If any of you read the previous very detailed post about our trekking in Laos near Luang Prabang, I applaud you. Because I know for myself that I would probably stop halfway just because it is so hard to read it on computer screen and it just takes a long time. But if you did read it to the end, which ended rather abruptly (that's because we didn't have time and we had to leave), I hope you vicariously enjoyed the trekking and experiences that we did. Perhaps the pictures will help but right now the internet is not the fastest, so, I will do upload pictures later. I'll try to make this post not as long but no less interesting.
Anyways, after trekking we left Luang Prabang for what turned out to be 18 (Katy thinks it was 19) hours of journey on the local bus on very much windy Lao roads for Vieng Xai. I pride myself of being never ever having succumbed to any sort of motion sickness (another thing is I have no known allergies.. ha!). However these roads almost got me. The road winds up in all possible letters of English, and not only, alphabet. There are U turns, P turns, S Turns, ..... With a bit of imagination I think you could create a simple Chinese character looking on the roads from above.
Anyways, we arrived in Vieng Xai about 5 Pm, and though we knew that this town is least visited by the tourists (because of its remoteness) I was a bit surprised to actually find it true. But the town itself is lovely. My mother in law would be very proud of how people take care of their gardens. Although inside their gardens are mostly fruits (plums and peaches) and vegetables, on the outside along the see-through bamboo fence they planted very pretty plants of different colors, which altogether made some sort of pattern. Later we found out that this landscaping actually was sponsored by some Dutch organization. Anyhow the town is tiny, has one major street and beautiful scenery around it, with big ponds (lakes) surrounded by rock formations, which have about 500 caves where the communist leaders hid during the bombing by the US troops in 1970s. The only touristy thing to do in this town is go on the caves tour and most tourists spend only one night there, or even just a day. We, however, spent 3 nights there... We figured that because it took us 18-19 hours to get here, we can at least spend here longer time. The tour of the caves was quite interesting. At this moment they've opened only 5 caves to the tourists, which we all visited. Three of them were man-made using dynamite and housed the leaders of the Communist party back then. The last two were natural and very spacious and big. These ones served as a theater and a huge meeting room. The theater could accomodate 2,000 people and the cave itself was about 300 meters long. During the tour we met one Australian lady who was with the AUSAID, the Australian Aid Organization, and she was in Laos, in and out, for the last 2 or 3 years helping and training local people. It was very nice to chat with her in the evening at dinner. I'm sure her company to us was as enjoyable as ours to her, because there's not much to do in Vieng Xai once it is dark, with no TV, no Internet...
The only thing that spoiled my time in Vieng Xai is that I got sick. Katy got sick the day before and the next day I got sick. We think it was food that we ate late at night on one of the stops on the way to Vieng Xai. The hygiene aspect of that dish left to desire better. (Does the last part of that sentence make sense?. Oh, well. we say that in Russian.. ha-). Fortunately enough the sickness was gone in exactly one day and a half for us both, with the help of the panadol and stomach pills. I think we were sort of fortunate in Vieng Xai as well, because the last night we stayed there, they had a concert there, where all locals go. Because you had to pay to get in we didn't go, but we still could hear everything, since it was held in the open stadium, and the sounds and types of songs and MCs didn't particularly make us willing to pay money. Last time I remember, the concert with winy songs and occasional talk and laughter, which reminded me more of the karaoke rooms in Korea, where Korean sallary-men would go after a round of eating and drinking, was still going on at half past 10 at night before I fell asleep.
The next day, which is today, we took another bus to our next destination Phonsavan. The trip took another 10 hours on the same-same but different windy road up high in the mountains. The bus this time was smaller and hence more cramped and uncomfortable. On our stop for lunch we went to just look at the hardware store and it turned out that the people of that store are all Chinese from the province in China on the border with Laos. Katy quickly established relations with them. They were rather happy to see a white girl speaking Chinese with the Chinese looking guy speaking none. I was proud for Katy's excellent command of Chinese, and it actually made wanting to get to China so that we could do it more.
Surprisingly enough, Lao buses depart and arrive quite precisely on schedule. So, as we were told after 10 hours of bus journey we arrived in Phonsavan. Having the Internet back at the tips of our fingers feels very good along with the lights in the streets, cars passing by constantly, TVs and other perks of a "civilized" world that most of us take so easily for granted.
I've just admitted to Katy and Katinka (our German friend and travel-mate) that perhaps I wouldn't want to do a year of backpacking... because I just want to go home and be around the things I like...
We're only staying here for one night and then take of for yet another 7 hours on the bus (again local and perhaps small and uncomfortable) for Vang Vieng, before taking off for the capital, Vientiane. So, more is coming on this page from either of us or both...
Later.
We've been living as foreigners for a few years in St.Petersburg, Russia, now... These are some observations of life here as I see it...
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Friday, April 25, 2008
TREKKING IN THAILAND WAS A JOKE...
After trekking here in Laos for three days we both feel like we've got the urge for trekking out of our systems. At least for a while... We did trekking through the company called Tiger Trail. When we were in Malaysia, Katy met the cousin of a friend from New Zealand, who told us about this company and recommended it as the one that not is just making money on us but also uses a part of its profit to help the local communities. So, we went there. They had many different programs from which to choose, from elephant riding to kayaking and trekking. They also were quite flexible as to how many people could go and you also could choose the activities you'd like to do. Anyways, we chose one that was quite new. It was trekking on a new trail to the north-east from Luang Prabang, where we'd visit three very remote villages. At first because many people here want to go only for a day of trekking, we thought we'd go just by ourselves plus a guide. But as we were signing up for the program one German girl (Katinka) who was with us on the same slow boat from Thailand saw us in the shop and since she also wanted to do 3 days trekking she gladly signed up to the program as well. That made our group to be only four people including our guide.
The next morning we showed up at the shop at 10 to 8am as we were told. This time we minimized our stuff to take with us. No heavy lenses and tripods. I figured that with my photography skills I will take some excellent shots even without a tripod. And it was a wise decision as we soon found out. Our guide showed up later and introduced himself as Nyot (I'm not sure about the spelling). As we learned later he was from the Khmu tribe and spoke Lao, Khmu, two different Hmong languages, English and Thai. We got on a tuk-tuk that took us to the bus station where we had to take a "bus" to the point from which we start trekking. It wasn't really a bus, but a truck with the seats in its cargo area. We were waiting there for over one hour for it to take off. We were the first to get in the truck and while we were waiting we went to look around the small marketplace to see if we could buy any pens to give village children. When we came back to the truck we found a little old lady sitting inside. Very very little and very very old. She was snacking away on this and that for the entire hour we waited, and even managed to mix her own medicine, with a portable pestle she was carrying. As she was only about 4 foot high the seats in the truck that we thought low were even too high for her, so she had brought her own even lower seat, on which she sat at the end of the truck. At one point Vlad asked me to guess how old I thought she was. I thought at least 85 but possibly over 90. Nyot then asked her and although hard of hearing she eventually understood his question and replied with one gutteral syllable and a clap of the hands, which seemed to mean something because the now almost full truck suddenly came alive. This person and that began to exclaim. "How old, how old?" we asked. Nyot seemed a little dumbstruck. "One hundred and ten."
"A HUNDRED AND TEN" Oh my Buddha! And I started clapping and shook her hand, cos it's not every day you meet someone that old, someone who has seen the entire modern history of Lao, from the arrival of the French through the formation of the Lao People's Democratic Republic and the Vietnam War (or American War to them) and now into the age of cellphones and Internet.
With her little hat pulled down over her short hair and her busy little movements, she immediately captured out hearts. When the truck got moving she put her bony hands on one man's knee and laid her head down there to sleep. And when the truck jolted she grabbed out for his knee or someone else's. At one point I caught him massaging the leg the lady was leaning on, and the man and I exchanged smiles. Although neither of us knew this lady we both felt her to be our grandmother and would never deny her a knee to nap on or grab onto.
Earlier she had watched as Katinka ate her breakfast baguette, and had started pointing at it and saying something. We somehow guessed that she wanted it because she had been eating the whole time. But with the amount of food she had consumed it also somehow didn't seem possible that she could also fit in a baguette. Nyot was somewhere else, so we looked around at the other passengers for some clue as to what to do. Does she want it? Should we give it? While we were looking around the grandma had been fumbling in a small purse and pulled out a couple of grubby notes. By this time we realized that she even intended to pay for the leftover baguette Katinka was still eating. Katinka, being a happy-go-lucky sort of girl, just shrugged and laughed, and although still hungry, handed over her baguette and waved away the proffered notes. The lady put her hands together in thanks. She then busily tied the plastic bag together and shifted around some items in her bag to make room for the half baguette.
With 18 people now in the back of the truck we thought we were ready to leave. So I asked Nyot how to say "Full" and learned it was "Dem leaow" so we said "Dem leaow" quite a few times and loudly, followed by "Bai bai" or "Bai tor" which means "Let's go" and hoped that our pronunciation was correct.
