Same, Same, but Different
Cat Ba, Vietnam

Well, we've already experienced a fair bit on our visit through Vietnam, including chilling out at a homestay in Mai Chau, trekking through hilltop villages, visiting Uncle Ho (Chi Minh) in Hanoi, and boating around the limestone karsts of Halong Bay. Led by Aussie guide Dave, our intrepid group of seven seems to be coming together pretty well, and we're looking forward to gradually moving south as we progress through our Vietnamese itinerary.

We're in Cat Ba Island now, where we'll be for a few days trekking and kayaking. We head down to Ninh Binh, Hue, and then spend some time in Hoi An before making our way to Mui Ne and then Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). We will be celebrating Tet (Vietnamese New Year) in the Mekong Delta, which we're looking forward to, before we return to Saigon to meet Gunga at the end of January.

Things here are similar to Laos and Thailand in many ways, but are different in so many others. As our local guide Hung says, "things are same, same, but different." I'll try to collect my thoughts better on this once I get more of a concrete impression of this dynamic and changing country. Jen will update you on what we've done in more detail in the next little while as well. Catch you later!

---

Peaceful Laos
Hanoi, Vietnam

Sabaidee! (Lao greeting for hello)

We finally managed to find an Internet cafe here in Hanoi and have enough time to sit down for a while! What a shock it's been, leaving the slow pace of Laos and entering fast paced Vietnam!

By the way, Laos is pronounced LAO (without the s). The country is officially called Lao People's Democratic Republic though it is still common to call it Laos. We entered Laos on Christmas morning, crossing the Mekong River on three different narrow boats (they could only take 6 passengers each) at Huay Xai. We got our 2 week stamp, and lined up to get kips (Lao's currency). Kips are pretty much useless outside of the country, so Lisa warned us not to exchange too much as we would not be able to exchange them back to US $ or Baht.

We were met by Tonkien, our guide for the next few days. We got into a couple of tuk tuks and headed to the port where we boarded our private slow-boat. The boat was very comfortable, though by no means luxurious. It's a wide wooden boat, with 2 rows of seats, and a huge plank laid out with cushions. Most of us sat down on the cushions and used our life vests as back cushions.

There are two types of boats to travel down the Mekong River to Luang Prabang. We were on the slow boat, which takes 2 days, of approximately 6 hrs of travelling each day. The other method is on the rocket boat, i.e. loud fast motor boats. Passengers wear life vests and helmets. They are EXTREMELY loud, as several past us along the way. We were happy to be cruising by in our comfortable boat.

Our fantastic guide Lisa, bought us all drinks to celebrate Christmas. Most people drank Beer Lao (very cheap) even though it was only 10 in the morning. Halfway through the day, we stopped by a Hmong village right on the edge of the river and spent an hour visiting. It was a treat to sit into one of the homes as Tonkien explained Lao culture and Hmong lifestyle to us. The grandmother of the home was charmed by Natalie, and ended up dressing her up in Hmong traditional outfit (very colourful) while Tonkien was trying to talk to us. It was quite funny (for us) as the rest of the family were chattering and laughing loudly (of course we didn't understand a word they said).

While walking around the village, we saw most of the children. Luckily for us, we were visiting during the Hmong New Year. The children were all in their best traditional outfits, which were extremely beautiful. Girls and boys of age (mid teens) were engaged in their courtship ritual (each pair toss a ball at each other; if the boy has no intentions to marry the girl, then he would drop the ball). We all took pictures and they were very interested to see themselves on the digital camera. They were most curious about Lisa's navel and lip piercing. That was something very strange indeed.

It was quite nice to walk around this beachside village. Everything was well kept, neat fences, homes on stilts with bamboo walls. Chickens, dogs and pigs were everywhere. We were excited to see several baby pigs running around, but could never get close enough for a photo.

Back on our boat, we read and napped and eventually reach Pakbang, our home for the night. Pakbang is like a truck stop town, except that the road was the river. All the slow boats park here for the night. Lisa really wanted us to get there early; we found out why. The early rooster gets the best rooms! We saw many backpackers walking around town looking for rooms in guesthouses for the next few hours. There were several kids playing outside our hotel. To amuse them, the three JETs did the chicken dance (along with the song) and the kids had no idea what was going on. It was quite funny.

