As I have become accustomed to throughout my travels in Laos for the past 6 weeks, I showed up for my bus at 8:30am, but it turned out to not plan on leaving until 9:30am, while the bus drivers collected passports from all of the travelers as well as money, in preparation for crossing the border from Laos to Cambodia. The bus left around 9:30am, but we didn't really leave Laos until about 11am, as we had to go through the whole border crossing which involved getting off the bus, walking through the mud across the border, waiting for our bus guys to come back with our stamped passports and visas for Cambodia, as well as the ''quarantine department'' coming onto the bus and taking each of our temperatures with a scanner gun on each of our cheeks, and finally slowly pulling away and saying goodbye to the country that I had spent an amazing 6 weeks in.
The bus ride was about 8 hours. I spent the majority of the bus ride reading my most recent book "Survival in the Killing Fields", another devastating autobiography by a Cambodian who miraculously survived all four years of the Khmer Rouge Regime (another one to read if you are interested in learning about the Khmer Rouge takeover: "First They Killed My Father"). I also spent a lot of time looking out the windows of the bus and seeing beautiful Cambodian countryside. We got into Phnom Penh (the capitol city of Cambodia) around 7:30pm that evening. I got taken from the bus to my hotel by a Cambodian tuk-tuk driver (they were all swarming to get to me first, the only foreigner on the bus!) who spoke exactly like an Australian- it was a little bit eerie/creepy, actually! No Cambodian accent whatsoever!
He took me to the River Star Hotel by the riverfront (after many efforts to convince me to stay at another hotel or guesthouse, which is quite common here apparently), which, I thought I would treat myself to upon arriving into the big city after two and a half weeks in a tiny quiet island for $6 a night in my bungalow there. While seeking security and comfort by choosing this hotel, I realized that it was not what I wanted at all- I paid a (discounted) $27 per night for a room that was well-decorated and air-conditioned (this is by far the most I have paid for accommodation during my entire 3.5 months that I have been traveling!) but the staff were of the fancy hotel ass-kissing genre that makes me feel incredibly uncomfortable, and I could barely walk a foot or take a bite of food without someone asking me if there was anything I needed or if I was enjoying my food.
Also, the woman who served me dinner asked me my name, where I was from, then asked if I had an email address, and then asked for my email address- this was the entirety of our conversation! I had heard that Cambodians were incredibly friendly, but this was a little bit too close for comfort for me. I decided that I would be checking out immediately the next morning, but in the meantime I would enjoy one night's sleep in the comfortable bed.
The next morning, I ate my complimentary breakfast in the lobby, and while sitting there stretching and yawning, a tuk-tuk driver outside caught my eye. He laughed and smiled at my sleepy demeanor, and I smiled back. When I was done with breakfast I approached him and asked him if he could help me to find a new and better guesthouse or hotel. He agreed, and also talked me into hiring him to go to four different sights that day. Usually, I like to hire a bicycle and explore solo-style, but, I was feeling quite tired from the long day of travel the day before, and wasn't quite ready for the full-on city yet, so, I was happy to accept this time.
After visiting a few places, we found the 'Nice Guesthouse', which, was indeed, ''nice" and I loved staying there. The people there offered excellent rooms and service, for only $11 per night, and while they were always there to help if I needed it, otherwise we all just did our own thing, and it felt very ''Cambodian" as opposed to a tourist place. Also, now that I wasn't at the ''most desired location" at the riverfront, where all the tourists like to go, I was also in a ''real" neighborhood, where locals lived and worked, and I felt much more at home there.
''Ha"was the name of my tuk-tuk driver, and he was a young guy of 25 who had a very nice disposition, so in addition to having a good day of sightseeing from his tuk-tuk, we also enjoyed each other's company. He patiently waited as I went through 3-4 guesthouses to find the 'right' one, and took me to a local food joint that I wouldn't have found otherwise- where Cambodian people go to eat- food served by an older woman, who had warmth and kindness throughout her being, and tasty food. I had my first ''Fish Amok" a traditional Khmer dish- delicious! Ha and I ate lunch together, and chatted and had a really nice time.
Next, he took me to my first desired location- The Killing Fields. Today was to be a difficult day. The Killing Fields is the location of many mass graves of Cambodians killed by the Khmer Rouge between 1975-1979. I had now read two autobiographies about this time period and the killings and suffering that went on, and I knew it was to be a somber day indeed, but was also a big part of why I wanted to come to Phnom Penh in the first place.
It was a quiet place, with a large memorial building filled with skulls of the people's remains found in the mass graves, stacked at least ten levels high, all labeled and sorted by age and gender. At the bottom level of this memorial building was a large pile of clothing from the people who died in the Killing Fields. There was a man outside the memorial selling flowers and incense to offer in remembrance, and I bought some and made my offering.
Next, I walked to the fields themselves, which were large pits in the ground, now with grass grown in where there was once only dirt. There were a number of different mass graves, some marked with signs indicating the number of people per grave, or the state of their remains when found. There were scraps of clothing still scattered around the ground, which made this otherwise peaceful-seeming field seem more real in the purpose that it carried a little over 30 years ago.
There was a small museum and a short movie to watch about the events that took place, and then I went to find Ha again. Next, he took me to ''S-21'', a former primary school that was turned into a torture and killing prison. There were many many rooms (once classrooms) with rusted metal beds, old-ammo cans meant for excrement, as well as many ankle-shackles and torture instruments left behind. There were many rooms filled with photos of the victims that had lived and died at S-21, and it was very intense being there. I did not cry that whole day, but I could feel an energy building inside of me that felt like a scream wanting to make its way to the outside, or a sick feeling that wanted to be relieved but couldn't.
A really special thing that happened here is that I met one of the survivors. I was standing in one room, looking at a photo of a survivor and reading his story of torture and captivity, when suddenly I saw the man himself standing in front of this information board. Myself and many other tourists suddenly stood up straighter and looked at him with soft and amazed eyes, not quite sure what to say, and a small utterance of ''oh!" came involuntarily from my mouth.
I watched the man talking with another tourist couple, and followed him from a distance as he walked out of the room. When he finally stopped outside to just stand and look around the courtyard, I slowly approached him, and said "Hello. I read about your story", and he put his hands together and bowed to me and said 'Ha-Khun' (thank you) and I did the same back to him. He gave me his card, and I shook his hand and thanked him again. It was just humbling to be in this mans presence, who had such a gentleness, but also such pain and age in his eyes, as well as a hope that glimmered through. His card gave information for an organization that he was a part of in creating justice for Cambodians.
After this, it was time for an hour-long documentary that showed twice in a day. With twenty minutes before the movie was to start, I ran across the street and had an excellent quick meal, as I could feel myself becoming quite dazed and ungrounded from witnessing the photos and location and stories of such suffering. I realized I was about .50 cents short for the meal I had ordered, but the family kindly gave it to me anyway when I offered to buy something cheaper, and not only that, but they brought me a big glass of water and two bananas. I wolfed it all down and felt gratitude for their kindness.
By the time I sat down for the movie, I could barely take in what I was watching and hearing. I couldn't follow the story any more, I was too full from what I had learned and seen all day long- it was intense and very sad. By this time, it was 4pm, and while I had originally planned to go to the National Museum and the Royal Palace with Ha, I asked him if he could just take me to my guesthouse. I had spent 6-7 hours touring these death sites and memorials, and as painful as it was, I could barely tear myself away.
That night I had a simple meal out, and got a massage from a kind older lady on the riverfront, and went to bed early, still digesting all that I had seen and experienced on what was only my first day in Cambodia, and in Phnom Penh. I was looking forward to the next day, when I would rent a bicycle and do my own exploring.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
My Last 5 Days in Laos and the 4,000 Islands
The Saturday morning of our second teaching weekend (we were going to be leaving for class two hours later), I was out on my bungalow porch meditating at 6:45am, when Lies came out to her porch and told me that the Translator had just called, and that our weekend of teaching was cancelled, the reason given- Mr. Bunchan was out of town. We were both stunned, and didn't really understand why this meant we couldn't teach, but, I suggested we just go to breakfast and re-think the next few days. For me, it also meant re-thinking how long I wanted to stay on the islands, as my original aim was to teach as well as relax.. I still had much to see in Cambodia and Thailand! Later that day, I decided that I would leave in the next 3-4 days.
We had some breakfast and tea, and I said "Well, I'm going back to bed. We'll see what happens later". And I proceeded to sleep from 9am-1pm in my porch hammock. Wow! Having spent most of the day asleep, and wanting to make the most of these final few days, I said to Lies "Let's go see the Irrawadee Dolphins!" The Irrawadee Dolphins are a special dolphin that only live in a certain part of the Mekong River between Laos and Cambodia. They are rarely sighted and only briefly so if seen, but, it seems to be a rite of passage of all tourists coming to the islands.
So, we rode our bikes to a rather isolated beach where there are small boats, and hired a boatman to take us to Cambodia about a twenty minute boat ride away, where we climbed the stairs to land, paid $2, and sat on a bench and saw dolphins! Many of them, and for quite a long time! It was so neat and a special little outing, especially since we didn't really expect to see dolphins. I learned my first Cambodian/Khmer word from the kind-eyed Cambodian ranger there "Ha-khun," which means "thank you." I was already feeling excited to go to Cambodia after this brief encounter.
The next day I woke up early again, ate breakfast, meditated and yoga-d, and at 11am went back to my hammock and slept until 4pm! Wow! I was quite tired from waking up too early for no reason the whole past week, and this was after already feeling exhausted from so much travel before arriving in the 4,000 islands- I was finally catching up.
For my second to last day, Lies and I made a trip to ''The Big Island" of Dong Khong, which was a 2 hour boat ride away. It was a great day- we both started out kind of sleepy, but as the day progressed we became enlivened. We rented bicycles and cycled around the entirety of the island which was at least 30km if not more, and it was so beautiful! More cows and water buffaloes and local villagers and children, but more, and bigger fields, and bigger houses, and almost NO TOURISTS. The landscape changed many times, and so did the weather. The people were so friendly, and all waved and shouted ''Sa-bai-dee!" We went through bright sunshine and then cloudy rainy drops. We visited two temples, and watched some local Lao kids playing hide and seek in one of them, and had a great photo opportunity there- and everywhere!
The next day was my last day, and it was pretty low-key. I took care of loose ends, did a final little bike ride around the island on my favorite paths and backroads, got a massage from a local married couple on Don Khon (who tag-team massage their clients since the wife is pregnant, either so he can help her to take the brunt of the work, or for her to help train him in time for the baby to come, I wasn't quite sure which) took some more photos, and started packing and reading about where I would go in Cambodia.
I met Lies for dinner, and we both had little surprise gifts from each other, which was so sweet, as we had come to know each other quite well over this past two and a half weeks, and were similarly thoughtful to each other and had grown quite close. I am really happy that I met Lies- I learned a lot from her- we learned a lot from each other! We gained much support and appreciation from each other, are both on similar paths of personal growth and self-discovery, and were a great team in teaching and otherwise. It was really sweet having a female companion that was such a kindred spirit, and I am quite grateful.
The next morning, I woke up early as usual, so I would have time to meditate and stretch before breakfast and leaving the country to Cambodia after 6 weeks in Laos (this was a routine that I finally started once I had gotten to the 4,000 islands, as influenced by Lies. I had lost my practice for a while there during my travels!) I had a final breakfast with Lies, had a fun little photo shoot with Meow and her sister as well as their mother. Also, before I left, the mother and two sisters had a little ceremony/ritual for me, where they each tied a white piece of string around my wrist, and said a blessing in Lao, and then in English, wishing me good luck on my travels. It was quite touching. Then, the boatman who had been taking us everywhere these past two weeks "Mr Sien" arrived to take me away on the boat to the mainland, to catch my bus.
I hugged everyone, and Lies and the two sisters followed me to the boat, and they waved and waved and waved until I could only see hands waving from behind some trees, until I could not see them anymore. We were all smiling and laughing and doubling over and waving- it was a sweet sweet parting, and while I knew that I would miss them, I could feel the love carrying me to my next destination.
We had some breakfast and tea, and I said "Well, I'm going back to bed. We'll see what happens later". And I proceeded to sleep from 9am-1pm in my porch hammock. Wow! Having spent most of the day asleep, and wanting to make the most of these final few days, I said to Lies "Let's go see the Irrawadee Dolphins!" The Irrawadee Dolphins are a special dolphin that only live in a certain part of the Mekong River between Laos and Cambodia. They are rarely sighted and only briefly so if seen, but, it seems to be a rite of passage of all tourists coming to the islands.
So, we rode our bikes to a rather isolated beach where there are small boats, and hired a boatman to take us to Cambodia about a twenty minute boat ride away, where we climbed the stairs to land, paid $2, and sat on a bench and saw dolphins! Many of them, and for quite a long time! It was so neat and a special little outing, especially since we didn't really expect to see dolphins. I learned my first Cambodian/Khmer word from the kind-eyed Cambodian ranger there "Ha-khun," which means "thank you." I was already feeling excited to go to Cambodia after this brief encounter.
The next day I woke up early again, ate breakfast, meditated and yoga-d, and at 11am went back to my hammock and slept until 4pm! Wow! I was quite tired from waking up too early for no reason the whole past week, and this was after already feeling exhausted from so much travel before arriving in the 4,000 islands- I was finally catching up.
For my second to last day, Lies and I made a trip to ''The Big Island" of Dong Khong, which was a 2 hour boat ride away. It was a great day- we both started out kind of sleepy, but as the day progressed we became enlivened. We rented bicycles and cycled around the entirety of the island which was at least 30km if not more, and it was so beautiful! More cows and water buffaloes and local villagers and children, but more, and bigger fields, and bigger houses, and almost NO TOURISTS. The landscape changed many times, and so did the weather. The people were so friendly, and all waved and shouted ''Sa-bai-dee!" We went through bright sunshine and then cloudy rainy drops. We visited two temples, and watched some local Lao kids playing hide and seek in one of them, and had a great photo opportunity there- and everywhere!
The next day was my last day, and it was pretty low-key. I took care of loose ends, did a final little bike ride around the island on my favorite paths and backroads, got a massage from a local married couple on Don Khon (who tag-team massage their clients since the wife is pregnant, either so he can help her to take the brunt of the work, or for her to help train him in time for the baby to come, I wasn't quite sure which) took some more photos, and started packing and reading about where I would go in Cambodia.
I met Lies for dinner, and we both had little surprise gifts from each other, which was so sweet, as we had come to know each other quite well over this past two and a half weeks, and were similarly thoughtful to each other and had grown quite close. I am really happy that I met Lies- I learned a lot from her- we learned a lot from each other! We gained much support and appreciation from each other, are both on similar paths of personal growth and self-discovery, and were a great team in teaching and otherwise. It was really sweet having a female companion that was such a kindred spirit, and I am quite grateful.
The next morning, I woke up early as usual, so I would have time to meditate and stretch before breakfast and leaving the country to Cambodia after 6 weeks in Laos (this was a routine that I finally started once I had gotten to the 4,000 islands, as influenced by Lies. I had lost my practice for a while there during my travels!) I had a final breakfast with Lies, had a fun little photo shoot with Meow and her sister as well as their mother. Also, before I left, the mother and two sisters had a little ceremony/ritual for me, where they each tied a white piece of string around my wrist, and said a blessing in Lao, and then in English, wishing me good luck on my travels. It was quite touching. Then, the boatman who had been taking us everywhere these past two weeks "Mr Sien" arrived to take me away on the boat to the mainland, to catch my bus.
I hugged everyone, and Lies and the two sisters followed me to the boat, and they waved and waved and waved until I could only see hands waving from behind some trees, until I could not see them anymore. We were all smiling and laughing and doubling over and waving- it was a sweet sweet parting, and while I knew that I would miss them, I could feel the love carrying me to my next destination.
Exploring Don Det and Don Khon
After our first chaotic and on-the-fly crazy first English class, the second class was easy-peasy. Lies and I knew what we were going to teach, who we were going to teach, what time, where, and for how long. It was awesome. These are the things we take for granted in the West, and I tell you, it has given me great appreciation for such order and certainty! That said, the challenges of this multi-cultural teaching experience made it all the more satisfying and gave a feeling of great accomplishment.
The kids were awesome, each with their own special and unique character (of course!). I gave them each little table-tent name tags so I could remember their names (it is one thing to remember ten new kids' names, it is another if they are Lao names that I can barely pronounce let alone remember!) There were some jokers/wise-guys, some shy girls who would barely speak, one teacher's-pet type, some very serious types, and all of the ranges of personalities- I loved them all! It was such a joy and an honor to be able to spend time with them, and do my best to teach them English- I really enjoyed it. And I was much more ''in the groove'' on this second day, and expended way less energy than our first crazy and chaotic day! I was quite pleased and satisfied during and after the class.
We got caught in the rain on the motorbike ride back with Mr. Kamsai and the Translator, so we all took cover under one of their houses on the way to the dock. This was a neat time for hanging out and just conversing, and I met the Translator's father, who had kind and gentle eyes, as well as his mother. On our way to class that morning, I had been riding on the back of the Translator's motorbike as usual, but this time he stopped after passing a Monk in dark brown robes (a sign of an elder/higher monk, I believe), parked the motorbike, excused himself from me for a moment, and ran to kneel in front of the monk. It turns out the Translator was once a monk himself in his younger years, like many Lao boys do as a right of passage. I learned a lot about the Translator that day, and, it was neat to see!
After this weekend of teaching, we had the next five days off, and Lies and I relaxed our butts off! We had been planning on teaching many more days originally, but since that is not what the Lao people wanted, we took advantage of our free time, and in fact, relished it. Our time was spent lazing in our bungalow porch hammocks, sometimes reading, sometimes napping, sometimes listening to music, and sometimes just laying there, being, watching the river and listening to the birds and the insects, or being with the intense rain that fell each afternoon and many evenings. Sometimes after the nighttime rain, the insects and frogs got so loud, that we literally could not hear ourselves speak! It was so powerful and amazing!
Other stuff we did separately and together- rode bicycles around Don Det and Don Khon Island exploring aimlessly. This was just so fun and satisfying, and we saw so many new and different things every day, whether it was families relaxing together, family celebrations and partying going on, a group of men trying to load a living water buffalo onto a small boat, or small children running around playing and giggling- it was all entrancing and wondrous to witness. I took a ridiculous amount of photos, because the landscape was just so beautiful, as well as the people. (Photos will come when I'm back home in a month or so).