But it's amazing how Lao people don't like to waste anything. Of course the truck-bus had to be filled up to the fullest extent possible and much beyond that point. So even when we started off, we picked up another few people until there were 25 or 26 in the back of the truck. But everyone was smiling and friendly to us and tried to teach us some more Lao words like "Stop."
We did get a bit nervous at one point when a teenager with an AK 47 on his front jumped on the running board at the back. I wouldn't know an AK 47 if I fell over one, but Vlad, being Russian, somehow knows these things. Apparently he was in the army...but if he was, why was he alone and was he off duty or on...
When the truck dropped us off an hour and a half later, Nyot found a local man to take us across the river and then our trek began. The sun was very hot that afternoon, and our clothes quickly became drenched with sweat. Vlad hates sweating so he took every opportunity to cool down as we crossed and recrossed a small stream. Although the water was barely over our calves he managed to submerge himself each time. We then kept walking up and up until we reached the village we would stay at for the first night, a Khmu village.
After walking for a couple of hours, we looked forward to the "clean river" Nyot had told us ran through the village, but when we arrived we found only a muddy water hole. Disappointed, we tried to make the best of it. While local boys jumped naked into the dirty pool, we sat in the cleaner pool a few metres up the river. But then curiously we discovered that the topmost pond was stagnant and no water at all dripped into it. We then realized that the pool we were sitting in must be the source of a spring, and that we were probably sitting in the village's drinking water. We looked around sheepishly and quickly got out. Over the next couple of hours all village women came to the dirtied pool to wash themselves and sometimes their clothes too. I find it quite an impressive skill to be able to wash in public wearing clothes. I didn't manage to master it in those three days and consequently arrived back in Luang Prabang quite dirty and smelly too probably.
Only one woman didn't wear a sarong while washing. We were a bit shocked actually when she took her t-shirt off. Vlad turned away but I looked sideways and saw she had an almost entirely flat chest with large well-sucked nipples. She then pulled up her skirt, while holding the front of her bits and splashed water up her legs. The children stood on the bank with unsmiling faces, so perhaps this behaviour was even anomalous for their community. Maybe she's the local crazy lady. Vlad also reported that one man had come down to the pool naked and managed to wash while holding his bits with one hand the whole time. Vlad also didn't manage to master this washing technique in three days, but he still seemed to be cleaner than Katinka and I.
Vlad was something of a hit with the young boys in this village. His camera was like a talisman that gave him some mysterious power over them. They followed him wherever he went and dutifully repeated English words as he tried to teach them eyes, nose, mouth and head. I think he fell in love with one little boy called Weang, who smiled at everything and loved all the affection he received. Eventually he even learned the names for most of the little boys, Kumsee, Eah, Suang, Heum...
Khmu build houses on stilts so some people, like the house we stayed in, had two storeys. Because it had been so hot the first day, Nyot suggested we get up early the next day so we could beat the heat. Vlad somehow got the idea that we would get up at 4am. Sometime around 4am he must have heard someone get up and decided that it must be Nyot. So he got dressed and woke me up. I got dressed, went outside to the toilet, which by the way is everywhere cos no house had a "toilet" or even a hole in the ground behind their house. And only then did Nyot wake up and ask why the hell we were up so early. "Oh" said Vlad.... "I thought you were already up...." At that time it was still quite cold and foggy, and Nyot reminded us that we couldn't leave until the fog cleared enough for us to see the path. So Nyot went back to sleep and Vlad went down the pool to see if he could spot any aquarium fish. He has been disappointed thus far that the kinds of fish he could buy in Tashkent and Seoul, supposedly from this region of the world, are not to be found anywhere. But half an hour later he came back quite triumphant that the dirty pool was now crystal clear and he had spotted a yellow fish with black spots. I lay there in the dark listening to all the sounds of old macdonald's farm, and dozed off and on.
Just a word about the toilet situation in these villages. At first I was surprised none of the villages had anywhere specific to do their business, but on the second night, after seeing first hand how the pigs cleaned up after me, I realized that it is far cleaner to not have a designated toilet area. In comparison with our lifestyle, these villages consume very little and pollute very little too. Their only crime as far as I can see is that they practice slash and burn agriculture. I presume they could learn to grow food in another way, but as most people in the three villages we visited were almost entirely uneducated it would take an NGO quite an effort to teach the knowledge these people would need to change their agricultural methods.
In the morning, after a breakfast of sticky rice and squirrel we set off up the hill. A group of village men and the little boy, Kumsee, were also going the same way. They carried home made rifles and were off for a day's hunting, perhaps to catch more squirrel or maybe snake or rat. For some reason neither Vlad nor Katinka touched the squirrel, even though it was better than the rat we ate on the trek in Thailand...
The hill climb was very challenging and I don't think Wendy would have liked it at all. When we got to the top Nyot pointed out the barely visible hill we would reach by the end of the day. Vlad, disbelieving, took a photo of our destination, to later prove it. Then we trudged and trudged until we reached a small stream where a couple of Hmong ladies were bathing and eating lunch beside their basket full of forest goodies. They invited us to share their lunch and although we had eaten breakfast only a couple of hours before, they were so insistent we felt it rude to refuse. I was a bit disappointed they only had plain rice not sticky rice, but apparently Hmong always eat plain rice, perhaps because they originate in Northern China/Mongolia whereas Khmu people come from Southern China where sticky rice is grown. For flavoring they dipped the rice in chilli with salt and supplemented this with a few pieces of pork and some cooked forest mushrooms. We felt a bit guilty that after offering the three of us a piece of pork each the ladies only had one piece of pork left each, but again, we felt it was impossible to refuse.
Since we hadn't washed properly the previous night we all removed our clothes, washed them in the stream and put them on rocks to dry. But then we heard thunder and the day clouded over. When it was time to leave, the clothes were still not dry, but it was better to put them on than walk bare, because we were about to enter leech territory.
If you are like me and have only seen leeches on TV you might think they are quite large and black, like slugs. But the leeches here in Asia (Malaysia and Thailand included) look like small brown worms. They stick up from the ground, sometimes unmoving and then suddenly extend their bodies and wave around looking for a host. They also "walk" which seemed to scare Katinka. We had a very funny afternoon trying to avoid the leeches and screaming when we found one. The most clever leech was the one that found its way into the crevice at the side of Vlad's sandal. It was wedged in so tightly that we weren't able to get it out and so Vlad had no choice but to drown it in mosquito spray and hope that it would be squashed as he walked.
The walk up to the next village, besides being leech infested, was also very steep, slippery from leaves and eroded in parts. When we met a man leading his buffalo along that track we were amazed that buffalo could walk such paths.
Before we reached the village, we walked across the ridge of a hill which had been entirely burned, ready for rice plantations. We could see a few people on the hillside collected the blackened wood for firewood. Nyot then looked at the sky and predicted rain. He made no mention of when, but suddenly began to run toward a couple of bamboo huts further down the ridge. We were too tired to follow at that pace, but soon began sprinting down the hill as the rain began to pelt down in heavy drops. We reached the huts before we became soaked and laughed to think that we had almost ignored Nyot's warning. The villagers who had been working in the fields hurried to get out of the rain also and were no doubt surprised, like the bear family to see Goldilocks, that we were sheltering in one of their huts. But instead they didn't seem to mind at all and for the most part ignored us.
The hillsides these Hmong had been working on were so steep that we could not believe they would be turned into rice fields. Unlike us, they seemed to have little trouble walking up and down those slopes. And they did this day after day, while we were only "trekking" for two days... We think this is probably how the one hundred and ten year old lady had stayed so fit and strong.
When the rain had passed we trekked on up and up for another hour and a half to their village, around 1600m above sea level. This village, named Bwok Guai (Buffalo Pond) was relatively rich by their standards because they had many buffalo, pigs, goats and cows. However, they did not have electricity and since the only access to Bwok Guai is to walk for three hours uphill on muddy paths, the villagers could not even carry a generator up there. The pond the village is named after no longer exists so the only running water was one tap somewhere in the middle of the village where everyone congregated at night to wash.
We stayed in the 31 year old chief's house - he was absent - and when we arrived at 2.30 pm, Nyot prepared our second lunch, which we ate and promptly fell asleep on the the bamboo mat beds in the corners of the house. In Hmong homes the cooking is done inside, so after both lunch and dinner the house was full of smoke, which didn't seem to bother the locals. We almost choked however, and only managed to go to sleep after we had opened both doors and ventilated the place. In the morning though, we woke up before we were asphyxiated because the calf outside was bmooing for its mother. We had eaten parts of its mother, who had died of a snake bite, in each meal and she was delicious.
