Potty Talk

A day didn't go by without a discussion concerning the condition of the nearest bathroom....usually this discussion took place during meal time, of course! 

Here are just a few of the more memorable statements:

     I have seen worse!

     Don't go into the one with the blue urinals!

     They are okay, just stay away from the second one...it has a giant spider in it!

     Can you wait?

     There isn't any toilet paper!

     This one has twenty rolls!

     The door doesn't lock.

     Do you need toilet paper...I have some.

     You have to use the men's...they are working on the women's!

     You have to use the men's, they finished with the women's!

     Be careful of the faucet....the whole thing moves because it is only connected to a hose!

    

     Let me take your backpack, you don't want anything to fall in!

    The only thing I would fish out is my passport...watch, phone, sunglasses all stay in!

     I can't tell by the picture if it is men's or women's!

     It's in the engine room ( of the boat)...the fumes from the engine hide the odours!

     It's on a two foot riser.... Make sure you quads are strong...keep your balance!

Perhaps the most important question was, "Alice, can we use your hand santitizer"?

     

     

     

Early Morning

This picture was taken at 5:30 am and already people are set up and selling vegetables and breakfast.

Look how far onto the city street they are. I feel like a target when I cross the street and they are comfortable sitting there.

Museums

We spent a good part of the morning visiting the War Remnants Museum. We had been to the same type of display in Hanoi four years ago, but I think this one was more impressive.

It makes one feel kind of uneasy looking at all the photos of cruelty and death....not a comfortable museum to spend hours in. No photos were allowed inside.

Breakfast

Only two more days of Asian breakfasts! Not that they are bad breakfasts....on the contrary, they are usually excellent, but I am missing my yogurt, cereal and skim milk. Especially my skim milk.

I just don't want any more omelets, fried rice or soup for my first meal of the day. Even the excellent fruit is becoming boring.

Sometimes the location can make a huge difference on how I feel about the food. Breakfast served right on the Mekong makes one feel much better about the food they are consuming...whether it is better or not.

Today was the typical Asian menu, but it was served on a roof top terrace making it a much more enjoyable meal than it actually was.

Almost Home

Fred and I left Hong Kong a little later than planned due to a late arrival of the plane, but made up time on the flight over. And then we circled Ho Chi Minh City for half an hour because the airport was closed due to a severe thunderstorm! Not really my favourite time to land.

After the relatively calm three days of Hong Kong, Saigon feels like a mad house. The drive from the airport was insane....Saturday evening at 6:15, pouring rain, windshield wipers that worked only on occasion, a driver who didn't know where our hotel was located....all makes for a trip of the lifetime.

Adelle, speaking of rooms, if you want to recommend a hotel to a client, this is the place. It is new, modern, clean and located in one of those typically tall and narrow Vietanmese buildings. We have a fairly large room overlooking the market so I can't speak for the other rooms...this is the one you booked for us and I believe it is an Executive room.

Seeing we are without our fellow travellers, we don't know what to do with ourselves today. I think we will just wander around the city. We do want to go back to the Reunification Palace so will fit that into our days here.

The Stinkers

"What's that smell"?  I think we heard that pretty much everyday.

I am almost proud of the fact that I was the first to confess that it was my sandals...almost proud! Although my travelling companions were much too polite to say anything, my sandals started to have regular showers after that ill-advised confession.

Asian hotels always have two toothbrushes ready when you arrive and they soon became my sandal's best friend. The toothbrush, my sandals and the bath gel spent many hours together. I guess it isn't the best idea to only bring the sandals on your feet and not any spares!

Towards the end of the trip, I began to notice strange odours in the vans, in the Tuk Tuks or anywhere there were feet...and the odour wasn't always mine. Suspicion set in and after three weeks in this heat we weren't quite as polite. Comments were plentiful and sometimes a little funny and sometimes a little cruel. Sorry.

After lunch today we thought we might have to have a sandal burial and I actually have a picture of the offenders, but couldn't download it....you just have to take a guess on the sandals size and colour! From now on all pictures will be from the knees up.

The moral of this little blog is to realize that one pair of sandals and 35C heat don't get along. We all brought a pair of runners along, but the heat!!

The reality is that in the beginning of the trip sandal smells were a big thing, but by the time this trip was over we had to admit that we have smelled much worse. Much, much worse!

Cities

Hong Kong is not the largest city I have been in, but it is one of the most interesting. Spectacular buildings everywhere. They say that New York City has over 800 buildings taller than 100 metres while Hong Kong has 2000 or more. That says something about the skyline in this city.

Yesterday we wandered and found the Mid Level escalators and an area called Soho. Hong 

Kong is not at all flat and these escalators take people from the lowest point all the way to the top. You can get off at various points to shop, eat or just plain people watch. Quite often in our case, people watching involves a refreshing beer. Today was no different...we may make a beer drinker out of Alice yet!

