Jan 29th - Feb 1st: Adventures in Vang Vieng, Laos

Jan 29th: A nice hot ride, Festival, what Festival?

Mike:

Well, this was mostly a travel day for us. We took a rather stifling, hot, bumpy ride (3.5 hours) from Vientiane to Vang Vieng, the adventure/backpacker town of Laos.

This town is quite an anomaly. It used to be small town Laos with many opportunities for adventure trips (kind of like a smaller version of Thailand's Chiang Mai) but has become an odd place, catering heavily to backpackers and losing it's soul in the process.

In many ways it's eerily similar to Yangshoa, China. Both are small towns in relatively conservative countries, that are overrun with backpackers. They are both riverfront towns surrounded by beautiful limestone karst mountains. Very spooky how similar they are.

In any case, after arriving in town, we made our way to the Elephant Crossing Hotel (another Planet top pick). Well, this was one of the only places I have not pre-booked in years, and of course, it was full. Apparently there was a Laos Tourist festival starting in town the next day, and most places in town were booked up (Funny they didn't tell us this when we asked in Vientiane). We did some searching around, but luckily for us a room opened up at the Crossing after all. It was also nice that Rachel, who runs the hotel, is Australian making communication nice and easy.

How do you like our view?




Ming:

Today I learned a lesson in false economy and the utility of wheels and straps. When we landed in Vang Vieng after a hot bus ride, all I could think of was “wow, it’s HOT!” Mike figured out where we were on the map while I sweltered, and asked me if I wanted to walk to the hotel, which was not supposed to be very far. Not feeling like haggling with another tuk-tuk driver, (they are the fiercest hagglers we met in Laos) we decided to walk. I had a suitcase. Suitcases, it turns out, are not meant to be carried any distance. This is where wheels or straps, backpack, shoulder strap, any strap would have been good. By the time we got to the hotel I was right irritated. Then when we found out that there would be a problem booking a room… oh boy.

I ended up agreeing to an expensive room there because the manager spoke English, and because it felt very pleasant and had a lovely view. It turned out to be a good decision, my enjoyment of our rooms (we had to move rooms about half way through our stay) really added to my enjoyment of our whole Laos trip. The same can be said for our first room in Ventiane, which had the lovely view of the Mekong, where we could watch the fisherman ply his trade morning and evening. Having someone who can answer questions goes a long way towards making things easier too. There was more than enough miscommunication during our time here. Oh yes, there is also a cute little puppy here, who is so adorable. She is very shy and so runs away from you when you try to approach her. If she is tied up and can’t get away, she will pull away until you touch her, and then she will lick your finger and roll her big brown eyes at you while you pet her then flip upside down for a tummy scratch. Another big selling point for this hotel.


Mike:

We settled in, and wandered out for some dinner at Nokeo, another Planet top pick that has lost a lot of its lustre (see my comments on the Lonely Planet effect). We did note the famous TV bars where drugged out backpackers watch Friends reruns while enjoying there “happy” shakes. The minor wrinkle is that some of the TV bars now show Simpsons and Family Guy too! In any case, it's a bit of a shame that the town has become famous as a cheap n easy place to get happy and high.

I wonder if these electrical workers are happy and high?



Oh well, we're here to switch gears. We're here for some action and outdoor sports!


Ming:

There is not much to be said about this town except for the view of the karst mountains across the river, which was spectacular. We were here for the outdoor trips… and of course, the food. We tried something else new today: laap, which is a minced meat mixed with fresh herbs and spices which you are supposed to eat with your hands by dunking little balls of sticky rice into it. My hands were sticky and not the cleanest and I did not trust the hand washing facilities (in many places it consists of a communal water bowl sitting on a stool) so I compromised by making little balls with my fork and spoon and eating them that way. Not de rigueur, but it still tasted delicious.

A funny thing about buying stuff here: we didn’t haggle when buying our water, and the storekeeper lowered the price for us! Now THAT is not something that would happen in VN.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Jan 30th: Dark, wet, n fun

Mike:

Today we were up nice and early for a tour of the caves, the famous Tham Sang Triangle, some trekking and also a round of kayaking. The first was great, the second, okay, the third, not so hot.

We were picked up fairly promptly, only 15 minutes after the assigned 8 AM start time (We were repeatedly warned about leisurely “Lao” time), but of course, after 15 minutes of picking people up, and waiting another 20 minutes in the van, we were on Lao time.