The next morning we showed up at the shop at 10 to 8am as we were told. This time we minimized our stuff to take with us. No heavy lenses and tripods. I figured that with my photography skills I will take some excellent shots even without a tripod. And it was a wise decision as we soon found out. Our guide showed up later and introduced himself as Nyot (I'm not sure about the spelling). As we learned later he was from the Khmu tribe and spoke Lao, Khmu, two different Hmong languages, English and Thai. We got on a tuk-tuk that took us to the bus station where we had to take a "bus" to the point from which we start trekking. It wasn't really a bus, but a truck with the seats in its cargo area. We were waiting there for over one hour for it to take off. We were the first to get in the truck and while we were waiting we went to look around the small marketplace to see if we could buy any pens to give village children. When we came back to the truck we found a little old lady sitting inside. Very very little and very very old. She was snacking away on this and that for the entire hour we waited, and even managed to mix her own medicine, with a portable pestle she was carrying. As she was only about 4 foot high the seats in the truck that we thought low were even too high for her, so she had brought her own even lower seat, on which she sat at the end of the truck. At one point Vlad asked me to guess how old I thought she was. I thought at least 85 but possibly over 90. Nyot then asked her and although hard of hearing she eventually understood his question and replied with one gutteral syllable and a clap of the hands, which seemed to mean something because the now almost full truck suddenly came alive. This person and that began to exclaim. "How old, how old?" we asked. Nyot seemed a little dumbstruck. "One hundred and ten."
"A HUNDRED AND TEN" Oh my Buddha! And I started clapping and shook her hand, cos it's not every day you meet someone that old, someone who has seen the entire modern history of Lao, from the arrival of the French through the formation of the Lao People's Democratic Republic and the Vietnam War (or American War to them) and now into the age of cellphones and Internet.
With her little hat pulled down over her short hair and her busy little movements, she immediately captured out hearts. When the truck got moving she put her bony hands on one man's knee and laid her head down there to sleep. And when the truck jolted she grabbed out for his knee or someone else's. At one point I caught him massaging the leg the lady was leaning on, and the man and I exchanged smiles. Although neither of us knew this lady we both felt her to be our grandmother and would never deny her a knee to nap on or grab onto.
Earlier she had watched as Katinka ate her breakfast baguette, and had started pointing at it and saying something. We somehow guessed that she wanted it because she had been eating the whole time. But with the amount of food she had consumed it also somehow didn't seem possible that she could also fit in a baguette. Nyot was somewhere else, so we looked around at the other passengers for some clue as to what to do. Does she want it? Should we give it? While we were looking around the grandma had been fumbling in a small purse and pulled out a couple of grubby notes. By this time we realized that she even intended to pay for the leftover baguette Katinka was still eating. Katinka, being a happy-go-lucky sort of girl, just shrugged and laughed, and although still hungry, handed over her baguette and waved away the proffered notes. The lady put her hands together in thanks. She then busily tied the plastic bag together and shifted around some items in her bag to make room for the half baguette.
With 18 people now in the back of the truck we thought we were ready to leave. So I asked Nyot how to say "Full" and learned it was "Dem leaow" so we said "Dem leaow" quite a few times and loudly, followed by "Bai bai" or "Bai tor" which means "Let's go" and hoped that our pronunciation was correct.
But it's amazing how Lao people don't like to waste anything. Of course the truck-bus had to be filled up to the fullest extent possible and much beyond that point. So even when we started off, we picked up another few people until there were 25 or 26 in the back of the truck. But everyone was smiling and friendly to us and tried to teach us some more Lao words like "Stop."
We did get a bit nervous at one point when a teenager with an AK 47 on his front jumped on the running board at the back. I wouldn't know an AK 47 if I fell over one, but Vlad, being Russian, somehow knows these things. Apparently he was in the army...but if he was, why was he alone and was he off duty or on...
When the truck dropped us off an hour and a half later, Nyot found a local man to take us across the river and then our trek began. The sun was very hot that afternoon, and our clothes quickly became drenched with sweat. Vlad hates sweating so he took every opportunity to cool down as we crossed and recrossed a small stream. Although the water was barely over our calves he managed to submerge himself each time. We then kept walking up and up until we reached the village we would stay at for the first night, a Khmu village.
After walking for a couple of hours, we looked forward to the "clean river" Nyot had told us ran through the village, but when we arrived we found only a muddy water hole. Disappointed, we tried to make the best of it. While local boys jumped naked into the dirty pool, we sat in the cleaner pool a few metres up the river. But then curiously we discovered that the topmost pond was stagnant and no water at all dripped into it. We then realized that the pool we were sitting in must be the source of a spring, and that we were probably sitting in the village's drinking water. We looked around sheepishly and quickly got out. Over the next couple of hours all village women came to the dirtied pool to wash themselves and sometimes their clothes too. I find it quite an impressive skill to be able to wash in public wearing clothes. I didn't manage to master it in those three days and consequently arrived back in Luang Prabang quite dirty and smelly too probably.
Only one woman didn't wear a sarong while washing. We were a bit shocked actually when she took her t-shirt off. Vlad turned away but I looked sideways and saw she had an almost entirely flat chest with large well-sucked nipples. She then pulled up her skirt, while holding the front of her bits and splashed water up her legs. The children stood on the bank with unsmiling faces, so perhaps this behaviour was even anomalous for their community. Maybe she's the local crazy lady. Vlad also reported that one man had come down to the pool naked and managed to wash while holding his bits with one hand the whole time. Vlad also didn't manage to master this washing technique in three days, but he still seemed to be cleaner than Katinka and I.
Vlad was something of a hit with the young boys in this village. His camera was like a talisman that gave him some mysterious power over them. They followed him wherever he went and dutifully repeated English words as he tried to teach them eyes, nose, mouth and head. I think he fell in love with one little boy called Weang, who smiled at everything and loved all the affection he received. Eventually he even learned the names for most of the little boys, Kumsee, Eah, Suang, Heum...
Khmu build houses on stilts so some people, like the house we stayed in, had two storeys. Because it had been so hot the first day, Nyot suggested we get up early the next day so we could beat the heat. Vlad somehow got the idea that we would get up at 4am. Sometime around 4am he must have heard someone get up and decided that it must be Nyot. So he got dressed and woke me up. I got dressed, went outside to the toilet, which by the way is everywhere cos no house had a "toilet" or even a hole in the ground behind their house. And only then did Nyot wake up and ask why the hell we were up so early. "Oh" said Vlad.... "I thought you were already up...." At that time it was still quite cold and foggy, and Nyot reminded us that we couldn't leave until the fog cleared enough for us to see the path. So Nyot went back to sleep and Vlad went down the pool to see if he could spot any aquarium fish. He has been disappointed thus far that the kinds of fish he could buy in Tashkent and Seoul, supposedly from this region of the world, are not to be found anywhere. But half an hour later he came back quite triumphant that the dirty pool was now crystal clear and he had spotted a yellow fish with black spots. I lay there in the dark listening to all the sounds of old macdonald's farm, and dozed off and on.
Just a word about the toilet situation in these villages. At first I was surprised none of the villages had anywhere specific to do their business, but on the second night, after seeing first hand how the pigs cleaned up after me, I realized that it is far cleaner to not have a designated toilet area. In comparison with our lifestyle, these villages consume very little and pollute very little too. Their only crime as far as I can see is that they practice slash and burn agriculture. I presume they could learn to grow food in another way, but as most people in the three villages we visited were almost entirely uneducated it would take an NGO quite an effort to teach the knowledge these people would need to change their agricultural methods.
In the morning, after a breakfast of sticky rice and squirrel we set off up the hill. A group of village men and the little boy, Kumsee, were also going the same way. They carried home made rifles and were off for a day's hunting, perhaps to catch more squirrel or maybe snake or rat. For some reason neither Vlad nor Katinka touched the squirrel, even though it was better than the rat we ate on the trek in Thailand...
The hill climb was very challenging and I don't think Wendy would have liked it at all. When we got to the top Nyot pointed out the barely visible hill we would reach by the end of the day. Vlad, disbelieving, took a photo of our destination, to later prove it. Then we trudged and trudged until we reached a small stream where a couple of Hmong ladies were bathing and eating lunch beside their basket full of forest goodies. They invited us to share their lunch and although we had eaten breakfast only a couple of hours before, they were so insistent we felt it rude to refuse. I was a bit disappointed they only had plain rice not sticky rice, but apparently Hmong always eat plain rice, perhaps because they originate in Northern China/Mongolia whereas Khmu people come from Southern China where sticky rice is grown. For flavoring they dipped the rice in chilli with salt and supplemented this with a few pieces of pork and some cooked forest mushrooms. We felt a bit guilty that after offering the three of us a piece of pork each the ladies only had one piece of pork left each, but again, we felt it was impossible to refuse.
Since we hadn't washed properly the previous night we all removed our clothes, washed them in the stream and put them on rocks to dry. But then we heard thunder and the day clouded over. When it was time to leave, the clothes were still not dry, but it was better to put them on than walk bare, because we were about to enter leech territory.
