Getting back into the culture of Laos

After almost 2 weeks of limited cultural exposure while in Vang Vieng, I have hit the road again and gone straight full-pelt into the cultural experience (as well as some new challenges associated with it). This blog entry will be a little bit different to my 'usual' (ie significantly condensed) as I am not feeling very well at the moment, have had poor sleep over the past few days and brain isnt functoning propery. So this is going to consist of partial highlights which I might try and fill in gaps later, and random usual banter of mine.


tuesday
- wandered around tha khaek and decided to join up with the eco-treks conducted by the tourism department. Thankfully another person joined which halved the cost the trek would have been on my own. While there, I helped them out in the tourism department with english/lao translation/pronunciation of words that are useful for tourists such asbrief greetings, words for things like petrol station, flat tyre etc etc.
- kids all saying saibaidee!!

wednesday
- day 1 of trek, walked about 15km I think, mostly flat but some up and down through the mountains. Visited about 4 caves and 3 water holes/rivers to swim in.
caves with stalactites and stalacmites - our guide was banging on them like drums. They actually make quite pretty music but inwardly I was cringing a bit thinking of what all the environmentalists would be saying - I know in Australia you aren't allowed to touch them as the oils in your hand damages them!! Then later on, they were encouraging us to graffit and write our names on the wall of a cave (in charcoal) to say we had been there (I declined).

I didn't actually swim on the first day even though I wanted to - I just didn't feel particularly comfortable wearing my normal swimmers and I discovered that I am 100% completely incapable of wearing a sarong let alone being able to swim in one.

the village we stayed at was small i think 229 people lived there. as part of our stay there we participated in a ba cai ceremony, which is used to welcome you nad give you blessings for your future. They tie white cords/bracelets around your wrists and have chants/sayings that they repeat, for example bad things go bad things go good things come, long life long life, lots of money in the bank, many boyfriends, good job etc etc etc. I think there is a spiritual link associated with it, but it wasn't particularly mentioned at the time. Everyone then drank lao-lao (rice whisky). There was a group of about 10-15 villagers present at the time, plus our 2 engish speaking guides.

thursday
- day 2 of trek
Up early to get a start before it got exceedingly hot - we walked i think 15-20km today. had to walk extra as the tractor that was going to give us a ride had broken down.
It was very hot and humid and in the afternoon I found myself starting to get grumpy and angry and then I felt guilty about it. Was praying for it to go away, trying to internalize it as there was no reason for me to be angry. I was a bit frustrated I think, needed a bit more personal space and I didn't feel like talking at the time or like being touched and helped (too independent for my own good...)

I did swim today twice - once in the blue lagoon (oh so blue think of the most vibrant brilliant sky blue and your probably 1/2 way there) and in another river. I swam fully clothed, partially because I couldnt be bothered to change clothes and I was all sweaty and gross anyways, and partially because of the cultural thing. I didn't feel all that comfortable stripping to my swimmers when there are 2 male local guides aged 23 and 25, who are trying to convince me (very unsuccessfully) that I should be their next girlfriend... I don't think so, sorry guys!

friday
Last night I decided to catch the local bus from Tha Khaek to Pakse. I figured it should get at least 1 experience on local transport rather than just the 'tourist' buses normally caught. Good idea in theory but it resulted in me getting almost no sleep during the night as I left at 10pm and arrived at 4.30am. The bus stops probly every hour at least to turn lighs on and people hop off. It was a good experience though - whe i first arrived at the bus station i wondered what knd of ride it would end up being as they had the engine in pieces nad were doing mechanical work, but it left on time. then when i jumped on the bus, the entire floor including seats and the hall way had big 50kg sacks of sugar meaning that your feet were much higher and i kept bumping my head walking on the bus!

When I arrived at 4.30am at this random bus stop in the midde of no where (in the dark) I was thinking, right, now what. There as a lao lady and 3 little kids (non of whom spoke any english) with me. We all sat by the side of the road in the dark and I got my guitar out and played for about an hour or so until it started to get light and a man walked past who spoke english and informed me that I would need to catch a tuk tuk into town (pakse) nd that my sense of direction was wrong again (i forgot that we were on the opposite side of the road for driving). A tuk tuk came along, droped me off at a guest house in town. I wasnt actually plannng on staying hte night, but getting a bus further south nistead. however, they were advertising a 1 day tour to the Bolavan plateau so i decided to join up with that for the day. Unfortunately, I felt pretty crook all day though from the lack of sleep, heat and probably something I ate that didn't agree with me too well. on the tour we went to a tea plantation, a coffee plantation, a few waterfalls and visited a couple of minority villages as well. I donated some pencils and pens for the new school there. Its a very different lifestyle to home. one of the villages, traditionally they build (used to be wood but is now concrete) coffins for each member of the household long before they need them and store them in the rice sheds.