We spent a lot of time at eating at our guesthouse restaurant, with a beautiful view of the Mekong and the bridge from Don Det to Don Khon right in front of us, our vantage point from the stilted open-air thatched roof hut that was the dining area. We spent many hours eating and talking and drinking tea while cuddling with the Santiphab kitties who intermittently begged as well as slept in our laps. I think we ate every item on that fantastic menu, and the two young ladies Meow and her younger sister were so sweet, were fantastic cooks, and were always playing with each other giggling like kids (they were 20 and 16 years old, but the way that they played and laughed made us smile with joy, as they could have been 4 and 5 years old from the freedom of their laughter). They arranged all of our boats for us, and fixed our rental bicycles whenever needed (which, was pretty much every day, sometimes twice in a day until on the final two days I started renting a bicycle from another guesthouse!)
One night when I was walking home late at night from downtown on the wide expansive country road, Meow and her younger sister and ANOTHER sister that I hadn't met yet saw me from their motorbike, and stopped, scooched forward to make room for me, and made me a FOURTH passenger on the back of their bike the rest of the way back to the guesthouse. This was my first time riding so "Lao-style" as this on a motorbike- I had driven motorbikes a ton on my own, and been the passenger of another driver, but this was my first 4-on-a-bike ride. We all giggled incessantly like schoolgirls the whole way back, and I felt so very happy.
One day while cycling aimlessly around Don Khon, Lies and I found a neat and secluded waterfall area with all sorts of rickety wooden bridges built over the water, and strange wooden structures that we didn't understand the purpose of. Whatever the case, we instantly stripped down to our bathing suits and sat in the water and let the river flow over us while we balanced delicately on the large and smooth rocks below us, until the sky clouded over, and the locals hanging out nearby indicated that we should get a move on out! We did, but not before the rain came. But it was great! It is hot outside, and the rain was light and warm, so we cycled through rice paddies in grass and puddles and through a monastery and saw the sights from our bicycles as we made our way home in the rain.
I completely fell in love with these islands and all of the people that we met along the way, especially our sweet guesthouse sisters and their parents and relatives that were always coming and going, eating meals, and hanging around. Our five days off were full and relaxing, and now we had another weekend of teaching to look forward to.
The kids were awesome, each with their own special and unique character (of course!). I gave them each little table-tent name tags so I could remember their names (it is one thing to remember ten new kids' names, it is another if they are Lao names that I can barely pronounce let alone remember!) There were some jokers/wise-guys, some shy girls who would barely speak, one teacher's-pet type, some very serious types, and all of the ranges of personalities- I loved them all! It was such a joy and an honor to be able to spend time with them, and do my best to teach them English- I really enjoyed it. And I was much more ''in the groove'' on this second day, and expended way less energy than our first crazy and chaotic day! I was quite pleased and satisfied during and after the class.
We got caught in the rain on the motorbike ride back with Mr. Kamsai and the Translator, so we all took cover under one of their houses on the way to the dock. This was a neat time for hanging out and just conversing, and I met the Translator's father, who had kind and gentle eyes, as well as his mother. On our way to class that morning, I had been riding on the back of the Translator's motorbike as usual, but this time he stopped after passing a Monk in dark brown robes (a sign of an elder/higher monk, I believe), parked the motorbike, excused himself from me for a moment, and ran to kneel in front of the monk. It turns out the Translator was once a monk himself in his younger years, like many Lao boys do as a right of passage. I learned a lot about the Translator that day, and, it was neat to see!
After this weekend of teaching, we had the next five days off, and Lies and I relaxed our butts off! We had been planning on teaching many more days originally, but since that is not what the Lao people wanted, we took advantage of our free time, and in fact, relished it. Our time was spent lazing in our bungalow porch hammocks, sometimes reading, sometimes napping, sometimes listening to music, and sometimes just laying there, being, watching the river and listening to the birds and the insects, or being with the intense rain that fell each afternoon and many evenings. Sometimes after the nighttime rain, the insects and frogs got so loud, that we literally could not hear ourselves speak! It was so powerful and amazing!
Other stuff we did separately and together- rode bicycles around Don Det and Don Khon Island exploring aimlessly. This was just so fun and satisfying, and we saw so many new and different things every day, whether it was families relaxing together, family celebrations and partying going on, a group of men trying to load a living water buffalo onto a small boat, or small children running around playing and giggling- it was all entrancing and wondrous to witness. I took a ridiculous amount of photos, because the landscape was just so beautiful, as well as the people. (Photos will come when I'm back home in a month or so).
We spent a lot of time at eating at our guesthouse restaurant, with a beautiful view of the Mekong and the bridge from Don Det to Don Khon right in front of us, our vantage point from the stilted open-air thatched roof hut that was the dining area. We spent many hours eating and talking and drinking tea while cuddling with the Santiphab kitties who intermittently begged as well as slept in our laps. I think we ate every item on that fantastic menu, and the two young ladies Meow and her younger sister were so sweet, were fantastic cooks, and were always playing with each other giggling like kids (they were 20 and 16 years old, but the way that they played and laughed made us smile with joy, as they could have been 4 and 5 years old from the freedom of their laughter). They arranged all of our boats for us, and fixed our rental bicycles whenever needed (which, was pretty much every day, sometimes twice in a day until on the final two days I started renting a bicycle from another guesthouse!)
One night when I was walking home late at night from downtown on the wide expansive country road, Meow and her younger sister and ANOTHER sister that I hadn't met yet saw me from their motorbike, and stopped, scooched forward to make room for me, and made me a FOURTH passenger on the back of their bike the rest of the way back to the guesthouse. This was my first time riding so "Lao-style" as this on a motorbike- I had driven motorbikes a ton on my own, and been the passenger of another driver, but this was my first 4-on-a-bike ride. We all giggled incessantly like schoolgirls the whole way back, and I felt so very happy.
One day while cycling aimlessly around Don Khon, Lies and I found a neat and secluded waterfall area with all sorts of rickety wooden bridges built over the water, and strange wooden structures that we didn't understand the purpose of. Whatever the case, we instantly stripped down to our bathing suits and sat in the water and let the river flow over us while we balanced delicately on the large and smooth rocks below us, until the sky clouded over, and the locals hanging out nearby indicated that we should get a move on out! We did, but not before the rain came. But it was great! It is hot outside, and the rain was light and warm, so we cycled through rice paddies in grass and puddles and through a monastery and saw the sights from our bicycles as we made our way home in the rain.
I completely fell in love with these islands and all of the people that we met along the way, especially our sweet guesthouse sisters and their parents and relatives that were always coming and going, eating meals, and hanging around. Our five days off were full and relaxing, and now we had another weekend of teaching to look forward to.
Monday, June 27, 2011
The Surprise of Our First English Class
On Saturday morning, Lies and I woke up early enough that we could both do some meditation and yoga on our individual bungalow porches, have a leisurely breakfast, order some lunch to take with us, and get on our private boat (30,000kip/$3.50USd) to get to the pier in time to meet Mr. Kamsai and the Translator 10:30am for our first English class that was to start at 1pm. The plan was to get to the classroom 2 hours early in order to look through the materials, and come up with a lesson plan to teach two sequential classes together between 1-4pm. It is a good thing that we had taken the time for meditation and yoga that morning, because as with the committee meeting two days earlier, things were not what we had expected at all.
Mr. Kamsai and the Translator were there and waiting for us as planned, but when we arrived at the school 20 or so minutes later with the expectation to do two hours of lesson-planning before class, as well as eating a take-away lunch we had specially ordered, we quickly discovered that instead, there were about 16 Lao students sitting inside the classroom waiting for us already!!! Not only that, but the 16 students included the two DIFFERENT groups that we had been planning on teaching together at two separate times (one from 1-2:30pm, and one from 2:30-4pm).
As it turned out, this was not the understanding of the Lao Committee- it seemed that their understanding was that we wanted them to pick us up at 10:30 to teach class at 11am to all of the students, each of us teaching our own class, and apparently they thought we were going to teach somehow for 5 hours, because the other part of the plan is that they were going to take us back to the pier at 4pm. It didn't seem to make sense at all, and in the moment our hearts and minds were struggling to figure out how this was going to work.
I could feel a distinct urge to freak out going on within me, but somehow, I managed to bypass this urge and instead step into ''Okay let's make this work" mode. I turned to Lies and said "I do not feel prepared to teach a class on my own, as I don't even know what our material consists of, etc! We'll have to teach the two groups all at once, or, request that one group come back in an hour or two" (though this second idea seemed unfair and unrealistic to ask of the kids that were already sitting there waiting). She agreed, and we turned to the committee and told them that we needed to teach together, so we would teach both groups at the same time.
We also said that now, since we were starting earlier (we tried our best to explain the confusion of this whole situation as well, but it all seemed quite lost on the translator and the rest of the group, so, we had to just make do with what was the current situation) that instead of picking us up at 4pm to return to the pier, they should pick us up at 2pm. The funny/ironic part about this, is, the translator said ''What? You are changing the plan now? You said 4pm but now you say 2pm."
One can only imagine how this conversation continued in its confusion, and all the while I could feel myself sweating like crazy, the reality of the students waiting for us just inside while we had a twenty minute conference about what the heck was going on just outside the classroom doors was starting to get to me. Enough was enough- "Alright, let's just go in and do it!"
So, Lies and I introduced ourselves to a classroom of kids that ranged from 6 years old to 20 years old, and decided to just figure out what everyone knew. We started with the alphabet. When they were all able to recite the alphabet quickly and easily with no hesitation at the first try, we realized they already knew a fair amount, as well as all being able to write their names in English on the board. Some of the older students began speaking in English in response to some of our questions, and I quickly realized that it was going to be immensely boring for the more experienced and older students to sit there while we taught the most basic of word to the younger kids.
After a short exercise of having the kids come up to the board to write out and spell out loud their names to the class, I turned to Lies and said 'Okay- I feel ready now. Give me the materials you have, and I'll take on the teenagers, and you can teach the younger girls.' And so, we split, after 15 minutes of awkward sussing out of our classroom of students.
The following 2-3 hours is a complete blur to me, but suddenly I became a teacher. I asked my ten or so students aged 14-20 to move to a small section of desks instead of being spread across the whole classroom to get a more informal and intimate feel, and began teaching. I showed them pictures and asked them to say the english words. I ran back and forth between them and the blackboard, writing words and phrases, asking them to repeat after me, sometimes correcting their pronunciation and asking them to repeat words, and other times laughing and commending their excellent pronunciation.
I gave them vocabulary for articles of clothing, parts of the body, and did a whole section on present-tense verb conjugation. I did a section where I talked about feelings, and how to express being happy, sad, tired, and hungry. I was gesticulating wildly, with chalk on my hands and soon on my black dress, and using exaggerated facial expressions to communicate what particular emotions the words were describing, and the kids were responding with laughter of appreciation, as well as understanding. When I told them the word 'bicycle' and they thought I meant 'motorbike,' I ran to the board and drew a shoddy picture of a bicycle, and laughed and shook my head at my own poor rendition of the two-wheeled vehicle, and they laughed as well, and I could tell that they were really enjoying the class.
About an hour and a half into this mayhem of teaching, I called a break, as I could feel my hunger surging after the exertion it was taking to teach completely on the spot. I was thoroughly enjoying myself though, and Lies and I had a mini-conference outside of the classroom while stuffing our faces with our take-away lunches of chicken with cashew nuts cooked by our loyal and sweet Santiphab Guesthouse ladies, all the while being watched by our new students, as well as some of our Lao Committee members who were also observing the class (as well as participating as students after a while). We confirmed to each o ther that all was going well, and that while feeling slightly insane, we were both doing a great job on the fly, or as good as a person could do under the circumstances of little to no preparation. That said- thank goodness Lies had done so much preparation of materials in Belgium, so we at least had something to work with.
So, after eating, fifteen minutes later we went back in for a final hour. The entirety of this first class wound up being about a 3.5 hour ordeal, plus another half an hour of discussion with the committee after the class, but we knew that the next day it would be much simpler, calmer, and shorter since we now knew what we were dealing with. After dismissing our classes, to which we were greeted with ''Thank you very much Sir we will see you again tomorrow" by the students... (Sir??? Oh dear, we had much work ahead of us...) we were taken back to the pier by Mr. Kamsai and the Translator, feeling exhausted and excited after a successful first English class, and looking forward to lounging in our bungalow porch-hammocks to recover from this whirlwind, before we had to go back again the next day for class number two!!!
Mr. Kamsai and the Translator were there and waiting for us as planned, but when we arrived at the school 20 or so minutes later with the expectation to do two hours of lesson-planning before class, as well as eating a take-away lunch we had specially ordered, we quickly discovered that instead, there were about 16 Lao students sitting inside the classroom waiting for us already!!! Not only that, but the 16 students included the two DIFFERENT groups that we had been planning on teaching together at two separate times (one from 1-2:30pm, and one from 2:30-4pm).
As it turned out, this was not the understanding of the Lao Committee- it seemed that their understanding was that we wanted them to pick us up at 10:30 to teach class at 11am to all of the students, each of us teaching our own class, and apparently they thought we were going to teach somehow for 5 hours, because the other part of the plan is that they were going to take us back to the pier at 4pm. It didn't seem to make sense at all, and in the moment our hearts and minds were struggling to figure out how this was going to work.
I could feel a distinct urge to freak out going on within me, but somehow, I managed to bypass this urge and instead step into ''Okay let's make this work" mode. I turned to Lies and said "I do not feel prepared to teach a class on my own, as I don't even know what our material consists of, etc! We'll have to teach the two groups all at once, or, request that one group come back in an hour or two" (though this second idea seemed unfair and unrealistic to ask of the kids that were already sitting there waiting). She agreed, and we turned to the committee and told them that we needed to teach together, so we would teach both groups at the same time.
We also said that now, since we were starting earlier (we tried our best to explain the confusion of this whole situation as well, but it all seemed quite lost on the translator and the rest of the group, so, we had to just make do with what was the current situation) that instead of picking us up at 4pm to return to the pier, they should pick us up at 2pm. The funny/ironic part about this, is, the translator said ''What? You are changing the plan now? You said 4pm but now you say 2pm."
One can only imagine how this conversation continued in its confusion, and all the while I could feel myself sweating like crazy, the reality of the students waiting for us just inside while we had a twenty minute conference about what the heck was going on just outside the classroom doors was starting to get to me. Enough was enough- "Alright, let's just go in and do it!"
So, Lies and I introduced ourselves to a classroom of kids that ranged from 6 years old to 20 years old, and decided to just figure out what everyone knew. We started with the alphabet. When they were all able to recite the alphabet quickly and easily with no hesitation at the first try, we realized they already knew a fair amount, as well as all being able to write their names in English on the board. Some of the older students began speaking in English in response to some of our questions, and I quickly realized that it was going to be immensely boring for the more experienced and older students to sit there while we taught the most basic of word to the younger kids.
After a short exercise of having the kids come up to the board to write out and spell out loud their names to the class, I turned to Lies and said 'Okay- I feel ready now. Give me the materials you have, and I'll take on the teenagers, and you can teach the younger girls.' And so, we split, after 15 minutes of awkward sussing out of our classroom of students.
The following 2-3 hours is a complete blur to me, but suddenly I became a teacher. I asked my ten or so students aged 14-20 to move to a small section of desks instead of being spread across the whole classroom to get a more informal and intimate feel, and began teaching. I showed them pictures and asked them to say the english words. I ran back and forth between them and the blackboard, writing words and phrases, asking them to repeat after me, sometimes correcting their pronunciation and asking them to repeat words, and other times laughing and commending their excellent pronunciation.
I gave them vocabulary for articles of clothing, parts of the body, and did a whole section on present-tense verb conjugation. I did a section where I talked about feelings, and how to express being happy, sad, tired, and hungry. I was gesticulating wildly, with chalk on my hands and soon on my black dress, and using exaggerated facial expressions to communicate what particular emotions the words were describing, and the kids were responding with laughter of appreciation, as well as understanding. When I told them the word 'bicycle' and they thought I meant 'motorbike,' I ran to the board and drew a shoddy picture of a bicycle, and laughed and shook my head at my own poor rendition of the two-wheeled vehicle, and they laughed as well, and I could tell that they were really enjoying the class.
About an hour and a half into this mayhem of teaching, I called a break, as I could feel my hunger surging after the exertion it was taking to teach completely on the spot. I was thoroughly enjoying myself though, and Lies and I had a mini-conference outside of the classroom while stuffing our faces with our take-away lunches of chicken with cashew nuts cooked by our loyal and sweet Santiphab Guesthouse ladies, all the while being watched by our new students, as well as some of our Lao Committee members who were also observing the class (as well as participating as students after a while). We confirmed to each o ther that all was going well, and that while feeling slightly insane, we were both doing a great job on the fly, or as good as a person could do under the circumstances of little to no preparation. That said- thank goodness Lies had done so much preparation of materials in Belgium, so we at least had something to work with.
So, after eating, fifteen minutes later we went back in for a final hour. The entirety of this first class wound up being about a 3.5 hour ordeal, plus another half an hour of discussion with the committee after the class, but we knew that the next day it would be much simpler, calmer, and shorter since we now knew what we were dealing with. After dismissing our classes, to which we were greeted with ''Thank you very much Sir we will see you again tomorrow" by the students... (Sir??? Oh dear, we had much work ahead of us...) we were taken back to the pier by Mr. Kamsai and the Translator, feeling exhausted and excited after a successful first English class, and looking forward to lounging in our bungalow porch-hammocks to recover from this whirlwind, before we had to go back again the next day for class number two!!!
To Cambodia and Back
On Friday morning I woke up early, got breakfast, and hopped on a private boat that I had hired (for about a dollar more than going to the main pier) to take me directly from our guesthouse to Ban Nakasan to meet Mr. Khan, the Lao man who was going to take me by motorbike to Cambodia and back to extend my Lao visa.
All went off without a hitch- we drove about 20-25 minutes to the Lao-Cambodian border, I went through a series of offices to leave and re-enter the country (as well as paying $10 more than all the usual fees which I quickly realized was a bribe since my leaving and re-entry was 'special' as the Cambodian officer put it) while Mr. Khan patiently waited for 45 minutes or so, watching television with some locals at one of the food stands, and when I was done, he zipped me back to the pier. The whole time this all went on, I had an irrational paranoia that I was going to be scammed somehow by Mr. Khan, just because he seemed a bit strange sometimes, and was charging me a price that seemed far too low. But, my paranoia proved groundless, and, when 5 minutes from the pier he picked up a small girl from the side of the street who turned out to be his loving daughter, I realized even more that this was just a nice man, offering me a fair and decent price, and I was grateful. I waved to the girl when she hopped off the motorbike a few minutes later down the road, and she waved with a sweet smile back.
