Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Burma
We're now in Bangkok. Our plan was to come here and see what we could do to get a visa for Burma, thinking it might take a few days to process the application (or that we might not get one at all). We got the visa in two hours - no hassle whatsoever. We booked our flight and we leave for Yangoon tomorrow. We'll be there for two weeks, coming back to Bangkok on January 12. We've heard rumors that there is internet access in Burma now so I may be able to blog from there (that is, if this site isn't blocked). Our rough itinerary is to fly to Mandalay in the north (or somewhere near there) and work our way south over land and by river toward Yangoon. We're both really excited. Everyone, have a very happy new year!
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Pho and Mopeds
I think it's worth a trip to Saigon just to eat pho every breakfast, lunch and dinner and watch the moped brigades clog the streets at rush hour. In the morning and late afternoon, when the brigades are at full strength, the busier streets are flooded with a mass of humanity akin to the chaotic surge and squeeze of the thousands of marathon runners on the Verezano Bridge at the start of the NYC marathon. It is no less a spectacle than seeing the largest mountains in the world.
I realized today that my blog yesterday about the food markets may have been somewhat ambiguous. There are the food markets where raw produce, meats and fish are sold -- that is the kind of market to which I referred yesterday. The other kind of food market which are pervasive throughout asia are those where delicious asian meals like pad thai and pho can be bought for dirt cheap. We've had some of our best meals in the markets, for a mere dollar or two.
I realized today that my blog yesterday about the food markets may have been somewhat ambiguous. There are the food markets where raw produce, meats and fish are sold -- that is the kind of market to which I referred yesterday. The other kind of food market which are pervasive throughout asia are those where delicious asian meals like pad thai and pho can be bought for dirt cheap. We've had some of our best meals in the markets, for a mere dollar or two.
Asia: Markets, Sidewalks, Toilets, Che, Pajamas, Ricefields, Curry and Off-The-Beaten Track
From Nepal to Vietnam there seem to be asiatic trends worth mentioning:
1. The markets -- both indoors and outdoors -- are spectacles. My favorite are the food markets where every variety of food, most of which is simply inedible by anyone with dietary or hygenic standards or of the kind which a compassionate person would never put in their mouth, is sold by hawking vendors, the fetor emanating from the stalls often times too nauseting to linger for long.
2. Most asian cities and towns have no sidewalks on which to walk, Kathmandu being the worst example. You are relegated to the streets where the cars and mopeds blithely zip by at light speed. If there are sidewalks they are usually comandeered by mopeds as a parking lot.
3. Che Guevera's likeness is everywhere -- sides of buildings, walls, mudflaps, t-shirts, etc.. He is the single most popular icon in every country we've traveled (except of course Vietman where Uncle Ho rules supreme). Though, it just occured to me that there has been a decidedly communist theme to our travels: Georgia and Armenia once behind the iron curtain, Laos still communist (though really only on the surface), Vietnam still communist, Cambodia once communist.
4. Erin has already eloquently and exhaustively discussed the differences in the western and asian toilets. All that I will say about the matter is that I appreciate the merit of the asian toilet. Erin doesn't.
5. It is not uncommon to see women (and some men) walk in public, and go about their business in broad daylight and in the evening hours, donning a spiffy set of comfortable pajamas. It amuses Erin to no end. I envy them.
6. The rice paddy is omnipresent. It is harvest time and everywhere you go you see the conical hats of the men and women floating on a sea of ripe rice, brandishing their curved blades, bundling the cut rice, and hauling the bundles to their huts for winnowing. Work in the villages begins at sunrise, then there is usually a break during the midday when the heat is most oppressive, and then back to work in the late afternoon when the light is everywhere red and gold.
7. Curry seems to be the spice common to all asiatic cuisines. The thai do it the best, in my humble opinion. The Cambodians have a tasty version called amuk. The Laos, no matter how urgent the request, refuse to make their curry spicy for the falang, under the provincial impression (mistaken in my case) that the falang does not have the GI fortitude for "local spicy."
8. The SE Asian countries make it really easy for the falang to stay on the beaten track, which most falangs do, but make it really difficult for the falang to wander off it. Transportation becomes much more sketchy, timetables non-existent, roads a lot more rough. But it is definitely worth the sojourn to the netherparts of SE Asia. The people are brillant, much less concerned with the mighty dollar and alot more concerned with hospitality and pleasantness.
1. The markets -- both indoors and outdoors -- are spectacles. My favorite are the food markets where every variety of food, most of which is simply inedible by anyone with dietary or hygenic standards or of the kind which a compassionate person would never put in their mouth, is sold by hawking vendors, the fetor emanating from the stalls often times too nauseting to linger for long.
2. Most asian cities and towns have no sidewalks on which to walk, Kathmandu being the worst example. You are relegated to the streets where the cars and mopeds blithely zip by at light speed. If there are sidewalks they are usually comandeered by mopeds as a parking lot.