Now I am at Don Det at 4000 islands. Im going to stay here until I run out of money, or more accurately until i run out of kip as I have about 500,000 kip on me I need to use up (roughly $50) which could last about 3-5 days depending on what I do. I am staying in a bungalo on the sunrise side of the island for 30,000 kip per night ($3). Laos is alot cheaper compared to Vietnam in terms of accommodation (there it was $10-15 a night). There are some waterfalls and you can see the rare irrawaddi water dolphins here, so I might join up with a group to do some kayaking on the river and that sort of thing before heading int cambodia on monday/tuesday.

Sorry this is not more detailed but I cannot write anymre than this at the moment :(

Mission? me??

I have been oh so blessed the last few days with extremely warm sunny weather up here in Sapa. Cheering!!! During our hikes it has actually become quite hot! Alot of people got really really sunburnt. But I'm quite happy about this situation as when I was in Hanoi I attempted very unsuccessfully to buy warm clothes, got fed up with shopping (due to strong dislike and the millions of shops selling almost identical things) and having to haggle and not knowing what i want..... and purchased no additional warm clothes coming with only what I brought in my pack from australia.

The photo's I've just added are from wednesday when it was a bit more foggy in Sapa (I haven't downloaded my hiking photos yet), and one with me and the Tu Phin village ladies. That was an interesting experience from Wednesday afternoon. I hired a scooter in the afternoon and went to visit this village and cave that is there. When I arrived in the village, the women all rushed over and waved me down to park the scooter and then walk the remaining kilometre or two (I already had the blisters by this stage post Cat-Cat Village hiking). I had 5 ladies following me - one passer-by commented "lucky girl". But basically, the problem with this situation is that you are then expected to buy handicrafts from each of your walkers!! These ladies, I tell you are brilliant at guilt-tripping you. I ended up making a deal and bought 2 items from the ladies (I couldn't please everyone and I just a) didn't like any of the offered handicrafts and b) didn't want to have to carry it either!!). I am getting better at bargaining....

Anyway, so the last 24 hours I have been hiking and on a homestay. Thursday we hiked for 17km up and down mountains and today we hiked 14km. Subsequently I have some pretty sore muscles and blistered heels (I never want to wear shoes again!). But the experience itself was definitely worth it and I'm glad I went. If I had more time, I would have liked to have climbed Mt Fansipan (highest mountain in the area 3000-something feet high) just to say that I climbed it but I'm glad I just did the 2 days with the homestay. I'm still a bit sick from the cold weather at Halong Bay and the harder trek would have done me in I believe.




The hikes were basically up and down through the rice-paddies and bamboo forests, up and down cliffs (the potential for people to fall off and die was quite high in a lot of situations). Absolutely breathtaking scenery and we had 100% sunshine for it the whole time as well which was lucky - last week the weather was about 4 degrees, this week its high 20s early 30s I think! But not an easy walk in the park, thats for sure.

The rice paddies them selves are a bit fascinating. The entire mountainside is landscaped into terraces of these rice fields, which all contain water and flow from one to the other. Each field has to be 100% flat to ensure an even cover of water and allow it to be continue down to the next field. Ingenius design, there are little pipes and gullies flowing between them all to keep the water fresh and clean. It is the dry season at the moment, so the rivers themselves are quite low, but a very pretty turquoise colour.