The whole trip from the pier and back was 2 hours! I showed my gratitude to Mr. Khan by paying him 50,000kip instead of the 30,000 he had asked for, as well as a handful of Rambutan fruit (one of my new SE Asian favorites) and a small plastic packet of two cigarettes that I had bought in Vientiane for situations just as this one. He smiled and laughed and seemed quite pleased at the extra tips, and it was a sweet and smooth transaction and morning altogether.
I was back in Don Det by 11am, and after having a nice lunch together, Lies and I decided to take advantage of the afternoon and decided to find the 'Li Phi' waterfalls that were so well known off of Don Khon island, as well as to find 'the beach' that everyone around here talked about. We had a wonderful and relaxing afternoon of taking photos of the impressive waterfalls, followed by some unexpected shopping on my part at the nearby vendor stands for cool gifts and Lao-style pants for myself with Lies as an excellent shopping-support friend, and finally finding 'the
beach' which was a tiny strip of sand at a very small and uniquely calm pool formed just off of the main flow of the Mekong river. We spent hours swimming and wading and talking and drying in the sun sitting on large rocks that jutted out of the river-pool. Other tourists came and went, and knew we'd be coming back here again soon.
That evening after dinner, we shared a chocolate rice-pudding with bananas while cuddling the Santiphab kitties in our laps, and talking with anticipation about our first day of teaching that we would be doing the next day, as well as setting up our private boat from our guesthouse. Nothing but excitement on Don Det!
All went off without a hitch- we drove about 20-25 minutes to the Lao-Cambodian border, I went through a series of offices to leave and re-enter the country (as well as paying $10 more than all the usual fees which I quickly realized was a bribe since my leaving and re-entry was 'special' as the Cambodian officer put it) while Mr. Khan patiently waited for 45 minutes or so, watching television with some locals at one of the food stands, and when I was done, he zipped me back to the pier. The whole time this all went on, I had an irrational paranoia that I was going to be scammed somehow by Mr. Khan, just because he seemed a bit strange sometimes, and was charging me a price that seemed far too low. But, my paranoia proved groundless, and, when 5 minutes from the pier he picked up a small girl from the side of the street who turned out to be his loving daughter, I realized even more that this was just a nice man, offering me a fair and decent price, and I was grateful. I waved to the girl when she hopped off the motorbike a few minutes later down the road, and she waved with a sweet smile back.
The whole trip from the pier and back was 2 hours! I showed my gratitude to Mr. Khan by paying him 50,000kip instead of the 30,000 he had asked for, as well as a handful of Rambutan fruit (one of my new SE Asian favorites) and a small plastic packet of two cigarettes that I had bought in Vientiane for situations just as this one. He smiled and laughed and seemed quite pleased at the extra tips, and it was a sweet and smooth transaction and morning altogether.
I was back in Don Det by 11am, and after having a nice lunch together, Lies and I decided to take advantage of the afternoon and decided to find the 'Li Phi' waterfalls that were so well known off of Don Khon island, as well as to find 'the beach' that everyone around here talked about. We had a wonderful and relaxing afternoon of taking photos of the impressive waterfalls, followed by some unexpected shopping on my part at the nearby vendor stands for cool gifts and Lao-style pants for myself with Lies as an excellent shopping-support friend, and finally finding 'the
beach' which was a tiny strip of sand at a very small and uniquely calm pool formed just off of the main flow of the Mekong river. We spent hours swimming and wading and talking and drying in the sun sitting on large rocks that jutted out of the river-pool. Other tourists came and went, and knew we'd be coming back here again soon.
That evening after dinner, we shared a chocolate rice-pudding with bananas while cuddling the Santiphab kitties in our laps, and talking with anticipation about our first day of teaching that we would be doing the next day, as well as setting up our private boat from our guesthouse. Nothing but excitement on Don Det!
The Committee Meeting
Once we got ourselves settled in our bungalows at Santiphab Guesthouse on Don Det Island in the 4,000 Islands in Laos that Thursday, Lies and I realized it was time to go soon to the teaching site in Ban Tamouang to set up the library of 300 books that Lies had brought after raising money to buy them, and to talk with ''Mr Kamsai" a bit about when we were to get started. When he had picked the books up from us 2 days earlier on his motorbike, he had made a plan to meet us at 1pm on this day, and was going to arrange transportation for us from the pier in Ban Nakasan. We had a quick lunch, and hopped on our rented bicycles to cycle to the pier.
Getting to the village where we would be teaching ''Ban-Tamouang" was quite the process, one that we managed to perfect after a few trips. Initially, we just rode two bicycles from our guesthouse to the main pier which took about 20 minutes, and assuming we could just hop on any boat to go to Ban Nakasang, we went. It turns out we actually had to wait around for quite a while for a boat, people telling us there was no boatman, and not being really clear on what the price would be, etc. After finally finding a boatman, and discovering the price (higher than the usual), we got going, but we were nearly a half an hour late for our pick up time with Mr. Kamsai!
Luckily, Mr. Kamsai is quite patient and good-natured, and was smiling when we got there, and also had a friend with him with another motorbike. So, Lies and I each got on the back of a motorbike, and off we went, to set up the library and see where we would be teaching over the next few weeks. While on the back of my motorbike, somehow in the first few minutes the driver (named Mr. Khan) found out that I needed to cross the Cambodian border in the next few days, and we made a plan in the first 5 minutes of this 20 minute motorbike ride that he would take me the next day on motorbike over the Cambodian border and back- for 30,000kip! (This is only $3.50!) This price was so low, in fact, that it actually made me a bit nervous that I was being set up for something (as I have been getting quite used to having to bargain high prices down to lower more reasonable ones during the past 3 months) but nonetheless, we shook hands on it, and agreed- "9am tomorrow morning, at the pier! 30,000kip! See you then!'
Lies and I thought we were only going to set up books for the library and possibly meet 'Mr Bunchan' the man in charge of our volunteer efforts. As it turned out, we were being taken to a ''Committee Meeting". We were quite surprised when we pulled into a Lao stilted-house driveway, and underneath the house was a table and chairs, with 3 other men sitting quite formally (as formal as one can get in Laos) waiting for us, and then Mr. Kamsai took his seat, put on some reading glasses, and opened a notebook to take notes.
Introductions were made- we went around saying our names and shaking hands, writing out our names on pieces of paper for added clarity. Lies and I snuck a few quick glances at each other acknowledging our mutual surprise at the formality of this unexpected meeting. Everyone was very nice, but unexpected and formal nonetheless! We thought we were going to have a fun afternoon of setting up books and meeting Mr. Bunchan, and now we were seated at a table full of Lao men (with shy children looking on partially hidden from behind beams and stairwells. The man who I thought was the ''Meeting Director" I later learned was actually just the translator. It was funny only realizing this after the fact of the meeting, thinking that he was facilitating the decisions of the committee, when really he was only conveying their unified message. This was only the beginning of my/our confusion.
For two hours, we had a sort of question-answer session (from both sides), establishing how many hours we would teach the children at a time, where we would be teaching, how many students there might be and who are these students anyway? And how many and which days we would be teaching, as well as what subjects we might be covering. We were also trying to explain the concept of the 'library' of books, and trying to explain that we were supposed to set the books up at Mr. Bunchans house and trying to figure out when we were going to be able to do that part, but no one seemed to know what we were talking about, though the massive black suitcase of books was sitting next to us throughout the meeting, and we passed the books around for all to view.
Mind you, all of this was being translated to/between the Lao Committee members and Lies and I by 'The Translator' (I think it was 'Mr. Som Phong'), so what seemed like simple enough logistical dealings that could have taken 20-30 minutes if we all spoke the same language, became quite a confusing and often uncomfortable 2 plus hours meeting.
Mr. Bunchan was our original contact for this project, but he was away for a family health emergency, so, we were basically explaining everything about ourselves for the first time- where we were from, how long we would be there, if we were getting paid to do this, what our teaching experience was, etc.
Another thing that came as a surprise was that while Lies had had it in her mind that she/we would be teaching probably 5 days of the week, Monday-Friday, for perhaps 3-4 hours at a time, after much discussion during the meeting, the guys said we should just teach on Saturdays and Sundays (which, to my amusement, was always stated by the translator as 'on Sunday, and also on Saturday') because while the kids that we would be teaching were currently out of school for the summer, they would need to be helping their parents in the fields during the week, so it was weekends only, unless we could come during the week in the evening time.
Whenever new information came from the Lao committee to the translator, or an answer to a question came from Lies and I to the Lao group, there would be short periods of discussion in separate languages from both groups, and once all had finished conferring, we would come 'back to the table' sometimes aligned, and sometimes not, quicily realizing that we were all on totally different pages, and that much had been 'lost in translation'.
At one point, Lies and I asked ''If we came and taught in the evenings, what time were you thinking this should take place?" A lengthy conference went on in Lao, and when the translator turned to us to share what had been discussed, he said 'The committee has talked, and they have decided that you should stay in Ban Nakasan (at a particular guesthouse I can't remember the name of) so that it will be easier for you to teach during the evenings.'
So, instead of learning what hours they were thinking of for an evening class, or trying to figure out if that would even make sense, or which days we would do it on, we got into a lengthy conversation with them trying to explain that we were quite attached to staying at our Bungalow Guesthouse on Don Det, and that we were not interested in staying on the mainland in Ban Nakasan (where, people seemed quite unfriendly to us and tourists in general so far, not to mention if we taught in the evenings it would only be once or twice a week). Not only this, but the Lao guys continued to insist on this idea of us moving to Ban Nakasan two or even three times before they accepted our insistence on staying in Don Det. The 'conversation' about it was literally us repeating the same exact sentences to them, and them repeating their same exact sentences to us.
Anyhow, the meeting went on and on like this, much confusion and discussion for two and a half hours, through the translator, the committee, and us two foreigners. It was all very friendly and well-intentioned, but definitely quite uncomfortable much of the time due to the language barrier and all of the misunderstandings that came with it. Nonetheless, by the end of the meeting, we had decided that on Saturday, Mr. Kamsai and The Translator would pick us up from the pier at 10:30am to take us to the teaching site in Ban Tamouang to be there by 11am, so Lies and I could have 2 hours to look through the materials she had prepared in advance, and have a chance to discuss a lesson plan that we would teach together to the students. It was also our understanding that we would teach two different groups of students- one total beginner group from 1-2:30pm, and one group that already knew some English from 2:30-4pm, and then be taken back to the pier to take a boat back 'home' to Don Det by Mr. Kamsai and the Translator.
Our unexpected committee meeting was quite exciting and it felt like we accomplished a lot, but it was also quite draining, and we were relieved to get back on the boat to our cozy and relaxing bungalows back on Don Det. We sat on the 20 minute boat ride back to Don Det quite dazed, not really speaking much but occasionally smiling and laughing with what was a shared feeling of exhaustion as well as relief at a surprise meeting well navigated by us two- a mere pair of strangers only two days earlier! We had one day off between this meeting and our first day of teaching, and I had plans to go to Cambodia the next morning to leave and return to Laos to extend my visa. So much was happening in such a short period of time! And though I had no idea what to expect when I signed up to stay in Don Det to teach English to local kids with Lies, it was all exactly what I had been looking for, confusion and all. :)
Getting to the village where we would be teaching ''Ban-Tamouang" was quite the process, one that we managed to perfect after a few trips. Initially, we just rode two bicycles from our guesthouse to the main pier which took about 20 minutes, and assuming we could just hop on any boat to go to Ban Nakasang, we went. It turns out we actually had to wait around for quite a while for a boat, people telling us there was no boatman, and not being really clear on what the price would be, etc. After finally finding a boatman, and discovering the price (higher than the usual), we got going, but we were nearly a half an hour late for our pick up time with Mr. Kamsai!
Luckily, Mr. Kamsai is quite patient and good-natured, and was smiling when we got there, and also had a friend with him with another motorbike. So, Lies and I each got on the back of a motorbike, and off we went, to set up the library and see where we would be teaching over the next few weeks. While on the back of my motorbike, somehow in the first few minutes the driver (named Mr. Khan) found out that I needed to cross the Cambodian border in the next few days, and we made a plan in the first 5 minutes of this 20 minute motorbike ride that he would take me the next day on motorbike over the Cambodian border and back- for 30,000kip! (This is only $3.50!) This price was so low, in fact, that it actually made me a bit nervous that I was being set up for something (as I have been getting quite used to having to bargain high prices down to lower more reasonable ones during the past 3 months) but nonetheless, we shook hands on it, and agreed- "9am tomorrow morning, at the pier! 30,000kip! See you then!'
Lies and I thought we were only going to set up books for the library and possibly meet 'Mr Bunchan' the man in charge of our volunteer efforts. As it turned out, we were being taken to a ''Committee Meeting". We were quite surprised when we pulled into a Lao stilted-house driveway, and underneath the house was a table and chairs, with 3 other men sitting quite formally (as formal as one can get in Laos) waiting for us, and then Mr. Kamsai took his seat, put on some reading glasses, and opened a notebook to take notes.
Introductions were made- we went around saying our names and shaking hands, writing out our names on pieces of paper for added clarity. Lies and I snuck a few quick glances at each other acknowledging our mutual surprise at the formality of this unexpected meeting. Everyone was very nice, but unexpected and formal nonetheless! We thought we were going to have a fun afternoon of setting up books and meeting Mr. Bunchan, and now we were seated at a table full of Lao men (with shy children looking on partially hidden from behind beams and stairwells. The man who I thought was the ''Meeting Director" I later learned was actually just the translator. It was funny only realizing this after the fact of the meeting, thinking that he was facilitating the decisions of the committee, when really he was only conveying their unified message. This was only the beginning of my/our confusion.
For two hours, we had a sort of question-answer session (from both sides), establishing how many hours we would teach the children at a time, where we would be teaching, how many students there might be and who are these students anyway? And how many and which days we would be teaching, as well as what subjects we might be covering. We were also trying to explain the concept of the 'library' of books, and trying to explain that we were supposed to set the books up at Mr. Bunchans house and trying to figure out when we were going to be able to do that part, but no one seemed to know what we were talking about, though the massive black suitcase of books was sitting next to us throughout the meeting, and we passed the books around for all to view.
Mind you, all of this was being translated to/between the Lao Committee members and Lies and I by 'The Translator' (I think it was 'Mr. Som Phong'), so what seemed like simple enough logistical dealings that could have taken 20-30 minutes if we all spoke the same language, became quite a confusing and often uncomfortable 2 plus hours meeting.
Mr. Bunchan was our original contact for this project, but he was away for a family health emergency, so, we were basically explaining everything about ourselves for the first time- where we were from, how long we would be there, if we were getting paid to do this, what our teaching experience was, etc.
Another thing that came as a surprise was that while Lies had had it in her mind that she/we would be teaching probably 5 days of the week, Monday-Friday, for perhaps 3-4 hours at a time, after much discussion during the meeting, the guys said we should just teach on Saturdays and Sundays (which, to my amusement, was always stated by the translator as 'on Sunday, and also on Saturday') because while the kids that we would be teaching were currently out of school for the summer, they would need to be helping their parents in the fields during the week, so it was weekends only, unless we could come during the week in the evening time.
Whenever new information came from the Lao committee to the translator, or an answer to a question came from Lies and I to the Lao group, there would be short periods of discussion in separate languages from both groups, and once all had finished conferring, we would come 'back to the table' sometimes aligned, and sometimes not, quicily realizing that we were all on totally different pages, and that much had been 'lost in translation'.
At one point, Lies and I asked ''If we came and taught in the evenings, what time were you thinking this should take place?" A lengthy conference went on in Lao, and when the translator turned to us to share what had been discussed, he said 'The committee has talked, and they have decided that you should stay in Ban Nakasan (at a particular guesthouse I can't remember the name of) so that it will be easier for you to teach during the evenings.'
So, instead of learning what hours they were thinking of for an evening class, or trying to figure out if that would even make sense, or which days we would do it on, we got into a lengthy conversation with them trying to explain that we were quite attached to staying at our Bungalow Guesthouse on Don Det, and that we were not interested in staying on the mainland in Ban Nakasan (where, people seemed quite unfriendly to us and tourists in general so far, not to mention if we taught in the evenings it would only be once or twice a week). Not only this, but the Lao guys continued to insist on this idea of us moving to Ban Nakasan two or even three times before they accepted our insistence on staying in Don Det. The 'conversation' about it was literally us repeating the same exact sentences to them, and them repeating their same exact sentences to us.
Anyhow, the meeting went on and on like this, much confusion and discussion for two and a half hours, through the translator, the committee, and us two foreigners. It was all very friendly and well-intentioned, but definitely quite uncomfortable much of the time due to the language barrier and all of the misunderstandings that came with it. Nonetheless, by the end of the meeting, we had decided that on Saturday, Mr. Kamsai and The Translator would pick us up from the pier at 10:30am to take us to the teaching site in Ban Tamouang to be there by 11am, so Lies and I could have 2 hours to look through the materials she had prepared in advance, and have a chance to discuss a lesson plan that we would teach together to the students. It was also our understanding that we would teach two different groups of students- one total beginner group from 1-2:30pm, and one group that already knew some English from 2:30-4pm, and then be taken back to the pier to take a boat back 'home' to Don Det by Mr. Kamsai and the Translator.
Our unexpected committee meeting was quite exciting and it felt like we accomplished a lot, but it was also quite draining, and we were relieved to get back on the boat to our cozy and relaxing bungalows back on Don Det. We sat on the 20 minute boat ride back to Don Det quite dazed, not really speaking much but occasionally smiling and laughing with what was a shared feeling of exhaustion as well as relief at a surprise meeting well navigated by us two- a mere pair of strangers only two days earlier! We had one day off between this meeting and our first day of teaching, and I had plans to go to Cambodia the next morning to leave and return to Laos to extend my visa. So much was happening in such a short period of time! And though I had no idea what to expect when I signed up to stay in Don Det to teach English to local kids with Lies, it was all exactly what I had been looking for, confusion and all. :)
Finding a Home in the 4,000 Islands
(The following events in this blog took place around June 7th- I'm a bit behind!)