Our guide, Om, was friendly and social, but his English was a bit weak. He did keep the tour quite lively with his commentary though.

Our first cave stop was Tham Sang (Elephant Cave). It really was just a small cavern with a large Buddha image and a few smaller ones. It did also house an elephant shaped stalactite which, when viewed from certain angles looks surprisingly elephant-like. There are even what appear to be tusks but Ming swears those must have been added later. There is also a bell outside said to be used by Monks to call for alms. This is when they go down to the village to be fed. I'm not sure it is still in active use due to the guide's English.




The next cave was Tham Loup. Now this was a cool and very dark cave, good thing I brought a good flashlight (or three, he he he). The cave was slippery and treacherous with many dicey slopes and crevices you could slip into, but our guides kept us safe. The villagers used to hide out in these caverns in times of war. Ugh, I can't imagine staying in such a damp, claustrophobic space. It's pretty wild, there was a huge amount of cave graffiti on the various walls.



The limestones formations looked like what Halong bay would be, before it was all sanitized and cleaned up. This was raw and fascinating. Ming and I would have loved more time exploring, though I think it would be a bit risky doing without a guide. One of the most fascinating formations was the “music” stone. This was a large stalactite that when hit with a stone, produces various tones, like a fine musical instrument. The guide and a few tourists tried a few notes, but I think it would have been fabulous had one of them been a musician. Think of the awesome rock music that would have ensued... (he he he).

Cool formations eh?




We left this cavern and made our way to Tham Hoi. The entrance to this cave is guarded by a large Buddha statue. The cave itself had some cool features, and the footing was reasonable. The cave itself runs 3 km to an underground lake, but we stopped after about 500 meters, since it was pretty much just a tunnel for the next 2.5 kms...

One thing that we didn't realize, is that there are quite a few creepy crawlies inhabiting the cave. The guide pointed out this little critter to us.



It was about 4 inches across. Imagine that falling on your shoulder in a dark cave! The funny thing is, we saw it on the way in, but not on the way out...

Well, after this cave, we stopped for some lunch, which consisted of some nicely grilled veggies and some very tough meat. Ming managed to get rid of her tough meet by feeding the local wildlife (Australian tourists).

Check out our fine crew!



The next cave after lunch was Tham Nam, or the water cave. This was a ton of fun. You must take an inner tube into the entrance of the cave as it's low and flooded.



You then drag yourself along the cave on ropes in the ceiling, trying not to bash into the walls as you float along the dark cavern. It's a bit like an amusement park ride and elicited tons of laughs from us all. Once we got to shore in the cave, we did a little loop that consisted of walking around in the dark checking out the cool, wet formations.



Several areas were very low and we had to shuffle along the ground lest be bash our heads into the sharp formations. It was entertaining to say the least.

The tube ride back out was just as fun and it was quite haunting seeing the eery green glow as we reached the exit to the caves. Good thing for water-proof cameras! I was practically using mine as a paddle.



Ming:

At long last, it was time for some physical activity. I was tired of the usual walking through temples and markets bit. I can only take in so much of that before I get saturated and want something different. It’s also been a slow winter for physical activity because I’ve been busy with work, so I readily agreed to do some adventuring with Mike.

I had plans to try and get in shape for this week by doing some exercise at home for a month, but I’m not good with that kind of thing. I am better when I just get out and hike or paddle once a week. So I was a little concerned about my lack of fitness getting in the way of the trekking, but it was rated as easy on the brochure, so it would probably be all right.

The caving was very interesting, except for the second cave, which felt oppressive because of the dampness inside. It smelt stale inside and was very slippery. I would normally take my time exploring something like this, but the guide kind of rushed us through from one chamber to another. Our tour group was kind of quiet and not cohesive either. It felt like a lot of people had been up too late the night before drinking or enjoying happy shakes and they were not in the best shape. Things like the amazing natural rock xylophone could have been a lot of fun with the right group. Things did loosen up a bit after lunch, when I “shared” all my inedible meat with the starving adolescent Aussie boy sitting across from me and we got to chatting a bit. Thankfully, the rice and veggies were quite tasty and filling.