3. Che Guevera's likeness is everywhere -- sides of buildings, walls, mudflaps, t-shirts, etc.. He is the single most popular icon in every country we've traveled (except of course Vietman where Uncle Ho rules supreme). Though, it just occured to me that there has been a decidedly communist theme to our travels: Georgia and Armenia once behind the iron curtain, Laos still communist (though really only on the surface), Vietnam still communist, Cambodia once communist.
4. Erin has already eloquently and exhaustively discussed the differences in the western and asian toilets. All that I will say about the matter is that I appreciate the merit of the asian toilet. Erin doesn't.
5. It is not uncommon to see women (and some men) walk in public, and go about their business in broad daylight and in the evening hours, donning a spiffy set of comfortable pajamas. It amuses Erin to no end. I envy them.
6. The rice paddy is omnipresent. It is harvest time and everywhere you go you see the conical hats of the men and women floating on a sea of ripe rice, brandishing their curved blades, bundling the cut rice, and hauling the bundles to their huts for winnowing. Work in the villages begins at sunrise, then there is usually a break during the midday when the heat is most oppressive, and then back to work in the late afternoon when the light is everywhere red and gold.
7. Curry seems to be the spice common to all asiatic cuisines. The thai do it the best, in my humble opinion. The Cambodians have a tasty version called amuk. The Laos, no matter how urgent the request, refuse to make their curry spicy for the falang, under the provincial impression (mistaken in my case) that the falang does not have the GI fortitude for "local spicy."
8. The SE Asian countries make it really easy for the falang to stay on the beaten track, which most falangs do, but make it really difficult for the falang to wander off it. Transportation becomes much more sketchy, timetables non-existent, roads a lot more rough. But it is definitely worth the sojourn to the netherparts of SE Asia. The people are brillant, much less concerned with the mighty dollar and alot more concerned with hospitality and pleasantness.
Ho Chi Minh City
We're now in Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon as everyone still refers to it as), among the bedlam and cacophany of legions of mopeds buzzing to and fro, their drivers donning plastic hats shaped like batters' helmets and who are subservient to no road rule, since they don't really exist, but perfectly in synch with the chaotic flow and rythm of the streets and alleyways. Crossing the road here, like the harried frog in the game of "Frogger," might be the riskiest adventure we've undertaken since we started our trip 3 months ago.
Today we visted the War Remnants Museum where the horrors and attrocities of the Vietnam War are on photographic display. As we walked through the rows and rows of photographs -- which felt more like demonstrative evidence of our crimes -- I have to admit I felt vicariously liable to the hordes of Vietnamese surrounding us, pausing every so often to gain my composure (and to assure myself that I'm not personnally responsible) when overcome with a pang of guilt. While the museum as a whole had a definite air of propaganda, photos don't lie.
Since my last blog from Siem Reap we've traveled to Phnom Penh and Kampot (in Cambodia) then on to Ha Tien (in southern Vietnam Island) and Phu Quoc Island. Cloaked in a veneer of respectability, Phnom Penh was surprisingly more pleasant than we expected, the sordid underbelly apparently hidden from view. Kampot, in southern Cambodia, was delightful. We stayed in a quiet bungalow on the Kampot river and spent one day on a moped exploring a nearby town called Kep, a pleasant beach town on the Gulf of Thailand. We had a delicious lunch of fresh crab drowned in a lemongrass and curry sauce. We were happy to find the Cambodian people in the south, far away from the torrents of tourists stampeding up and down the beaten trail between Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, as friendly as their Lao neighbors.
We crossed the Cambodian/Vietnam border on dusty dirt roads on the backs of mopeds. We stayed a night in a small town on the Vietnam side called Ha Tien (and, to our disappointment, came up really short in our first bid to eat tasty Vietnamese cuisine) and then took a boat out to Phu Quoc Island for the Christmas holidays. It is a lovely island with plenty of seafood to nosh on (though for some reason -- my guess is laziness on the chef's part -- the seafood was always served "as is/was," meaning fully intact, which meant we invariably had to work for our meat, something neither one of us is particularly good at). Our two days on Phu Quoc was the first time since we began our travels that we swam in the ocean and stared out over the sea, sipping cold cocktails (and listening with amusement to bad karaokeed renditions of the christmas carols). We hope to have more beach time on the tail end of our trip.
We'll be in Saigon for another day then we fly back to Bangkok to prepare for the remainder of our trip.
Hope all is well.
Today we visted the War Remnants Museum where the horrors and attrocities of the Vietnam War are on photographic display. As we walked through the rows and rows of photographs -- which felt more like demonstrative evidence of our crimes -- I have to admit I felt vicariously liable to the hordes of Vietnamese surrounding us, pausing every so often to gain my composure (and to assure myself that I'm not personnally responsible) when overcome with a pang of guilt. While the museum as a whole had a definite air of propaganda, photos don't lie.
