Songkran

So, I've had the past two weeks off of work. A blessing really. It was either going to be me or one of the children who wouldn't make it out safely. But all is well; I'm alive and so are all the kids - last time I checked anyway.

Anyway, the reason for the two week holiday was for Songkran; aka. Thai new year; aka The water festival. Emphasis on the water festival. We left our hotel in lovely Koh Lanta and had a ride in the back of a truck to the pier to head off to our next island destination. We were primped and pretty, ready to enjoy a lovely boat ride. Little did we know what was coming our way. Yes - we were armed. With ultimate super soaker water pistols..... but our defence was nothing compared to army that faced us. Buckets upon buckets of water were poured over our heads... by complete strangers saying, "Happy New Year, Happy Songkran." Absolutely insane. Then there are the people waiting to through powder on your wet clothing which is meant to be a sign of good luck. And some of the powder was red... we were a real mess. Drenched... passports, phones, and ipods included.

Upon arrival in Koh Phi Phi, we were met with much the same madness. However here, I think they were waiting for white people.... and pure ice water was thrown in our path. We finally made it to our room, where we had to completely unpack our bags and hang everything we owned out to dry.

We went out that night... armed and dangerous. Songran shirts, water pistols, and aviator sunglasses to complete the look. Nobody was getting in our way.

More on our fabulous vacation to come...

Family

When you are so far away from home and phone calls seem to be near impossible, and the only means of communication is email - it just plain stinks. It's not so easy to jump on a plane and fly to Vancouver. You don't get to click your heals and say "there's no place like home" and just arrive there. There are times when you just wish you could be with your family, not just for you but for them too.

I constantly ask myself, "What am I gaining by living here?"
The answers are many. I could go on and on. I am gaining so much by living here. Personally, mentally, spiritually. The list would go on and on. I'm learning so much and am experiencing things I never would have dreamed of.

But at the same time as asking the above question, you also ask "what am I missing by living here?"
Again, the answers are many. One can't even make a pros and cons list to look at the two questions. They are incomparable.

For all of those reading this, please say a prayer for my Uncle Lawson, who now lies in peace. And say a prayer for our family.

There's no place like home.
There's no place like home.
There's no place like home.

Holidays are Here

So... today was the last day of the second term of school. One more term to go!!! But before all of that must commence... two weeks vacation. Beach - here I come.

Today was actually a really fun day at school. It was the Songkran festival celebration. Songkran holiday is around April 13th, but we celebrated today. It is the Thai New Year, the hottest time of year, and what follows is the much anticipated rainy season. We started the day off with a somewhat solemn ceremony where the children each, one by one, wished us luck and a Happy Songkran. Then the fun began.

The rest of the day was pure fun. Water games, swimming, throwing flour. All in good fun. And for some reason I was constantly hearing, "Get Miss Teresa," where I would then be chased by classes of children with water pistols, or another group trying to throw me in the pool. It was good fun - exhausting, but good.

So, as of tomorrow, I will be at the beach, working on my tan, and enjoying every second of rest. I am going to Koh Chang, where I went in October. Then to Koh Lanta, Koh Phi Phi, and Phuket. I'm really looking forward to the vacation... and I'm not even thinking of the fact that it only lasts for two weeks.

hot hot hot

So, yes, I know. It has been a long time since my last post. That's not to say that nothing has happened in the past month; believe me, there are many adventures which have been had. I suppose I have just become lazy.

I apologize to all of you, especially those of you who have been waking up to snow on the ground. It is hot here. I mean REALLY hot. I had to do playground duty today - and would have enjoyed jumping in our pool... although the pool isn't built yet. It's hot. Blistering may be a good word. My upcoming vacation (2 more sleeps) is forecasted for temperatures between 40 and 45 degrees.

Speaking of hot - we had a fire drill at school the other day. First one of the year. Now... only in Thailand would a fire drill proceed as follows:

• an alarm that can only be heard if you are in the hallway, and people in the hallways, running into classrooms to inform the teachers of what is happening
• children taking the time to put on their shoes as shoes aren't allowed inside.... but we had to wait while 12 three year olds put their shoes on.... and many other small children
• having personal nannies walking with their children with umbrellas to protect them from the sun.
• school maids holding large beach umbrellas to shade the children from the sun.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but if the school was on fire - one would think getting the children out quickly would be more important than them putting their shoes on. It would also be important to actually hear the fire alarm. And one would hope that the top priority would not be shading the children from the sun. Maybe that's only my opinion.

Sometimes I have to shake my head and say "only in Thailand."

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.