GoBlue

Once again, our group diverged in search of different adventures, and we bring them all to you here using the powers of Blogabond. :) So, while Carl, Viv, Joc, Aaron, and Ben explored Sapa, Christi and I hung out in Luang Prabang, Laos for almost 5 days. I had been especially looking forward to this stop on my trip, and Lao did not disappoint us.

Luang Prabang was just different than anywhere else I've visited on this trip. At first the differences were imperceptible, so I couldn't really identify what was unique about the place. Staying for 4+ days really allowed us to soak up the place, though, and I've tried to gather some impressions.

-- PICTURESQUE. In contrast to Chiang Mai, where we had many fun outdoor/gastronomical/shopping/historical adventures but where the city itself is not especially beautiful, I found Luang Prabang to be really lovely to simply stroll around. It's an accessible small town, occupying a peninsula between the Mekong and Nam Kan rivers, and there's really only two main streets. In addition, it has the status of being a UNESCO World Heritage City, which I presume means there are many restrictions on development. As a result, the low-rise buildings lack the bland architecture we've seen in other parts of SE Asia, and there is a lack of advertising on buildings. Finally, there are still vestiges of French colonial architecture, as well as other French influences, so we ended up finding oodles of quaint shops, guesthouses, cafes, bakeries, and restaurants. There's nothing better than a Lao iced coffee with sweetened condensed milk or a mango fruit shake to refresh you in 90+ degree temperatures!

Nam Kan River, Laos

-- ISOLATED. We explored the town but also did some tours outside of town. Even on those short jaunts, it was amazing to see how mountainous the region is. Originally we meant to reach LP from Northern Thailand via a 2-day river cruise down the Mekong; the same route takes 15 hours to drive. Travel between cities in Laos takes a lot of time and patience for windy, bumpy roads. Along these lines, I was struck by our tour guide on our day of kayaking/elephant riding. He was from one of the local Hmong communities, and for him, Luang Prabang represents "the big city." As we kayaked, he asked me if I had ever been to Hong Kong, and if it is like Luang Prabang. I wasn't quite sure how to answer, knowing that he probably couldn't even comprehend the level of hustle, bustle, and population density of Hong Kong. In Luang Prabang, the most happening bar in town stays open until 11:30.

Lao countryside, south of Luang Prabang

-- FRIENDLY. As I did in Chiang Mai, I found myself letting my guard down in LP. Everywhere we went, people smiled. Even people who wanted to sell to us were remarkably non-pushy. The service was great, our tours did not disappoint, and shopping was a really fun experience.

In addition to these impressions, I wanted to write about our activities (and hopefully post pictures soon). Another special thing about Christi's and my time in Lao is that we met up with no fewer than six other Ross grads. Our friends Neda, Matt, Jeff, and Tanuka (as well as Neda's friend Laura) were on their way through, and we caught them for dinner and drinks at Hive (the very bar that's open until 11:30!) before they left for Thailand. In addition, we spent most of our time there with Karina and Ian, whom Christi traveled with during her Germany semester last year. It was probably the biggest Ross contingent Luang Prabang has ever seen!

On our first day in town, Christi and I wanted to take it easy and get our bearings. So, we did some sightseeing, shopping, and investigating to decide on treks for the upcoming days. We decided to try something a little different, as well, based on guide book recommendations, and headed off to the Lao Red Cross to try their spa treatments. For only $1, we supported their programs and got to try the herbal sauna. Popular among Lao women and men, the sauna promotes good health and skin using 25 different herbs in the steam. Now, why anyone would go in a sauna in 90+ temperatures, I'm not sure... but we bravely headed in anyway!

Luckily, a young Lao woman Deng befriended us, and showed us the ropes (shower in between sessions, wet down your sarong, drink tea now, don't shower after the last session or you'll wash off the herbs, rub your skin with milk, etc.) At first, we were the only "falang" (foreigners) there (two more came before we left), but there were at least 15 Lao. There was a bit of excitement when a ladyboy came in and popped into the men's side of the sauna wearing a sarong and a pink headband. This amounted to a fair amount of confusion when the poor Australian man who arrived after us walked in and right back out, thinking he had read the signs wrong! All in all, Christi and I were completely amused by our so-very-authentic sauna experience. Later that evening before dinner, we took in a performance at the Royal Ballet Theater, which sounds more professional than it actually was, but at least gave us a taste of Lao culture through dance, music, and costumes.

The next day, we ventured out on a Tiger Trails tour to see their Elephant Park Project, ride elephants, and then kayak back to Luang Prabang on the Nam Kan river. The elephants were lovely, and I can only imagine that they are treated better than the ones we saw in Chiang Mai. For starters, they didn't demand bananas and sugar cane every five steps, and the mahouts (elephant trainers) were more gentle as well. The ride was much more peaceful as a result, and we still got to feed Mae Nam (our elephant) at the end.

Now I know how high corn grows...