Since my last blog from Siem Reap we've traveled to Phnom Penh and Kampot (in Cambodia) then on to Ha Tien (in southern Vietnam Island) and Phu Quoc Island. Cloaked in a veneer of respectability, Phnom Penh was surprisingly more pleasant than we expected, the sordid underbelly apparently hidden from view. Kampot, in southern Cambodia, was delightful. We stayed in a quiet bungalow on the Kampot river and spent one day on a moped exploring a nearby town called Kep, a pleasant beach town on the Gulf of Thailand. We had a delicious lunch of fresh crab drowned in a lemongrass and curry sauce. We were happy to find the Cambodian people in the south, far away from the torrents of tourists stampeding up and down the beaten trail between Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, as friendly as their Lao neighbors.
We crossed the Cambodian/Vietnam border on dusty dirt roads on the backs of mopeds. We stayed a night in a small town on the Vietnam side called Ha Tien (and, to our disappointment, came up really short in our first bid to eat tasty Vietnamese cuisine) and then took a boat out to Phu Quoc Island for the Christmas holidays. It is a lovely island with plenty of seafood to nosh on (though for some reason -- my guess is laziness on the chef's part -- the seafood was always served "as is/was," meaning fully intact, which meant we invariably had to work for our meat, something neither one of us is particularly good at). Our two days on Phu Quoc was the first time since we began our travels that we swam in the ocean and stared out over the sea, sipping cold cocktails (and listening with amusement to bad karaokeed renditions of the christmas carols). We hope to have more beach time on the tail end of our trip.
We'll be in Saigon for another day then we fly back to Bangkok to prepare for the remainder of our trip.
Hope all is well.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Phu Quoc Christmas
We're on Phu Quoc Island in southern Vietna - among little vietnamese children dressed in santa suits and Jingle Bells playing on stereos on the beach. Vermicilli and seafood for xmas eve dinner. We just wanted to wish everyone a merry xmas! A lot to report since our last blog - just need a proper keyboard! Merry xmas!
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Siem Reap
We're still in the Reap. Yesterday we rode cruiser bikes to the closer temples, the big hitters, the mother wats. They certainly live up to the billing of 8th Wonder of the World. I won't bore you with a description of each temple but one in particular deserves some PT hyberbole. Ta Prohm. Google it. The still intact stone temples have sucumbed to the mighty grip of enormous trees, many of which found purchase hundreds of years ago (when still saplings) on the roofs of the temples, and as they grew into the towering behemoths they are today their gnarled, thirsty roots, in search of better footing and more nourishing soil below, coiled and twisted around doorframes and bas-reliefs and building stones like the crushing tentacles of a giant squid. The Lonely Planet is as guilty as I in its use of hyperbole when describing a place -- its authors often use words like mythic, mystical, stunning, etc without the least bit of editorial restraint. All those words, however, aptly apply to Ta Prohm (and really to many of the other temples of Angkor).
Today we took a tuk tuk and a longboat to a floating village called Kampong Phhluk on the shores of Tonle Sap, a massive lake that claims millions of acres in the middle of Cambodia. Google it as well. All the huts in the village are built on 25 to 30 foot stilts to account for the huge fluctuation in water levels on the Mekong. Pigs and other animals meant for eating are caged in floating pens.
Other miscellaneous notes:
1) Yesterday I accidentally formated the memory card in my camera and lost about 400 photos dating back to week one in Laos. I was crushed. I did some research online and found some websites advertising software which allows you to recover erased data on a memory card. I pray the software is legit.
2) Tauts. Some tauts will try to sell you just about anything. For example, in Nepal, at 6:00 in the morning, a rickshaw driver accosted me outside of our guesthouse and the following conversation took place:
Him: Rickshaw?
Me: No thank you.
Him: Trek, take you to Everest, see big mountain?
Me: No.
Him: Hash?
Me: Sorry.
Him: Laundry
Me (I shake my head with a smile and walk away)
Him: Where you from?
Me: America.
Him: Rickshaw?
Other tauts will try to sell you something you clearly don't need. For example, yesterday while riding our bikes a tuk tuk driver yelled: "Tuk tuk, where you go?"
Other tauts will use clever lines to lure you into buying their stuff. For example, today Erin and I walked towards a few roadside stands to get a drink and 4 young girls came sprinting towards us, screaming and carrying on. When we decided to buy a coke and a sprite from one of the girls, another girl who lost out on the sale looked at me, half wistfully, half bitterly, and said with a mocked anguish: "But my name is Suanna?"
3) Way too many Cambodians are missing appendages. Eventually this place will be fully de-mined.
4) Fish foot therapy. In SE Asia, and particularly here, massage parlors have big fish tanks on the ground (holding thousands of gallons of water and huge schools of little fish) in which you place your feet for the fish to nibble on.