My new Belgian friend Lies (pronounced 'lease') and I arrived at the Don Det Bungalows in the 4,000 Islands in Southern Laos around 4pm, relieved to finally be at our destination after 26 hours of bus travel. That said, once we checked into our bungalows , which were fine enough for an easy bag drop-off and a good night's sleep, I was not 'feelin it' there, there was not a very good or welcoming energy, it was part of the very touristy part of Don Det, and Lies told me later that the female owner of the place said something negative about the English teaching that we were going to be doing, not to mention, they were 100,000kip per night, which is about $12
(while on this trip, that has started to seem like a lot of money!) I decided that I would go scouting for a new place in the morning, as I wanted to find a place that could really feel like 'home' for the next 2-4 weeks. We had a nice dinner that evening at our guesthouse on the Mekong River, and a good night's sleep.
As soon as I awoke in the morning, I had breakfast and set off to find the nearest bicycle rental place, and got a move on. All we had seen so far was the short walk from the Pier through the touristy area of town the previous evening, a dirt road with guesthouses and restaurants and internet cafes, most with high-powered rock music or house/trance music playing - not my scene! But, I cycled a little further down the road and suddenly the road opened up into countryside farmland, rice fields, and farmers- it was beautiful! I was excited to see more of the ''real" Don Det, and as I cycled through the warm morning sunshine on this wide dirt road, passing water buffalos, farmers, and fluorescent glowing rice grass growing from the puddles and trenches, I felt very happy.
Just as I turned a corner, and realized I was about to cross the bridge from Don Det to the next island, Don Khon (which, I had originally planned on staying at due to its reputation as the 'quieter island') I saw a guesthouse just before the bridge on the right hand side of the road, with a sign advertising the 'Santiphap Guesthouse'. Hmm. It looked interesting, and I seemed to remember the name from my Lonely Planet guidebook- I decided to give it a look before continuing on to Don Khon.
There was a nice young Lao girl there named Meow who I asked how much for a bungalow- she said 60,000 (about $8) per night, and I asked if I could see the place. We walked along the riverside past the guesthouse restaurant, and it was an incredibly peaceful little strip. Another guest swung lazily from her porch hammock, and Meow showed me into bungalow number 4. From the front porch with two hammocks, to the inside of the simple but cozy bungalow, as well as a toilet inside (many bungalows on the island are cheaper than this one but you have to go to an outdoor shared toilet, usually 'squat style'), I knew this place was good. When I showed interest, she said ''I'll give it to you for 50,000 (about $6USd) and I told her I was pretty sure I wanted it but that I just wanted to look on Don Khon(since this idea had been on my mind all along).
That said, I didn't even make it four feet over the bridge on my bicycle when I stopped and realized that I didn't need to look any further- Santiphab was the place. I ran back and said ''Okay, I'll take it! But, I need to get my bag, and I also want to show my friend the place- can you take me on your motorbike, or can I borrow one?"' So- she lent me their motorbike! I was so excited, and could not drive fast enough to find Lies and tell her of our potential new home (I knew I was going to stay there whether or not she came, but, I sure hoped she would love it too!)
I zoomed on the wide country road, feeling even happier than before with a new home on its way, and happy to be on a motorbike again for the first time in a while (and also pleased and impressed with the trust of the girls from Santiphab to lend me their motorbike!) and made my way to the narrower and bumpy-lumpy packed dirt road along all of the homes and guesthouses, going 5-10km/hr until I finally rolled up to our first guesthouse.
Lies was outside at the restaurant finishing her breakfast, and I could barely contain my excitement to tell her about Santiphab. So, she finished her tea while I checked out, packed my stuff, and rode on the motorbike with Lies who carried my backback on her back. It felt quite exciting, and like a mission we were on! I'm not sure quite why, but I really didn't like the Don Det Bungalows, and so while we made our trip to and from the two guesthouses, I couldn't help but have this feeling that we were 'secretly escaping' or something! I think along the way of my travels, certain things have become quite important to me, like, loving the place I stay no matter where I am, and especially if I am going to stay somewhere longer term, it's gotta be good. Also, at Santiphab, we were RIGHT on the river in our bungalows, away from the road, whereas almost all of the other guesthouses on Don Det (and Don Khon) were across the road from the river. It just gave it a very different and incredibly peaceful feel.
So, Lies checked the place out, and she instantly agreed that it was great. I dropped off my bag, and I drove Lies back to the Don Det Bungalows for her to check out and also get her big bag. We are both very sensitive people and often feel guilty or a indebted to strangers when making decisions like this, as if the Don Det Bungalows owner was going to take it personally or be upset with us that we were checking out. . . so, we were relieved when she wasn't around for the check out part. :)
We zoomed back to Santiphab which already felt like home even though we hadn't even stayed a night there, and talked about how excited we were to hang out in our bungalows, and also the fact that we had our first meeting with the English-teaching related contact the next day, and also the fact that I was going to have to cross the Laos-Cambodia border in the next few days in order to extend my visa to stay in Laos longer to do this volunteer teaching. After dropping off Lies's bag in her bungalow, we went up to the stilted house that was the restaurant of Santiphab, and had a cup of tea to celebrate our new home, giggling at our shared excitement over everything relating to our new guesthouse- the mismatched tea cups and saucers, the kitties that were coming to greet us, and the interesting desserts that we were excited to try later that night and over the next few weeks. We had only known each other about 24 hours, but we felt very much aligned on everything so far, which is very good- we were going to be teaching together 2 days later!
My new Belgian friend Lies (pronounced 'lease') and I arrived at the Don Det Bungalows in the 4,000 Islands in Southern Laos around 4pm, relieved to finally be at our destination after 26 hours of bus travel. That said, once we checked into our bungalows , which were fine enough for an easy bag drop-off and a good night's sleep, I was not 'feelin it' there, there was not a very good or welcoming energy, it was part of the very touristy part of Don Det, and Lies told me later that the female owner of the place said something negative about the English teaching that we were going to be doing, not to mention, they were 100,000kip per night, which is about $12
(while on this trip, that has started to seem like a lot of money!) I decided that I would go scouting for a new place in the morning, as I wanted to find a place that could really feel like 'home' for the next 2-4 weeks. We had a nice dinner that evening at our guesthouse on the Mekong River, and a good night's sleep.
As soon as I awoke in the morning, I had breakfast and set off to find the nearest bicycle rental place, and got a move on. All we had seen so far was the short walk from the Pier through the touristy area of town the previous evening, a dirt road with guesthouses and restaurants and internet cafes, most with high-powered rock music or house/trance music playing - not my scene! But, I cycled a little further down the road and suddenly the road opened up into countryside farmland, rice fields, and farmers- it was beautiful! I was excited to see more of the ''real" Don Det, and as I cycled through the warm morning sunshine on this wide dirt road, passing water buffalos, farmers, and fluorescent glowing rice grass growing from the puddles and trenches, I felt very happy.
Just as I turned a corner, and realized I was about to cross the bridge from Don Det to the next island, Don Khon (which, I had originally planned on staying at due to its reputation as the 'quieter island') I saw a guesthouse just before the bridge on the right hand side of the road, with a sign advertising the 'Santiphap Guesthouse'. Hmm. It looked interesting, and I seemed to remember the name from my Lonely Planet guidebook- I decided to give it a look before continuing on to Don Khon.
There was a nice young Lao girl there named Meow who I asked how much for a bungalow- she said 60,000 (about $8) per night, and I asked if I could see the place. We walked along the riverside past the guesthouse restaurant, and it was an incredibly peaceful little strip. Another guest swung lazily from her porch hammock, and Meow showed me into bungalow number 4. From the front porch with two hammocks, to the inside of the simple but cozy bungalow, as well as a toilet inside (many bungalows on the island are cheaper than this one but you have to go to an outdoor shared toilet, usually 'squat style'), I knew this place was good. When I showed interest, she said ''I'll give it to you for 50,000 (about $6USd) and I told her I was pretty sure I wanted it but that I just wanted to look on Don Khon(since this idea had been on my mind all along).
That said, I didn't even make it four feet over the bridge on my bicycle when I stopped and realized that I didn't need to look any further- Santiphab was the place. I ran back and said ''Okay, I'll take it! But, I need to get my bag, and I also want to show my friend the place- can you take me on your motorbike, or can I borrow one?"' So- she lent me their motorbike! I was so excited, and could not drive fast enough to find Lies and tell her of our potential new home (I knew I was going to stay there whether or not she came, but, I sure hoped she would love it too!)
I zoomed on the wide country road, feeling even happier than before with a new home on its way, and happy to be on a motorbike again for the first time in a while (and also pleased and impressed with the trust of the girls from Santiphab to lend me their motorbike!) and made my way to the narrower and bumpy-lumpy packed dirt road along all of the homes and guesthouses, going 5-10km/hr until I finally rolled up to our first guesthouse.
Lies was outside at the restaurant finishing her breakfast, and I could barely contain my excitement to tell her about Santiphab. So, she finished her tea while I checked out, packed my stuff, and rode on the motorbike with Lies who carried my backback on her back. It felt quite exciting, and like a mission we were on! I'm not sure quite why, but I really didn't like the Don Det Bungalows, and so while we made our trip to and from the two guesthouses, I couldn't help but have this feeling that we were 'secretly escaping' or something! I think along the way of my travels, certain things have become quite important to me, like, loving the place I stay no matter where I am, and especially if I am going to stay somewhere longer term, it's gotta be good. Also, at Santiphab, we were RIGHT on the river in our bungalows, away from the road, whereas almost all of the other guesthouses on Don Det (and Don Khon) were across the road from the river. It just gave it a very different and incredibly peaceful feel.
So, Lies checked the place out, and she instantly agreed that it was great. I dropped off my bag, and I drove Lies back to the Don Det Bungalows for her to check out and also get her big bag. We are both very sensitive people and often feel guilty or a indebted to strangers when making decisions like this, as if the Don Det Bungalows owner was going to take it personally or be upset with us that we were checking out. . . so, we were relieved when she wasn't around for the check out part. :)
We zoomed back to Santiphab which already felt like home even though we hadn't even stayed a night there, and talked about how excited we were to hang out in our bungalows, and also the fact that we had our first meeting with the English-teaching related contact the next day, and also the fact that I was going to have to cross the Laos-Cambodia border in the next few days in order to extend my visa to stay in Laos longer to do this volunteer teaching. After dropping off Lies's bag in her bungalow, we went up to the stilted house that was the restaurant of Santiphab, and had a cup of tea to celebrate our new home, giggling at our shared excitement over everything relating to our new guesthouse- the mismatched tea cups and saucers, the kitties that were coming to greet us, and the interesting desserts that we were excited to try later that night and over the next few weeks. We had only known each other about 24 hours, but we felt very much aligned on everything so far, which is very good- we were going to be teaching together 2 days later!
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Bus from Vang Vieng to 4,000 Islands
Traveling through Southeast Asia through ground transportation can be just as much of a cultural experience and just as interesting as any sightseeing that travelers may come here for- in fact, maybe even more so. The bus ride from Vang Vieng to 4,000 Islands is deserving of its very own blog!
So, after being dropped off on the corner to wait for my bus by my Laos Masseuse from her motorbike, a minivan came to pick me up. It made its rounds to various guesthouses, and then all of the backpackers and their backpacks were unloaded at a central office. While we stood on the street for about 20 minutes or so, I listened to an American guy tell stories of his turbulent travels, an accident on a motorbike that rendered him injured, and warnings to those of us listening to 'be careful' in Cambodia, because a friend of his just got kidnapped and held for ransom for two weeks. He said 'Don't let me scare you- I'm sure it will be fine- but my friend just got kidnapped, so be careful.'
Next we are all loaded onto yet another minivan, which takes us to the Vang Vieng bus station. From there, we get out and load ourselves onto a regular bus which will take us from Vang Vieng to Vientiane. This ride was relatively uneventful, and I just read and chatted with other travelers occasionally.
Three or four hours later, we arrived at the Vientiane bus station where we had to wait for about an hour and a half until our 'VIP Sleeper Bus' was to arrive. I ate two bowls of beef noodle soup with two girls from Germany and Austria, and then we boarded our sleeper bus.
It looked pretty nice, and so far, we were all one to a bed, which, would be quite comfortable for one, but would be quite a tight squeeze for two. We all wondered out loud if we might be paired up with strangers, and talked about the potential awkwardness of that, as we were to be sleeping overnight on this bus, but it seemed that all was well and we were on our way. The Scottish guy in the bunk next to mine offered me a Valium, which, I have never taken but I accepted it for 'just in case' the ride turned out to be quite rough.
About 20 minutes later, we stop again, apparently at ANOTHER Vientiane Bus Station, where, our questions and ponderings were answered- indeed, we were to share our bunks. A woman was being shown to my bed, and she and I exchanged worried looks and expressions of discomfort but also politeness. We tried asking the Laos agent if more people were getting on and we could go to separate locations, but, he didn't understand, and just kept pointing for her to get on the bed with me.
We squished in, facing eachother so that when we eventually went to lay down, our feet would be next to each other's heads so as to not be quite so intimate. She seemed nice enough, and we smiled awkwardly, not really exchanging many words. The bus sat there for quite a while, and after I ran out to the shop to buy some last minute snacks, she and I began talking. Sharing the bunk with this woman turned out to be the best thing that could have happened!
My bunkmate is named Lies (pronounced 'Lease' and is from Belgium). When I asked her of her travel plans, she informed me that she was coming to the 4,000 Islands to spend 4 weeks teaching english, setting up a library with 300 books that she bought in Luang Probang from Big Brother Mouse (another volunteer English and book program) from money that she raised herself, as well as trying to implement a sustainable English Class Volunteer Project. I was immediately impressed, curious, and very enthusiastic to hear all about it, and I felt deep pangs in my chest and belly of wanting to be doing something just like this.
I have had an amazing three months so far of travels in Southeast Asia, but I was starting in the past week to hit a point of feeling disheartened and directionless, feeling tired but with energy that needed engaging, and lonely but antisocial, and my plans ahead seemed vague and I did not know what my intention was anymore. Part of my massive busy-ness and athletic activities and wearing-myself-out in Vang Vieng I think is a reflection of htis inner state of mine - I was wanting to accomplish something, to find something, to use up my energy, but was succeeding only in wearing myself out and coming back to the same feeling of directionlessness (and, seeing and experiencing amazing things, but I am talking about my inner landscape here. . .)
Anyhow, Lies was endlessly interesting to talk to, and beyond talking about her project and intentions in the 4,000 Islands, we talked about anything and everything for hours, into the wee hours of the night as the rest of the bus was asleep in the darkness of the night bus. We finally turned in (and turned over) to sleep around 11 or 12pm, and the next time I was awake was about 7am, and I woke to Lies handing me the handwipes that were distributed to us special VIP passengers a bit ago, and informing me that we had been stuck for the past two hours since 5 in the morning, and hadn't gone anywhere.
Through a haze of bus-sleep, I stumbled off the bus in my pajama pants with tootbrush, toothpaste and toilet paper in hand, and went searching for a toilet. We were stopped in front of someone's land and home, where they were letting us trudge back and forth to the hut-covered hole in the ground that was the toilet. I got myself refreshed for the day, and came back smiling, amused at the mini-commune that had been formed in a short period of time of the travelers- people sitting next to the bus on the street, reading, chatting, playing the ukelele and singing, pacing- you name it- as two or three bus drivers/staff worked on the right front wheel of the bus.
After about 40 minutes or so, we were on the road again, and went for quite some time. During this time, I asked Lies if she would possibly want or need some help with her project, and she said absolutely. Inside of a few minutes, our conversation turned into what 'we' would be doing for 'our' project, and also the details of how I could extend my visa and also cancel the flights I had made for a few days later to Thailand- it was quite exciting, and it felt so very right!
After about an hour of discussing details and plans, an English guy named Richard walked up to our bunk and said to Lies 'There is a car outside if you want a seat in it to take us the rest of the way to Pakse'. Apparently, when we were stuck for hours on the side of the road, he had called to get a private car sent by his work, and it wound up meeting us an hour further in our travels. Liese asked if I could come as well, and he said 'Sure!'
So, Lies and I quickly gathered our stuff, and jumped off the bus without haste. We jumped into the hired car, and off we went, speeding down the road, leaving the bus behind in our dust. We were excited at our good fortune, not knowing how long the bus ride would have wound up being, going at a very slow pace, as well as the fact that it might have broken down again (apparently that morning was the second breakdown, though I slept through the first).
We made it to Pakse just a bit later, and Richard was kind enough to take us to the tourist office so I could ask about visa extension, and then wait while we went to the bank to take out a large sum of kip and US dollars, as there is no ATM on the Island of Don Det where we were going, and now I might be staying there for another 2-4 weeks for this project!
Just as we were being taken back to the bus station to find a bus the rest of the way to the islands (another 2 or 3 hours away), we see our first bus pull up, and we realize we can still make our minivan connection with the rest of the passengers. We all get loaded into another minibus where we are taken 5 minutes down the road to the main office, where they tell us 'You have to leave tomorrow. You missed the only minivan that goes to the islands today.' This made for many angry passengers, and after they refunded our money for the minivan portion of the all-inclusive VIP bus ticket, we stepped outside (10 of us) and negotiated with the minibus driver who had taken us to the office, and paid him 70,000kip each to take us the rest of the way to the 4,000 islands.
In the minivan, there was a tv, where the driver put on 'The Scorpions Live in Concert' and the 10 of us rocked out silently. 10 minutes from the pier, we stopped for the sake of Lies, and the library project to drop off her ENORMOUS and HEAVY massive suitcase of books for the project, for the Laos contact who we were to meet with the next day. His name is Mr. Sai, and he was very kind. He arrived on motorbike, and the minibus driver helped us to lift the suitcase of books onto the back of his bike, and strap it around his waist.
It was quite the scene, and I was laughing and snapping photos of it throughout. We made plans with Mr. Sai for the next day to meet at the Pier at 1pm to further discuss plans for the project, and got back into the van. We went the rest of the way to the pier, and paid 15,000 for a slow motorboat across the river to Don Det, one of the two main islands in the 4,000 Islands, found the guesthouse Lies had been planning on, and were happy to have arrived after 26 hours of travel on the road (the same amount of time it took me to fly from America to Thailand when I first left the states 3 months ago!)
We were incredibly tired, but happy, and ready for a good meal and a long night's sleep. The next day we would have our first meeting with Mr. Sai, and the project would begin! I can not believe my good fortune. :)
So, after being dropped off on the corner to wait for my bus by my Laos Masseuse from her motorbike, a minivan came to pick me up. It made its rounds to various guesthouses, and then all of the backpackers and their backpacks were unloaded at a central office. While we stood on the street for about 20 minutes or so, I listened to an American guy tell stories of his turbulent travels, an accident on a motorbike that rendered him injured, and warnings to those of us listening to 'be careful' in Cambodia, because a friend of his just got kidnapped and held for ransom for two weeks. He said 'Don't let me scare you- I'm sure it will be fine- but my friend just got kidnapped, so be careful.'