If you are like me and have only seen leeches on TV you might think they are quite large and black, like slugs. But the leeches here in Asia (Malaysia and Thailand included) look like small brown worms. They stick up from the ground, sometimes unmoving and then suddenly extend their bodies and wave around looking for a host. They also "walk" which seemed to scare Katinka. We had a very funny afternoon trying to avoid the leeches and screaming when we found one. The most clever leech was the one that found its way into the crevice at the side of Vlad's sandal. It was wedged in so tightly that we weren't able to get it out and so Vlad had no choice but to drown it in mosquito spray and hope that it would be squashed as he walked.
The walk up to the next village, besides being leech infested, was also very steep, slippery from leaves and eroded in parts. When we met a man leading his buffalo along that track we were amazed that buffalo could walk such paths.
Before we reached the village, we walked across the ridge of a hill which had been entirely burned, ready for rice plantations. We could see a few people on the hillside collected the blackened wood for firewood. Nyot then looked at the sky and predicted rain. He made no mention of when, but suddenly began to run toward a couple of bamboo huts further down the ridge. We were too tired to follow at that pace, but soon began sprinting down the hill as the rain began to pelt down in heavy drops. We reached the huts before we became soaked and laughed to think that we had almost ignored Nyot's warning. The villagers who had been working in the fields hurried to get out of the rain also and were no doubt surprised, like the bear family to see Goldilocks, that we were sheltering in one of their huts. But instead they didn't seem to mind at all and for the most part ignored us.
The hillsides these Hmong had been working on were so steep that we could not believe they would be turned into rice fields. Unlike us, they seemed to have little trouble walking up and down those slopes. And they did this day after day, while we were only "trekking" for two days... We think this is probably how the one hundred and ten year old lady had stayed so fit and strong.
When the rain had passed we trekked on up and up for another hour and a half to their village, around 1600m above sea level. This village, named Bwok Guai (Buffalo Pond) was relatively rich by their standards because they had many buffalo, pigs, goats and cows. However, they did not have electricity and since the only access to Bwok Guai is to walk for three hours uphill on muddy paths, the villagers could not even carry a generator up there. The pond the village is named after no longer exists so the only running water was one tap somewhere in the middle of the village where everyone congregated at night to wash.
We stayed in the 31 year old chief's house - he was absent - and when we arrived at 2.30 pm, Nyot prepared our second lunch, which we ate and promptly fell asleep on the the bamboo mat beds in the corners of the house. In Hmong homes the cooking is done inside, so after both lunch and dinner the house was full of smoke, which didn't seem to bother the locals. We almost choked however, and only managed to go to sleep after we had opened both doors and ventilated the place. In the morning though, we woke up before we were asphyxiated because the calf outside was bmooing for its mother. We had eaten parts of its mother, who had died of a snake bite, in each meal and she was delicious.
Monday, April 21, 2008
WEAVING CLASS
In Thailand we saw many attractive pieces of silk fabric and even considered buying some for curtains. We couldn't find anything that we both agreed was suitable so we didn't buy anything, which might be just as well because it may have been just a whim on our parts.
In Laos I have seen even more interesting patterns and colour schemes than in Thailand and when I found a pamphlet offering weaving classes I got quite excited. You can check out the place at www.ockpoktok.com which means East meets West. The business was apparently started by a British photographer who was very interested in weaving and took many classes with a local woman, and then just decided she wanted to make weaving part of her life. Now after 8 years Ock Pok Tok has two shops and a gallery, and employs 40 local weavers, although they aren't all their all the time. It seems to give a lot back to the community so I didn't begrudge the US$55 class fee (too much^^)
Somehow I fancied making one of the very fancy patterns you can see on the skirts of many girls around here, but of course this takes a lot of time, and much more skill than I could muster in just one day of learning. So I ended up making a placemat basically, with what is known as a Naga pattern. The Naga is some Buddhist spiritual symbol that protects I think... This pattern is two snake heads facing in opposite directions. You can see pictures of what it look like below. Each ethnic group in Laos weaves different patterns into their textiles according to their beliefs, and the colours differ depending on what ingredients you can find in the forest. In the class I took today, I dyed three skeins of silk, one with sappan wood and rusty nails, which turned out deep crimson; the second was dyed with indian trumpet leaves and that turned out a nice light apple green, and the third was dyed with teak leaves, which turned the silk greyish pink. Since some dye ingredients can take up to a year to ferment, they aren't used very much anymore, which is a shame considering they won't pollute the rivers like chemicals will. Vlad didn't fancy doing weaving, although I think he would have been pretty good at it considering his skill with the crochet needle. He turned up at lunch time to join us and the other weavers for a regular Lao lunch of sticky rice (rolled in balls with the fingers and then dipped in the dishes) chilli fish, some green weedy vegetable and a cucumber and meatball soup. After lunch, my guide, the very cute and smily Mr Noy, translated for the weaver as she showed me where to put my hands and feet.Seeing her flip the shuttle back and forth, lift the beater comb up and down and change the pattern so quickly and without hesitation I suddenly thought that maybe weaving is one of those activities that actually is as hard as it looks. Somehow I managed to get the hang of it though after 30 minutes or so of patient instruction and the rest was just memorising the steps and making sure I didn't eff up the pattern~ I was very pleased to actually come up with a finished product and wish I could've done the three day course where I could have made an entire scarf, but Vlad's patience will only last so far~ Speaking of which, he's already asked me three times if I'm "done" so if you have any more questions about weaving, email me~~
In Laos I have seen even more interesting patterns and colour schemes than in Thailand and when I found a pamphlet offering weaving classes I got quite excited. You can check out the place at www.ockpoktok.com which means East meets West. The business was apparently started by a British photographer who was very interested in weaving and took many classes with a local woman, and then just decided she wanted to make weaving part of her life. Now after 8 years Ock Pok Tok has two shops and a gallery, and employs 40 local weavers, although they aren't all their all the time. It seems to give a lot back to the community so I didn't begrudge the US$55 class fee (too much^^)
Somehow I fancied making one of the very fancy patterns you can see on the skirts of many girls around here, but of course this takes a lot of time, and much more skill than I could muster in just one day of learning. So I ended up making a placemat basically, with what is known as a Naga pattern. The Naga is some Buddhist spiritual symbol that protects I think... This pattern is two snake heads facing in opposite directions. You can see pictures of what it look like below. Each ethnic group in Laos weaves different patterns into their textiles according to their beliefs, and the colours differ depending on what ingredients you can find in the forest. In the class I took today, I dyed three skeins of silk, one with sappan wood and rusty nails, which turned out deep crimson; the second was dyed with indian trumpet leaves and that turned out a nice light apple green, and the third was dyed with teak leaves, which turned the silk greyish pink. Since some dye ingredients can take up to a year to ferment, they aren't used very much anymore, which is a shame considering they won't pollute the rivers like chemicals will. Vlad didn't fancy doing weaving, although I think he would have been pretty good at it considering his skill with the crochet needle. He turned up at lunch time to join us and the other weavers for a regular Lao lunch of sticky rice (rolled in balls with the fingers and then dipped in the dishes) chilli fish, some green weedy vegetable and a cucumber and meatball soup. After lunch, my guide, the very cute and smily Mr Noy, translated for the weaver as she showed me where to put my hands and feet.Seeing her flip the shuttle back and forth, lift the beater comb up and down and change the pattern so quickly and without hesitation I suddenly thought that maybe weaving is one of those activities that actually is as hard as it looks. Somehow I managed to get the hang of it though after 30 minutes or so of patient instruction and the rest was just memorising the steps and making sure I didn't eff up the pattern~ I was very pleased to actually come up with a finished product and wish I could've done the three day course where I could have made an entire scarf, but Vlad's patience will only last so far~ Speaking of which, he's already asked me three times if I'm "done" so if you have any more questions about weaving, email me~~
PARLEZ-VOUS FRANCAIS?
We've been in Luang Prabang, which is for your information is the ancient capital of Laos and the Unesco World Heritage site, now for three days. And we like it a lot. Because of the French colonialism in the first half of 20th century all signs and menus and building names here are in French. For such a tiny town of about 30,000 people it is a very lovely place. No hastles and bustles like everywhere in Thailand. We rented bycicles this time, and did some cruising around town.
Katy did today a day of weaving class. She made a little silk scarf and died some threads with the natural dies. She will probably want to write about it herself, so, I'll stop here. I didn't participate in the class. Weaving is not for men.. hahaha~ No... I just thought it was a bit expensive for me to do it, because I'm not that interested, but Katy loved it. And she learned something about the business of making stuff from silk. So, my day was very lazy. I slept in in the morning a little bit, and then went to the internet cafe. Finally, I found one that had Macs. So, I could back up all our pictures and videos on my ipod. After that I joined for lunch at the weaving school and then slept most of the afternoon on the sofa overlooking the Mekong river. The view is really beautiful. Only if it wasn't that hot... But I still managed to get a good amount of sleep, despite of the housewarming party next door, where they played music and sang loudly. I guess some of them like one particular song, so they kept playing it over and over again. And I was quite sick of it.