5) Today we ran into a woman selling a basket full of deep-fried tarantulas. I was tempted.
Tomorrow we leave for the world capitol of depravity -- Phnom Pehn. We stay there a night and then head south by bus to Kampot, a small town in Southern Cambodia.
Hope all is well.
Today we took a tuk tuk and a longboat to a floating village called Kampong Phhluk on the shores of Tonle Sap, a massive lake that claims millions of acres in the middle of Cambodia. Google it as well. All the huts in the village are built on 25 to 30 foot stilts to account for the huge fluctuation in water levels on the Mekong. Pigs and other animals meant for eating are caged in floating pens.
Other miscellaneous notes:
1) Yesterday I accidentally formated the memory card in my camera and lost about 400 photos dating back to week one in Laos. I was crushed. I did some research online and found some websites advertising software which allows you to recover erased data on a memory card. I pray the software is legit.
2) Tauts. Some tauts will try to sell you just about anything. For example, in Nepal, at 6:00 in the morning, a rickshaw driver accosted me outside of our guesthouse and the following conversation took place:
Him: Rickshaw?
Me: No thank you.
Him: Trek, take you to Everest, see big mountain?
Me: No.
Him: Hash?
Me: Sorry.
Him: Laundry
Me (I shake my head with a smile and walk away)
Him: Where you from?
Me: America.
Him: Rickshaw?
Other tauts will try to sell you something you clearly don't need. For example, yesterday while riding our bikes a tuk tuk driver yelled: "Tuk tuk, where you go?"
Other tauts will use clever lines to lure you into buying their stuff. For example, today Erin and I walked towards a few roadside stands to get a drink and 4 young girls came sprinting towards us, screaming and carrying on. When we decided to buy a coke and a sprite from one of the girls, another girl who lost out on the sale looked at me, half wistfully, half bitterly, and said with a mocked anguish: "But my name is Suanna?"
3) Way too many Cambodians are missing appendages. Eventually this place will be fully de-mined.
4) Fish foot therapy. In SE Asia, and particularly here, massage parlors have big fish tanks on the ground (holding thousands of gallons of water and huge schools of little fish) in which you place your feet for the fish to nibble on.
5) Today we ran into a woman selling a basket full of deep-fried tarantulas. I was tempted.
Tomorrow we leave for the world capitol of depravity -- Phnom Pehn. We stay there a night and then head south by bus to Kampot, a small town in Southern Cambodia.
Hope all is well.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Post-Mortem On Lao and Intro to Cambodia
We're now in Siem Reap, Cambodia, the home of the temples of Angkor. After our first day here Erin and I already long for the laid-back, don't-give-a-shit-about-a-thing attitude of the Lao. Literally, as soon as you cross the border the scammers, hustlers, cantankerous tuk tuk drivers, and the absolutely-cannot-take-no-for-an-answer tauts descend upon you like Sancho Pancito pouncing on anything resembling food (including your fingers and forearms and sometimes toes).
Today we spent the day visiting some of the further afield temples of Angkor. For those of you unfamilar with the temples (as I was before I arrived here), most of them were built in the 10th century (I think) by the Khmer. They are spread out over some 20 to 30 square kilometers, and collectively they are referred to as the 8th Wonder of the World (I think). We saw 3 temples today. Each was different and all were impressive. Tomorrow we plan to rent bikes and ride to the closer temples.
Erin and I already miss Laos. For me, taking into consideration all the factors one could use to judge the likeability of a country -- natural landscape, people, food, culture, safety, etc. -- Laos ranks high in every category. The landscape, while not all that diverse, is stunning, the people are the friendiest I've come across in all my travels, the food is good (not as good as Thai), the culture is fascinating, and Laos may very well be the safest place I've ever been to (hopefully it stays that way). Erin and I would definitely like to return one day.
We whiled away our last few days in Laos (mostly swaying in hammocks and sweating profusely) on the island of Don Dhet in the Four Thousand Islands, where I think experiments are being actively conducted to breed a colony of catatonics. The Islands are near the Cambodian border, where the Mekong swells several kilometers wide like the bloated belly of a sated snake. In the languid muddy waters surrounding the islands resides a small pod of the extremely rare Irrawaddy River Dolphin. One day we hired a longboat to take us where the dolphins are most often viewed -- from a sweltering rock in the middle of a wide bay, with Laos on one side and Cambodia on the other -- hoping to catch a glimpse of one. We were lucky to see a few. Though they never got any closer to us than maybe 300 yards or so (wierdly, they seemed to have had an affinity for the Cambodian side of the bay, which can't be held against them), it was exciting nevertheless.
Final few notes on Laos:
1) Like the Chinese, the Lao will eat anything. Barbecued rats on a stick, fried grasshopers, flying ants, full-bodied frog stew, etc.