Next we are all loaded onto yet another minivan, which takes us to the Vang Vieng bus station. From there, we get out and load ourselves onto a regular bus which will take us from Vang Vieng to Vientiane. This ride was relatively uneventful, and I just read and chatted with other travelers occasionally.
Three or four hours later, we arrived at the Vientiane bus station where we had to wait for about an hour and a half until our 'VIP Sleeper Bus' was to arrive. I ate two bowls of beef noodle soup with two girls from Germany and Austria, and then we boarded our sleeper bus.
It looked pretty nice, and so far, we were all one to a bed, which, would be quite comfortable for one, but would be quite a tight squeeze for two. We all wondered out loud if we might be paired up with strangers, and talked about the potential awkwardness of that, as we were to be sleeping overnight on this bus, but it seemed that all was well and we were on our way. The Scottish guy in the bunk next to mine offered me a Valium, which, I have never taken but I accepted it for 'just in case' the ride turned out to be quite rough.
About 20 minutes later, we stop again, apparently at ANOTHER Vientiane Bus Station, where, our questions and ponderings were answered- indeed, we were to share our bunks. A woman was being shown to my bed, and she and I exchanged worried looks and expressions of discomfort but also politeness. We tried asking the Laos agent if more people were getting on and we could go to separate locations, but, he didn't understand, and just kept pointing for her to get on the bed with me.
We squished in, facing eachother so that when we eventually went to lay down, our feet would be next to each other's heads so as to not be quite so intimate. She seemed nice enough, and we smiled awkwardly, not really exchanging many words. The bus sat there for quite a while, and after I ran out to the shop to buy some last minute snacks, she and I began talking. Sharing the bunk with this woman turned out to be the best thing that could have happened!
My bunkmate is named Lies (pronounced 'Lease' and is from Belgium). When I asked her of her travel plans, she informed me that she was coming to the 4,000 Islands to spend 4 weeks teaching english, setting up a library with 300 books that she bought in Luang Probang from Big Brother Mouse (another volunteer English and book program) from money that she raised herself, as well as trying to implement a sustainable English Class Volunteer Project. I was immediately impressed, curious, and very enthusiastic to hear all about it, and I felt deep pangs in my chest and belly of wanting to be doing something just like this.
I have had an amazing three months so far of travels in Southeast Asia, but I was starting in the past week to hit a point of feeling disheartened and directionless, feeling tired but with energy that needed engaging, and lonely but antisocial, and my plans ahead seemed vague and I did not know what my intention was anymore. Part of my massive busy-ness and athletic activities and wearing-myself-out in Vang Vieng I think is a reflection of htis inner state of mine - I was wanting to accomplish something, to find something, to use up my energy, but was succeeding only in wearing myself out and coming back to the same feeling of directionlessness (and, seeing and experiencing amazing things, but I am talking about my inner landscape here. . .)
Anyhow, Lies was endlessly interesting to talk to, and beyond talking about her project and intentions in the 4,000 Islands, we talked about anything and everything for hours, into the wee hours of the night as the rest of the bus was asleep in the darkness of the night bus. We finally turned in (and turned over) to sleep around 11 or 12pm, and the next time I was awake was about 7am, and I woke to Lies handing me the handwipes that were distributed to us special VIP passengers a bit ago, and informing me that we had been stuck for the past two hours since 5 in the morning, and hadn't gone anywhere.
Through a haze of bus-sleep, I stumbled off the bus in my pajama pants with tootbrush, toothpaste and toilet paper in hand, and went searching for a toilet. We were stopped in front of someone's land and home, where they were letting us trudge back and forth to the hut-covered hole in the ground that was the toilet. I got myself refreshed for the day, and came back smiling, amused at the mini-commune that had been formed in a short period of time of the travelers- people sitting next to the bus on the street, reading, chatting, playing the ukelele and singing, pacing- you name it- as two or three bus drivers/staff worked on the right front wheel of the bus.
After about 40 minutes or so, we were on the road again, and went for quite some time. During this time, I asked Lies if she would possibly want or need some help with her project, and she said absolutely. Inside of a few minutes, our conversation turned into what 'we' would be doing for 'our' project, and also the details of how I could extend my visa and also cancel the flights I had made for a few days later to Thailand- it was quite exciting, and it felt so very right!
After about an hour of discussing details and plans, an English guy named Richard walked up to our bunk and said to Lies 'There is a car outside if you want a seat in it to take us the rest of the way to Pakse'. Apparently, when we were stuck for hours on the side of the road, he had called to get a private car sent by his work, and it wound up meeting us an hour further in our travels. Liese asked if I could come as well, and he said 'Sure!'
So, Lies and I quickly gathered our stuff, and jumped off the bus without haste. We jumped into the hired car, and off we went, speeding down the road, leaving the bus behind in our dust. We were excited at our good fortune, not knowing how long the bus ride would have wound up being, going at a very slow pace, as well as the fact that it might have broken down again (apparently that morning was the second breakdown, though I slept through the first).
We made it to Pakse just a bit later, and Richard was kind enough to take us to the tourist office so I could ask about visa extension, and then wait while we went to the bank to take out a large sum of kip and US dollars, as there is no ATM on the Island of Don Det where we were going, and now I might be staying there for another 2-4 weeks for this project!
Just as we were being taken back to the bus station to find a bus the rest of the way to the islands (another 2 or 3 hours away), we see our first bus pull up, and we realize we can still make our minivan connection with the rest of the passengers. We all get loaded into another minibus where we are taken 5 minutes down the road to the main office, where they tell us 'You have to leave tomorrow. You missed the only minivan that goes to the islands today.' This made for many angry passengers, and after they refunded our money for the minivan portion of the all-inclusive VIP bus ticket, we stepped outside (10 of us) and negotiated with the minibus driver who had taken us to the office, and paid him 70,000kip each to take us the rest of the way to the 4,000 islands.
In the minivan, there was a tv, where the driver put on 'The Scorpions Live in Concert' and the 10 of us rocked out silently. 10 minutes from the pier, we stopped for the sake of Lies, and the library project to drop off her ENORMOUS and HEAVY massive suitcase of books for the project, for the Laos contact who we were to meet with the next day. His name is Mr. Sai, and he was very kind. He arrived on motorbike, and the minibus driver helped us to lift the suitcase of books onto the back of his bike, and strap it around his waist.
It was quite the scene, and I was laughing and snapping photos of it throughout. We made plans with Mr. Sai for the next day to meet at the Pier at 1pm to further discuss plans for the project, and got back into the van. We went the rest of the way to the pier, and paid 15,000 for a slow motorboat across the river to Don Det, one of the two main islands in the 4,000 Islands, found the guesthouse Lies had been planning on, and were happy to have arrived after 26 hours of travel on the road (the same amount of time it took me to fly from America to Thailand when I first left the states 3 months ago!)
We were incredibly tired, but happy, and ready for a good meal and a long night's sleep. The next day we would have our first meeting with Mr. Sai, and the project would begin! I can not believe my good fortune. :)
Final 3 days in Vang Vieng
After my full-on first two days of rugged adventuring in Vang Vieng, I decided and determined firmly that on the third day, I was to do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. I mostly did this, and with the help of the rain that poured down on my bungalow's tin roof all night and all morning, I remained in bed for hours after sleeping late, and read my book (during this time in Vang Vieng, I finished 'The Girl in the Picture' an amazing biography about a Vietnamese woman who was a victim of the Vietnam war, and also read the entire autobiography of a Cambodian woman called 'First They Killed my Father.' Both are recommended reading for any and all.)
I ate three meals in the first 4 hours of the day, and didn't leave my guesthouse until the late afternoon. Once in town, I only did some blogging, arranged some travel plans, and got a Lao style massage once again. That evening I had a quiet dinner having excellent conversation of a spiritual nature with a lovely woman from Spain who I had met earlier, and headed to bed around 9pm with a cup of peppermint tea.
The next day, I felt quite recovered, and decided to 'finish' the Vang Vieng loop on a mountain bike. This day was quite lovely, and the ride took about 4-5 hours, including all stops and photo opportunities. I made far fewers stops and detours on this ride, and mostly just took the ride at a slow and easy pace, and at one point helped a little Lao boy get his chain unstuck from his gears, (he gave me the best smile and thumbs-up EVER when I got the chain out and put it back in line) and at another point tried (but failed) to help a little girl unwarp her back bicycle wheel. I also ran into the Belgian and Dutch couple who stayed in the bungalow next to me, who were taking cover from the rain halfway around this loop in a small open-air hut with some locals, where we all talked and ate Lychee Fruit together for 15 minutes or so.
A funny story about this Vang Vieng loop that I succeeded in completing that day was that I was going in the opposite direction as I thought the entire time, which, did not change the terrain or mileage, but definitely served to confuse me when looking at the map to see where I was, or following landmarks. I also had told the Begian and Dutch couple they were going the wrong way, as well as a pack of 8 english and australians on motorbikes. In all cases, it likely did not effect anyone's success in reaching their destinations, but, it certainly did cause some confusion, and the my Belgian neighbor called me out on it hours later back at the guesthouse. We were all quite amused, and I realized that I indeed had NOT 'for once' known where I was going. :)
The next day I was leaving on a bus for the 4,000 Islands, a supposed 10-hour bus ride to the southern tip of Laos. That evening I shared a meal with my spanish friend once again. The next morning I rented a motorbike to make one final trip out to the Organic farm, where I said my goodbye to the goats, the pigs (where the largest fattest pig I have ever seen lives and eats and sleeps), had another tasty organic meal, and found that I had just enough time for one more Lao massage (50,000kip with oil, $6US). I realized I was going to be late for my bus pickup if I didn't figure out some transportation from the massage down to my guesthouse, and then back again to the road where I was to be picked up, so I negotiated with the woman to take me over the bridge and back if I paid for the bridge fee, as well as paying her a bit, and she agreed.
The massage was great, she took me over the bridge and back again with my large backpack in tow, and dropped me off on the corner at the top of the hill at the road again. One minute later, a minivan came to pick me up, and I was off again, leaving Vang Vieng after 5 beautiful and lovely days.
I ate three meals in the first 4 hours of the day, and didn't leave my guesthouse until the late afternoon. Once in town, I only did some blogging, arranged some travel plans, and got a Lao style massage once again. That evening I had a quiet dinner having excellent conversation of a spiritual nature with a lovely woman from Spain who I had met earlier, and headed to bed around 9pm with a cup of peppermint tea.
The next day, I felt quite recovered, and decided to 'finish' the Vang Vieng loop on a mountain bike. This day was quite lovely, and the ride took about 4-5 hours, including all stops and photo opportunities. I made far fewers stops and detours on this ride, and mostly just took the ride at a slow and easy pace, and at one point helped a little Lao boy get his chain unstuck from his gears, (he gave me the best smile and thumbs-up EVER when I got the chain out and put it back in line) and at another point tried (but failed) to help a little girl unwarp her back bicycle wheel. I also ran into the Belgian and Dutch couple who stayed in the bungalow next to me, who were taking cover from the rain halfway around this loop in a small open-air hut with some locals, where we all talked and ate Lychee Fruit together for 15 minutes or so.
A funny story about this Vang Vieng loop that I succeeded in completing that day was that I was going in the opposite direction as I thought the entire time, which, did not change the terrain or mileage, but definitely served to confuse me when looking at the map to see where I was, or following landmarks. I also had told the Begian and Dutch couple they were going the wrong way, as well as a pack of 8 english and australians on motorbikes. In all cases, it likely did not effect anyone's success in reaching their destinations, but, it certainly did cause some confusion, and the my Belgian neighbor called me out on it hours later back at the guesthouse. We were all quite amused, and I realized that I indeed had NOT 'for once' known where I was going. :)
The next day I was leaving on a bus for the 4,000 Islands, a supposed 10-hour bus ride to the southern tip of Laos. That evening I shared a meal with my spanish friend once again. The next morning I rented a motorbike to make one final trip out to the Organic farm, where I said my goodbye to the goats, the pigs (where the largest fattest pig I have ever seen lives and eats and sleeps), had another tasty organic meal, and found that I had just enough time for one more Lao massage (50,000kip with oil, $6US). I realized I was going to be late for my bus pickup if I didn't figure out some transportation from the massage down to my guesthouse, and then back again to the road where I was to be picked up, so I negotiated with the woman to take me over the bridge and back if I paid for the bridge fee, as well as paying her a bit, and she agreed.
The massage was great, she took me over the bridge and back again with my large backpack in tow, and dropped me off on the corner at the top of the hill at the road again. One minute later, a minivan came to pick me up, and I was off again, leaving Vang Vieng after 5 beautiful and lovely days.
Vang Vieng: Organic Mulberry Farm and Caving
After my full day of cycling, caving, and hiking, I was expecting to sleep in, but, I awoke at 5:15am for no reason at all. Ordinarily I would just go back to sleep, but after learning from the Organic Farm that volunteers could help with the goats from 6:30-8:30am, I decided to take advantage of my early wake up by heading over to the farm. I got up, got dressed, and headed out on my bicycle to the farm 5km away.
This was a great day! I met two Lao interns who were working and living on the farm for 3 months as part of their degree from the University in Vientiane in agriculture, and they showed me how to do everything for the next two hours that I would work alongside them.
First, we swept out all (20)of the goat pens (with the goats still inside, which proved sometimes challenging and definitely amusing). This took some time, and then it was time to feed all of the goats. I made many rounds grabbing armloads of greens from a big pile downstairs from the second-level goat pens, stacking them into large round and shallow baskets, and hauling them up the ramp to distribute into the many goat troughs. 'Mr. T' is the Lao owner and founder of this organic farm, and when he saw me hauling these greens back and forth, he gave me a great compliment by remarking 'You are a REAL farmer!', with delight and appreciation in his voice. I thanked him, and told him I was quite happy to be able to participate.
Finally, it was time for the milking of the goats, which I had been looking forward to all morning. I had milked goats long ago at the age of 11 and 12 back when I worked on an organic farm back in Massachusetts as part of a summer program, but that was the last time! I managed to milk one goat in the time that it took the other two interns to milk the other 8 or 10 goats, but, I did it! Kind of like riding a bicycle. . . :)
My duties were done from there, but I asked if I could watch one of the interns prepare the milk to make it into goat cheese, and he showed and explained to me the process. I thanked both of the guys, and went to the farm restaurant, where I ordered a mulberry shake, as well as an omelet with mulberry leaves and goat cheese. It was quite the reward after the mornings' work, complete with the fruits of the farm!
From there, I should have cycled back to my guesthouse and taken a nap, but since I insist on wearing myself out on a regular basis, I decided to continue cycling north to three caves that I had heard about. My logic was that I had already done 5 of the 13km to get there, and I might as well take advantage of my progress on the bike ride out. (It did not, of course, occur to me that I could take a tuk-tuk, or, rent a motorbike later on- no, the challenge was there and I could not escape it!)
It was blazing hot, and I was tired before I even began. Nonetheless, I kept plugging on. I finally reached the tiny village that stood in front of these 3 caves of Hoi, Loup, and Nam, and crossed the bridge over the river to get there. Picturesque and sweet! I visited the Elephant Cave just after the bridge that contains a large Buddha, and lit incense and a candle in an offering. As I was doing so, I was approached by a young Lao guy who offered to take me on a tour. I accepted, but insisted that I needed to fuel my efforts with a meal first at the nearby restaurant. We agreed on 50,000kip for the 3 caves, and he waited while I ate.
Again, I had planned on exploring these caves without a guide as I had brought my headlamp this time, but again, I am so happy that there was a guide, or else I would not have gone very far. The Hoi cave was incredibly long and deep, it took us a full hour to go all the way through it and come back. We were chest deep at one point in cold water, with a tunnel mere inches above our heads. There were many moments during this exploring of this damp, dripping, and beautiful cave where I wondered at the safety of this experience, and marveled at my ability to trust a complete stranger in such a potentially scary circumstance. I also let my mind wander to the idea of my headlamp bulb burning out, and that sort of thing. Luckily, all was well, my guide showed me everything the cave had to offer, and our batteries lasted full strength throughout the hike.
Next, he took me to the Loup Cave, which was much shorter (much to my relief, because it is actually quite tiring walking through mostly dark cave tunnels and wading through cold water, especially after a 13 km bike ride and waking up at 5:15am and working hard at a farm for 2 hours! Are you beginning to get the picture?!) When we came out of the cave, we both sat down at a picnic table where a couple had given us headlamps. I was greatful for a brief respite, but after a few minutes I asked my guide 'So, the 3rd cave?' And he said 'Oh yeah- you should pay me the 50,000 now, but you will go to this cave without me, and the guide there will give you a tube for floating in the cave, and I will pay him 10,000 later.' This seemed strange to me. We had said '3 caves, 50,000', but now the guide was saying he wasn't taking me to the 3rd cave, but I was still paying him the full amount. I was also not so sure that the guide at the next cave wasn't going to charge me, or would even understand my english when I attempted to explain the situaiton.
I asked my guide to at least walk with me to the cave to tell the next guide the situation, and he said no. I asked if I could just pay him 40,000 and pay the next guide the 10,000 myself- he said no. We both kept explaining our separate situations to each other, but in both of our cases, it was like talking to a brick wall. We just repeated ourselves, but in more urging tones each time, and with greater exasperation. When I tried one final time, he looked away from me, stared into his cell phone, and ignored me completely. So I started to walk away, and when I did he looked up with anger and surprise and used quite a mean tone and repeated his litany one more time. So, I paid him the money, frustrated and with tears in my voice and brimming from my eyes, and walked away towards the 3rd and final cave. He and the couple laughed meanly, talking in Lao with frustration about me as I walked away, tears falling from my cheeks.
As I headed into the corn fields that led to this 3rd cave, I realized two things: one, that there were many paths leading into this field and I didn't know which one, and also, that I was totally and completely exhausted. Not just from this day, but from the day before as well- I had overdone it completely, and didn't get enough sleep. The tears that were falling from my eyes and sobs that were starting to come up through my body from the previous conflict/misunderstanding situation with my guide were above and beyond what the situation deserved, and this is how I knew I was done. I turned around, and headed back to the small village, back to the bridge, and back to my bicycle. I tried to hire a tuk-tuk to take me back, but he said I would have to wait an hour. So, I hauled my tired body back home on the bicycle in the late afternoon heat, and returned to the Maylyn guesthouse. That night I had a good meal, a Lao-style massage, and went to bed early.