A bunch of us went for a walk with Tonkien. He took us to see the local market, and the wat on top of the hill. We had a nice view of the Mekong from the top, and could see people playing football (soccer) down on the beach. It was a very small village, and hardly any vehicles other than the occassional motorbike going by. Everything was quite dusty though, as there is no alsphalt road; just dirt.

We returned back to our guesthouse and enjoyed a shared meal. Tonkien came by, and generously poured out several glasses of Lao Lao (rice wine). He had certainly consumed quite a bit before he got to us). Though not what we would consider the typical Christmas celebration, it was a very special way to spend the day.

The walls of the guesthouse was quite thin (ok, it was very thin) so we could hear everything our neighbours said, or when they walked about. The electricity also went out a few times during the night, but we had candles and flashlights to supplement. We had been warned by Lisa about 'lao time', in order words, the way of life in Laos is very laid back, with no rushing.

In the morning, we found out what this meant. Having placed our breakfast order the previous evening, we had assumed that our food would be ready by the time we had told them. Nope. All the backpackers who were in groups of 2-4 were served before us even though they just ordered that morning. Oh well. It wasn't a problem, it just taught us to sit down, and assume that it'll show up some time.

We got back on the boat and cruised towards Luang Prabang. About an hour outside of the city, we stopped by to visit Pak Ou caves, also known as Tham Ting. These caves were filled with buddhas of all sizes; there are apparently thousands of them there, though many of them were broken.

In Luang Prabang, we rode tuk tuks to the Thong Bay Guesthouse, our home for the next 3 nights. We all loved this place! Overlooking a lovely river and farmland, our comfortable bungalows were delightful. Winston and I were lucky enough to get a river-front view, and spent many hours relaxing on the balcony. We highly recommend this place to anyone who visits Luang Prabang. It's not in the center of town, but it's definitely walkable (if you're up to some exercise) though it's cheap enough to just take the tuk tuk.

Before meeting up for dinner, Natalie treated us to taro ice cream. Yummy! We went to a barbecu place for dinner (i.e. self-cooked using hotpot/grill). We pigged out and it only cost us about $2.50 US each. It is very inexpensive and to travel through Laos,
made extra special by the friendly and helpful locals.

We woke up early the next morning and left at 6am to go into town to watch the monks collect food. We treated ourselves to hot chocolate and chocolate crossaint while we watched them that early in the morning. Yummy! Lindsay and Holly bought some sticky rice from the vendors, and joined the locals in distributing food to the monks when they came around.

Next we hoped over to the Fresh and Healthy Cafe. Very tasty muesli, yoghurt and fruit for breakfast! We all met up with Tonkien at the Luang Prabang Museum, which was the former palace. There were many beautiful things inside, but we were not able to take any photographs. One of the things that we have noticed in Laos, is the use of coloured glass to display mosaics on the walls of the temples and palace. They were very colourful and beautifully done. Apparently the glass were imporated from Japan. Lao no longer has a monarch; the children the last prince crown now live in Paris.

After our tour of the museum. Tonkien brought us to see his wife and daughter, who were selling silk scarves at the local market. We bought a few pieces; Lao silk weaving is quite intricate indeed. Winston and I had lunch back at the guesthouse; very delicious spring rolls, larp gai (specialty lao chicken dish) and Mekong river fish. Yummy! Before that, a bunch of us had a fruit party of durian, longans, dragon fruit, nashi pears and oranges. It was fun, but most people were quite turned off by the durians, so Winston and I ate the rest of them.

In the afternoon, we went on a handicrafts tour. First, we went to a silversmith in town(beautiful products, but the stuff we liked were too expensive) where the girls bought 100% silver thumb rings. Then we went to a blacksmight village. It was very interesting to see and hear the pounding of metal all throughout the village. Apparently many villages are trade oriented; we encountered a group of men celebrating with beer lao as they had made 12 knives each (they normally make 10 a day) and one very happy fellow came around and offered beer to everyone. He tried several times to get me to drink but didn't quite understand when we were telling him that I couldn't, so luckily Winston came by and drank on my behalf. Hehe.. husbands are good for some things.