2) You rarely see old people but the country is teeming with small children (who are the cutest kids on the planet, bar none).
3) Riding a moped is family affair. We've spotted a mother, father, and their 3 kids piled onto a single moped.
Hope all is well.
Today we spent the day visiting some of the further afield temples of Angkor. For those of you unfamilar with the temples (as I was before I arrived here), most of them were built in the 10th century (I think) by the Khmer. They are spread out over some 20 to 30 square kilometers, and collectively they are referred to as the 8th Wonder of the World (I think). We saw 3 temples today. Each was different and all were impressive. Tomorrow we plan to rent bikes and ride to the closer temples.
Erin and I already miss Laos. For me, taking into consideration all the factors one could use to judge the likeability of a country -- natural landscape, people, food, culture, safety, etc. -- Laos ranks high in every category. The landscape, while not all that diverse, is stunning, the people are the friendiest I've come across in all my travels, the food is good (not as good as Thai), the culture is fascinating, and Laos may very well be the safest place I've ever been to (hopefully it stays that way). Erin and I would definitely like to return one day.
We whiled away our last few days in Laos (mostly swaying in hammocks and sweating profusely) on the island of Don Dhet in the Four Thousand Islands, where I think experiments are being actively conducted to breed a colony of catatonics. The Islands are near the Cambodian border, where the Mekong swells several kilometers wide like the bloated belly of a sated snake. In the languid muddy waters surrounding the islands resides a small pod of the extremely rare Irrawaddy River Dolphin. One day we hired a longboat to take us where the dolphins are most often viewed -- from a sweltering rock in the middle of a wide bay, with Laos on one side and Cambodia on the other -- hoping to catch a glimpse of one. We were lucky to see a few. Though they never got any closer to us than maybe 300 yards or so (wierdly, they seemed to have had an affinity for the Cambodian side of the bay, which can't be held against them), it was exciting nevertheless.
Final few notes on Laos:
1) Like the Chinese, the Lao will eat anything. Barbecued rats on a stick, fried grasshopers, flying ants, full-bodied frog stew, etc.
2) You rarely see old people but the country is teeming with small children (who are the cutest kids on the planet, bar none).
3) Riding a moped is family affair. We've spotted a mother, father, and their 3 kids piled onto a single moped.
Hope all is well.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
More Miscellaneous Lao Items
We're now in Central Laos, in a town called Tha Khaek. I wasn't expecting much of the town - it is more or less a place to layover for the night before we head south tomorrow -- but it is actually quite lovely. Nestled on the banks of the Mekong, with a palm-tree esplanade, and, of course, the slow-moving Lao people doing much of nothing -- it'll be a nice place to see the sunset and eat some more curry.
Here are some more tidbits from the last few days:
1. Tree Snake: We did a hike to a cave outside of Vang Vieng, on a trail that cuts through rice fields and a teak forest. In the woods we heard a noise in the tree. I looked up and saw the tail of a snake twirling on the outside of a gnarled trunk of a teak tree, the rest of its body burrowed in a hole in the tree. Moment later two large rodents came scurrying down the trunk, running for their lives. Later we came back the same way and the snake was still there, this time its entire body coiled around a higher branch. He was lime-green, about 6 feet long, surveying his environs in a creepy serpentine way. Beautiful creature.
2. Venetiene: The capitol of Laos -- felt more like a sleepy provincial town, with a heavy dose of French influence. I could have spent more time there but we are now moving a little more quickly so we have more time in other countries.
3. Kong Lor Cave: From Vientienne we took a chicken bus to a small village called Vieng Kham, then transfered to a sawngthaew (essentially a pickup truck with two parallel benches in the bed of the truck, on which can be squeezed, like clowns in a volkswagon, about 20 people) to a village called Ban Na Him. From there we took another sawngthaew to the Kong Lor Cave. The main chamber of the cave is 7.5 kilometers long; it starts on one side of a mountain and ends on the other. There is a river that runs through the cave, the entire length of which is navigable by longboat. Our boatsman manning the helm was our One-Eyed Willy. I don't know how he lost his eye and I don't want to know. The trip down the river was like traveling through the intestines of a whale, with the Mystery Machine, along with Scooby, Shaggy and the rest of the gang, waiting for us on the other end. The scoured and scalloped ceiling varied in height -- anywhere from 5 feet over our head to who knows how high. It was truly unlike anything I've ever experienced.
4. School Fundraising Event. Erin and I, along with a Canadian we met on the bus to Ban Na Him, went to a party in the village being held to raise funds to add another room to the school house in the village. There was heavy imbibing of alcohol by the locals and Lao dancing, which must be seen to believe. It is exactly what you'd expect Lao dancing to look like -- no lower body movement whatsoever, just the ever so slow movement of the hands in a twirling motion and some swaying back in forth. We, of course, being the only falangs (Lao word for "westerner") there, were forced to dance. I actually felt, for the first time in my life, somewhat competent on the dance floor (despite the laughing of the Laos who I think we're amused not just by the novelty of falangs dancing Lao-style but also by our impressive, graceful hand movements).
