Laos - Vang Vien

Let me just say - the first week back at work after a week off is not fun... It takes forever to go by. Time could not have passed faster. The children drove me so crazy I was almost afraid that either them or me wouldn't survive. Time passes a little faster when you hear of a story of a little girl (three years old) asking one of her teachers why boys have tails. It brought us endless hours of entertainment in the staff room. They still drive me crazy.

Back to Laos. The midle part of our trip was spent in Vang Vien. A real backpacker's town. Very alive. Lots to do. A little strange as there is an 11:30pm curfew and it is actually rare to even find a place open that late. It's a lovely quaint little town where every five steps there is someone selling banana pancakes on the side of the road (so delicious). Had a really good time there. We had a lovely view of the river from our guest house. One day, we went tubing down the river. It is actually more like a pub crawl down the river. Good fun. But slow.... The fastest part would make Kleanza Creek seem like a still lake. A lot of paddling was necessary.

The next day we rented bicycles and it's true what they say. You never forget how to ride a bike. We biked through some little villages and saw some adorable children. The purpose of our bikeride was to go for a swim in a lagoon and visit a spooky cave. Mission accomplished - it was all good fun. This is a picture of the lovely lagoon we visited and went for a swim in. The two little boys were our tour guides for the cave we went to. They coudln't have been more than 7-years old. They were sweet. It was quite funny. We walked through an old land mine field to get to these caves, crawled up steep ladders, and scrambled through the jagged rocks of a dark cave. We were actually quite thankful for the tour guides.

Vang vien was an amazing little town. I would defintiely go back. Met a great number of people travelling through and actually met some other Canadians. I dno't meet Canadians all that often. Besides the ones I already know. I would recommend Laos to anyone. It has it's problems, but what country does it. I would love to go to Cambodia. I have been told that it is amazing and well worth the trip. Soon perhaps. Maybe not until the summer. It's hard to say.

We would have spent many more days in Vang vien, but we had to move on. I nice little bus ride to the next city for the next phase of our adventure. We coudld have gone spent much more time there, but we only had a week. Fun weeks go by so fast. Work weeks drag on and on. Such is life.

Laos - from the beginning

Our Laos adventure started with a flight from Bangkok to Udon Thani which is in Thailand, but right at the Thai/Laos border. Smooth sailing so far. We then had to get on a mini-bus to take us to immigration. That's when I got mad. I mean - really mad. Just because I have a Canadian Passport - I had to pay $7 (American Dollars) more for my passport than anyone else. I could eat for three days on that amount of money. I'm curious to know what Canada ever did to Laos. Anyway, the whole process was ridiculous. Having to pay a little money here, a little money there; put a stamp here, put a stamp there; pretend you're staying at one guest house, then pretend you're staying at another. Finally, we walked across a line and we were in Laos. Immediately we were bombarded by men wanting to drive us into town for ridiculous prices. Luckily our bartering skills are quite good, we refuse to be ripped off, and the Laos language is quite similar to Thai, so we were able to do quite well. We agreed on a fair price and were off. (The Laos man travelling with us went for much cheaper). We arrived at our guest house - the driver of our Tuk Tuk tried, once again, to rip us off, but I would have none of it.

We had arrived in Vientiane... the capital city of Laos. Laos is a former french colony. A very underdeveloped country, currently under communist rule. Nothing familiar is there. No McDonalds, no 7Eleven, no Starbucks (AHHHH!!!!) Anyway, many people in Laos do speak French, so that helped a lot too... and made me realize how much french I actually know when I put my mind to it.

We trudged along the streets of Vientiane, looking for a place to stay, but all was booked up. So, we ended up at a fairly high-end hotel. Mind you, it was only $48/night... for a pretty nice place. It had been a long day of travelling and after a Mexican meal (???) we had an early night, knowing full well, that we would be up early the next morning.

The next day we went to Buddha Park... which is just that. A park with a lot of Buddha statues. It was beautiful though. The grass was bright green, beautiful flowers... a cave that you could climb to the top of and see a view of the whole park. It was quite lovely. We hired a Tuk Tuk for the day and he actually didn't try to rip us off, and as a result, we gave him a nice tip at the end.

That was the end of Vientiane. For a capital city there was very little to see and very little development. There were some paved roads, but many were half paved, half gravel. The ride to Buddha Park was bumpy to say the least. We had read a lot about the city prior to going, and it didn't sound like there was a whole lot to do... so we got out of there. Next stop... Vang Vien... backpacker central.

Laos - Backwards

So.... I could have started my stories on life in Laos at the beginning.... I mean, that's where most stories begin, but it seems much more fitting to start at the end... maybe tell a little bit from the middle, but basically go back to front.

So, I am home safely.... one piece.... one day late, but I'm home.

As we sat at the airport yesterday waiting for a flight to land in Laos, that would then take us to Bangkok... we saw a remarkable sight. A little bit of a crash landing. Tons of smoke... a slightly lopsided airplane, and a lot of shrieking coming from people at the gate. Turns out a whell on the airplane, burst or something like that.... anyway.... after thinking they could fix the problem in an hour or so... they came to the conclusion that, no, they couldn't - so we were sent on a bus to a hotel for the night. As we pulled up to the hotel, it was beautiful. Probably the nicest hotel we had seen in Laos. But no. That wasn't for us. That was for the Thai people. Us farang were sent walking to a guest house... 45 minutes away. When we arrived there -- there was no room for us, although we had been assured that there was. We did eventually find a place - around the corner. Hectic situation.. trying to figure out what time our flight would be in the morning... but all worked out. The flight home was a little brutal, particularily the landing. I had never been jolted so far forward in my seat upon landing before, and the entire descent was quite wobbly. Mike - come work for Bangkok Airways. Or Doug - if you are reading this - come work for Bangkok airways.