Every morning here something wakes us up quite early. After the first night early in the morning it started pooring like crazy, with the thunderstorm and ligthning. The amount of water falling was incredible. Even though I didn't get up and looked out, the sound was deafening. The second night early in the morning two freaking cats started fighting. And you know how nasty and loud the sound is.
Tomorrow morning we have to get up quite early as well because we're going on the jungle trekking again. For 3 days. We're going up north on the newly discovered path. We were told that the scenery along this trail is amazingly beautiful and not touristy at all. It will be only three of us, excluding the guide as well. Us two and one German girl, who was with us on the slow boat and apparently she wanted to go trekking and couldn't find companions. So, when she saw us in the shop signing up, she asked what we were signing up for and she joined us as well. We were happy to have her as well, because it is cheaper and will be more interesting than just the two of us. She also speaks some Russian (learned in school).
Traveling through Asia you often bump into people you met in a diffirent country. And it's very nice, especially if people you meet again are the ones you actually liked. So we did in Luang Prabang. We ran into the Swiss French speaking couple, who we went on a trekking in Thailand with. Really nice people, unfortunately, they didn't speak much of English, so, we couldn't have a good conversation, but it was still interesting to talk to them. Katy would understand some things they were saying in French sometimes. They had really hard time in Thailand, because everyone spoke English, but they are much happier in Laos, because they can read everything and the older generation also speaks French, I think...
Anyways, look forward to more pictures from jungles in Laos. We will be visiting Kamuh and Hmong tribes villages deep in the mountains, where they have no electricity no nothing.
Katy did today a day of weaving class. She made a little silk scarf and died some threads with the natural dies. She will probably want to write about it herself, so, I'll stop here. I didn't participate in the class. Weaving is not for men.. hahaha~ No... I just thought it was a bit expensive for me to do it, because I'm not that interested, but Katy loved it. And she learned something about the business of making stuff from silk. So, my day was very lazy. I slept in in the morning a little bit, and then went to the internet cafe. Finally, I found one that had Macs. So, I could back up all our pictures and videos on my ipod. After that I joined for lunch at the weaving school and then slept most of the afternoon on the sofa overlooking the Mekong river. The view is really beautiful. Only if it wasn't that hot... But I still managed to get a good amount of sleep, despite of the housewarming party next door, where they played music and sang loudly. I guess some of them like one particular song, so they kept playing it over and over again. And I was quite sick of it.
Every morning here something wakes us up quite early. After the first night early in the morning it started pooring like crazy, with the thunderstorm and ligthning. The amount of water falling was incredible. Even though I didn't get up and looked out, the sound was deafening. The second night early in the morning two freaking cats started fighting. And you know how nasty and loud the sound is.
Tomorrow morning we have to get up quite early as well because we're going on the jungle trekking again. For 3 days. We're going up north on the newly discovered path. We were told that the scenery along this trail is amazingly beautiful and not touristy at all. It will be only three of us, excluding the guide as well. Us two and one German girl, who was with us on the slow boat and apparently she wanted to go trekking and couldn't find companions. So, when she saw us in the shop signing up, she asked what we were signing up for and she joined us as well. We were happy to have her as well, because it is cheaper and will be more interesting than just the two of us. She also speaks some Russian (learned in school).
Traveling through Asia you often bump into people you met in a diffirent country. And it's very nice, especially if people you meet again are the ones you actually liked. So we did in Luang Prabang. We ran into the Swiss French speaking couple, who we went on a trekking in Thailand with. Really nice people, unfortunately, they didn't speak much of English, so, we couldn't have a good conversation, but it was still interesting to talk to them. Katy would understand some things they were saying in French sometimes. They had really hard time in Thailand, because everyone spoke English, but they are much happier in Laos, because they can read everything and the older generation also speaks French, I think...
Anyways, look forward to more pictures from jungles in Laos. We will be visiting Kamuh and Hmong tribes villages deep in the mountains, where they have no electricity no nothing.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
PAKBENG: MASSAGE, BOSOMS AND...
Going through the immigration from Thailand into Laos overland wasn't a big hastle. The officials in the immigration didn't know how much to charge me for visa and how long period of stay should I get with my citizenship. The officer looked around for my country and after not finding it, I was given and charged the same as many others, US$30 for visa and 30 days of stay. Canadians, Germans and some other countries are charged $42.
After one day of slow-boating we stopped at a small toan-village called Pakbeng. Before it got dark we decided to walk around the village, where we saw a little monkey chained to a tree, so we gave it some flowerceeds and were able to pat it. At one point the monkey got interested in Katy's hair and started pulling with its tiny hands. It was quite funny to watch, albeit a bit painful for Katy. Because it was evening, everyone was getting off work perhaps, so it was washing time. So, we saw quite a few people washing outside at the communal basins: men in their pants and women covered with sarongs. It was kind weird to see it, because everyone can see you washing, your neighbours, tourists flocking around town, pigs, dogs, chickens...
After walk we went to have dinner at a restaurant run by an Indian guy, and out of 5-6 dishes we ordered, only two are worth mentioning. Sour fish soup and baked egg plant salad. The freshwater fish soup was particularly good.. very refreshing. Then we decided to have a massage. If you're ever in Pakbeng, take my advice: Don't thave it. The girls who were there didn't speak English, so they called the owner who turned out to be the same Indian guy from the restaurant. We were led to a massage room where two other people were getting what looked like oil massage. We decided we woudl get oil massage as well. The other two clients, rather heavy people perhaps didn't notice our presence, at least the lady didn't. Because when I was preparing to lie down the lady was told to turn over on her back and she did... but not covering her breast area. And so I saw. The bosoms were of the size I, personally, wouldn't know what to do with... hmmm... Anyways, I felt a bit embarrassed that I saw though unintentionally, so, I quickly turned away. Now I'm getting distructed from what I wanted to say about the massage. Anyways, it was very bad. The girl who was massaging Katy didn't know what to do, so she constantly looked at my girl for the hints, who apparently was a bit more experienced, but not much more skillful. So, we ended up paying 50% more than we thought, for 30 minutes of oil rubbing, instead of one hour of massage. But we couldn't complain because perhaps girls did the best they knew. So we just think of it as our passive way to support local community.
After one day of slow-boating we stopped at a small toan-village called Pakbeng. Before it got dark we decided to walk around the village, where we saw a little monkey chained to a tree, so we gave it some flowerceeds and were able to pat it. At one point the monkey got interested in Katy's hair and started pulling with its tiny hands. It was quite funny to watch, albeit a bit painful for Katy. Because it was evening, everyone was getting off work perhaps, so it was washing time. So, we saw quite a few people washing outside at the communal basins: men in their pants and women covered with sarongs. It was kind weird to see it, because everyone can see you washing, your neighbours, tourists flocking around town, pigs, dogs, chickens...
After walk we went to have dinner at a restaurant run by an Indian guy, and out of 5-6 dishes we ordered, only two are worth mentioning. Sour fish soup and baked egg plant salad. The freshwater fish soup was particularly good.. very refreshing. Then we decided to have a massage. If you're ever in Pakbeng, take my advice: Don't thave it. The girls who were there didn't speak English, so they called the owner who turned out to be the same Indian guy from the restaurant. We were led to a massage room where two other people were getting what looked like oil massage. We decided we woudl get oil massage as well. The other two clients, rather heavy people perhaps didn't notice our presence, at least the lady didn't. Because when I was preparing to lie down the lady was told to turn over on her back and she did... but not covering her breast area. And so I saw. The bosoms were of the size I, personally, wouldn't know what to do with... hmmm... Anyways, I felt a bit embarrassed that I saw though unintentionally, so, I quickly turned away. Now I'm getting distructed from what I wanted to say about the massage. Anyways, it was very bad. The girl who was massaging Katy didn't know what to do, so she constantly looked at my girl for the hints, who apparently was a bit more experienced, but not much more skillful. So, we ended up paying 50% more than we thought, for 30 minutes of oil rubbing, instead of one hour of massage. But we couldn't complain because perhaps girls did the best they knew. So we just think of it as our passive way to support local community.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
LAST DAY IN THAILAND
KATY SAYS:
As I expected deep down in my heart, we were too lazy (or sleepy) to get up at 4am to make it to the top of Doi Suthep peak outside of Chiang Mai... Sorry Janice... But later in the morning, after extending our bike rental for an hour, we decided to see how far we could get. This peak is not very far from Chiang Mai town, perhaps 40 mins from our guesthouse on scooter, but the road leading up is very windy and our scooter was not very stable, so Vlad couldn't drive like a Korean pizza delivery driver. He did give it a good try though on the flat ground when we were rushing home to make our 12 o'clock pick-up in time.
Anyhow, we made it to the top, quickly climbed the steps, dinged the bells outside the temple and then realized it was 10.30 and we should be heading down again. It was a very quick trip, but confirmed that we actually needn't have gotten up at 4am anyway, because at this time of the year in Thailand, haze shrouds every hill, leaving scenic views up to your imagination.
