the Viet Cong.  There was a lot of traffic on this trail to Vietnam through the heart of Laos.  The Americans staged a secret war here that much of the world was unaware of for a very long.  There were over half a million B52 bombing missions in 9 years.  Of the approximately 270 million bombs that were dropped here by the Americans about 30% or 80 million unexploded bombs are still left.  Yes, the stats are just staggering…and this legacy of the Vietnam War has left a terrible scar on this land and a population that has to deal with consequences.

We visited the Co-operative Orthotic & Prosthetic Enterprise (COPE) yesterday but decided to come back and spend another morning watching the DVDs, chatting to the staff, and looking more closely at the exhibition so we could learn a bit more about an issue that we felt quite ignorant about. 

We met with Kerryn Clark, the Advocacy & Public Relations Mentor at the centre.  She is an Australian who is skilled in the area of social campaigning and is employed here to promote the work of the centre and set up referral networks that will enable more people to benefit by the work done here by experts skilled in the field of fitting and making prosthetics. 

It was amazing to sit and listen to her talk about the work of the centre and her contribution here.  We realised that she was absolutely passionate about the work she was engaged in and so glad to be working in an area where she could really make a difference.  We were thankful of the time she spent with us and of the opportunity to meet another person who appeared to have found her true calling.   

Check out their website if you wish and the tragic and yet inspiring stories of some of the people in Laos who have been maimed by a UXO and then been helped by the work done here.  Their courage is astounding.

http://www.copelaos.org/

The whole experience was moving for both of us and especially Jane who is a qualified physio.  She realised there was an opportunity here for her in the future to really do something meaningful with her skills if she decided on coming back to Laos.  

The biggest problem in dealing with the consequences of these unexploded bombs is that scrap metal is big business in Laos. Children and adults alike harvest the bombs in a similar fashion to foraging for food in the forest because of their economic situation and the money they are able to get by selling the metal.  Much of this metal is recycled in Laos and used for making many appliances.  Unfortunately, hundreds of people are maimed each year in the process.  

It had truly been an enlightening and educational visit and made us think about the legacy of war and how a country that had no involvement in the conflict is now left to deal with the consequences of it and work through the clean up that will take decades to sort through. 

 “It is only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it were the only one we had”.

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

Discovering Vientiane

We set off on foot to discover the capital.  There is no better way to orientate yourself in a new city although in hot, humid climates it would be nicer to be driven around in air conditioned comfort!   Well, you don’t have such luxuries on a basic backpacking adventure in South East Asia! 

The capital city of Laos, Vientiane has a multi ethnic population with a mix of Lao, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese and expats who work here.   Laos was closed to tourism from 1975-1989 for political reasons, which is partly why many people in the west can’t really place this country on a map and perhaps don’t even know of its existence! 

Our first stop is Wat Sisaket, the oldest surviving temple in this city and one which has survived many Thai incursions over the years.  The temple has a courtyard with long passages filled with about 6,000 Buddha images, many of which are set inside little niches in the wall.  During the Lao New Year, all of these images are cleansed by having water poured over them.

Our next stop is the Victory Monument which has been built from cement the Americans donated for a new airport!  The monument reminds us of the arc de Triumph although the traffic around it is no where near as crazy!  The monument commemorates Lao people who died in post-revolutionary wars and is exquisite.

That Luang is our next stop.  This stupa is the national emblem of Laos and it’s uniquely Laotian.  It sets the standard for other stupas around the country.  The spire on top resembles a lotus bud which in nature rises from a murky lake bottom and here in the temple symbolises the triumph of knowledge over ignorance.

Everything at this temple has been worked in a glittering gold facade and is quite beautiful to  look at.  

The main stupa is surrounded by 30 smaller stupas which according to my guide book are supposed to represent 30 Buddhist perfections!  This is definitely a country with strong Buddhist beliefs.  I haven’t seen any other places of worship yet. “It is only in adventure that some people succeed in knowing themselves - in finding themselves.” - André Gide

A Postcard from Vientiane

The laidback air of Laos greets us as we step off the plane and we have an instant feeling of being made welcome here.  It was confirmed right away by the friendly immigration officials at the airport.  We had queued for immigration without getting our visas which seemed to cause much amusement amongst them.  The officials just laughed and pointed us toward the booth where you could get a visa on arrival. 

Jane had a bit of go at the officials when she realised they were charging her $5 more than they were me..all the time practicing her 2 words of Lao.  I had never before met immigration officials who were so laid back and willing to have a joke!  They corrected her Lao and ignored her questions about the visa fee :)!  I felt reassured..they obviously like Australians here…:)

We were glad we hadn’t read Jane’s guide book before we got on the plane.  She passed the book to me on the plane and I read that most western embassies have travel advisories against flying Lao Airlines because they only take cash and booking flights is a nightmare.  The guidebook states “for most travellers, flying with Lao Airlines demonstrates bravado, but it’s not really something you want to do if you don’t absolutely have to!”  Having flown Lao Airlines I can report that we’ve had a great experience and I would happily fly with them again :)!