This was a great day! I met two Lao interns who were working and living on the farm for 3 months as part of their degree from the University in Vientiane in agriculture, and they showed me how to do everything for the next two hours that I would work alongside them.
First, we swept out all (20)of the goat pens (with the goats still inside, which proved sometimes challenging and definitely amusing). This took some time, and then it was time to feed all of the goats. I made many rounds grabbing armloads of greens from a big pile downstairs from the second-level goat pens, stacking them into large round and shallow baskets, and hauling them up the ramp to distribute into the many goat troughs. 'Mr. T' is the Lao owner and founder of this organic farm, and when he saw me hauling these greens back and forth, he gave me a great compliment by remarking 'You are a REAL farmer!', with delight and appreciation in his voice. I thanked him, and told him I was quite happy to be able to participate.
Finally, it was time for the milking of the goats, which I had been looking forward to all morning. I had milked goats long ago at the age of 11 and 12 back when I worked on an organic farm back in Massachusetts as part of a summer program, but that was the last time! I managed to milk one goat in the time that it took the other two interns to milk the other 8 or 10 goats, but, I did it! Kind of like riding a bicycle. . . :)
My duties were done from there, but I asked if I could watch one of the interns prepare the milk to make it into goat cheese, and he showed and explained to me the process. I thanked both of the guys, and went to the farm restaurant, where I ordered a mulberry shake, as well as an omelet with mulberry leaves and goat cheese. It was quite the reward after the mornings' work, complete with the fruits of the farm!
From there, I should have cycled back to my guesthouse and taken a nap, but since I insist on wearing myself out on a regular basis, I decided to continue cycling north to three caves that I had heard about. My logic was that I had already done 5 of the 13km to get there, and I might as well take advantage of my progress on the bike ride out. (It did not, of course, occur to me that I could take a tuk-tuk, or, rent a motorbike later on- no, the challenge was there and I could not escape it!)
It was blazing hot, and I was tired before I even began. Nonetheless, I kept plugging on. I finally reached the tiny village that stood in front of these 3 caves of Hoi, Loup, and Nam, and crossed the bridge over the river to get there. Picturesque and sweet! I visited the Elephant Cave just after the bridge that contains a large Buddha, and lit incense and a candle in an offering. As I was doing so, I was approached by a young Lao guy who offered to take me on a tour. I accepted, but insisted that I needed to fuel my efforts with a meal first at the nearby restaurant. We agreed on 50,000kip for the 3 caves, and he waited while I ate.
Again, I had planned on exploring these caves without a guide as I had brought my headlamp this time, but again, I am so happy that there was a guide, or else I would not have gone very far. The Hoi cave was incredibly long and deep, it took us a full hour to go all the way through it and come back. We were chest deep at one point in cold water, with a tunnel mere inches above our heads. There were many moments during this exploring of this damp, dripping, and beautiful cave where I wondered at the safety of this experience, and marveled at my ability to trust a complete stranger in such a potentially scary circumstance. I also let my mind wander to the idea of my headlamp bulb burning out, and that sort of thing. Luckily, all was well, my guide showed me everything the cave had to offer, and our batteries lasted full strength throughout the hike.
Next, he took me to the Loup Cave, which was much shorter (much to my relief, because it is actually quite tiring walking through mostly dark cave tunnels and wading through cold water, especially after a 13 km bike ride and waking up at 5:15am and working hard at a farm for 2 hours! Are you beginning to get the picture?!) When we came out of the cave, we both sat down at a picnic table where a couple had given us headlamps. I was greatful for a brief respite, but after a few minutes I asked my guide 'So, the 3rd cave?' And he said 'Oh yeah- you should pay me the 50,000 now, but you will go to this cave without me, and the guide there will give you a tube for floating in the cave, and I will pay him 10,000 later.' This seemed strange to me. We had said '3 caves, 50,000', but now the guide was saying he wasn't taking me to the 3rd cave, but I was still paying him the full amount. I was also not so sure that the guide at the next cave wasn't going to charge me, or would even understand my english when I attempted to explain the situaiton.
I asked my guide to at least walk with me to the cave to tell the next guide the situation, and he said no. I asked if I could just pay him 40,000 and pay the next guide the 10,000 myself- he said no. We both kept explaining our separate situations to each other, but in both of our cases, it was like talking to a brick wall. We just repeated ourselves, but in more urging tones each time, and with greater exasperation. When I tried one final time, he looked away from me, stared into his cell phone, and ignored me completely. So I started to walk away, and when I did he looked up with anger and surprise and used quite a mean tone and repeated his litany one more time. So, I paid him the money, frustrated and with tears in my voice and brimming from my eyes, and walked away towards the 3rd and final cave. He and the couple laughed meanly, talking in Lao with frustration about me as I walked away, tears falling from my cheeks.
As I headed into the corn fields that led to this 3rd cave, I realized two things: one, that there were many paths leading into this field and I didn't know which one, and also, that I was totally and completely exhausted. Not just from this day, but from the day before as well- I had overdone it completely, and didn't get enough sleep. The tears that were falling from my eyes and sobs that were starting to come up through my body from the previous conflict/misunderstanding situation with my guide were above and beyond what the situation deserved, and this is how I knew I was done. I turned around, and headed back to the small village, back to the bridge, and back to my bicycle. I tried to hire a tuk-tuk to take me back, but he said I would have to wait an hour. So, I hauled my tired body back home on the bicycle in the late afternoon heat, and returned to the Maylyn guesthouse. That night I had a good meal, a Lao-style massage, and went to bed early.
Exploring Vang Vieng: Day Two
After my arrival to the Maylyn Guesthouse, and delicious swim in the creek behind my bungalow, I walked across the road and rented a town bicycle. Destination: Organic Mulberry Farm.
I bought a map from Hat, and rode my bicycle the 4 or 5 km to the Vang Vieng Organic Farm to check out the scene, and find out about volunteering. It was a fair bicycle ride due to many hills, and I was happy for the exercise after much traveling since leaving Luang Namtha. I ordered a mulberry shake and while drinking it and reading about the farms' volunteer projects, I met a Swiss woman named Juliette, who became my companion for the rest of that evening, as well as breakfast and a bike ride the next morning. We visited the goats and pigs at the farm after our mulberry shakes, and rode our bicycles back into town. We had a lovely dinner that evening at my guesthouse, and a sweet breakfast the next day before she had to leave on a bus to the 4,000 Islands, where I would also be going a few days later.
When we parted ways, I began my day of exploration on a rented mountain bicycle. My intention for the day was to do the 'Vang Vieng Loop', which is a 33km loop around and within the hovering beautiful limestone mountainous formations that make Vang Vieng so beautiful and special. I am determined to do and see everything sometimes, and as a result, I barely made it a quarter of the way around this loop on this day. :)
First I rode on a 2km rocky road to Khan Cave, where I hired a 65-year old Laos guide for 20,000 (who approached me at the mouth of the cave) to take me through the cave. I had planned on exploring everything by myself and not hire guides, but, I am so glad that I hired him, because it is seriously spooky in these caves, and completely dark past the first few feet in. Our tour was about 20 minutes long, ducking and crawling and wading through tunnels with headlamps on in this deep cave. The Lao guide was really sweet and friendly, always warning me to be careful of hitting my head or of slippery spots, and we did our best to converse with what few words we had in common. I gave him a tip of a cigarette (which I had bought strictly for such purposes) which he began smoking as soon as he could find a lighter outside of the cave. We shook hands, I thanked him, and made my way to the next destination.
Next: I did what turned out to be a serious hike up a small mountain a few kilometers further down the road, which you can get to by turning right at the sign for the Pha Ngeun Primary School, and heading down a steep dirt road, duck under a gate, and make your way to the top. Hat from my guesthouse has recommended this hike to me, and it was great! It was a straight-uphill hike for 40 minutes, and ordinarily this is something that I can say 'no sweat' about, but in the humidity of Laos, I was indeed sweating more than ever before in my life! It was quite a challenging hike, but I was rewarded at the top by amazing panoramic views from small straw-roofed huts built by local tribal villages.
When I finally descended the great hill and made my way back to my bicycle, from there I headed to the 'Blue Lagoon.' This is a well-known tourist destination, where travelers are promised clear blue lagoon water, as well as one of the most well-known caves, the 'Poukham Cave'.
The funny thing about trying to get here is that there are signs all over the road advertising various caves, but many of them are fake! I only know this because a local told me to 'watch out' for the wrong destinations, and gave me better instructions to the real Blue Lagoon. I did indeed pass a sign that pointed to the Blue Lagoon, with handwritten words promising a beautiful tourist destination, but as I stood in front of the sign debating if this was the real one or not, and comparing its location against my map, a sympathetic local pointed to the road ahead and said 'Blue Lagoon! 2 kilometers!' and I smiled and thanked him.
I arrived a few minutes later to the Blue Lagoon after passing some restaurants and the 'Shake Shack', and had indeed found a wonderful place to cool off after my many hours of hiking, cycling, and caving. There were many rope swings hanging from a large tree over the crystal blue water, as well as a ladder up to one of the tree branches to jump into the water from. I spent a good hour or so in and out of the water, joining with tourists as well as locals, jumping into the water and swimming.
Next, I walked for 2 minutes to the nearby Poukham Cave, (and climbing a long steep staircase to get there) and explored the large (but not deep) cave. When I climbed the stairway back down, I realized that my legs felt like rubber, and that I was shaking a little bit. I realized that I had been doing a ridiculous amount of exercise in my explorations of the day, and made my way back to my guesthouse, a mere four or five kilometers away from where I had started about five or so hours earlier. It had been a long, full, and rich day, and I had only gone 5km of this 33km loop! I took it easy that night after making my way to town for a 'Whopping Burger' at the well-known Japanese-run-joint (an incredibly satiating meal after my athletic day), and looked forward to the next day of whatever was to be.
I bought a map from Hat, and rode my bicycle the 4 or 5 km to the Vang Vieng Organic Farm to check out the scene, and find out about volunteering. It was a fair bicycle ride due to many hills, and I was happy for the exercise after much traveling since leaving Luang Namtha. I ordered a mulberry shake and while drinking it and reading about the farms' volunteer projects, I met a Swiss woman named Juliette, who became my companion for the rest of that evening, as well as breakfast and a bike ride the next morning. We visited the goats and pigs at the farm after our mulberry shakes, and rode our bicycles back into town. We had a lovely dinner that evening at my guesthouse, and a sweet breakfast the next day before she had to leave on a bus to the 4,000 Islands, where I would also be going a few days later.
When we parted ways, I began my day of exploration on a rented mountain bicycle. My intention for the day was to do the 'Vang Vieng Loop', which is a 33km loop around and within the hovering beautiful limestone mountainous formations that make Vang Vieng so beautiful and special. I am determined to do and see everything sometimes, and as a result, I barely made it a quarter of the way around this loop on this day. :)
First I rode on a 2km rocky road to Khan Cave, where I hired a 65-year old Laos guide for 20,000 (who approached me at the mouth of the cave) to take me through the cave. I had planned on exploring everything by myself and not hire guides, but, I am so glad that I hired him, because it is seriously spooky in these caves, and completely dark past the first few feet in. Our tour was about 20 minutes long, ducking and crawling and wading through tunnels with headlamps on in this deep cave. The Lao guide was really sweet and friendly, always warning me to be careful of hitting my head or of slippery spots, and we did our best to converse with what few words we had in common. I gave him a tip of a cigarette (which I had bought strictly for such purposes) which he began smoking as soon as he could find a lighter outside of the cave. We shook hands, I thanked him, and made my way to the next destination.
Next: I did what turned out to be a serious hike up a small mountain a few kilometers further down the road, which you can get to by turning right at the sign for the Pha Ngeun Primary School, and heading down a steep dirt road, duck under a gate, and make your way to the top. Hat from my guesthouse has recommended this hike to me, and it was great! It was a straight-uphill hike for 40 minutes, and ordinarily this is something that I can say 'no sweat' about, but in the humidity of Laos, I was indeed sweating more than ever before in my life! It was quite a challenging hike, but I was rewarded at the top by amazing panoramic views from small straw-roofed huts built by local tribal villages.
When I finally descended the great hill and made my way back to my bicycle, from there I headed to the 'Blue Lagoon.' This is a well-known tourist destination, where travelers are promised clear blue lagoon water, as well as one of the most well-known caves, the 'Poukham Cave'.
The funny thing about trying to get here is that there are signs all over the road advertising various caves, but many of them are fake! I only know this because a local told me to 'watch out' for the wrong destinations, and gave me better instructions to the real Blue Lagoon. I did indeed pass a sign that pointed to the Blue Lagoon, with handwritten words promising a beautiful tourist destination, but as I stood in front of the sign debating if this was the real one or not, and comparing its location against my map, a sympathetic local pointed to the road ahead and said 'Blue Lagoon! 2 kilometers!' and I smiled and thanked him.
I arrived a few minutes later to the Blue Lagoon after passing some restaurants and the 'Shake Shack', and had indeed found a wonderful place to cool off after my many hours of hiking, cycling, and caving. There were many rope swings hanging from a large tree over the crystal blue water, as well as a ladder up to one of the tree branches to jump into the water from. I spent a good hour or so in and out of the water, joining with tourists as well as locals, jumping into the water and swimming.
Next, I walked for 2 minutes to the nearby Poukham Cave, (and climbing a long steep staircase to get there) and explored the large (but not deep) cave. When I climbed the stairway back down, I realized that my legs felt like rubber, and that I was shaking a little bit. I realized that I had been doing a ridiculous amount of exercise in my explorations of the day, and made my way back to my guesthouse, a mere four or five kilometers away from where I had started about five or so hours earlier. It had been a long, full, and rich day, and I had only gone 5km of this 33km loop! I took it easy that night after making my way to town for a 'Whopping Burger' at the well-known Japanese-run-joint (an incredibly satiating meal after my athletic day), and looked forward to the next day of whatever was to be.
Vang Vieng, Laos: A Beautiful Place
I was warned against Vang Vieng, Laos- I was warned so many times and with the same negative message, that I was mere centimeters away from just skipping it altogether.
The story is that the town has been taken over by tourism, and that on every street, cafes and restaurants full of drunken and drugged-out young tourists can be found, laying in recliner seats, watching episodes of Friends and Family Guy. Nothing else- just these two shows, for some reason. I heard that the locals are not so friendly, most likely due to the fact that the tourists are so terrible as a general rule. The other thing that you hear about is tubing down the Mekong River, which, is the main reason people flood to Vang Vieng. The catch here, too, is that everyone doing this is drinking and stopping at the bars along the river that are feeding these tourists buckets of alcohol, as well as food that prefaced on the menu has the words 'Happy' or 'Ecstatic' in the listing, which indicates some sort(s) of hallucinogenic drugs.
Everything about what I was told is absolutely the truth. But, as I did my research, I also learned that Vang Vieng is beautiful, full of caves, bicycle riding, waterfalls, and great natural beauty. I also learned of an Organic Mulberry Farm where volunteers can come and milk goats and drink mulberry shakes, and I also identified a guesthouse in my Lonely Planet guide called the Maylyn Guesthouse, which is 'away from it all', and quiet. When I was still in Luang Namtha with the Kiwis, I was planning on heading further north when I left the small town. But the day before leaving, a sudden intuition came to me that I should instead head south, and get on the same plane as these guys the next day back to Vientiane, and take the four hour bus ride slightly north to Vang Vieng. So, I followed this intuition, shared a fun flight with the guys, and we parted ways at the airport in Vientiane (though I bumped into them later that evening in Vientiane while they were waiting for their bus! It was quite the coincidence!)
I stayed the night in Vientiane and took the bus the next morning. After a short 3-4 hour bus ride, I had arrived in Vang Vieng. I joined a tuk-tuk full of potential young partiers; they all got off at one guesthouse, and then I had to negotiate with the driver to take me to my 'far-away' guesthouse on the other side of the river. It was only 1-2km away from the center of this touristy centre of town, but there is a fee to pay every time you cross the bridge. So, I paid 20,000kip ($2.50US) to the driver to take me as far as the bridge, and I walked with my large backpack to the other side.
There were two bridges to cross, and as a pedestrian I had to pay 4,000kip to go across and come back. As soon as I got to the bridge, I knew I was already on my way to my home in this town. I had left the blaring town of television, house music, and young travelers walking around mostly-exposed in bikinis and bare-chests and drinking, and was now crossing to the other side, where there were villages of locals, real homes and stores, as well as my guesthouse.
It was a 10-minute walk to my guesthouse, and I was quite happy to arrive. One of the ladies that worked there showed me to a bungalow at the furthest end of the property, which was hidden far back amongst trees, flowery bushes, and gardens. We walked along the stone footpath to the sweetest bungalow with a porch, which overlooked farmland, gardens full of flowers and butterflies, as well as a creek that flowed just below the bungalow. I asked her how much, and she said 60,000kip. That is less than $8US! I could not believe it! I said yes right away with joy bursting out of me, and I felt so lucky and happy to have found this peaceful place- I could not hear a sound or see a sight of any of the tourist madness that was going on just 1km away; all I could hear was the flowing of the water, birds, and insects. So beautiful.
I wandered in the gardens across a little bridge from my bungalow, snapping photos of butterflies, and exploring the terrain. I asked 'Hat', one of the guys working there if it was okay to swim in the creek, and he smiled and told me yes. I went in fully clothed in my dress, and swam for the next half hour in this wonderfully cold and refreshing stream, with Hat smiling down at my obvious enjoyment of the water, knowing that I had found my refuge for however long I decided to stay in Vang Vieng!
The story is that the town has been taken over by tourism, and that on every street, cafes and restaurants full of drunken and drugged-out young tourists can be found, laying in recliner seats, watching episodes of Friends and Family Guy. Nothing else- just these two shows, for some reason. I heard that the locals are not so friendly, most likely due to the fact that the tourists are so terrible as a general rule. The other thing that you hear about is tubing down the Mekong River, which, is the main reason people flood to Vang Vieng. The catch here, too, is that everyone doing this is drinking and stopping at the bars along the river that are feeding these tourists buckets of alcohol, as well as food that prefaced on the menu has the words 'Happy' or 'Ecstatic' in the listing, which indicates some sort(s) of hallucinogenic drugs.