The escalators are under the shelter, perfect because today it rained for much of the day. Didn't stop the happy wanderers.

We splurged and are staying in the club level rooms in this hotel....free breakfasts and afternoon drinks and appetizers.

The appetizers and wine was our first course, Pringles our second and gummies our third. The second and third courses supplied by 7-11 down the street. We found out this morning that Alice and Jim ate at the same elegant dining establishment that we did. Some days you just can't muster up the energy to search for a restaurant. Besides, who knew that Jim loves Pringles?

Tonight we promise to eat a perfect last meal in Hong Kong....we all leave tomorrow. Us for Vietnam and Alice and Jim for Canada. They have a great flight, Hong Kong to Vancouver while we fly the milk run....HCMC to Bangkok on to Tokyo, Calgary and finally home to Saskatoon.

Arrived Safely

After a long day of flying, we arrived safely at our hotel. The flight from Bangkok to Hong Kong was far different from our other flights this past three weeks. We actually flew on a normal plane after weeks of prop jobs.

But the people! We have been flying on small planes with anywhere from 12 to 30 people....this flight amazed me in numbers alone.  Have to get my elbows sharpened again to stop the line jumpers.

Security was a little loose in Laos and Cambodia so I had to gear up to organizing my liquids, having my computer ready, along with standing in line to go through X Ray machines that were actually manned all the time.

I'm a little tired this morning after one of our latest nights. We found a bar street next to our hotel and decided we had to try to live like twenty year olds again. We made it to two beer before reality kicked in and we declared ourselves officially tired!

 

Drive Back

The drive back to Pakse was long and sometimes boring, but mostly there was always something to look at.

Things such as the young women selling BBQed chicken on a stick. They would circle the van whenever we stopped.

And the rice paddies. The plots were full of water and getting transplanted as we drove by. It is an interesting process, one that is very much like Canadians buying bedding plants and transplanting them in the garden! Except on a much larger scale. The main difference being they grow the rice themselves in a small area and then move them to three or four larger plots.

The above picture shows it all, from picking the seedlings to the already seeded plots in the background.

It doesn't show it here, but the little boy is pulling a board through the water to level the ground for transplanting.

We have done well all trip not getting wet, but today it was a little more difficult to get out of the boat. No plank means jumping from one board to the other. One foot got a little damp...the rest of the crew?

Bike Riding

We left Don Khong by longboat and headed to another island....which one? Only Alice and Fred know! Our human GPS. The area is called 4000 Islands and every one is named Don Something. Don Kone, Don Khong or Don Det....it goes on and on!

The trip was another introduction into everyday life in Laos. After leaving the boat we rented bikes and peddled around the island seeing life as it really is and not catered to tourists.

The water buffalo were plentiful and lazy. Meet "Hairy, the Buffalo".

The family isn't Hairy's!!

Following the River

For most of the trip we have followed the Mekong River and today was a continuation of that plan. After leaving Wat Phu we drove three hours to get to Don Khong Island. It is a rustic little island that appears to be very laid back and quiet. Very rural.

We didn't do much other than go for a stroll and have supper at the hotel restaurant overlooking the Mekong River.  Our hotel rooms are almost right on the Mekong....very nice.

The drive to the island was a little excursion in its on right. Buses overloaded with passengers, kids selling mushrooms on the side of the road and cows taking a nap in the centre of the road...missed that photo op. All of this right in the middle of numerous rice paddies. A good day!

A New Find

We thought we had seen everything type of temple complex possible until today. We were taken to Wat Phu, a relatively unknown historic site, not really knowing where we were going.

Angkor Wat in Cambodia is believed to have originated here and moved by the King to its present location. 

UNESCO is working on restoring parts of Wat Phu, but there is a massive amount of work to do. If the restoration continues many rice farmers will have to be displaced. They are farming right above an ancient temple site.

It was a peaceful and beautiful area, with different terraces containing different structures....many of which are original to the site.

One of my favourites.

I must have been contemplating the many stairs that were ahead of me.

Blog Response

I have tried numerous times to respond to people's comments, but the system won't let me. So it's not that I am not reading the comments, I just can't answer.

At the Park

This morning we went for a tour of the Friendship Bridge between Laos and Thailand. Nope, they wouldn't let me into Thailand! In fact, they told me to "stay out".

The bridge was nothing special to look at, it just shows the connection between these two countries. It was built by Australia in the 90s.

From there we went to Buddha Park to have a closer look at various statues, both Buddhist and Hindu.

Fred, Alice and Jim climbed to the top of the main building for a better view. Alîce said it was a little uncomfortable coming down and I can see why.