I discovered the delights of eating sour green mango in Chiang Mai and bought some at the temple for later. It is sold in thin slices in a clear plastic bag with a stick you should use to dip the slices in sugar and chilli. I've become quite partial to it but I hope it's not what's giving me gas... :(
We then travelled in a mini-bus for four to five hours until we reached our next destination, Chiang Khong, a town way up north on the fluvial Mekong border with Laos. We can, in fact, see Laos from our guesthouse, which is reassuring, but it looks the same as Thailand at night, so we'll have to wait till tomorrow to see whether there is any immediate difference between the two countries.
The journey did have one "happening" worth telling, although it's not pleasant. Our van slowed down at one point and we all leaned forward to see why. In the centre of the road, perpendicular to the white line was a man lying with arms and legs splayed. Fresh blood seemed to be still collecting in the pool beside his head, his pants were ripped open at the front and seemed bloodied, and his eyes were open. Seeing that, I knew he must be dead, and recently. His bike was a mangled ball a metre away.
I was concerned that no-one seemed to be doing anything for the victim, but perhaps they had done all they could for him, after all, he did seem to be dead already. One man was slowing traffic through the scene. The white van involved in the accident was parked a few metres away, and the three occupants, one of whom was a Muslim lady, were standing nearby looking on with shocked expressions. Later we saw an ambulance pass, so it seems someone had done something after all.
Anyone who has lived or travelled in Thailand will no doubt have a story like this, as it seems accidents involving motorcyles are very common here because people don't wear helmets, speed and take unnecessary risks, passing at every opportunity. Vlad has frequently said to me, "Your Dad would be shocked here huh?" referring to Dad's exasperation with poor driving.
Now when I see young men and women happily speeding along to their next destination, the image of that splayed body and dented, bloody head will remind me that a pleasant trip can so easily go wrong.
Tomorrow at 8am we leave on the slow boat for Luang Prabang. I am hoping to find a charming little guesthouse in an old colonial building, perhaps one owned by a woman who studied in Russia, with weaving classes and breakfast lectures on the beauty and simplicity of Lao textiles.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
CHIANG MAI: Songkran, Trekking and Other
We arrived in Chiang Mai one day before the Thai New Year called Songkran. Our arrival in Chiang Mai wasn't very smooth... again.. ha~ We were dropped off outside the city where a few trucks with the benches in their cargo area to carry people around were waiting. Because the bus was full of foreigners, no one knew where the bus was supposed to stop, so everyone took it as it was the right thing and they had to pay extra money to those truck drivers to take them to the city. At first we also got into the truck and I was ready to pay money when Katy remembered that we had paid already for everything in Bangkok and the guest house we were to stay in was supposed to pick us up. So we got off and then called the guest house. And what do you think?.... We got picked up by that guest house. So, our version is that the bus driver and the drivers of those trucks are little nasty scammers who want to make more money on tourists. That's the one disadvantage of Thailand, which is also the advantage at the same time, that the tourism industry here is developed too well. Anyways, when we got to our guest house, it was full, so they placed us to the other one nearby. We were told that we were given a VIP room, which made us smile. The room was much better than any other we stayed in so far, but also was far from being VIP. After taking shower we dressed to go out and explore the city.
Now please read Katy's entry about Songkran, and then I will continue...
It is the start of Thai New Year today, called Songkran. People here, in Laos and Southern China splash water over everything to symbolize cleaning out the dirt of the old year to start afresh in the new. And I think its fair to say we are well fresh enough to start the year now. oooh baby. FRESH! We hired a scooter from our guesthouse to travel around the city, which is surrounded by a moat (perhaps one of the most convenient cities in which to celebrate Songkran for this reason). The road on one side of the moat travels in one direction and to go in the opposite direction there are turning points in the middle where you can cross the water and go back the other side. But that gives you two opportunities to get bombarded by the bucket brigade, made up of both Thais and foreigners. A lot of foreigners actually live in this city because it's quite small and a relatively nice place to live. Our friend Janice lived here for one year and her friend Dan, who I met in Seoul, also lives here and married a local girl. And the foreigners seem to get into the spirit as much as the Thais, buying enormous water guns with refill packs on their backs or hiring open-air taxis to cruise around in. I did notice that the foreigners seemed to be a little kinder to us than many Thais though, just sprinkling us with water from their buckets, whereas many Thais had put ice in their enormous rubbish bins full of water, making for a very breathtaking surprise when we passed their vehicles. Of course, we tried to avoid the bad boys as much as possible, but it was a minefield out there. Sometimes we side-stepped their attacks, and sometimes they came at us from an oblique angle. The warm river water we didn't mind at all, but we came to dread the icy cold buckets, as the sudden shock put Vlad off balance. The traffic was difficult enough to negotiate but a bucket of icy water in the face unexpectedly takes scooter driving to a new level.Some splashers stand at the side of the road where they can manually refill their bucket or water gun, but the more convenient method is to stand or sit on the back of a pickup truck with a huge plastic rubbish bin on the back from which you can refill. Trucks of teenagers having water fights, and pelting motorists and pedestrians with icy water... not pleasant at first, but in 40 degree heat, it was actually more pleasant to be wet than dry. If you're wondering what we did with our stuff, we thought ahead and bought an Ocean Pack in Bangkok, a heavy duty water-proof bag. Smart huh!As you can imagine first couple of hours of water being splashed on you is kind of fun. In this heat it actually feels somewhat refreshing. However, after being splashed in the face continuously as the locals want to get foreigners you get a bit angry and stop laughing. Actually Katy even showed a finger to a few people who threw a bucket of icy water on us.
Anyways, after a day in Chiang Mai we took off for jungle trekking for 3 days to see hill tribes. It was 12 people in our group: Dutch family, 4 girls from South Africa and the UK and a couple of French speaking Swiss, plus us. We did about 35~40km in total up and down the hill in what felt to be over 40 degrees celcius... in the shade... Under the direct sun it felt even hotter. It was a nice walk in a very dry jungles, but we saw very little of the hill tribes. We slept one night in the village of Karen tribe, who were originally from Myanmar, they are the biggest hill tribe in Thailand. There was no electricity or any other conveniences of the modern world. Although the house we slept in they tried to make it as Western as they could. The second night we spent in a camp in the jungles. Look at the pictures with short commentaries below. So, now we are back in Chiang Mai and Songkran is still going on, so, I think tomorrow we will probably stay at the guest house and enjoy the swimming pool they have there. We've had first good shower in 3 days and a good dinner with good alcohol.The day after tomorrow, on April 17th we're going to Laos. So, look forward to the Laos saga...
The order of pictures is messed up, but this is the only way to do it unfortunately...
This was today on the way to the bamboo rafting (the last activity for the trekking) we stopped here to cool off.
This is our camp in the jungle our dining table and a swimming pool behind it.
The man who was probably living in that camp was making a new roof for the huts before the rainy season starts in a couple of months. And the hut where we slept.
A famous buddha head in the middle of a tree. No one knows how it ended up there. Only theories...
Boys in the ruins of the temple in Ayuthaya helping their mom to sell flowers to lay to Buddha.
Now please read Katy's entry about Songkran, and then I will continue...
It is the start of Thai New Year today, called Songkran. People here, in Laos and Southern China splash water over everything to symbolize cleaning out the dirt of the old year to start afresh in the new. And I think its fair to say we are well fresh enough to start the year now. oooh baby. FRESH! We hired a scooter from our guesthouse to travel around the city, which is surrounded by a moat (perhaps one of the most convenient cities in which to celebrate Songkran for this reason). The road on one side of the moat travels in one direction and to go in the opposite direction there are turning points in the middle where you can cross the water and go back the other side. But that gives you two opportunities to get bombarded by the bucket brigade, made up of both Thais and foreigners. A lot of foreigners actually live in this city because it's quite small and a relatively nice place to live. Our friend Janice lived here for one year and her friend Dan, who I met in Seoul, also lives here and married a local girl. And the foreigners seem to get into the spirit as much as the Thais, buying enormous water guns with refill packs on their backs or hiring open-air taxis to cruise around in. I did notice that the foreigners seemed to be a little kinder to us than many Thais though, just sprinkling us with water from their buckets, whereas many Thais had put ice in their enormous rubbish bins full of water, making for a very breathtaking surprise when we passed their vehicles. Of course, we tried to avoid the bad boys as much as possible, but it was a minefield out there. Sometimes we side-stepped their attacks, and sometimes they came at us from an oblique angle. The warm river water we didn't mind at all, but we came to dread the icy cold buckets, as the sudden shock put Vlad off balance. The traffic was difficult enough to negotiate but a bucket of icy water in the face unexpectedly takes scooter driving to a new level.Some splashers stand at the side of the road where they can manually refill their bucket or water gun, but the more convenient method is to stand or sit on the back of a pickup truck with a huge plastic rubbish bin on the back from which you can refill. Trucks of teenagers having water fights, and pelting motorists and pedestrians with icy water... not pleasant at first, but in 40 degree heat, it was actually more pleasant to be wet than dry. If you're wondering what we did with our stuff, we thought ahead and bought an Ocean Pack in Bangkok, a heavy duty water-proof bag. Smart huh!As you can imagine first couple of hours of water being splashed on you is kind of fun. In this heat it actually feels somewhat refreshing. However, after being splashed in the face continuously as the locals want to get foreigners you get a bit angry and stop laughing. Actually Katy even showed a finger to a few people who threw a bucket of icy water on us.
