Buildings and Bombs

Well I am now in Phonsavan. The guide-books weren't joking when they said that there isn't to the town. Good thing there is internet - I've managed to download all the photos from my camera's and then going to burn them to a CD so should be uploading some soon fingers crossed. My main reason for being here though is to visit the Plain of Jars which I'm doing tomorrow, and I guess learn a bit more about the UXO and bombings that occurred here.

Today was a pretty uneventful drive from Luang Prabang to Phonsavan. Stopped halfway through and had lunch at a little place on the side of the road selling only feu (noodle soup). It was pretty good too. I added some jaewbong (a very very very strong chilli paste I learnt to make in my cooking class) for flavour and the bus driver thought I wouldn't be able to handle it - showed him!! Speaking of cooking class, I learnt then that the Lao people believe that food only tastes good if it is shared in company, and that food eaten alone tastes bad.. uh oh!

Driving around in buses during the day is good to view the countryside for sure (not so great for sore legs and cramps though). I'm finding the varied architecture here in Laos quite fascinating. No matter where you are - there is always, ALWAYS a satelite dish attached to the house somewhere. Doesn't matter if your in a little village of 5 buildings on the side of a cliff, or a big town, everyone has satelite tv! Quite amusing from my perspective as someone who never watches it! Back to houses though - there is no consistency between the houses, even within the same village/town. For example, one house might be made of bricks, another of wood and others of woven bamboo mats or sticks. Even the woven bamboo houses are all different. Some have a plain criss-cross pattern, others are ona diamond angle and some are like steps. And the wood houses are pretty cool too - many of them are on stilts with big wide verandahs, similar to a QLD house with elaborate woodwork. I think its interesting anyway.... :)

This whole area has been particularly affected by war over the past 100 years with unexploded ordnance (UXO) in many many areas. I visited the Mines Advisory Group and gave a donation there and to the UXO survivors next door. They are a humanitarian NGO www.maginternational.org Did you know, that US$10 can clear 14m3 of UXO? Looking at the maps that they had on display - there are red dots EVERYWHERE indicating the areas that are yet to be cleared of UXO. The impact on the community is extreme because some of the UXO are too small to be seen. Cluster bombs that didn't detonate can be mistaken to be balls by children who play with them - children are the ones most likely affected. The clearing effort is going to take a lot of time still - that is for sure.

One thing that I am finding a bit confusing however, is that this area uses a combination of Vietnamese and Lao in both speaking and writing. I'm just starting to get my head around the basics in Lao (speaking, it would be impossible for me to learn the symbols to write it) eg sabaidee (hello/goodbye), khawp jai lai lai(thank you very much) etc etc. But here in Phonsavan there are signs all around the place for com (rice), pho (noodle soup), ca phe (coffee). Hmm maybe I'll be able to get my coffee fix after all.

Oh! I almost forgot (and I'd even attached some photos). I got up quite early this morning (5.45) so that I could go and see the Tak Bet - procession of monks receiving alms from their followers who provide them with sticky rice (the staple in Laos) and bananas. The monks themselves rely upon this silent procession for at least their first meal of the day. There were signs all over town explaining how to respectfully watch/participate in the procession, but it was interesting to observe how many tourists got in the way, had no respect at all and just got in the monk's faces to take pictures or videos. I did take pictures, but I stayed at a distance and used a zoom lens, and no flash - trying to maintain respect for their culture and religion.

Random days

I love random days and meeting 'random' people! Being spontaneous and taking life as it comes. I'm learning not to waste my life either! Yesterday was one such day. I woke up at about 6.30 feeling a bit cold so figured there was no point staying in bed awake so got up and began exploring Luang Prabang. It is such a cute little town very chilled out and laid back after Vietnam. But I think I am having significant withdrawal symptoms from vietnamese coffee - missing it very much!

One of the benefits of travelling I find, is that people are often more open minded and willing to discuss issues of greater importance than trivial 'daily life' of back home. I had meant to write about this a few weeks back but forgot or was time-poor (or felt like I had hogged the shared computer for too long already!). For example, discussions of religion, politics and wars feature high on the agenda- things that at home in 'normal' society would go completely unnoticed and unspoken on the whole. The wars and insane killing sprees that have gone on in these countries is so intense, impacting so many lives and only in the last 30-40 years, but barely anyone knows or is aware of it back home. I know that I wasn't aware of it prior to coming here. For example, the mass-murders of all educated people and western influences in Cambodia under the Khmer rule of Pol-Pot. I read a brilliant yet very confronting book called 'First they killed my Father, a daughter of Cambodia Remembers". About a Cambodian lady who at the age of 5 left Pnom Penh I definitely recommend it, I was reading it while at Halong Bay and it was an eye-opener for sure as I previously had little knowledge about the situation.