Our group had 7 in it, two NZ girls, a couple from the UK and a newly-married (as in they got married 4 days ago) couple from Melbourne who wanted to do something different for their honeymoon (they have been living together for >5 years). It was a good group and we got on quite well. Last night at our home-stay we had the most awesome feed (couldn't finish it all) and it was a bit of a pre-requisite to try rice-wine. I think I mentioned earlier my first experience with rice-wine at Dalat - it was at least 50-60% alcohol and the fumes came out of my nose! This rice-wine or rice-whisky wasn't quite so strong but it was still strong enough!! The grandma of the house came out and we had a bit of a chant we all had to say (I'm not sure exactly what it all was - I have suspicions that it was something to the gods?). The first part I knew - Chuc Mung Nam Moi which means happy new year in Vietnamese as TET has just past and people are still celebrating this season. We did about 3 shots this way, and she was keen for them to continue but we left the rest for a bit later when we played cards. Learnt a new game called 'Durak' which is a Russian game meaning 'fool'. Good fun, but basically the durak had to down a shot of the rice-whisky. I was pretty tired so I ended up going to bed having won a few rounds and only losing once.

The majority of the time as we have been walking we have had a solid group of followers from either the H'Mong or Red Su tribe. Everyone is trying to sell you things which gets a bit frustrating after a while, they all have a particular tone of voice 'buy from me?' which can be quite effective in guilt-tripping you. I did manage to resist, but one of the other girls got sucked in a couple of times. However after so many times you become immune to 'the voice' as it is all identical (and seems well-practiced). There are many young children around as well who try and sell you things as well. You are encouraged not to buy from them though as they are meant to be in school and many will skip as they prefer to sell things or get lollies, pens, toys and things from tourists. If they asked me to buy things I'd pretty much tell them they should be in school :) hehe!




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On a more personal note, I am still in process of deciding what I want to do with the rest of my life. I realise this is a bit impatient of me - I want to live everything today here and right now. I mentioned a few days back how I had received an email from Interserve and had responded. Anyway, I was just randomly job-browsing a few minutes ago and decided to look at a few different mission agencies to see what opportunities they had going on as well, as I would like to continue obtaining experience in nutrition and dietetics if possible. So, I found a position advertised with Interserve (funnily enough) for a nutritionist somewhere in South East Asia working in a school with disabled children and their families. Sounds good, so I've sent an enquiry about it and will pray and see what happens from here on I guess.

Mission and me has always been an interesting topic. I grew up in Africa as an MK, spending 6 years in Zambia. So yes, I see the point and benefit of mission but I guess I have a rebellious streak that automatically makes me reject the possibility or potential of being a 'missionary' because i either don't, or didn't want to see my self that way. Bit selfish isn't it?

Anyway, there are a whole heap of preparation steps that Interserve have forwarded to me in the lead up to considering mission, so I would appreciate anyone's comments, encouragement/discouragement, thoughts, discussion about any of the following things:

1) Talk to your minister, Missions Task Group, Ministry Leader ( these are the people who have worked with you and taught you....what do they think?)

2. Read missionary biographies ( from 19th, 20th and 21st centuries ).List over page.

3. Build a Partnership Team ( people who pray for you throughout the journey ).

4. Complete either the Perspectives Course ( 1 night /week for 12 weeks ).
www.perspectives.org.au or the Kairos course (1 night/week for 9 weeks). http://www.kairoscourse.org/au.html

5. Pray for 1, 2 missionaries ( by yourself or join a Missions Prayer Group ).

6. Cultivate your walk with God ( grow your Quiet Time, increase your Bible intake, develop your prayer power, be witnessing, journal your thoughts and God’s leading ).

7. Grow your ministry skills ( take a responsibility in your church and excel at it ). Also seek training ( small groups such as uni, leadership such as Beach Mission, youth leadership, disciple-making skills ).

8. Find a mentor ( seek a “Paul” to keep you accountable in the above activities ).

9. Pray for a “Timothy” whom you can disciple, or lead to Christ then follow-up.

10. Become involved with mission-hearted people

· Investigate some mission agencies (See 2nd Step on the Journey for more information

· Sign up for free email service notifying you of mission news and openings – www.interserve.org.au

· Attend missions conferences and events ( Interserve Annual Conference, ReachOut, CMS Summer School ) and information nights ( Xtreme Places).

· Participate in activities that stimulate your missions heart (re-unions of Short-Termers, Interserve ‘Stay tuned to missions’ ).

11. Get involved in a sub-culture in your city – by doing this you truly are showing you are keen to work in another culture before you go to another country.



I was reading Ecclesiastes over the last few days in my search for meaning, and read Eccl 7:28. Can anyone explain to me why there are no righteous women in the world? I don't understand! Sounds, just a bit sexist but I'm sure there is a perfectly logical explanaition for it.. somewhere!