Anyways, after a day in Chiang Mai we took off for jungle trekking for 3 days to see hill tribes. It was 12 people in our group: Dutch family, 4 girls from South Africa and the UK and a couple of French speaking Swiss, plus us. We did about 35~40km in total up and down the hill in what felt to be over 40 degrees celcius... in the shade... Under the direct sun it felt even hotter. It was a nice walk in a very dry jungles, but we saw very little of the hill tribes. We slept one night in the village of Karen tribe, who were originally from Myanmar, they are the biggest hill tribe in Thailand. There was no electricity or any other conveniences of the modern world. Although the house we slept in they tried to make it as Western as they could. The second night we spent in a camp in the jungles. Look at the pictures with short commentaries below. So, now we are back in Chiang Mai and Songkran is still going on, so, I think tomorrow we will probably stay at the guest house and enjoy the swimming pool they have there. We've had first good shower in 3 days and a good dinner with good alcohol.The day after tomorrow, on April 17th we're going to Laos. So, look forward to the Laos saga...
The order of pictures is messed up, but this is the only way to do it unfortunately...
This was today on the way to the bamboo rafting (the last activity for the trekking) we stopped here to cool off.
This is our camp in the jungle our dining table and a swimming pool behind it.
The man who was probably living in that camp was making a new roof for the huts before the rainy season starts in a couple of months. And the hut where we slept.
On the way to the jungle camp we passed by the village, which had only 8 families in it. Interestingly, though, one house there had solar pannels, so, they must had electricity there at least part time. There also was school with the blackboard and desks, all as it should be... Because it was holiday there were no kids, so, Katy Black had to seat by herself. :)
This little pig was so sleepy in this unbearable heat that it didn't move an inch even though I was touching it on its belly, ears, snout, hoofs, you name it...
The little local girl even in this remote village wanted to splash foreigners with water... Because it was very hot, I let her splash some on my back..
Our guide is making utensils for us from bamboo, chopsticks, to use for lunch. They actually were pretty good. 
On our first night in the Karen people's village we were given the story of their hard life and asked for donation towards building a school there. To be honest we had mixed feelings about the donation. On one hand it wasn't much to give, but on the other.. we didn't know if it was true and where money went in reality... Anyways, we ended up giving 10o Baht each. I hope this money will go towards building a school and not making more rice wine. Kids sang 8 songs for us and in reply we had to sing as well. They were repeating after our guide... "English song please~~ Dutch song please~~ French song please~~ Korean song please~~" They got their English, Dutch and French songs, but when it came to Korean I told them that we don't sing, so, Katy had to sing for me a song about 3 bears: the fat father bear, the slim mother bear and the cute little bear... haha~
The kids singing. After that they lined up and we had to shake their little hands, say thank you and good night. I kind of felt like a president of some country.... hahaha~
Walking, walking, walking... This road actually felt like a highway, compared to what was the most of the paths we walked. Many times, the guide in the front had to literally cut down the vegetation using his machete like knife.
Our dining area in the village where we stayed the first night. The village was very productive: it had many kids, many hens with their chicks, many puppies and many piggies. We've probably hit the breeding season... :)
On our first day of trekking after walking for about 3~4 hours we stopped at this waterfall. It was a bliss...
Before heading into the jungle we had an elephant ride. These elephants were very smart to extort bananas from you . They would lift their trunks up and stop walking until you give them banana. Once you give them banana they start walking. No wonder the local mahutos (the elephant riders) called bananas the fuel for elephants. One working mama-elephant had a little one wollowing her everywhere...
The following pictures are all in Ayuttaya. Thai people believe that if you release a bird or a fish on New Year, you will be happy or something like this. Katy made a good point though, DON'T CATCH THEM! The boy was selling them...
A famous buddha head in the middle of a tree. No one knows how it ended up there. Only theories...
Largest reclining Buddha.
The catfish eating frenzy. Because Thailand people are Buddhists, all animals here are very fat, including the catfish in the river. If you cook one it could probably feed a good family of five.
Boys in the ruins of the temple in Ayuthaya helping their mom to sell flowers to lay to Buddha.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Not everything all that bad...
I realized that my previous blog about Bangkok sounded like a bad experience. Oh, well, it wasn't all that bad. Despite of all that craziness Bangkok trully is the tourist capital of the world. From money exchange to information availability, getting around, etc., everything is made for the tourists. And I also should mention Thai massage and Thai Mango. Thai mango is like Zespri Kiwi. While many countries grow and sell kiwi-fruit, Zespri has the quality and taste like no others (Chilean, Chinese, etc.). The same applied to mangos. Thai mangos are the biggest, the juciest, the sweetest. We've been having it every day in one or the other manner, eating it just like a fruit or have it as a fruit shake on a hot day. Today I bought 4 huge mangos for US $1.5. I remember buying it in Korea, a small and green one for over $3.
We also have been having Thai massage almost every day. After walking around Bangkok with our bags filled with our heavy valuables (mostly my camera gear), your back and legs start to scream in pain. And nothing relaxes it more than a good Thai massage. And shopping is great too. We've sort of skipped beaches in Thailand because we spent a lot of money on diving in Malaysia, but with the amount of money spent on shopping, I think we could afford a dive or two in the Andman sea in Thailand... haha~ Well, we might dive in Cambodia. We will certainly go to the beach there.
When we went to the Vimanmek mansion in Bangkok, which is just a name of the royal house built entirely from teak, and which is still being used occasionally by the incumbest royal family for the reception of the honored guests or private use, as I said in my previous post it was a bit frutstrating. My advice is go there, but in the morning, when the Chinese tourists are still asleep. When you buy a ticket, you also get a free tour around the mansion. We were in the English speaking group with random people in it. To get into the mansion you literally have to go through the body search. They don't let you to bring any camera or phone or any bag inside. The girl asked me 3 times if I had camera on me. On a third time I barked back that I didn't. Already a bit pissed we had to go through tons of the Chinese tourists on a package trip. Sometimes they really think they own the world. One Chinese lady said "Oh.. let the foreigners in..", ha~ like she's not a foreigner in Thailand? And then during the tour our small group got jammed between 2 big Chinese groups. Being quite a loud language in itself, with the guide being overzealous our group's guide was "lost in translation". But the mansion itself is very pretty, and well decorated with various gifts from royal families world leaders around the world.
There was something else I wanted to write about Bangkok, but I forgot..
On the eleventh, we were picked up at our hostel and drove on the bus to Ayuthaya. If it wasn't scorching hot of 45 degrees, I would've really enjoyed sightseeing Ayuthaya. It was very beautiful I will upload pictures later. From there we took another bus for 9 hours journey to Chiang Mai.
We also have been having Thai massage almost every day. After walking around Bangkok with our bags filled with our heavy valuables (mostly my camera gear), your back and legs start to scream in pain. And nothing relaxes it more than a good Thai massage. And shopping is great too. We've sort of skipped beaches in Thailand because we spent a lot of money on diving in Malaysia, but with the amount of money spent on shopping, I think we could afford a dive or two in the Andman sea in Thailand... haha~ Well, we might dive in Cambodia. We will certainly go to the beach there.
When we went to the Vimanmek mansion in Bangkok, which is just a name of the royal house built entirely from teak, and which is still being used occasionally by the incumbest royal family for the reception of the honored guests or private use, as I said in my previous post it was a bit frutstrating. My advice is go there, but in the morning, when the Chinese tourists are still asleep. When you buy a ticket, you also get a free tour around the mansion. We were in the English speaking group with random people in it. To get into the mansion you literally have to go through the body search. They don't let you to bring any camera or phone or any bag inside. The girl asked me 3 times if I had camera on me. On a third time I barked back that I didn't. Already a bit pissed we had to go through tons of the Chinese tourists on a package trip. Sometimes they really think they own the world. One Chinese lady said "Oh.. let the foreigners in..", ha~ like she's not a foreigner in Thailand? And then during the tour our small group got jammed between 2 big Chinese groups. Being quite a loud language in itself, with the guide being overzealous our group's guide was "lost in translation". But the mansion itself is very pretty, and well decorated with various gifts from royal families world leaders around the world.
There was something else I wanted to write about Bangkok, but I forgot..