A short rest and then we are off on a walking tour of the old city.

Leaving a Lovely City

Yesterday we said good bye to Luang Prabang and hello to Vientiane, the capital of Laos.

Luang Prabang turned out to be a complete surprise in its beauty and history. Old French colonial buildings are everywhere and because it is a Unesco site, it will remain much as it is right now.

The people were extremely friendly...we could never leave or return to our hotel without being asked many questions about our day. Always with a smile on their face. I have a great recommendation for a hotel, if anyone is interested.

Vientiane, on the other hand, appears to be more city-like with a completely different attitude. Usually the hotel check in takes quite a long time as they must give you towels to freshen up and a drink to rehydrate you. They sit you down on a couch or chairs and talk to you while copying the passports and signing you in. You are then given a guided tour of your room, explaining how things work etc.

In our present hotel, none of that happened except the sitting down while copying the passports. I think Alice and Jim may have been given the guided tour, but we weren't.

The one thing that is constant in all Asian hotels is the carrying of our luggage. Our bags will be in the back of the van and before we get out, they are gone. Or, our luggage will be beside us while checking out and when we look it is gone! The hotel staff takes care of it almost magically. This luggage disappearing act has one of my travelling companions shaking her head every time. 

Today we will do some checking of the countryside and some walking of the city to see more of the old part. While walking yesterday we saw that this city has many very beautiful temples, which I'm sure we will check out. Although there are only so many temples one can look at. It has been stated by almost all of us that we are "templed out".

The Monks

I was a little careless in my blog on the monks...it is really a giving of the alms ceremony and is very sacred in this city.

It is my understanding these monks can only eat food given to them early in the morning or by family etc. This tradition of giving to the monks has been followed for many years in Luang Prabang.

Some people believe that tourists should not be taking part in the ceremony unless you are a practising Buddhist, while others say it is okay as long as you are respectful and follow the rules. 

I checked on some of the rules before taking part and hopefully followed them: feet bare while shoulders are covered seemed to be the etiquette most often mentioned. Never touch a monk nor look him in the eye are two things we should never do.

Two things bothered me about this whole procedure and although they are minor, I will still mention them. The first being the selling of the rice....it is supposed to be an offering from the home and heart, which obviously mine wasn't. The last was the bare handed giving of the rice...Alice was given a spoon, but I was told to grab a fingerful and toss it into their pail.

Both Alice and I, being novices at this, ran out of rice too quickly. Smaller portions are in order as there are nearly 200 monks taking part.

Feeding the Monks

Fred and I got up at 5:00 am this morning to take part in a ceremony with the monks of Luang Prabang. Every morning at 5:30 they slowly walk in front of locals and tourists collecting food for the day.

They ask that you don't just come for pictures, but as you can see many people disregard that request.

I bought a bowl of rice from a vendor across the street and sat with the locals to distribute the food. No spoon, just fingers. Alice did this yesterday and a lady told her to roll the rice into balls, so I tried that today and another woman showed me that you just grab a handful and toss it in the monk's bowl. Either way, they got rice from both of us.

Picnic

We went on a picnic today!

We didn't know we were going to do that, but when we went to see the waterfalls near Luang Prabang, Lo treated us to an outdoor lunch at a site overlooking the waterfalls. What a location for a great meal.

The waterfalls were very relaxing and clean...clean being the important word here. Nothing in Cambodia was clean, but Laos is far more advanced in that area.

We also stopped at a bear sanctuary where the Lao people and volunteers from Australia are trying to save these bears and re-introduce them into the wild.  They hide their food everyday making the bears learn to hunt for survival. I have seen far worse enclosures for wild animals so I was okay with this one.

A Little Late

A little late, but Happy Anniversary to our travelling companions!

A wee celebration with wine.

Elephants and Water Buffalo

There seems to be a theme to my blogs...animals!  

We were taking a long boat from Luang Prabang to see a Buddist cave when we came across wild water buffalo who were enjoying the "Mighty Mekong". They were cooling off in the water and appeared to not have a care in the world.

Mr. Lo thought we would probably see wild elephants, but they didn't appear. Just elephants used for tourist travel.

The town of Luang Prabang is a World Heritage Site with many old colonial style buildings and historic  sites. We did a little bit of walking (9.7 Kms) around the town checking it out....we really were looking for a place to have a cold beer after the hot boat trip and no one could make a decision.

The place we finally collapsed at was a bad choice as the food was terrible....but the beer was at least cold. 

On the way back to our hotel we walked through one of the nicest night markets we have seen in a long time. We bought a few things and will go back tonight to support the local economy even more.

Fred and I had to switch rooms when we arrived back at the hotel due to a faulty AC....just our luck it had to be to a suite with a huge soaker tub and a small living sitting room. Oh, darn!