After I'd had breakfast in LP yesterday, I was out the front of a restaurant checking out their cooking class information when I was approached by a man who had been at the same restaurant I'd eaten breakfast at a bit earlier. He jokingly said I shouldn't be hungry anymore and we started chatting. He turned out to be a retired English Literary Professor and he gave me a the name of a 'life-changing' book that he believes to be one of the best works of literature ever (sorry i can't remember the name of it, its written down on a piece of paper somewhere!). I believe it is religion-based, something from India. I'll have to locate that book at some stage and check it out if I can! There are so many book exchange places here, so its easy to get hold of some really good, solid books which is awesome as I chew through books very very quickly.

As I was exploring through LP, I was walking past one of the many tour agencies when a guy asked me if I'd like to go see the waterfalls, leaving in about 30 minutes. It was nice and hot and he was offering a cheap price, so I thought why not. Bit of sponteneity is always good! So I went and got my swimmers and came back and the 6 of us jumped in the back of the tuk-tuk and were driven out to Kuang-Si waterfalls. The falls were beautiful. I think there must be limestone in the rock in the area, as the water was a beautiful aqua blue colour, and a few swimming holes that were quite deep so I jumped off the waterfall a few times and there was a big tree-swing as well which was a bit of fun! One of the other girls was going how it was so scary - but as I'd jumped off the 3rd story of a boat in Halong Bay, the waterfall was easy peasy in comparison!

On the trip I met a white South African couple that I got along with really well, later on in the day we kept bumping into each other and we ended up having dinner together which was alot of fun. There are night markets here in LP every night, and a big food market where you can buy a plate and then share it, everyone all digs in and has a bit of this and a bit of that. Yum. Lots of bbq foods and other items of dubious origins! Later on we headed down to a restaurant/bar overlooking the Mekong River where a couple of guys I'd met earlier were playing banjo and a mandolin. Good fun, blues and grass roots sort of music. I'm curious as to whether they were christian or not, because there were a few definitively christian songs that they played.

Today I've just come back from an all day cooking lesson at one of the local restaurants here in LP. Cannot recommend it highly enough- Tamnam Lao restaurant. I am so so so full right now, we did not manage to get through even 50% of the food I don't think. The dishes are small but they fill you up so quickly. Totally worth it though, I got morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner all for the bargain price of $30. Plus, as I discovered, this restaurant which is partly owned by an interesting Australian woman who's been living in Laos with her laos family since the 1960s, helps sustain and support an orphanage, particularly in the region of nutrition and health by increasing the protein content of their diet which I think is great! These orphanages are run by the government, who provide between 20 and 40 CENTS PER CHILD to cover all expenses. Its ridiculous, so I'm happy to help out as best I can with people like this.

As part of the day we went to the market. I found this extremely educational, (love love love food markets - except for the meat) as I could find out what all these weird and wacky foods I've been seeing around the place are (and deciding whether I'm game enough to try them or not. For example, there are many many eggs on display, and some of them are tinted, to indicate whether tehy are fresh or 'fertilised' (a delicacy) or off (some people like their eggs to smell apparently).

On a side note, I was introduced to the book 'Don't waste your life' by John Piper while I was in Hanoi. Discovered that you can read it online via a pdf version of the book which is brilliant as i severely doubt my ability to find a copy of it here in Laos! I've only managed to read a bit so far (i'm paying for internet access here in laos) but its definitely worth the read.

One thing that has been challenging me over the last few days in particular, is being culturally appropriate. I've become so aware of how few tourists and travellers actually respect the culture and customs of the local people, particularly when it comes to dress (and women especially). For example, it is inappropriate for women to have their shoulders exposed, and modesty is a big deal in Laos. I am no where near perfect, and not necessarily always the most modest girl in the world at home (probably the opposite, esp at the beach), but I try my best to do so over here, as I want to have the respect of the local people and not put them out. I've been wearing a top that has has my shoulders just covered (everything else is dirty and in the wash thanks to the dust bus) and the last few days I've felt slightly self conscious at times, especially with the hundreds of monks wandering around LP. But so many girls are walking around in itty bitty tops/dresses and shorts without a care in the world, or so it seems. hmmm. not good.

lanterns and buses

Been a few days since I've posted anything. Things are going well, have just had some limited access to computers and internet. I just arrived this evening in Hue after a few days in Hoi An - it is incredible how different the change is now from the south up here in the north. On the bus trip we had to pass through a long tunnel that goes right through a mountain. When we entered we were in blue sky and sunshine and upon exiting the tunnel it was overcast drizzly and cold! Definite change from the last few days down south. But I am getting ahead of myself.