Salli was waiting to pick us up when we got out.  He was a really cute Laotian boy who looked 16 and was actually 30 and said he would be our local guide tomorrow!  People here look so young..and we often get caught out. 

We met up with Kung our Intrepid guide at the hotel in Vientiane.  I have travelled with Intrepid on a number of tours now both in Asia and Africa and this is the first time I’ve had a female tour guide.  She is Thai but is conversant in Lao and familiar with Vientiane.  I am sure we will all get on just fine and it will be interesting to observe  how a female guide goes about her business.

Our first impressions of this city are good ones.  The people are really lovely and Vientiane the capital of Laos is a sleepy little place in comparison to Hanoi.  People keep to their lanes while driving (what a concept in Asia!) and traffic is very orderly.  When crossing the road, you don’t just step out and hope the motors go around you…you actually wait for a lull in the traffic before you step out. 

Perhaps this is what cities like Colombo must have been like back in the sixties.  This city has about 150,000 people while the population of Laos is only 6 million!  The land mass of this country equals that of Britain and I read it is the most sparsely populated country in Asia!  Most people are farmers and live in the more rural areas.  Laos is a landlocked country and shares its borders with Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Burma and China.  The Mekong meanders its way through here..1,800 kilometres of this river passes through Laos forming most of its border with Thailand and Burma.  The climate here is hot, humid and dry with the monsoon occurring between May to October.  In fact we have arrived just at the start of the monsoon season so we may be in for some wet weather…!  It is actually bucketing outside as I write.  I think the monsoon is breaking…. “To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.” – Aldous Huxley

Sa-bai dee Laos!

As the plane touched down in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, I looked across at Jane and smiled.  We couldn’t believe we had just avoided a 20 hour overland journey and a horrible land border crossing.  But it all might have ended a lot differently.

On the morning of the day we were to meet our new tour leader for the Laos leg in Hanoi, we were informed that Intrepid had cancelled this leg of our trip.  Both Jane and I were shocked.  We knew there had been trouble in Bangkok and that the Australian government had upped their travel warning for Bangkok to a Level 5 – but that had been lifted now and our trip wasn’t going to Bangkok…we were completing this leg in Chiang Mai.  

There had been times on this trip where we had to deal with difficult people and I had just let Jane handle it.  This time was different.  I knew I had really good negotiation skills, and it was time to get into action.  Jane later told me that she saw a steely look come into my eyes as I started my discussions with Phouc’s manager in Saigon. 

He maintained he had sent us a text to inform us the trip was cancelled, but the text was about the cancellation of trips starting or ending in Bangkok.  This did not apply to our trip.  We had not heard a word from Intrepid either so I was not going to take this lightly.  This was a trip that had guaranteed departure so I knew I had this card up my sleeve.  I went through all of this with the manager in Saigon laying out all the information logically. 

At this point it appeared all they could do was give us a refund.  Jane and I knew we could easily do this leg of the trip ourselves. We were both independent, seasoned travellers and were very comfortable in Asia.  But we didn’t have any time to do our research, and it would be a bit of pain to find hotels, book transport etc.  Besides we had no prior warning and we needed to move on from Hanoi.

Not willing to give up easily I got on to the head office and the management in Bangkok.  Many international phone calls later, I finally received a call to say that Intrepid had reinstated the trip just for Jane and myself and they were prepare to fly us to Laos, where our new tour leader would join us from Thailand. 

We had been spared a 20 hour overland bus journey to Vientiane – we couldn’t be happier with the outcome.   As the other travellers had been advised this trip was cancelled a week ago it was obviously too late for them to join us.  This would  basically be a private tour for Jane and myself.  We couldn’t be happier with the outcome and I was glad my negotiation skills had not gone rusty and I was still able to negotiate a great outcome that was a win-win for everybody.  We will still recommend Intrepid as a great company to our friends, our new tour leader has a job for the next couple of weeks, and Intrepid have two happy customers who remain to travel another day.  “I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.” – Oscar Wilde

Toilets in South East Asia

It isn’t possible to write a travel blog about South East Asia and not have a post on toilets.  A real traveller often has a few good toilet stories to share – so why should I be any different.  Besides a few girl friends have insinuated that my back packing isn’t hard core enough..so I thought I would share these pictures…

While I have encountered many disgusting toilets in my previous back packing adventures, funnily enough I have never encountered communal ladies toilets!  Obviously, people in South East Asia have far fewer hang ups than we do in the west…or they are just plain weird…only joking…!