At the next stop, we found out how lao lao was brewed, and Tess bought some to bring back to Australia. To end the tour, we visted the silk weaving and factory making village outside of the town. and enjoyed watching the beautiful products come to life, not to mention leaving behind some kips by taking the stuff home.

Taking a break from asian food, we stopped back in town and enjoyed a delicious meal of pizza and hamburgers. They were very nicely done indeed. Lindsay and I did a bit of shopping at the night market while everyone else checked their emails. We turned in early that night as most of us were tired from waking up early and having a full day!

Sunday, December 28th, we headed off on a 3 hour trek to the waterfalls. It took us about an hour's drive to reach a fantastic little Hmong village in the forest (can't remember the name now). The people here were very friendly and smiled endlessly for us. None of the children asked for pens or money, it felt so refreshing. What caught my attention in particular, is the absence of man-manufactured products (no colourful plastic or metal). Everywhere I looked, I saw earth tones and greens. It was all natural!! Animals were walking around, children in their native outfits, Beautiful latticed bamboo fences and solid wood homes.

We walked through a jungle of trees, plants, poinsettias, reeds, spider webs (on the ground, it was strange) and rivers. Luckily the weather was very pleasant. We reached the top of Kwang Xi waterfall, and made our way down. The waterfall was quite beautiful, with several falls and pools of turquoise. Jenny, Barb, Winston, Lindsay and Ange went in for a dip. The water temperature was a bit too cold for me. I'm a fan of hot sun and cool (but not cold) water. I know, picky picky.

We had a quick lunch of noodle soup and went to watch Phet the tiger eat. Intrepid has been involved with her rescue and maintanence, so we all chipped in and bought her 5kg of buffalo meat. We took turns through slabs of meat on her cage while she happily consumed them. It was incredible how close we got to her. Other than the 'strong' iron bars between us, we were only a few inches apart. She is certainly a very beautiful cat.

Three young sloth bears also live nearby. We watched them play and eat bananas. They were interesting creatures, though nowhere as beautiful as Phet. We all got into our tuk tuks and rode the hour long ride back to our guest house. Most of us were fairly tired after our trek and fell asleep along the way. We only had 30 minutes back at the guest house before we set off to town for our cooking class.

Held at the restaurant where we had bbq the first night, we were shown how to make spring rolls (and sauce), green papaya salad, yellow chicken curry, stir fried vegetables, Lao salad (with Nat's vomit sauce - it actually tasted quite nice), seafood tom yum soup and beef larp. We had a huge feast. and could not finish all the food. It was quite a fun time.

Monday morning, we went to town and visited the Wat Xieng Thong, a very beautiful temple. Luang Prabang is a UNESCO world heritage and this wat's one of the reasons. They were many beautiful glass mosaics on the outer walls of the buildings, with cold coloured roofs and doors everywhere. Winston befriended a novice monk and spent some time chatting with him. I went to see a young monkey chained to a tree next door (it was a pet) and while eating a bag of popcorn, the monkey got loose from his chain and headed right for me. He was such a little guy, and could wrap his arms and legs around my thigh. He did take a bite out of my leg, but didn't leave any marks (he was so little). It was probably lucky for me that he was a pet and therefore not too ferocious. The owner eventually did catch him and they tied him back up. Winston was there watching while this happened, though I'm not sure what he could have done. I'm not sure why I seem to get bitten by animals all the time. This is my second monkey bite in 2 months! It was quite exciting though.

I met up with the girls and walked around town shopping while Winston parked at the Internet cafe. 5 hours later, he was still there when we collected him for dinner. We rushed back to the guest house, collected our luggage and headed for the airport. We were on a Lao Aviation flight to Vientiane. The plane arrived in Luang Prabang an hour late, so by the time we arrived at the Douang Deuane Hotel in Vientiane, most of the restaurants were already closed. I was still hungry (as usual), so ended up getting chicken noodle soup at the river side with Lisa and Jacqui. Well, actually, I was the only eating. They enjoyed a beer.