Kayaking was a blast; although the river was mostly pretty flat, there were a few spots with moving water. What actually made the kayaking so fun was the amount of village life we saw along the way. Every couple hundred meters, there was another herd of water buffalo bathing in the river, or a group of fisherman, or several children splashing around. Everyone we saw waved excitedly, and we shouted greetings of "Sabaidee!" back and forth. After reading so much about unexploded land mines in Lao, I was a bit startled to hear an explosion sound, but it was actually just gunfire from a local hunter up on the hill alongside the river. Our trip took 3.5 hours of paddling, and the only thing we could think to do afterwards was get a $1 massage to soothe our sore muscles!

Christi kayaking

That night, we decided to eat at an outdoor restaurant along the Mekong. Just as we selected the place, there was a dip in the electricity and then... power outage. Like my experience in Cambodia, there were often power dips in the evening, but this time, the power stayed off for at least an hour. It was actually quite amazing how quickly the restaurant lit candles and carried on, managing to cook our entire meal in the dark. (Good thing for natural gas!) The only light other than candlelight came from the headlights of passing motorbikes. I was almost disappointed when the electricity came back on.

Power outage... dinner by candlelight!

Friday was a big day for us, as we ventured to the Pak Ou caves in the morning with stops at local villages along the way. This was a lesson in "you get what you pay for..." we had decided to book a less expensive tour, which meant that our 1 hour longboat ride upriver was in a rickety boat with no real seats and approximately 1 square meter for Christi and I to sit in. As another tourist on our boat said to someone at the dock as we pulled away, "please tell our story if we don't make it back!" Despite a brief stop to re-fuel along the way, we made it to the caves. They are actually somewhat bizzare -- caves right on the Mekong, filled with Buddha shrines. Local children lined the steps up to the upper caves and sold fruit, stones, and other trinkets. Oddly, one girl also had a large black beetle leashed by a string as her pet, and another young girl was playing with her pets, two rodent-like animals (moles?) tied together by their feet. The children were sweet and gentle, but it was sad to see their obvious health problems (a broken or possibly congenitally deformed foot, skin diseases, etc.).

That afternoon, following a lovely lunch at Cafe Vat Sene, I hired a tuk-tuk to visit the Kuang Xi waterfalls. I had just enough time to get there and hike up to see the falls, as well as take a dip in the swimming areas. They were some of the most gorgeous waterfalls I've ever seen -- a tall falls that cascaded down into several pools of clear blue water.

Kuang Xi Falls

more Kuang Xi Falls

Jennie pre-waterfall-swim

On the way back, I stopped at Mount Phousi to climb 300 stairs up just in time to catch the sunset. The view of town, the Mekong, and the sun falling behind the mountains was stunning.

sunset over the Mekong from Mount Phousi

Next stop: L'Elephant, the fanciest restaurant in town, where we splurged on a scrumptious 3-course French/Lao dinner. My tab? About $14, including drinks. Amazing.

On our last morning, Christi and I took a 1/2 day class from OckPopTop, an enterprise that means "east meets west" and employs local women weavers to produce and sell handicrafts in their shops. We learned about weaving and dying silk and even got the chance to create dyes from tamarind, indigo, and sappan wood. Hopefully I'll come up with something creative to do with my hand-dyed silk thread.

Chris and Jen with yellow dye made from tamarind

We checked out of the Sala Prabang and headed to the airport with lots of good memories as well as a few purchases. This is a place I'd happily revisit!

written by

GoBlue on June 17, 2007 from Hanoi, Vietnam

from the travel blog: J-Mac's Junket

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We are back from our 2-day trek into the hill tribe areas around Sa Pa, and it was great! We had very good weather until this morning (when it rained), and the scenery was gorgeous.

I think it was the same route I did years ago when I was here, but it was remarkable how much things have changed. Sa Pa itself is much busier, most notably in the motor bike and car traffic, all of which comes with almost perpetual honking and a good bit of exhaust. Given that tourism seems to be the main economic force here, I think it's extremely unfortunate that this has happened to the city because it really negatively affects the experience. I would expect it to permeate the guidebooks soon. The hill tribe sales forces are also quite aggressive, to the point of harrassment. I might actually be interested in shopping their wares, but I am afraid of what might happen if I show the slightest interest.

Our guide this time was "Pit", and she was a funny girl (19?). She was very light on the educational aspect of the trip, and didn't keep pace with us one of the days, but was relatively pleasant. We were speculating that her general apathy, however, was indicative of the increased tourism in the area. I asked her at one point if she had been the guide for our friends a week earlier (Matt, Neda, Tanuka and Jeff coincidentally used the same company), and she shrugged and said she doesn't remember names - too many people come through. Mai, my guide from 2000, was much better! Nevertheless, she didn't get us lost.

To the highlights, though: the scenery is still fantastic. I am so impressed that they have turned such rugged countryside into productive farmland! The first day was supposedly ~15km long but only took us 3ish hours; the same with the second. There were many other people on the trail the first day, but fewer the second (much more desirable).

I also had the opportunity to work in a paddy - great fun, exclusively because when my back got too tired I could stop. What hard work! I went with Pit and the mother of the household in which we were staying - about a 5 minute walk from the house to a 10-tiered steppe. I learned that the paddies are cut out of the mountain by hand. Each ends up being about 5-6 feet wide and 30-100 feet long. Somehow they flood them, and then water buffalo are used to dredge the inside of the paddy so it's relatively level and well tilled.