Check out the communal western toilet we found in Halong Bay.  While there is a bit of privacy with the partitions in between each toilet seat, there are no  doors in this toilet.  

During one of our pit stops on a long bus ride, we found a communal eastern toilet.  This one didn’t have any partitions at all and didn’t leave anything to the imagination…

This was the toilet we found in our hotel on  Cat Ba Island, in Halong Bay.  The toilet was positioned so close to the wall, that you had to use it side saddle!!  What kind of engineer/architect designed this ??

Yes – there have been a few laughs along the way…but did I actually try all of the above??  Now that would really be far too much information!

A traveller without observation is a bird without wings.” – Moslih Eddin Saadi

Reflections on Vietnam

  Our Vietnam adventure has come to an end and what a couple of weeks it has been.  We’ve ridden push bikes, motor bikes, cyclos, taken boats, junks and little bamboo tubs that floated in the water.  We’ve been in taxis, buses & trains and walked when we could..and I feel truly experienced everything this country has to offer.  We’ve met some amazing people from all walks of life, tasted some of best cuisine in Asia and marvelled at the wonderful landscapes of this country.  We’ve had fun getting clothes tailored and we will always think of  Hoi Ann fondly when we wear our Vietnamese outfits back home. 

Vietnam is certainly greener than  Cambodia and the landscape more varied.  We found the beaches and mountains quite stunning but with 85 million people living here, in general the big cities were more hectic and the people far less laid back than in Cambodia.

My least favourite mode of transport here were the trains, which were filthy and yet we made the most of these experiences and met some really interesting people to boot.

There are a few reminders that this was once a French Colony.  They have great baguettes everywhere and chandeliers seem to hang from all sorts of buildings including ancient temples.  English is far more widely spoken than French and for the most part it is an easy travel destination. 

 

 

 

 

The temples were beautiful and the most common architectural form seems to be the pagoda.  Despite the huge Buddhist population it was surprising to see how the churches are patronised by the Christian community.

If you have never been to Vietnam…I would definitely recommend it as a very interesting travel destination! 

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” – Henry Miller

Goodbye Hanoi

Vinh picks us up again in the late afternoon.  It is our last day of sight seeing in Vietnam and we have a few errands to run as well.  Vinh has been an amazing find.  He knows Hanoi inside out and helps us with everything.   My day pack needs mending as the  zip has broken and I asked if he knew a place where we could get it fixed. 

He takes us down dingy alleyways to a place we would never have found or walked into on our own.  There are piles of stuff everywhere and we climb a few narrow stairways to a room where I meet these guys and explain what I want with Vinh’s help.  They promise to have it all done in a few hours…and I wonder what the result will be.  They quote $2!  Hours later when we come back to pick it up I am astounded…they have done an amazing job..my pack is fixed and they have even transferred the clips from my old zip!  You can’t put a price on this kind of service.

We’ve decided to visit “Uncle Ho’s” mausoleum and the museum.  We are too late to see his embalmed body but enjoy the museum.  It is the funkiest place where bits of modern art are mixed in with info on Vietnam’s history and the late Ho Chi Minh.  Very cool. On my way out I run into this man…he looks so amazing and about a 100 years old..so I ask if I can take his picture.  He is thrilled but can’t speak a word of English.   I snap away and show him some of the results.  He beams at me….obviously proud to have been the ‘focus’ of my attention!!!  

We walk across the road to the 1 pillar pagoda.  The smell of incense and the chanting of devotees greet our arrival and we are amazed at the intricate statues inside this reconstructed building dates back to more than a 1000 years.

Vinh is a catholic and he drives by the church he worships at.  We hit gold again.  It is evening mass and there is a massive crowd gathered outside to watch as the priests, nuns and the choir walk in

procession inside to the accompaniment of music that is played over loudspeakers.  For a town that consists of mostly Buddhist, there are hundreds of people gathered here for worship.  We are amazed once again.   Hanoi is such a mix of ancient rituals and modernisation.  We go past the French Quarter and Vinh stops for us to have a look around the shops.  We visit one of the trendiest shops in the district and find they are using black mannequins to advertise their clothes.   This surprises me because we have seen so much emphasis in this part of the world on staying light skinned..every product sold in the shops here has some sort of “whitening” product added to it, that seeing dark skin and hair celebrated in this way was really unusual! 

We admire the lovely French architecture everywhere such as the opera house above. 

It was time to head back so we ask Vinh to drop us off at the lake where we stop for coffee and a walk.  The lake is beautiful at night and many Vietnamese come down here to practice their tai chi and yoga moves.   We have cake and cappuccinos and say our goodbyes to Hanoi! 

“If you actually look like your passport photo, you aren’t well enough to travel.” – Sir Vivian Fuchs