In Vientiane, we had a free day on Tuesday. Jacqui and I took a tuk tuk to the Pha That Luang, while Winston and the other girls all rented bicycles. This is Lao's most important monument, a huge golden stuppa, their symbol of sovereignty and Buddhism. The cyclists arrived 40 minutes later, and while they recovered from their ride through crazy traffic (Vientiane was definitely a city with many motorcycles and cars whereas Luang Prabang had very few vehicles).

Jacqui and I took off walking to the Patuxai, also known as the Victory Monument. We climbed to the top of the monument, and had great 360 degree views of the city. While we were on top, we could see the cyclists rounding the corner and riding by. We shouted their names, but they didn't hear us and just proceeded to drive to the market. They looked so tiny from the top; just like little ants riding in a single file. :)

We then picked up a plate of fresh spring rolls from a local stall and enjoyed it tremendously. Next, it was several hours of shopping at the morning market (a funny name considering that the market opens all day long!). We bumped into Winston in the silver section; he was hoping to bump into me as he needed some US cash.

On the way back to the hotel, we also visited the Wat Si Saket, which is the oldest wat in the city. Unfortunately the museum had already closed for the day, so we were unable to see the contests of the inner court. The outer area though, did contain beautiful trees and loads of bougainvillae in pots. There was also a smaller building there which caught my interest. It was the Tripitaka Library, a temple library, which used to house thousands of Buddhist scrolls, all locked up in a huge wooden cabinet. We walked over to take a look; this cabinet is several shelves high, and each shelf is probably about 6 feet tall. The contents have been moved to Bangkok (looted by the Thais during the war). Here is an interesting link of libraries in Laos.

We had a fun group dinner at Sticky Fingers, a restaurant run by two Aussie women. Unfortunately Ange and Dave both had tummy problems, and were unable to join us. The next morning, we all met down in the lobby in anticipation of a long bus ride to our homestay in Ta Buk, in the Hinboun province. It was quite a sad group, most people were sick from tummy issues and being sick all night. Yikes! Even Lisa, our fearless leader was hit by whatever GI virus that seemed to be running around. On our last day in Luang Prabang, before flying to Vientiane, Barbara, Glenis and Holly were also sick for the day.

We considered staying the night in Vientiane instead of the homestay, but it was not possible with our previous transport arrangements and pick up at the Laos/Vietnam border. So on the bus we went (luckily it was quite comfortable). We had a local guide, Ley, who was very helpful. We made a few toilet stops and lunch before arriving at the village in the late afternoon. It was an interesting arrangement; the group would split into two and spend the night in two different homes. Dinner though, would be under the same roof. Since there was still time, 9 of us went off to ride B-52 boats. These boats were constructed out of the fuel shells dropped by the Americans back when. They were quite loud, but it was fun to cruise down the calm waters of the river.

We enjoyed a great homecooked meal that night! With steam and sticky rice, there were beans, chicken, pork, morning glory, potatoes and mixed veggies. The food reminded Winston and I very much of our mom's cooking. It was Christmas Eve - most people were asleep by 10pm (not much happens in the village this late) so we didn't exactly have much of a celebration. Winston and I were both up at midnight though neither knew that the other was awake. Funny, eh?

In the morning, most people felt better so that was good. We ended up celebrating several new year's: Melbourne at 10pm the night before, England at 7am that morning, Toronto at noon and Vancouver/Seattle at 3pm. We departed out of Laos quite easily though we had to pay $1 'overtime wages' each to the immigration officer since it was new year's day (a public holiday - apparently).

We were only in this country for a week, but I think we all really enjoyed it and was definitely not prepared for the hustle and bustle of our next country. If you are looking for some place to go that is laid back, relaxed, clean, hassle free, cheap, beautiful, and not have to worry about getting run over by a vehicle, then Laos is a great choice! We would love to come back some day and explore the rest of the country. The small bit we experienced was enough to convince us that there are other great treasures to find here.

---