On the eleventh, we were picked up at our hostel and drove on the bus to Ayuthaya. If it wasn't scorching hot of 45 degrees, I would've really enjoyed sightseeing Ayuthaya. It was very beautiful I will upload pictures later. From there we took another bus for 9 hours journey to Chiang Mai.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
THAILAND - BANGKOK
Noisy, dusty, polluted, dirty, hot, humid, sticky, drunk, plain crazy... These are the words to describe Bangkok where we've spent the last 4 days starting from 5am past Monday. After a very long bus journey from Malaysia to Bangkok, which took about 17 hours, we arrived in Bangkok at about 5 am, got off near the train station Hualampong and took taxi to the ultimate backpackers destination on Khao San road. Although it was 5am in the morning, time when the sleep is deepest (at least for me), there were quite a lot of people, mostly drunk, scantily dressed. About 50% of them were foreigners, the rest were Thai girls, boys, and something in between. We saw this piss drunk Irish guy who was challenging the religion of the ATM, the telephone booth and so on. He was talking to them dramatically gesturing with the whole length of his arms asking the ATM, a telephone booth and so on, what their religion was and that he was challenging it. We also saw lots of Western guys with Thai girls and lady-boys negotiating some services, which I only can guess what they were. The garbage was all over the streets and you could feel sorry for them, because I'm guessing it happens every night. I think Katy was quite shock. Not a very good first impression.
Since we didn't have an accomodation booked we started walking around and look for one, referring to my 5 years old Lonely Planet guide. Surprisingly all guesthouses were full, except for more expensive hotel-like types. Being very tired and hot we were walking like zombies in the zomby (drunk foreigners, locals, etc) area. After walking for about 40 minutes we finally stumbled on one guest-house run by Indians, where he had a room with an air-conditioner for 450 baht (about US$15). I ran upstairs to check if it had windows, (and it did), and we checked in. It was nice to have a good shower after sweating for over 24 hours and not being able to wash off all that dirt. As it is expected, we just fell into a bed and slept well into the afternoon.Right now is the hottest and driest season for Thailand. Having spent here 4 days we're glad that we have an air-conditioned room. Just now going upstairs to our room there was a girl like in her underpants with her door open. Of course, I, being a modest guy couldn't look in her face, so, I don't know if she was local or western, although the color of her thighs tells me she was of Asian descent. haha~
Anyways, we did little of sigtseeing in Bangkok. We did more of shopping and planning our further itinerary. We did go to the Vimanmek mansion, where Katy wanted to go. It was somewhat frustrating experience, but I guess it was still nice to see it.Bangkok is run by the gang of Tuk-Tuk drivers and touts. One night we went to the Patpong night market, which is also famous for being an area full of Go-go, transgender and gay bars. Every 5 steps we were offerred to see a show. They had a piece of paper with the show names on it, about 20 of them I'd say. Katy read some and she said that half of them start with the Pussy in it. There also were words like ping-pong, banana, love... Let your imagination flow regarding what it can be. We constantly had to fight them off, as well as tuk-tuk drivers and other scammers. It all starts with the innocent "Where are you from my friend?" You answer that you are 30% towards being scammed. You answer the next question the possibility grows proportionately. My advice would be, do your research and don't listen to any advice given in the street by the friendly Thais. You may end up buying stuff or paying for something you didn't wanted.
But it's not all that bad. There are many good sides to Bangkok. It is a very exciting city, which doesn't ever sleep. We are leaving Bangkok tomorrow for Ayuthaya (the old capital), spending a day sightseeing and then off further north to Chiang Mai for the Thai New Years, Songkran. Usually on this day the Thais are splashing water on everyone. The prime target is foreigners as well. Especially for this purpose we bought a couple of dry bags to keep our stuff dry and safe. Should be fun and very... very hot.
Below is Katy's brief account on Bangkok.
Below is Katy's brief account on Bangkok.
Vlad has been to Thailand before and told me it was great, but at 4.30 in the morning Khao San Rd is anything but. It is rat infested, the white people everywhere are dirty and/or drunk and the transvestites look tired.
Later on in the day, the drunk white people are sleeping, so the place improves slightly, but the heat then takes over.
Yesterday we spent the better part of the day walking and sweating, carrying our bags in various positions to avoid shoulder rash. Although at one point we felt like idiots for not paying the exorbitant price asked by the tuk tuk driver outside the Vimanmek Mansion, after negotiating the narrow alleyways alongside the river, and discovering St. Francis Xavier Church, the small boat jettys, Thai schoolgirls practicing cheerleading and young monks playfully whacking each other with brooms, we felt like we had seen more of the real side of Bangkok than if we had spent twenty minutes stuck in traffic.
Later on in the day, the drunk white people are sleeping, so the place improves slightly, but the heat then takes over.
Yesterday we spent the better part of the day walking and sweating, carrying our bags in various positions to avoid shoulder rash. Although at one point we felt like idiots for not paying the exorbitant price asked by the tuk tuk driver outside the Vimanmek Mansion, after negotiating the narrow alleyways alongside the river, and discovering St. Francis Xavier Church, the small boat jettys, Thai schoolgirls practicing cheerleading and young monks playfully whacking each other with brooms, we felt like we had seen more of the real side of Bangkok than if we had spent twenty minutes stuck in traffic.
Monday, April 7, 2008
LAST STOP IN MALAYSIA: PENANG
When we got to Penang as you've probably read in the previous very long blog it was 5 in the morning. Still dark. Becase we were dropped way off the destination we wanted to go to, we started asking people around how to get to Georgetown, after walking back and forth we met a couple of German guys who were on their exchange program in Malaysia and were traveling around it. It was good that we met them because gruelling hours of waiting were much more interesting. To make it short we were waiting for the wrong bus for over hour and a half and eventually took a ferry over the sea to Georgetown. We ended up in the same hostel with Sasha and Jourge (I'm not sure about spelling of their names...), checked in and because we had to wait to get our rooms cleaned up, we went for breakfast to one awesomely cheap Indian restaurant. We had a huge plate of bread, vegetables and curry for about U$2 each, although Sasha ended up paying $2 for only one shrimp. :)
Some old abandoned house overgrown with trees and sunset over the dome of a muslim mosque.
After that we rented a little 100cc engine scooter and went around the town. I was really glad to get back on the bike. It was nice to just drive around and see some interesting architecture. The room we stayed in had no windows again, but this time it was very spacious and lights were good and the airconditioner worked fine. So, it was good. The hostel also provided all kinds of travel agency services, so, we ended up buying a bus ticket for Bangkok from them for about 40 dollars each. When we left we were unsure how we're going to get to Bangkok because we didn't get any tickets, just a receipt, but it was all fine. I did get hustled again at the immigration border control on Thailand side. Although I had visa they still wanted to check my credibility. So, when we said that Katy was my wife, their tone became for friendly and later on when they wanted to check if we have money, they saw our travels checks and they started laughing at the wad of cheques I had. After that the senior officer just waved me through.. After arriving in Hat Yai not far from Malaysia-Thailand border, we transferred to a double-decker bus from the minibus we arrived in. And from then on it was about 13 hours till we got off in Bangkok at 5 in the morning. I was in BAngkok about 5 years ago and I stayed in a diffirent area, so, I didn't quite see all the the backpackers' scene. Bangkok promises to be quite a diffirent experience for us, because if in Malysia and Singapore we tried to take more photos of local people, Bangkok has more crazy foreign people. I'll save it for another blog.
Again, Katy's account of Penang~~
Penang is wonderful mix of Indian and Chinese culture predominantly, set against a lush background of the kind of tropical rainforest we had hoped to see in abundance in North Borneo. I don't think I could find a better cultural mix if I was to order a city just for me. I was delighted to drink a fresh lassi for breakfast and have eaten curry for almost every meal since we left the Nature Lodge. You can find zongzi, eat Chinese noodles and rice and find outdoor markets "from some time in the middle ages" joked Sasha, who has a reasonably well developed sense of humour for a German, and was referring to the level of hygiene. The fish are cleaned on the street and hang there collecting flies until sold.
We rented a scooter for 25 ringit a day (an equivalent of US $9) in order to make efficient use of our day here. Whether it was the nostalgia of riding a bike again, or suddenly being in more complete and direct control of our travel movements, Vlad and I both felt quite uplifted. A light rain fell as we drove off, cooling us down and after visiting the remains of Fort Cornwallis, we drove around Penang like crazy kids, me clicking the camera on the back like an Olympic photographer.
We rented a scooter for 25 ringit a day (an equivalent of US $9) in order to make efficient use of our day here. Whether it was the nostalgia of riding a bike again, or suddenly being in more complete and direct control of our travel movements, Vlad and I both felt quite uplifted. A light rain fell as we drove off, cooling us down and after visiting the remains of Fort Cornwallis, we drove around Penang like crazy kids, me clicking the camera on the back like an Olympic photographer.
Katy on the ferry from Butterworth to Georgetown. 
The Tower clock, Town Hall and Tax office in Georgetown, Penang. All are remnants of colonial times. Lots of cool old buildings are being restored at the moment.
Town Hall lit at night and muslim girls swimming...
Some old abandoned house overgrown with trees and sunset over the dome of a muslim mosque.
Botanical garden in Penang.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)