Vientiane
I'm in Vientiane today. It's the capital of Laos and as far as I can tell, there's not much to do here. I've seen some expats wandering around, so I suspect it's one of those places where people get farmed out to do their 'time'. In some ways it's nice that it's boring; it means that I can relax a bit and not worry that I'm not seeing everything that I should. Have had a very lazy morning and a bit of a wander around to see if I can rustle up anything of interest and this afternoon I am going to get some pampering done - pedicure and some massage I think.
I did have a bit of a look around yesterday afternoon when we first arrived and found the night market just as it was setting up. It was far more real than any of the other markets that I've seen so far on the trip. It was grotty, busy and I wouldn't have bought anything! I saw whole barbequed piglet, whole deep-fried baby chicken (with the feathers!), small frogs in big buckets moving around and trying not to be dinner, I even saw cockroaches for sale. Everything was covered in flies and it made me so glad to be a vegetarian for this part of my trip. At least it was an experience. I was so knackered after the early start that we had that I was in bed by 10pm and I don't think I even moved an inch all night once my head had hit the pillow.
I'm having a bit of a misery guts and irritable few days. The hotel is rubbish - no mozzie net (I have my own thankfully and have figured out a way to put it up. I am a genius), lots of beasties, cold water only AGAIN. I know, I know...I should think myself lucky that I am here at all, but still....just one of those days. On the plus side, Laos used to be a French colony, so I had an excellent chocolate croissant for breakfast and that could cheer anyone up :)
Luang Prabang (our last stop) was excellent. It had a lovely atmosphere and the people were very friendly. It's a fairly small place (it used to be the capital before the French took over and changed it to V) and has lots of French beach-summer-house-style buildings. They reminded me of the place that Cara lives in Cap Breton. I did loads when I was there aswell. The first day we arrived we got there late in the afternoon after sailing down the Mekong on a house boat (which was kind of wonderful, but very cold!)and once we had checked in, a group of us decided to go back into the 'city' and check out the markets and have a look around. Lao has a lot of ethnic minority hill tribes, over 100 different groups have been identified in a population of almost 6 million which is pretty impressive. They all have different customs and languages and gives amazing diversity to the area. This also means that there's a lot to choose from at the markets! They make beautiful silk here and each hill tribe has a different signature motif that they use in their weaving. It was so amazing to see the different varieties on show and of course to go shopping! I was very restrained and didn't buy anything, but did have a thorough look so that I could go back and make purchases.
The next day we had organised activities arranged. These included a trip out to the something something Waterfalls. It was so lush and the water was so clear that it was like a little piece of paradise. Swimming was on offer, but the water was SO cold that I chickened out. A few brave souls ventured in though. The thing about places like this is that health and safety doesn't exist, only common sense and sometimes I think that's a good thing. For example, you could walk up to the top of the waterfall and actually walk across it at the top. Guess what I did. It was so much fun and really did get the adrenaline going! I wasn't the only one either, so there were other people who may have plunged to their deaths too - I jest mum, I jest. In the afternoon, our guide (we have a Laotian guide too) invited us to go to a wedding in his village. It was so much fun. Basically the open up the village and let everyone come along...sometimes up to 1000 people are catered for. They made us feel so welcome even although we were obviously out of place and kept taking photos to store on our 'have done this' list. They weren't dressed up, they didn't have a camera between them, they were the ones who kept dishing out the food and beers ( a supply of which was seemingly never ending) and they just danced about and welcomed everyone who wanted to join in - children, falang (foreigners), mangy dogs, etc...It was fairly eye-opening. I had a wee dance of course because you can't go to a strangers wedding and not dance!
The next day, which was our last, we were free to do whatever we wanted. I opted for a morning of elephant riding through the the Lao jungle which was very sedetary and interesting - who knew that elephants had a sense of humour? My elephant kept splashing the water with its trunk to make us all wet and then blowing bubbles and farting at the same time. Very educational. At the end we got to fee them bananas too which was fun. After that we headed out on a trip to see some of the local villages where they have craft specialities and I learned all about how to make paper from raw bark and also saw silk worms in action and learnt all about the stages and work that goes into spinning and then weaving the silk. Actually pretty interesting and thankfully no pressure to buy anything which makes a nice change. .
On the morning before we left to fly down to V, we all got up super early (5.30am anyone?) to head into town to give the monks alms. Monks cannot obtain their own food and they only eat one meal a day which they have to put together from the alms that they collect. In the morning there are thousands (and I do actually mean thousands) of monks of all ages (7 - 107) walking around in their orange robes, barefoot collecting alms. We all bought some goodies and handed them out, but it kind of felt weird as they were looking at us like mad things. We are mad I suppose.
Anyway, have a pampering date with the girls, so have to go.
posted by Yogini @ 5:17 am
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