The first stage of the process involves spreading rice seeds by hand across the top. The rice then grows in like thick grass. Once it's relatively tall and green, but before it produces rice, it's then pulled by hand and relocated to new paddies with a good bit of space in between each stalk, apparently so it grows better and can be more easily harvested. The replant is the part of the process that I participated in.

On the way to the paddy, we passed some men working on the edge of one of the paddies, and they pulled out of the ground what looked like a 1-foot snake. I asked Pit if it was a snake, and she said no. "Are you sure?" "Yes, it's not a snake." "What is it?" "I don't know the word for it in English." "I do: snake!" We then bantered a little more about maybe it was a leech or a lizard; I maintain snake, she maintained it wasn't a problem, so I put it out of my mind.

We walked around to the far side and then descended along some pretty steep grass, left our sandals on the side, and then stepped into the paddy. The mud was extremely soft, slightly warm, and up to my upper calves/knees. She gave me a bunch of the rice and we got to work. Turns out I'm not a bad rice planter! I required some guidance (my natural instinct was to plant the rice too far apart). She also taught me how to lead with my fingers so that the rice roots are better planted and so the stalks stand up straight. I got the hang of it, though I was very slow - I was planting about 2 feet to her 4.

We did 1 paddy, and then stepped up to the next. The transitions were tricky though, because the boundaries between the paddies are about 8 inches wide and still fairly soft mud. I hopped up relatively readily, but keeping my balance wasn't easy, particularly when part of the wall collapsed. There goes the white girl, into the other paddy, already planted! Fortunately, they were laughing at me as I scrambled out and tried to fix the rice for them. Then I had an incident in which I started to tip again, but instead of stepping into the paddy, reached across the other side with both hands, successfully not falling, but then catching myself in the bridge position with no obvious next move. (I somehow tipped myself up and got out of that one). I think part of my challenge was that I outweigh most of them, plus am obviously not used to flying around on these tiny muddy tracks.

We planted two more half-paddies. Other animal highlights included a large bulbous spider (I kept my cool), and a tangerine size ball of frogs eggs (if I understand the translation correctly). It was quite an experience.

I did the first paddy without too much trouble, then when we turned to the second, decided I could hang if they could. Also managed the third, despite a cramping back. But then I finally had to admit that these tiny women were far stronger than I (I could barely stand up straight), and declined my next batch of rice.

They seemed relatively pleased with my stamina though, and I felt good about contributing a bit. (Though I also felt a good bit of pressure knowing that this was their food we were growing! (All subsitence farming)). Unfortunately there are no pictures of the event - my broken camera was too much for Pit to manage, so I just have the memories. I was given a tradiational hat to wear, though, for those of you trying to picture it!

The rest of the evening was equally eventful, mostly because of the 13 (small) shots of rice wine they "offered" us. Led to some good times, including Aaron renting a duck to chase, then buying it for $10USD, then deciding not to chase it after we learned that it would be eaten the next morning if we did (I had declared myself on the duck's side and was prepared to run active interference). The family (who was leading the drinking) also had a fun toy: a badminton-sized racquet with electric strings that would zap mosquitos when you swung it at them. All in all it was a good time, though the next morning I was feeling a bit sub-par.

(Side note: there have been far fewer mosquitos on the trip than I anticipated. Since we've started, I've gotten about 8 bites, 5 of which were on one of the climbing days in Chiang Mai. So far in Vietnam, 0!)

The next day we walked for another few hours and ended up at a waterfall. The fall itself was relatively short - 12 feet maybe? But the current was quite strong, and initially very cold. We got in, swam closer to the waterfall to get a look at how crazy the kayaking landing would have been (giant rock that you would have nosed right into), and then scouted an area for some cliff jumping. Carl displayed his usual routine of back flips, and I did my usual routine of pencil jumps. Good times. Last night was far more mellow as we all categorically refused the offers of more rice wine.

Today we woke up to clouds and the prospect of a steep climb back up the same trail we had come in on. We opted for the motorbike option instead, which then turned into quite an adventure when the clouds broke into rain. In general, we were going slowly enough that a fall would only have meant mud and a few bruises (we were all riding behind local drivers). Nevertheless, it was quite exciting. One "highlight": we stopped for no apparent reason, then asked Pit what the matter was. "They are building the road" (accompanied by a poof gesture with her hands). "They're dynamiting?!" we clarified incredulously. A minute later: BOOM! from up ahead, as limestone flew into the air in some not so small chunks. We waited for a few more blasts and then continued on our merry way. Note that the communication system between the guy stopping us and the dynamiters was a series of whistles. As I said, quite the adventure. We had originally planned to rent bikes when we returned to Sa Pa and then explore Pit's village, but given the weather we opted out of that in favor of a long internet session!

Next stop: Halong Bay. Fingers crossed for some more good weather - this is a place I have been looking forward to revisiting...

written by

GoBlue on June 17, 2007 from Sa Pa, Vietnam

from the travel blog: Joc's Journeys

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