5. UXO. There is still unexploded ordnance in rural areas in northern, central and southern laos, graciously dropped by american planes during bombing raids in the late 60s and early 70s. It bothers me to no end to think that our bombs are still killing Lao people -- these people don't deserve that. They are so pleasant it almost seems Leave-it-to-Beaveresque unreal. On our drive in the sawngthaew to and from the cave yesterday farmers in the rice fields would stop their work to stand up and wave to us. Virtually every child playing on the side of the road or riding a bike or standing naked on the threshold of a bamboo hut would pause and wave and scream "Sabidee." There are three kids standing outside of the internet place right now greeting me with a hearty "Sabidee." I pray modernization, which is starting to leak in (and could come swooping in soon), and the devouring dollar of the falang, does not change these delightful people.
6. Four Thousand Islands: We're headed to southern Laos tomorrow, towards the Four Thousand Islands of the Mekong River, on the border of Cambodia. We've heard its even more slow-paced and somnolent than the rest of Laos. I look forward to it.
Hope all is well.
I think I need to say again -- Laos is a special
Here are some more tidbits from the last few days:
1. Tree Snake: We did a hike to a cave outside of Vang Vieng, on a trail that cuts through rice fields and a teak forest. In the woods we heard a noise in the tree. I looked up and saw the tail of a snake twirling on the outside of a gnarled trunk of a teak tree, the rest of its body burrowed in a hole in the tree. Moment later two large rodents came scurrying down the trunk, running for their lives. Later we came back the same way and the snake was still there, this time its entire body coiled around a higher branch. He was lime-green, about 6 feet long, surveying his environs in a creepy serpentine way. Beautiful creature.
2. Venetiene: The capitol of Laos -- felt more like a sleepy provincial town, with a heavy dose of French influence. I could have spent more time there but we are now moving a little more quickly so we have more time in other countries.
3. Kong Lor Cave: From Vientienne we took a chicken bus to a small village called Vieng Kham, then transfered to a sawngthaew (essentially a pickup truck with two parallel benches in the bed of the truck, on which can be squeezed, like clowns in a volkswagon, about 20 people) to a village called Ban Na Him. From there we took another sawngthaew to the Kong Lor Cave. The main chamber of the cave is 7.5 kilometers long; it starts on one side of a mountain and ends on the other. There is a river that runs through the cave, the entire length of which is navigable by longboat. Our boatsman manning the helm was our One-Eyed Willy. I don't know how he lost his eye and I don't want to know. The trip down the river was like traveling through the intestines of a whale, with the Mystery Machine, along with Scooby, Shaggy and the rest of the gang, waiting for us on the other end. The scoured and scalloped ceiling varied in height -- anywhere from 5 feet over our head to who knows how high. It was truly unlike anything I've ever experienced.
4. School Fundraising Event. Erin and I, along with a Canadian we met on the bus to Ban Na Him, went to a party in the village being held to raise funds to add another room to the school house in the village. There was heavy imbibing of alcohol by the locals and Lao dancing, which must be seen to believe. It is exactly what you'd expect Lao dancing to look like -- no lower body movement whatsoever, just the ever so slow movement of the hands in a twirling motion and some swaying back in forth. We, of course, being the only falangs (Lao word for "westerner") there, were forced to dance. I actually felt, for the first time in my life, somewhat competent on the dance floor (despite the laughing of the Laos who I think we're amused not just by the novelty of falangs dancing Lao-style but also by our impressive, graceful hand movements).
5. UXO. There is still unexploded ordnance in rural areas in northern, central and southern laos, graciously dropped by american planes during bombing raids in the late 60s and early 70s. It bothers me to no end to think that our bombs are still killing Lao people -- these people don't deserve that. They are so pleasant it almost seems Leave-it-to-Beaveresque unreal. On our drive in the sawngthaew to and from the cave yesterday farmers in the rice fields would stop their work to stand up and wave to us. Virtually every child playing on the side of the road or riding a bike or standing naked on the threshold of a bamboo hut would pause and wave and scream "Sabidee." There are three kids standing outside of the internet place right now greeting me with a hearty "Sabidee." I pray modernization, which is starting to leak in (and could come swooping in soon), and the devouring dollar of the falang, does not change these delightful people.
6. Four Thousand Islands: We're headed to southern Laos tomorrow, towards the Four Thousand Islands of the Mekong River, on the border of Cambodia. We've heard its even more slow-paced and somnolent than the rest of Laos. I look forward to it.
Hope all is well.