Friday night I experienced my first sleeper bus. Overall not the worst experience of my life, a bit jolty and bumpy and lots of horn blaring, but with the help of a couple sleep enhancements I managed to sleep the majority of the night waking up only about four times over the 12hr bus ride. We arrived in Hoi An at about 5.30am, a bit disorientated and groggy with no idea where they had dropped us off. One of the guys on the bus I had met earlier during the week so we decided to get a ride with some motorbike taxi's to help us find a hotel to stay at, as neither of us had booked anything over TET. This itself was an interesting experience. Normally I would always figure it out myself and find a hotel myself, but Hoi An is quite spread out and there isn't really a distinct area where accommodation can be found. So we jumped on the back of the scooters and they drove us around town to a few different hotels until we found one (third time lucky) that we thought was suitable enough (price, smell, internet, breakfast inclusions...). Let me tell you that it is a difficult thing to hang on to the back of a motorbike when you have a rucksack on your back, and a small day pack on your front without falling off, but we made it!! We ended up staying at the hotel Phouc An which was very very nice. In the end we decided to share a room to save both of us some money as the rooms are always twin beds, which worked out quite well.

We were both starving so had the hotel buffet breakfast (at 6am) followed by showers and then my friend went back to sleep and I decided to wander into town as I can't sleep in the day. I had a great time, and quite productive wandering around town. Contrary to popular opinion, I think TET is agreat time for people to travel actually, especially in Hoi An (apart from the escalated prices on everything) because it meant you weren't harassed by people. Hoi An is renowned for its tailors. And from my wanderings I would not hesitate to say that there's at least 100 and most likely many many more tailors within the main area of the town. Many were shut, but there were a few still open for business. I probably spent about 4 hours wandering around town, tried Cao Lao one of the local dishes at a street vendors before going back to the hotel. We had lunch and then borrowed the hotel's pushbikes which we were allowed to use for free to ride out to a nearby beach (approximately 5km). It was a nice drive but a bit crazy towards town because there were vendors and flower markets absolutely EVERYWHERE. With the exception of sydney flower markets, i've never seen that many flowers in one spot! They were for both TET and valentines day and the markets were packed to overfull because they would be closed for a few days after TET and everyone was getting last minute supplies.

Saturday night was TET, and I met some girls I had seen earlier in a tailoring shop who ended up being from Sydney (first sydney people i've met so far - everyone's from melbourne!!) and through them met some melbourne guys they were travelling with. We all decided to meet up for dinner at an awesome restaurant called the laugh cafe I think. Totally recommend it, it was brilliant (we went for a repeat dinner on sunday night we were so impressed). After dinner we wandered down to the river to watch the fireworks and celebrations for TET which was fun and beautiful. People were selling coloured boxes with candles that were placed into the river to float down. It looked beautiful but I couldn't help but wonder where the rubbish was all going to end up and the unlikelihood of it being cleaned up!! The fireworks at midnight for new year (the year of the tiger now!) were impressive but unfortunately many of them couldnt be seen through the significant smoke as there was no wind and all fireworks were being set from the one location. One of the guys described it like the smoke from a napalm (probably spelt that wrong) bomb!!

Hoi An itself is a beautiful town. It has been all decorated with hundreds and thousands of coloured lanterns which are pretty by day and gorgeous by night.

Sunday was a bit of a cruisy day, i slept in significantly and wandered around town and then rode to the beach again before dinner with my new friends. Many of the local sights were closed because of the new year holiday so unfortunately i never got to try white rose (a specialty dish of the area), or do a cooking class there. However on Monday morning before my bus to Hue I did manage to get up at 5am to do the 'sunrise tour' of the My Son ruins. It was quite ironic actually as we arrived there probably an hour after the sun rose in the end because they kept stopping for unnecessary things. then upon arrival sat us down to give everyone an educational session about the ruins. You could just tell that everyone just wanted to go and get on with it and take good pictures then figure that out later. It was pretty cool though, as it is set in a valley with big mountains and it was all misty. Beautiful, not hard to see why it has been UNESCO nominated for world heritage listing. There are some massive bomb craters left from when the Americans bombed the sight, partially to destroy them on purpose to bring down the moral during the war. They were built by the Cham people, and there is alot of mystery surrounding the towers like many in south east asia, as to how they were built. the language of the Cham has been lost, so inscriptions on the temples are not known. The bricks used on the towers are very smooth with no cement used to bond them together. The thought is that they may have used some sap from trees in the forest, but after many experiments by scientists they have given up trying to figure out how they did it!

After My Son I managed to get back in time for breakfast then just wandered around a bit, had some lunch then waited for the bus to pick us up to take us to our current location in Hue. The bus trip was pretty uneventful. Its pretty cool the different people you meet, I've been given some recommendations for places to stay over the various countries I'm visiting and good guides to contact as they are welcoming, honest and helpful.