Everything about what I was told is absolutely the truth. But, as I did my research, I also learned that Vang Vieng is beautiful, full of caves, bicycle riding, waterfalls, and great natural beauty. I also learned of an Organic Mulberry Farm where volunteers can come and milk goats and drink mulberry shakes, and I also identified a guesthouse in my Lonely Planet guide called the Maylyn Guesthouse, which is 'away from it all', and quiet. When I was still in Luang Namtha with the Kiwis, I was planning on heading further north when I left the small town. But the day before leaving, a sudden intuition came to me that I should instead head south, and get on the same plane as these guys the next day back to Vientiane, and take the four hour bus ride slightly north to Vang Vieng. So, I followed this intuition, shared a fun flight with the guys, and we parted ways at the airport in Vientiane (though I bumped into them later that evening in Vientiane while they were waiting for their bus! It was quite the coincidence!)
I stayed the night in Vientiane and took the bus the next morning. After a short 3-4 hour bus ride, I had arrived in Vang Vieng. I joined a tuk-tuk full of potential young partiers; they all got off at one guesthouse, and then I had to negotiate with the driver to take me to my 'far-away' guesthouse on the other side of the river. It was only 1-2km away from the center of this touristy centre of town, but there is a fee to pay every time you cross the bridge. So, I paid 20,000kip ($2.50US) to the driver to take me as far as the bridge, and I walked with my large backpack to the other side.
There were two bridges to cross, and as a pedestrian I had to pay 4,000kip to go across and come back. As soon as I got to the bridge, I knew I was already on my way to my home in this town. I had left the blaring town of television, house music, and young travelers walking around mostly-exposed in bikinis and bare-chests and drinking, and was now crossing to the other side, where there were villages of locals, real homes and stores, as well as my guesthouse.
It was a 10-minute walk to my guesthouse, and I was quite happy to arrive. One of the ladies that worked there showed me to a bungalow at the furthest end of the property, which was hidden far back amongst trees, flowery bushes, and gardens. We walked along the stone footpath to the sweetest bungalow with a porch, which overlooked farmland, gardens full of flowers and butterflies, as well as a creek that flowed just below the bungalow. I asked her how much, and she said 60,000kip. That is less than $8US! I could not believe it! I said yes right away with joy bursting out of me, and I felt so lucky and happy to have found this peaceful place- I could not hear a sound or see a sight of any of the tourist madness that was going on just 1km away; all I could hear was the flowing of the water, birds, and insects. So beautiful.
I wandered in the gardens across a little bridge from my bungalow, snapping photos of butterflies, and exploring the terrain. I asked 'Hat', one of the guys working there if it was okay to swim in the creek, and he smiled and told me yes. I went in fully clothed in my dress, and swam for the next half hour in this wonderfully cold and refreshing stream, with Hat smiling down at my obvious enjoyment of the water, knowing that I had found my refuge for however long I decided to stay in Vang Vieng!
Luang Namtha, Muang Sing, and Zuela
Luang Namtha is a small and slow-paced town in the Northwest region of Laos, and after finishing the lunch served by our Gibbon Experience Tour company, the bus to Luang Namtha picked us up from what seemed like the middle of nowhere. Despite how unstructured things appear around here, there is indeed a system and a plan, happening in ways that we travelers do not really know or understand. But- it always seems to work!
I wound up spending three and a half days and five nights in Luang Namtha, and it was a really sweet experience. I stayed at the Zuela guesthouse which I had read about in my Lonely Planet guide, and it was just the perfect place to relax and wind down after 3 days treking and ziplining in the jungle, sleeping on an empty stomach with rats and spiders, sleeping in dark mosquito netting to prevent us from being eaten alive by the mosquitos. The Zuela guesthouse was down a long driveway away from the main road, with swinging chairs, a restaurant with outdoor seating, and a yard of grass and trees that made for a very relaxing and peaceful atmosphere.
The really special thing about traveling is that you just never know what is going to happen, or who you are going to meet. My time in Luang Namtha wound up being defined by three New Zealanders that I met at my guesthouse during my first half an hour after arriving. They were using the single computer at the guesthouse to make travel arrangements, sitting on the floor and all around the desk, and for whatever reason I decided to chat with them while waiting for the person at the front desk to return. We only chatted briefly, but I ran into them many hours later at the night market just across the street- they introduced themselves as Sparky (Marc), Slithers (Kristen) and B.P. (Brian). From then on, we spent most of our waking and active time together, exploring, eating, and laughing.
Brian is Sparky's dad, and Slithers is Sparky's best friend. The three of them made for an incrediby entertaining trio, their dynamic never ending of banter, joking, and silliness. They were also quite a sweet group of men (though they may deny it if they read this) and were quite sensitive both culturally and also in the sense of loving animals, as well as being gentlemanly. At the night market, they had named every single cat and dog which would pass by or hang out with us begging for food, and there were many many animals to be named! These Kiwis were the very laid-back type of traveler who likes to hang out and interact with the locals, and were extremely good at just enjoying wherever they were, and so I found my honorary family and travel companions in them.
The first afternoon I just spent relaxing, reading, meditating, doing some yoga. When I went off to the night market, there were Sparky, Slithers, and Brian, and they invited me to join them for some BBQ'd duck, and BBQ'd chicken. This became our nightly routine, that was actually simply an appetizer to dinner elsewhere each time. It was a great place to relax and participate in the goings-on of the local culture and people-watching, and it is also where I found great love and warmth in the form of a tiny kitten that we named Zuela (after our guesthouse).
Every night we sat around a different table, interacting with our favorite local dogs and cats, one of our favorites being 'Cupid,' a small and spunky black puppy with a heart shaved into the side of his fur. But one night, I saw her- a tiny black silhouette, scavenging for food scraps on the night market ground, with ears and tail bigger than the rest of her, and the silhouette was so tiny that all of my maternal instincts pulled me straight to her form and swooped her into my arms.
I brought her to the table to show the my Kiwi posse, and we all ooh-ed and ah-ed (that's right boys- you DID ooh and ah! Don't deny it! I was definitely the worst, though :) ) I held her in my lap and pet her, and could feel her purring through her protruding ribcage that surrounded her poor little empty stomach. The guys realized that they had seen this kitten the night before, being dropped into a gutter near the convenience store by a Lao woman.
I put Zuela on the table and began feeding her duck. She ate it with great hunger, and was so hungry she did not bother to chew before wolfing down this meal. She was biting my finger accidentally from her monstrous appetite and urgency to eat. I fed her until the remains of the duck were gone, and then fed her water from a bottle cap, which I filled about four times. Then I took her in my arms and she fell asleep on my busom. We were both in a state of deep peace, warmth, and tranquility, and I discussed with the guys what should be done.
In addition to trying to convince me to take this kitten with me further on my travels (which, as much as I wanted to, knew was not a possibility), it was suggested and agreed upon that at the very least, I would take her back to my room that night and let her sleep with me, as I believed that in addition to food, it would be important that this kitten receive warmth, comfort, and nurturing to further strengthen her to continue on her own. I took her back to my room, and fed her most of a pre-cooked hotdog that I had handy, and tried to feed her some milk that I bought for her at the store. Once she had eaten a second time, she had bounds of energy, and was zipping around my room exploring and getting tangled in the curtains. She was also so good as to take a poop in the bathroom next to the toilet and the floor drain! I was impressed.
That night, she slept next to my pillow, and when I awoke in the morning she was on top of my head, and playing with my hair. I moved her to between my chin and chest on my neck so I could sleep longer. When I awoke again later in the morning and removed my sleep-mask, she was laying on my chest and staring at me with big round adorable kitten wonder. I was absolutely smitten.
We went down to the guesthouse for some breakfast, and just as we sat at the outdoor picnic table, the Kiwis appeared, just as they always did, amazingly and coincidentally at the same time, regardless of the hour. They asked after Zuela, and we spent the morning watching her while eating our breakfast, making friends with other guests, and disappearing into the kitchen of the guesthouse restaurant. I felt quite happy, because though I knew I was going to be sad to leave her behind, I could tell that she had already found her home at the Zuela Guesthouse. Hooray!
In addition to my great love for this kitten, I also loved exploring Luang Namtha the town with my New Zealand friends, and we also made a full day trip of a 'cultural tour' to Muang Sing, a neighboring village about a one hour tuk-tuk drive away. We opted for the tuk-tuk instead of a minivan because we believed it would be a 'more authentic' experience, and, indeed it was. It was also quite a long time to be in a tuk-tuk, the ride itself was quite bumpy, and we created a game called the 'Tuk-tuk challenge', which was to be able to fall asleep in the tuk-tuk sitting up while holding on to a handrail through all of the intense bumpiness (this trip began at 6am, so, we were all quite tired). Everyone including our Laos tour guide succeeded in meeting the Tuk-tuk challenge except for me- perhaps it is because I was so busy taking photos of their amazing sleep poses.
In Muang Sing, we went to the morning market, we had Laos style coffee, which is super concentrated coffee brewed through a sock, and then condensed milk is added. Delicious. I usually don't drink caffeine in any form, but I had two of these incredibly delicious beverages. We also had bowls of Beef Pho. Mmm!
We wandered around the market, and then we were taken to a few different villages where we just wandered around, saying hello to locals, and being introduced to various 'Spirit Gates' that were different wooden constructions that either prevented bad spirits from coming into the village, or were welcoming to good spirits. One wasn't a gate, but a SWING for the good spirits to play on! So cool!
We were also taken to a waterfall on a brief hike (where I was the only swimmer in this cold luscious water!), after a picnic lunch which our tour guide and the tuk-tuk driver arranged for us after picking some banana leaves from the woods to create placemats/plates for our food. It was delicious and tasty, and these guys ate lunch and 'broke-bread' with us (or should I say 'broke rice'??), which was especially cool, because in many tourist situations, I have mostly found guides to eat separately or alone, so, we were quite pleased with the feeling of comraderie on this day.
We came back to Luang Namtha tired but happy, and made straight for our night market ritual, followed by amazing Indian food at a restaurant of a man from India, where we saw the largest and most photographable insect. The Indian restaurant owner took notice of us standing in alarm and interest around our dinner table, taking photos of this alien seeming creature, and came straight out and captured it, taking it far away from his fine cuisine.
These are just a handful of highlights from the 3.5 days that I spent in Luang Namtha! It was a great experience, and I think fondly of my time as an honorary member of this Kiwi man-posse, the town, and of course, my dear Zuela, who I hope is warm and safe, sleeping in her new home of the Zuela Guesthouse.
I wound up spending three and a half days and five nights in Luang Namtha, and it was a really sweet experience. I stayed at the Zuela guesthouse which I had read about in my Lonely Planet guide, and it was just the perfect place to relax and wind down after 3 days treking and ziplining in the jungle, sleeping on an empty stomach with rats and spiders, sleeping in dark mosquito netting to prevent us from being eaten alive by the mosquitos. The Zuela guesthouse was down a long driveway away from the main road, with swinging chairs, a restaurant with outdoor seating, and a yard of grass and trees that made for a very relaxing and peaceful atmosphere.
The really special thing about traveling is that you just never know what is going to happen, or who you are going to meet. My time in Luang Namtha wound up being defined by three New Zealanders that I met at my guesthouse during my first half an hour after arriving. They were using the single computer at the guesthouse to make travel arrangements, sitting on the floor and all around the desk, and for whatever reason I decided to chat with them while waiting for the person at the front desk to return. We only chatted briefly, but I ran into them many hours later at the night market just across the street- they introduced themselves as Sparky (Marc), Slithers (Kristen) and B.P. (Brian). From then on, we spent most of our waking and active time together, exploring, eating, and laughing.
Brian is Sparky's dad, and Slithers is Sparky's best friend. The three of them made for an incrediby entertaining trio, their dynamic never ending of banter, joking, and silliness. They were also quite a sweet group of men (though they may deny it if they read this) and were quite sensitive both culturally and also in the sense of loving animals, as well as being gentlemanly. At the night market, they had named every single cat and dog which would pass by or hang out with us begging for food, and there were many many animals to be named! These Kiwis were the very laid-back type of traveler who likes to hang out and interact with the locals, and were extremely good at just enjoying wherever they were, and so I found my honorary family and travel companions in them.
The first afternoon I just spent relaxing, reading, meditating, doing some yoga. When I went off to the night market, there were Sparky, Slithers, and Brian, and they invited me to join them for some BBQ'd duck, and BBQ'd chicken. This became our nightly routine, that was actually simply an appetizer to dinner elsewhere each time. It was a great place to relax and participate in the goings-on of the local culture and people-watching, and it is also where I found great love and warmth in the form of a tiny kitten that we named Zuela (after our guesthouse).
Every night we sat around a different table, interacting with our favorite local dogs and cats, one of our favorites being 'Cupid,' a small and spunky black puppy with a heart shaved into the side of his fur. But one night, I saw her- a tiny black silhouette, scavenging for food scraps on the night market ground, with ears and tail bigger than the rest of her, and the silhouette was so tiny that all of my maternal instincts pulled me straight to her form and swooped her into my arms.
I brought her to the table to show the my Kiwi posse, and we all ooh-ed and ah-ed (that's right boys- you DID ooh and ah! Don't deny it! I was definitely the worst, though :) ) I held her in my lap and pet her, and could feel her purring through her protruding ribcage that surrounded her poor little empty stomach. The guys realized that they had seen this kitten the night before, being dropped into a gutter near the convenience store by a Lao woman.
I put Zuela on the table and began feeding her duck. She ate it with great hunger, and was so hungry she did not bother to chew before wolfing down this meal. She was biting my finger accidentally from her monstrous appetite and urgency to eat. I fed her until the remains of the duck were gone, and then fed her water from a bottle cap, which I filled about four times. Then I took her in my arms and she fell asleep on my busom. We were both in a state of deep peace, warmth, and tranquility, and I discussed with the guys what should be done.
In addition to trying to convince me to take this kitten with me further on my travels (which, as much as I wanted to, knew was not a possibility), it was suggested and agreed upon that at the very least, I would take her back to my room that night and let her sleep with me, as I believed that in addition to food, it would be important that this kitten receive warmth, comfort, and nurturing to further strengthen her to continue on her own. I took her back to my room, and fed her most of a pre-cooked hotdog that I had handy, and tried to feed her some milk that I bought for her at the store. Once she had eaten a second time, she had bounds of energy, and was zipping around my room exploring and getting tangled in the curtains. She was also so good as to take a poop in the bathroom next to the toilet and the floor drain! I was impressed.
That night, she slept next to my pillow, and when I awoke in the morning she was on top of my head, and playing with my hair. I moved her to between my chin and chest on my neck so I could sleep longer. When I awoke again later in the morning and removed my sleep-mask, she was laying on my chest and staring at me with big round adorable kitten wonder. I was absolutely smitten.
We went down to the guesthouse for some breakfast, and just as we sat at the outdoor picnic table, the Kiwis appeared, just as they always did, amazingly and coincidentally at the same time, regardless of the hour. They asked after Zuela, and we spent the morning watching her while eating our breakfast, making friends with other guests, and disappearing into the kitchen of the guesthouse restaurant. I felt quite happy, because though I knew I was going to be sad to leave her behind, I could tell that she had already found her home at the Zuela Guesthouse. Hooray!
In addition to my great love for this kitten, I also loved exploring Luang Namtha the town with my New Zealand friends, and we also made a full day trip of a 'cultural tour' to Muang Sing, a neighboring village about a one hour tuk-tuk drive away. We opted for the tuk-tuk instead of a minivan because we believed it would be a 'more authentic' experience, and, indeed it was. It was also quite a long time to be in a tuk-tuk, the ride itself was quite bumpy, and we created a game called the 'Tuk-tuk challenge', which was to be able to fall asleep in the tuk-tuk sitting up while holding on to a handrail through all of the intense bumpiness (this trip began at 6am, so, we were all quite tired). Everyone including our Laos tour guide succeeded in meeting the Tuk-tuk challenge except for me- perhaps it is because I was so busy taking photos of their amazing sleep poses.
In Muang Sing, we went to the morning market, we had Laos style coffee, which is super concentrated coffee brewed through a sock, and then condensed milk is added. Delicious. I usually don't drink caffeine in any form, but I had two of these incredibly delicious beverages. We also had bowls of Beef Pho. Mmm!
We wandered around the market, and then we were taken to a few different villages where we just wandered around, saying hello to locals, and being introduced to various 'Spirit Gates' that were different wooden constructions that either prevented bad spirits from coming into the village, or were welcoming to good spirits. One wasn't a gate, but a SWING for the good spirits to play on! So cool!
We were also taken to a waterfall on a brief hike (where I was the only swimmer in this cold luscious water!), after a picnic lunch which our tour guide and the tuk-tuk driver arranged for us after picking some banana leaves from the woods to create placemats/plates for our food. It was delicious and tasty, and these guys ate lunch and 'broke-bread' with us (or should I say 'broke rice'??), which was especially cool, because in many tourist situations, I have mostly found guides to eat separately or alone, so, we were quite pleased with the feeling of comraderie on this day.
We came back to Luang Namtha tired but happy, and made straight for our night market ritual, followed by amazing Indian food at a restaurant of a man from India, where we saw the largest and most photographable insect. The Indian restaurant owner took notice of us standing in alarm and interest around our dinner table, taking photos of this alien seeming creature, and came straight out and captured it, taking it far away from his fine cuisine.
These are just a handful of highlights from the 3.5 days that I spent in Luang Namtha! It was a great experience, and I think fondly of my time as an honorary member of this Kiwi man-posse, the town, and of course, my dear Zuela, who I hope is warm and safe, sleeping in her new home of the Zuela Guesthouse.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Gibbon Experience Part Two
I slept incredibly well up in that treehouse in Bokeo! I was asleep by ten, for the first time in I don't know how long, and woke up briefly around 5am, and peeked out of my mosquito netting, to see the entire surrounding jungle enshrouded with early morning fog, and the rising sun. It was quite beautiful!
I think I woke up officially around 8am, when we were all awoken and greeted by the high pitched sound of the zipline being traveled on towards our treehouse- it was our guides with breakfast, and another large kettle of boiling water. :)
We all had a good breakfast, had our morning hot beverages, and then everyone got packing. We zipped out of our treehouse by 9am, and spent the morning hiking until lunchtime, everyone dripping sweat from the heat and intense humidity of the jungle. When we finally arrived at a picnic table in the middle of the jungle next to a waterfall, we were all quite happy to jump into the cold water, and eat a good lunch, and spent an hour or two there just relaxing.