I think I need to say again -- Laos is a special
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Miscellaneous Lao Items
We are now in a town called Vang Vieng. Beautiful but strange. The town caters to the party scene, and thus attracts a slew of kids looking for a safe place to drink and dabble with drugs. They serve "Happy Shakes" here (no need to say more). There are bars with beds and tvs looping "Friends" and "The Family Guy" episodes all night long. We leave tomorrow for Venetiene, the capitol of Laos.
Some miscellaneous bits:
1. Monk Parade: Every morning in Luang Prabang the monks wake at 5:30 am. The drums at each of the dozens of monasteries in town begin to beat at 6:00 am, at which time the tangerine-robed monks come out of the monasteries in single file, hundreds of them. The townfolk are already up, kneeling on mats on the streets with food (mainly sticky rice) to offer to the monks. The monks carry a gold jar around their necks and as they walk through the town the people put food in their jars. If the monks have too much food they give back to people who are need (who also kneel on the streets with empty containers). It was quite moving.
2. Trip to Nong Khiaw. We, along with a Dane and French couple we met in Luang Prabang (Anis and Laila) took a small long-boat up a small tributary of the Mekong to village called Nong Khiaw. The boat ride was long but worth it. The tributary winds through quite villages and towering karsts that resemble Marge Simpson's hairdo. The mountains in Laos are quite stunning -- they'd be the perfect backdrop for the next King Kong movie.
3. Cave outside of Nong Khiaw. We went to cave outside Nong Khiaw where the Lao and Vietnamese villagers hid during American bombing raids between 1965 and 1974. A Lao teenager told us many Lao people in his village died from the bombing. Erin said "sorry" then said "we're Canadian." Very sad. It's hard to believe anyone would want to kill a Lao. They are some unbelievably friendly, quick to smile, quick to say "Sabidee" ("hello" in Lao), and are so gentle. Love the Lao.
4. River Life. Northern Laos is laced with rivers, big and small. They are the life-blood of the Lao people. It is where they fish, bath, wash their clothes, brush their teeth, pan for gold, harvest seaweed, move goods to market, move themselves around, swim etc. etc.
5. Paul in Lao means "papa."
6. Roadside Oral Surgery. On the bus ride between Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng I saw a young Lao child lying on a dentist chair on the side of the road, his mouth obediently open, while two western dentists in scrubs performed oral surgery and virtually the entire village stood around the chair watching, agog.
7. Orange Motor Scooter. Erin and I rented a motor scooter today and drove over dirt roads through villages and beautiful karst scenery. Went to another limestone cave -- they are everywhere -- with ceilings at least two hundred feet high and stalagmites and tites growing from the floor and ceiling like crystal brain coral. There was a reclining gold Buddha in the main room awash with sunlight radiating through the cave mouth.
8. Slow. This entire country is in slow motion. I don't think I've been on, or seen, a vehicle with two wheels go faster than 40 mph, and I have yet to see a Lao person in a hurry to do anything. A very nice change of pace.
9. Anis and Laila. A lovely couple residing in Copenhagen. In the words of Anis, we had a number of "cozy" nights together on the banks of the Mekong, the Nam Ou, and the Nam Khan. We hope to see them again someday.
10. We are still really enjoying Laos. I don't look forward to leaving it.
Some miscellaneous bits:
1. Monk Parade: Every morning in Luang Prabang the monks wake at 5:30 am. The drums at each of the dozens of monasteries in town begin to beat at 6:00 am, at which time the tangerine-robed monks come out of the monasteries in single file, hundreds of them. The townfolk are already up, kneeling on mats on the streets with food (mainly sticky rice) to offer to the monks. The monks carry a gold jar around their necks and as they walk through the town the people put food in their jars. If the monks have too much food they give back to people who are need (who also kneel on the streets with empty containers). It was quite moving.
2. Trip to Nong Khiaw. We, along with a Dane and French couple we met in Luang Prabang (Anis and Laila) took a small long-boat up a small tributary of the Mekong to village called Nong Khiaw. The boat ride was long but worth it. The tributary winds through quite villages and towering karsts that resemble Marge Simpson's hairdo. The mountains in Laos are quite stunning -- they'd be the perfect backdrop for the next King Kong movie.
3. Cave outside of Nong Khiaw. We went to cave outside Nong Khiaw where the Lao and Vietnamese villagers hid during American bombing raids between 1965 and 1974. A Lao teenager told us many Lao people in his village died from the bombing. Erin said "sorry" then said "we're Canadian." Very sad. It's hard to believe anyone would want to kill a Lao. They are some unbelievably friendly, quick to smile, quick to say "Sabidee" ("hello" in Lao), and are so gentle. Love the Lao.
4. River Life. Northern Laos is laced with rivers, big and small. They are the life-blood of the Lao people. It is where they fish, bath, wash their clothes, brush their teeth, pan for gold, harvest seaweed, move goods to market, move themselves around, swim etc. etc.