Anyway, what was supposed to be our last half day in Bangkok was quite lovely. It started out quite early - 5:30am to be exact. We were told we had to participate in the alms-giving to the monks... so we did. We were given out pots of sticky rice, and gave it to a line of approximately 300 monks as they walked past us down the street. There were monks of all ages... some probably as young as seven. Afterwards was a photo opportunity for all of the Thai people to have their photos taken with two Western girls. We then were taken to the morning market.... which, too, was quite a sight. Anything you could possibly imagine was there to buy, food wise anyway.... including frogs, rats, beez for fresh honey... it was a sight. Piles and piles of vegetables and chilis. And meat.... displayed in ways that would make anyone want to be a vegetarian (personal opinion perhaps).

Anyway, the rest of that day was basically spent killing time until our trip to the airport. Had we had a premonition about the cancellation of our flight, we would have done something interesting, but instead, we sat in cafes... wandered through street markets... nothing too special.

So... more to come on this delightful trip to Laos. Perhaps I will start at the beginning next time.

As I live and breathe (or try to anyway)

So.... my life... in Bangkok. Some would say it's as though I never left Toronto (or Montreal, or Vancouver... definitely Terrace) but.... life as a Bangkokian (I think I just made up a new word) is certianly not like life at home. This my school. One shot from the front and one from the back. It's quite tiny... lovely and quaint, with extensions being built asI write this. The Thai flag at the front is flying at full mass. I took this picture quite awhile ago. Currently Thailand is amid 100 days national mourning after the death of the King's sister, (Princess Galyani) so the flag flies at half mass until the beginning of April. There were 15 days of mandatory mourning at the beginning of January when we were only allowed to dress in black, grey and white. That has changed, but the country is still in mourning.

This is my oh so lovely classroom that doubles as the library. We probably have the worst organized library around... but there are books, and people are trying to add more books. What is a school, really, without any books?

So this is where I spend my days and some of the children who I spend my days with. Life just keeps on going and going. We have such a tiny school, but slowly it will grow. They are currently in the process of building a swimming pool, and then an "early years centre." They will also be building a secondary school onto our existing primary school. We currently go up to year 6, but those children have been promised a year 7 class next year. A new head teacher was appointed this week, so there will be more changes to come I am sure. And of course, it being an international school, there are frequent changes in students and teachers. They are currently working on the assumption that I will be around next year. I have yet to truly make that decision. The school is great and the children really are lovely even though there are days where you aren't sure if you are going to make it. Time will tell what I will do. There will be a position open to teach reception or year 1 next year ( Reception is about preschool age and year one is Kindergarten). I would enjoy either one of those - perhaps more than what I am doing now....

So... this is my life.... and I'm trying very hard not to make it my whole life... more to come...

ooh - and as a side note

I did promise Paul some pictures of my new flat. Funny - I am here everyday and never think to take pictures. I would go do it now... but it's pushing on midnight... and 6am comes much too early.... so I promise... to Paul and to anyone else who is inerested... photos of normal life in the near future.

For the brother

I write this in honour of Big Brother Dave's 28th birthday. Happy Birthday big brother. Really, there is no reason why this blog is in honour of you, other than to wish you a happy birthday and perhaps remind a few other people of the special day.

life is life. Bangkok is Bangkok... work is work.

Hectic as always. Who would have thought that getting a new passport in a foreign country could be so difficult. And who would have thought that the process of reinstating simple visa stamps would be so hard? It took ages. Not a process I hope to ever go through again. Then there was the case of the people in my old building "throwing out" half of my things. I put that in quotations marks, because really - they just stole it. They didn't throw out things that are clearly useful. I had a Thai friend come with me to try to sort things out, but they just lied to our faces. We threatened to contact the police... but this is Thailand and chances are they would do nothing... or be paid off by the building manager. So... one more thing to deal with.

Chinese New Year has come and gone, but the sights and sounds still continue apparently for a couple of weeks. Oddly enough, in the mall by my flat there is still a Christmas tree... confused by that, but I have learned not to question things in Thailand. Well, I haven't really... I think I still question numerous things everyday.

I chose this picture to include in my post, just so all of you living in freezing cold temperatures wouldn't feel so bad. This is a stormy weekend on an island - not enjoyable. No need to feel jealous.

The next trip is to Laos, in just under a week. Can't week, won't be the typical beach vacation.. should be quite exciting.

Sometimes the beach is just not fun

So, I have written numerous accounts of lovely weekends away at the beach... and they truly have been lovely... but last weekend was an exception to that.

We arrived on Koh Samet on Friday night... the evening was lovely... random details made it not so enjoyable, but the night itself was great.

Then we woke up Saturday morning to rain. And it rained ALL DAY! This is not rainy season... And this particular island is basically made for lying on the beach, swimming in the sea, and eating at outdoor restaurants. So that was a bummer. Saturday night it had cleared up.... but there was no sun to aid in my tan needs.

Sunday morning, although no rain... it was dreary... the water looked as if a storm was coming... and halfway through breakfast... the rain came again. So... it wasn't the weekend I had hoped for.

Ah well... it can't all be perfect - I can only dream. There is always next time.