This morning I'm just about to head off to do a cooking class at a restaurant a few of us went to dinner at last night, and then probably head over to the citadel. Get to learn some of the local specialities such á bun bo hue (rice noodle beef soup hue style), fresh and friend spring rolls. I am loving the food. ít terible i'm probably eating 4 times a day some times!!!! sooooooooo good the food!!

Current plan is to stay here in Hue for about 2 days then catch a sleeper up to Hanoi then onto Sapa and Halong Bay in either order. After that will head over to Laos and currently debating my method of doing so. I originally was going to fly but i might join a group of backpackers heading over the chinese border to Yunnan and get into northern láo that way!

the moto view

The Hotel I stayed at last night had issues with cookies or something so I was unable to post until now....

What a day. I am enjoying life in Vietnam. I got to sleep in a bit, had breakfast and then a massage compliments of the hotel I was staying at last night! Checked out with my backpack all set up at 12 and hit the streets in search of a backpackers place to stay at for the next few nights while in HCMC. As I was walking, a few taxi's or scooter riders approached me to see if I wanted a lift but me being indendent me was determined to do it myself. It is quite warm and quite humid here so after probably 30 minutes of walking around I think I was on the verge of heatstroke!!

Another scooter rider spoke with me then and we chatted for a while, asking where I am from where I was going. There were 2 streets I was intending to walk to as they were full of backpacker's places and I was about 3/4 of the way by this time. but with the heat and fluid loss I started to get a bit lightheaded and sat down on the side of the street and decided I'd give Phung a go, giving me a ride. I knew that chances are there was some sort of commision involved and that it woud end up with other tours being offered and things, but i thought why not support the local people in the tourist industry rather tahn paying the money to big companies.
He took me to a little hotel in a side street alley somewhere in District 1 (which i have just discovered is pretty much the street i was trying to get to anyway)where I left my stuff and then he took me out sight seeing for the day. Its fun whizzing around the city (at like maybe 5km/hr max) with a million other scooters going crazy with their traffic rules (or lack of). I was trying to figure out why sometimes people stopped at traffic lights and other time's they dont. It seems this rule is a bit flexible or up for interpretation. The traffic lights in the city centre itself has a little countdown for both green and red telling you when it will change - but it appears that you can go through red lights if you want to...

First stop was the war remnants museum. Definitely worth going to - they have tanks, helicopters, warships and a few different kind s of US military fighter airplanes out the front, Very eye opening as to the impact the war had on the Vietnamese people here. Next stop was the independence palace, I had a quick wander around here. i believe it is where the president used to do all his business - there were specific meeting rooms for specific people in government. Very grand and impressive to look at. In the basement downstairs they had all the control rooms where during war times they had meetings, controlled radio centres and the like.

Phung (my moto guide) then took me to the hong kong markets, which are the older ones. I've barely seen another european face the entire day - saw I think 2 people during this market. There are the odd curious people wanting to know what I'm doing but on the whole the local Vietnamese in the market let me wander around without any notice.It would be very easy to get lost but luckily this market seems to be separated into sections where they all sell specific things, theres the shoe section, the fabric section, the shiny sparkly hair clip section, the plastic container section, the makeup section, the pots and pan section..... i particularly enjoyed the food markets. During this time i started to question myself, wondering what is appropriate culturally and what isn't. For example, photographs. I want to take photos of this experience, but how appropriate is it? i mean, if i was at home in australia doing my own business, would i appreciate random people coming up and taking a photo of me in the midst of my usual work? It is a challenge trying to fit into this society.

Next stop was a couple of the major temples in the city. This reminded me of how futile life is without Christianity. The sacrifices here are never ending. outside the temples there are people selling goldfish, turtles and incense (which i was offered to buy).

On my travels today i have tried a few different new foods, some better than others. All meals have been on the street and yes I have been having drinks with ice in them... so we'll see how strong my stomach is in time! Lunch was a rice dish with a sort of egg omellette and a chicken bean dish. I had some durian which is a bit sloppy but not awful, a fruit shake and soem sort of roll which had processed meat (you may be aware of my dislike of processed meat...), cucumber, mint and chili sauce. Minus the meat it was not a bad meal. THe breads here are amazing!!!

The city is busy in preparation for TET (Chinese new year) with lanterns and beautiful decorations everywhere. As the city got dark they all light up and make for a spectacular view.

I have managed to get myself a mobile phone SIM card so I am contactable, not sure exactly of the service or how much credit I have on it or what it costs for me to send messages but I can definitely send and receive to Australia.

Another thing that has challenged me today is who I want to meet while I am here. I want to have a truly cultural experience, however when looking for accommodation I was wanting to meet other backpackers like me - made me question what I was really looking for. Phung has been very helpful, showing me the sights of the city. Tomorrow we are off to the Mekong Delta for a few days.