Oh, and, I forgot to mention the leeches. Yeah, leeches! From the ground! The first time I saw one, I didn't know what it was, and thought it was just as strange worm that stood up on its bottom end, reaching up into the sky for some reason. Later on the first day, we discovered that this was a leech sniffing and reaching for its next victim, as most of the east coast guys found these engorged leeches on their ankles and legs in the later afternoon. For some reason, the rest of us were spared this yucky experience, and the east coast guys were the central targets of these devious and sneaky leaches over the rest of the 3 days.
Our pace of hiking throughout this experience was quite fast, and there were many hills to climb along the way. After many more ziplines, we finally made it to our second treehouse. This time, I had a much better hold on the whole ziplining thing, and went off with the Swedish couples to zipline just for the fun of it for the next few hours. It was so much fun! Once I got over the initial fear of jumping off a platform hundreds of feet off the ground and into the abyss of a massive valley, I was really able to enjoy the experience, and was also developing some expertise in how to get all the way to the other side- it's all about becoming as streamlined as possible, laying back, and pointing your feet!
We were all back in the treehouse around 4:30, when our guides dropped off our dinners once again, and said 'See you tomorrow!' and zipped away without a trace. We all commented on the earliness of our dinner, but, we were hungry so we went for it. As we opened the 4-tiered Tiffin, we quickly realized that there was no protein/meat in this meal! Uh-oh! As we looked at our four small tins containing nothing but rice and dark greens, a disappointed silence fell over the group. We exchanged some words, and looks, and with trepidation, dug into our light fare.
As the night progressed, the status of our situation began to slowly but surely deteriorate. We were all still quite hungry after eating our meal, and it was only 6pm. We realized that we had no more hot water for the night unless our guides took pity on us and came back, and as the sun began to go down, we realized we had no electricity in this treehouse. I was the 9th person in a group that was ordinarily only 8 people, so an extra set of mosquito netting was brought for me, but the treehouse had no hooks to hang it by.
Luckily, we had quite a well-equipped group, and some of the guys began attaching their headlamps in high places to provide light for the group to hang out and play cards. Two of the Americans decided to break the rule of 'no zipping at night', and went off with the kettle to a small camping stove we knew to be on the other end of one of the lines into our treehouse. Some of the guys had extra caribeaners and helped me to fashion makeshift attachments to hang my mosquito netting.
Also, a bit earlier, we all had the opportunity to spot some Gibbons, which, while quite far away, were still Gibbons! We all gathered together to look at them and point them out to each other. We felt quite cheerful that we got to see these elusive Gibbons, and it brought more energy to the hungry and tired group.
The guys came back with the boiling water, all of us proud of their accomplishment. All of our tummies rumbled, and without any food, we all tried to fill our bellies with some hot OVALTINE, the only thing we were able to find in the treehouse for food, beyond some pieces of fruit that were meant for the next day, as well as some rice and condensed milk that was leftover. One guy created a new snack by mixing the ovaltine, condensed milk, and rice together, and a few others followed suit.
The previous day, I had taken it upon myself to wash all of the dishes for the group, and didn't ask for any help, and very little help was offered. On this evening, I decided to leave things to chance. As the hours passed in the headlamp-lit dark, the dishes sat on the table as we tried to figure out what card games to play, when someone saw the most gigantic spider in our hut! Some people started getting quite scared, while others grabbed their cameras to photograph the spider. We all agreed that spiders might not be such a big deal, but being in such darkness made it feel a bit creepier. Suddenly, we all hear a rustling sound from the treehouse trashcan- we all turn, and see the head of a rat peeking out at all of us, which quickly disappears as it runs to some unknown destination. The entire group instantly motivates as a unit, and begins cleaning all of the dishes, and despite my distaste at the prospect of the rat, I smile at the motivation that it gave the rest of the group to clean up after itself.
So, now we have found ourselves in the relative darkness, with massive spiders and rats, on empty stomachs after a full day of hiking and ziplining, and pretty much everybody makes their way to bed. We pray collectively that breakfast will bring greater prospects for our final morning of hiking out of the jungle.
The next morning our guides zip in with a yet again limited breakfast, though there is a small amount of eggs that we ration out. We all pack up for the final time, and zip out for our final few hours of the trip.
The last few hours of trekking were made quite quickly and relatively quietly. Despite our hunger, everyone felt pretty good, and was enjoying the final scenery from the jungle, and eventually out into fields and farmland that led us back to our original destination of the small village. As we approached the original riverbed to cross by foot, it felt remarkable that it had been only two days before that we had begun our trip. As we waited in the village for a truck to come pick us up, we saw the new groups getting ready to begin their experience. It was quite amusing, as the difference between those beginning the trek was apparent from those just finishing it- we were all so sweaty, dirty, mosquito bitten, and some healing from their leech-bites.
We had a great trip of it- the whole thing! But we were definitely all ready for a shower, and a good meal. Most people were going to Thailand from there, but myself and a Swedish couple were going to board a short bus ride to Luang Namtha, a small town just two hours northeast of the end of this jungle trek.
I think I woke up officially around 8am, when we were all awoken and greeted by the high pitched sound of the zipline being traveled on towards our treehouse- it was our guides with breakfast, and another large kettle of boiling water. :)
We all had a good breakfast, had our morning hot beverages, and then everyone got packing. We zipped out of our treehouse by 9am, and spent the morning hiking until lunchtime, everyone dripping sweat from the heat and intense humidity of the jungle. When we finally arrived at a picnic table in the middle of the jungle next to a waterfall, we were all quite happy to jump into the cold water, and eat a good lunch, and spent an hour or two there just relaxing.
Oh, and, I forgot to mention the leeches. Yeah, leeches! From the ground! The first time I saw one, I didn't know what it was, and thought it was just as strange worm that stood up on its bottom end, reaching up into the sky for some reason. Later on the first day, we discovered that this was a leech sniffing and reaching for its next victim, as most of the east coast guys found these engorged leeches on their ankles and legs in the later afternoon. For some reason, the rest of us were spared this yucky experience, and the east coast guys were the central targets of these devious and sneaky leaches over the rest of the 3 days.
Our pace of hiking throughout this experience was quite fast, and there were many hills to climb along the way. After many more ziplines, we finally made it to our second treehouse. This time, I had a much better hold on the whole ziplining thing, and went off with the Swedish couples to zipline just for the fun of it for the next few hours. It was so much fun! Once I got over the initial fear of jumping off a platform hundreds of feet off the ground and into the abyss of a massive valley, I was really able to enjoy the experience, and was also developing some expertise in how to get all the way to the other side- it's all about becoming as streamlined as possible, laying back, and pointing your feet!
We were all back in the treehouse around 4:30, when our guides dropped off our dinners once again, and said 'See you tomorrow!' and zipped away without a trace. We all commented on the earliness of our dinner, but, we were hungry so we went for it. As we opened the 4-tiered Tiffin, we quickly realized that there was no protein/meat in this meal! Uh-oh! As we looked at our four small tins containing nothing but rice and dark greens, a disappointed silence fell over the group. We exchanged some words, and looks, and with trepidation, dug into our light fare.
As the night progressed, the status of our situation began to slowly but surely deteriorate. We were all still quite hungry after eating our meal, and it was only 6pm. We realized that we had no more hot water for the night unless our guides took pity on us and came back, and as the sun began to go down, we realized we had no electricity in this treehouse. I was the 9th person in a group that was ordinarily only 8 people, so an extra set of mosquito netting was brought for me, but the treehouse had no hooks to hang it by.
Luckily, we had quite a well-equipped group, and some of the guys began attaching their headlamps in high places to provide light for the group to hang out and play cards. Two of the Americans decided to break the rule of 'no zipping at night', and went off with the kettle to a small camping stove we knew to be on the other end of one of the lines into our treehouse. Some of the guys had extra caribeaners and helped me to fashion makeshift attachments to hang my mosquito netting.
Also, a bit earlier, we all had the opportunity to spot some Gibbons, which, while quite far away, were still Gibbons! We all gathered together to look at them and point them out to each other. We felt quite cheerful that we got to see these elusive Gibbons, and it brought more energy to the hungry and tired group.
The guys came back with the boiling water, all of us proud of their accomplishment. All of our tummies rumbled, and without any food, we all tried to fill our bellies with some hot OVALTINE, the only thing we were able to find in the treehouse for food, beyond some pieces of fruit that were meant for the next day, as well as some rice and condensed milk that was leftover. One guy created a new snack by mixing the ovaltine, condensed milk, and rice together, and a few others followed suit.
The previous day, I had taken it upon myself to wash all of the dishes for the group, and didn't ask for any help, and very little help was offered. On this evening, I decided to leave things to chance. As the hours passed in the headlamp-lit dark, the dishes sat on the table as we tried to figure out what card games to play, when someone saw the most gigantic spider in our hut! Some people started getting quite scared, while others grabbed their cameras to photograph the spider. We all agreed that spiders might not be such a big deal, but being in such darkness made it feel a bit creepier. Suddenly, we all hear a rustling sound from the treehouse trashcan- we all turn, and see the head of a rat peeking out at all of us, which quickly disappears as it runs to some unknown destination. The entire group instantly motivates as a unit, and begins cleaning all of the dishes, and despite my distaste at the prospect of the rat, I smile at the motivation that it gave the rest of the group to clean up after itself.
So, now we have found ourselves in the relative darkness, with massive spiders and rats, on empty stomachs after a full day of hiking and ziplining, and pretty much everybody makes their way to bed. We pray collectively that breakfast will bring greater prospects for our final morning of hiking out of the jungle.
The next morning our guides zip in with a yet again limited breakfast, though there is a small amount of eggs that we ration out. We all pack up for the final time, and zip out for our final few hours of the trip.
The last few hours of trekking were made quite quickly and relatively quietly. Despite our hunger, everyone felt pretty good, and was enjoying the final scenery from the jungle, and eventually out into fields and farmland that led us back to our original destination of the small village. As we approached the original riverbed to cross by foot, it felt remarkable that it had been only two days before that we had begun our trip. As we waited in the village for a truck to come pick us up, we saw the new groups getting ready to begin their experience. It was quite amusing, as the difference between those beginning the trek was apparent from those just finishing it- we were all so sweaty, dirty, mosquito bitten, and some healing from their leech-bites.
We had a great trip of it- the whole thing! But we were definitely all ready for a shower, and a good meal. Most people were going to Thailand from there, but myself and a Swedish couple were going to board a short bus ride to Luang Namtha, a small town just two hours northeast of the end of this jungle trek.
The Gibbon Experience in Bokeo, Laos
The morning of May 24th, I woke up, had breakfast, and made my way over to the office of the 'Gibbon Experience', where I would meet the group I would be traveling with for the next 3 days, as well as
catch our ride a few hours away to our starting point of the trek.
The people in my group wound up consisting of four American guys from the east coast, and two Dutch couples. I rode shotgun in the front seat of the truck, with our Laos driver, with three people in the backseat and the other four stuffed in the back with all of the food and luggage- I was definitely in the most comfortable seat for this two hour bumpy dirt-road ride!
We stopped along the way to grab a few snacks at a small shop, where people started introducing themselves a bit, and I tried my best to use some of the little Lao I know to talk to the locals running the shop. During the truck ride to our final destination, I found a Lao phrasebook and used it to strike up a somewhat contrived and thus amusing conversation with the driver- he appreciated both of these aspects, and we both laughed at my beginner-language questions.
We were dropped off into a small village, where we began our trek. The locals watched us as we got geared up, and we began walking. Our very first minute included walking across a shallow riverbed, and while everyone hesitated to have wet feet for the rest of the day, this was the last time we thought about such things.
We hiked at a steady pace into the jungle, when after a bit we reached another stop, where we were given harnesses for the ziplining. Here we all started to exchange nervous smiles and raised eyebrows at the prospect of the ziplining that was just around the corner. Nobody had done any serious ziplining before, and none of us really knew what to expect.
A few minutes down the road, we were put to the challenge. Each of our individual harnesses hang from a series of wheels in a small metal compartment, with a piece of rubber tire on top to use as a hand brake. We lined up, and when it was time for each person's turn, they had to climb up onto a small wooden platform about five or six feet off the ground, and latch the safety caribbeaner around a big wire loop while waiting for the 'OKAY!!' shout from the other side of the zipline that stretched across a massive valley, so far that the other side could not be seen (hence, the 'OKAY!!' call being necessary). The final step is to clip the wheel contraption around the half-inch thick zipline wire, and when it is time, hold on to the rope that hangs between the wheels and my waist, with the other hand ready on the brake.
When my turn came, I was a bit nervous, but not as bad as I thought I would be! That said, it took a little bit of urging on my own part to take the final step off of the platform (and, eventually, some vocal 'encouragement' of one of the guides. . .'C'mon! Go! Go!') and off I went. I stepped off the platform and zipped across the valley. There was something surreal about it, and it was difficult to fathom how high up I was, or that the quickly passing scenery around me was real. I felt strangely removed from the reality of the experience, but was definitely enjoying it.
When I got to the end of the line and saw the receiving platform attached to a large tree, I started to brake. I wish I hadn't done this, as it meant stopping about 20 feet from the platform, and thus I had to turn around, and drag myself hand-to-hand along the wire, which, was quite exhausting! I didn't really get the hang of making it to the very end until the next day, as I was still a bit nervous, and it was difficult to gauge distance and keep instinctive fear in check. :)
On the other side, everyone chatted about whether or not they made it all the way, offering advice and tips and exchanging feelings of excitement and exhilaration. The rest of the day consisted of about 6 more ziplines, and lots more hiking, when we finally arrived by zipline into our treehouse accommodation for the night around 3 or 4pm, where our guides left us and said 'Have fun ziplining! We'll be back later with dinner!' and off they zipped, into the great unknown of the jungle, reminding me ever so much of Superman.
All of the guys (6 in total) went off ziplining once we had dropped all our stuff off and gotten settled in, but the 3 of us ladies took the opportunity to shower and relax on our mat-beds and read and journaled. It was a fun day, but I was exhausted, and was happy to take a break from more adventuring until the next day!
That evening, around 5:30pm, our Superhero guides zipped into the treehouse, with a 4-leveled Tiffin that carried our hot dinner, as well as a large kettle full of boiling water! We all laughed and remarked on how amazing it was that they were carrying kettles of boiling hot water, when we felt barely equipped to just get to the other side of the ziplines successfully.
We had a good dinner, and spent the rest of the evening chatting, joking around, drinking tea and coffee, and I went to bed early, and fell asleep to the sound of the east coast guys playing cards and joking around in their ever-present banter that was a great source of entertainment for the rest of us throughout the whole trip.
We had a big day ahead of us, and the real question was: were we going to see Gibbons on this trip? Only time would tell...
catch our ride a few hours away to our starting point of the trek.The people in my group wound up consisting of four American guys from the east coast, and two Dutch couples. I rode shotgun in the front seat of the truck, with our Laos driver, with three people in the backseat and the other four stuffed in the back with all of the food and luggage- I was definitely in the most comfortable seat for this two hour bumpy dirt-road ride!
We stopped along the way to grab a few snacks at a small shop, where people started introducing themselves a bit, and I tried my best to use some of the little Lao I know to talk to the locals running the shop. During the truck ride to our final destination, I found a Lao phrasebook and used it to strike up a somewhat contrived and thus amusing conversation with the driver- he appreciated both of these aspects, and we both laughed at my beginner-language questions.
We were dropped off into a small village, where we began our trek. The locals watched us as we got geared up, and we began walking. Our very first minute included walking across a shallow riverbed, and while everyone hesitated to have wet feet for the rest of the day, this was the last time we thought about such things.
We hiked at a steady pace into the jungle, when after a bit we reached another stop, where we were given harnesses for the ziplining. Here we all started to exchange nervous smiles and raised eyebrows at the prospect of the ziplining that was just around the corner. Nobody had done any serious ziplining before, and none of us really knew what to expect.
A few minutes down the road, we were put to the challenge. Each of our individual harnesses hang from a series of wheels in a small metal compartment, with a piece of rubber tire on top to use as a hand brake. We lined up, and when it was time for each person's turn, they had to climb up onto a small wooden platform about five or six feet off the ground, and latch the safety caribbeaner around a big wire loop while waiting for the 'OKAY!!' shout from the other side of the zipline that stretched across a massive valley, so far that the other side could not be seen (hence, the 'OKAY!!' call being necessary). The final step is to clip the wheel contraption around the half-inch thick zipline wire, and when it is time, hold on to the rope that hangs between the wheels and my waist, with the other hand ready on the brake.
When my turn came, I was a bit nervous, but not as bad as I thought I would be! That said, it took a little bit of urging on my own part to take the final step off of the platform (and, eventually, some vocal 'encouragement' of one of the guides. . .'C'mon! Go! Go!') and off I went. I stepped off the platform and zipped across the valley. There was something surreal about it, and it was difficult to fathom how high up I was, or that the quickly passing scenery around me was real. I felt strangely removed from the reality of the experience, but was definitely enjoying it.
When I got to the end of the line and saw the receiving platform attached to a large tree, I started to brake. I wish I hadn't done this, as it meant stopping about 20 feet from the platform, and thus I had to turn around, and drag myself hand-to-hand along the wire, which, was quite exhausting! I didn't really get the hang of making it to the very end until the next day, as I was still a bit nervous, and it was difficult to gauge distance and keep instinctive fear in check. :)
On the other side, everyone chatted about whether or not they made it all the way, offering advice and tips and exchanging feelings of excitement and exhilaration. The rest of the day consisted of about 6 more ziplines, and lots more hiking, when we finally arrived by zipline into our treehouse accommodation for the night around 3 or 4pm, where our guides left us and said 'Have fun ziplining! We'll be back later with dinner!' and off they zipped, into the great unknown of the jungle, reminding me ever so much of Superman.
All of the guys (6 in total) went off ziplining once we had dropped all our stuff off and gotten settled in, but the 3 of us ladies took the opportunity to shower and relax on our mat-beds and read and journaled. It was a fun day, but I was exhausted, and was happy to take a break from more adventuring until the next day!
That evening, around 5:30pm, our Superhero guides zipped into the treehouse, with a 4-leveled Tiffin that carried our hot dinner, as well as a large kettle full of boiling water! We all laughed and remarked on how amazing it was that they were carrying kettles of boiling hot water, when we felt barely equipped to just get to the other side of the ziplines successfully.
We had a good dinner, and spent the rest of the evening chatting, joking around, drinking tea and coffee, and I went to bed early, and fell asleep to the sound of the east coast guys playing cards and joking around in their ever-present banter that was a great source of entertainment for the rest of us throughout the whole trip.
We had a big day ahead of us, and the real question was: were we going to see Gibbons on this trip? Only time would tell...
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