5. Paul in Lao means "papa."
6. Roadside Oral Surgery. On the bus ride between Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng I saw a young Lao child lying on a dentist chair on the side of the road, his mouth obediently open, while two western dentists in scrubs performed oral surgery and virtually the entire village stood around the chair watching, agog.
7. Orange Motor Scooter. Erin and I rented a motor scooter today and drove over dirt roads through villages and beautiful karst scenery. Went to another limestone cave -- they are everywhere -- with ceilings at least two hundred feet high and stalagmites and tites growing from the floor and ceiling like crystal brain coral. There was a reclining gold Buddha in the main room awash with sunlight radiating through the cave mouth.
8. Slow. This entire country is in slow motion. I don't think I've been on, or seen, a vehicle with two wheels go faster than 40 mph, and I have yet to see a Lao person in a hurry to do anything. A very nice change of pace.
9. Anis and Laila. A lovely couple residing in Copenhagen. In the words of Anis, we had a number of "cozy" nights together on the banks of the Mekong, the Nam Ou, and the Nam Khan. We hope to see them again someday.
10. We are still really enjoying Laos. I don't look forward to leaving it.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Luang Prabang -- Part II
We're still Loa-ing about in Luang Prabang. We've been here five days now but we're beginning to lose track of time. I think they spike the water here with opium. Everyone and everything moves at a graceful, insouciant, lethargic, I-don't-need-to-get-anywhere-anytime-soon pace. Not even the tauts have the mental wherewithal or energy to taut, giving half-ass pitches. We've been told that southern Laos is even more relaxed and sloth-like. If true, Erin and I may need to hire motorized mobility scooters to get around and tie bags around our necks to catch the strings of spittle sure to be dangling from our drooling lips.
Not to state the obvious: I'm really really enjoying northern Laos so far. It's lush, mountainous, bountiful; the people are kind and gentle and zen-like. The women sit demurely side-saddle on the back of barely-moving mopeds holding colorful umbrellas to shield them from the warm sun, tangerine-robed monks chat in the cool shade of bougainvillas in full flower within the verdant grounds of the dozens of monasteries on the pennisula, the enveloping rivers flow in lazy swirls around the bend and towards the sea -- sun glinting on the tops of young boys heads who splash and play in the water -- and longboats quietly ply the waters delivering locals to their neighboring villages. It is very easy -- way way too easy in fact -- to sit at one of the small restaraunts on the banks of a river -- really melt into your chair -- and while away several hours, not even noticing the time go by.
The other day we hired a tuk-tuk (a glorified open-aired golf-cart that can carry four to six people in the back sitting on parallel benches) and went to a waterfall -- actually a series of waterfalls in the rainforest that cascade into menthol green pools. The swim was the first we've had this entire trip -- needless to say it was way over due and luxurious.
I think we've both decided to spend more time in Laos then we originally planned. Our next destination is a small village called Nong Khiaw, north of Luang Prabang and set on the banks of a small tributary of the Mekong. We take a long-boat there tomorrow. We may continue northward by boat after that until we get to Phongsili at the verymost northern tip of Laos, near the Chinese border. We've been told the vistas along the river from Luang Prabang to Nong Khiaw are a sight to behold. We're looking forward to it.
Hope all is well.
Not to state the obvious: I'm really really enjoying northern Laos so far. It's lush, mountainous, bountiful; the people are kind and gentle and zen-like. The women sit demurely side-saddle on the back of barely-moving mopeds holding colorful umbrellas to shield them from the warm sun, tangerine-robed monks chat in the cool shade of bougainvillas in full flower within the verdant grounds of the dozens of monasteries on the pennisula, the enveloping rivers flow in lazy swirls around the bend and towards the sea -- sun glinting on the tops of young boys heads who splash and play in the water -- and longboats quietly ply the waters delivering locals to their neighboring villages. It is very easy -- way way too easy in fact -- to sit at one of the small restaraunts on the banks of a river -- really melt into your chair -- and while away several hours, not even noticing the time go by.
The other day we hired a tuk-tuk (a glorified open-aired golf-cart that can carry four to six people in the back sitting on parallel benches) and went to a waterfall -- actually a series of waterfalls in the rainforest that cascade into menthol green pools. The swim was the first we've had this entire trip -- needless to say it was way over due and luxurious.
I think we've both decided to spend more time in Laos then we originally planned. Our next destination is a small village called Nong Khiaw, north of Luang Prabang and set on the banks of a small tributary of the Mekong. We take a long-boat there tomorrow. We may continue northward by boat after that until we get to Phongsili at the verymost northern tip of Laos, near the Chinese border. We've been told the vistas along the river from Luang Prabang to Nong Khiaw are a sight to behold. We're looking forward to it.
Hope all is well.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)