The water cave was a lot of fun. We all were hesitant to change into swimsuits and get in the water because it had been an overcast day and the water had not warmed up. That was good for the trekking, which would have been miserable had it been sweltering, but the guide told us that he found the water very cold. It was not, if you come from BC, it was… fresh. Mike got to test out a few flashlights and his waterproof shockproof camera. It’s great to have the right equipment for the activity. This was very different from the Disney version of caves that we found in Ha Long bay, and a nice contrast. The other was nice too, for going with Dad, and with Mom in 2001. By the way, I heard the “it’s a small world after all” theme the other day, it was someone’s ringtone, it would have been funny in the Ha Long cave.


Mike:

Well, now that we had completed the caving portion of the tour, we proceeded to the trekking. This consisted mostly of walking on dirt paths between villages. It was quite amusing seeing that most of the rural villages still had huge satellite dishes! I also like the local low-rider tractors. They were used for plowing the fields as well as transporting people around in high style.



Overall it was a pleasant experience, made all the more unique by the sight of the distinctive karst mountains towering around us. It was also nice when some of the local village kids decided to ham it up for the camera, very cute.




Having completed our trekking portion of the tour, we proceeded to the kayaking on the Nam Song River. The guide provided us with some “expert” instruction which consisted mostly of telling us to turn the paddle (the paddles were feathered). It was pretty amusing and not very informative.



Paddling itself was pretty dull as the wide, calm, river didn't really have much in the way of scenery. It was also populated by all manner of bars along the river, blasting music and full of very drunken tourists, swinging from vines, or even using water slides!




We also encountered a lot of “happy”, drunk, or drugged out tubers on the river. It was not a horribly inspiring paddle. We even had a stop at the last river-swing bar on the river for some refreshments. Ho hum.


Ming:

The kayaking was a disappointment. Why the heck would you give inexperienced paddlers feathered (blades facing in different directions, so special wrist rotation is needed for proper paddling) paddles? Add a guide who can’t speak English as instructor, paddles that differ from what he is describing: “hold the paddle with the bump right like this” – most of the paddles were missing their “bumps” which are reference guides for positioning the hands properly on the paddle, and you got a lot of puzzled faces. Oh well, we were going downstream anyways.

The trip was noisy, as we floated past bar after bar full of semi-naked, drunk Caucasians dancing on huge bamboo decks with loudspeakers blaring. I decided to skip the long kayak trip that the company also offers, in case it was more of the same. The brochure promised 2 hours of kayaking. The guide told us one hour when we were actually at the river, and the actual real trip time ended up being more like 45 minutes, including a 20 minute “break” for beers and swinging off a rope into the river. Not very good. Oh well, the other parts of the trip were quite enjoyable. I have high standards for a kayak trip. We are spoiled, living in one of the best places in the world for kayaking.


Mike:

Well, after the conclusion of our tour, we headed back home to clean up and enjoyed some quality food at the Organic Mulberry Farm Cafe. The food was tasty and well priced. We also enjoyed some of the best coconut shakes I have ever tasted. Foody heaven!


Ming:

That evening was highlighted by good food again. Portions are large in Laos, and it is easy to over order, which we seemed to do consistently, not realizing from the cheap prices how big the dishes were. Never wanting to waste any of the delicious food, we would try to eat as much of it as we could, and have to slowly waddle home afterwards.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Jan 31st: Chillin' in VV, The Chicken Shake, bridges, Snacks at the Festival

Mike:

Today, we took a mellow day to wander about town. We decided we wanted a Lao noodle dish today so went on a search to find some good eats. Of course, finding food can be a bit more frustrating than usual when one is hypoglycemic and sweltering in hot sun...

We ended up hitting the northern edge of town before finding a nice, authentic Lao place for some grub. We ordered a enjoyed some very nice pine-apple shakes (like a massive wedge of fresh pine-apple in it!). The noodle soup was delivered promptly and was very tasty. Unfortunately it wasn't all that filling so I ordered a vegetable fried rice (which somehow ended up having chicken in it). In any case, Ming and I were rather horrified to see the cook cut up the raw chicken on the same cutting board and using the same knife as was used for our fruit shakes. She later cleaned the knife in bucket that happened to contain some sketchy looking water (the cutting board wasn't cleaned). She also used the same water to wash her hands and the wok used for cooking.

Suddenly feeling very ill, Ming and I rushed back to the hotel to to take all manner of meds and pray we didn't get violently ill after our chicken shakes (Luckily, we were fine).


Ming:

This next day was free, since I had decided not to do the long kayaking day. Good thing too, because being out of shape caught up with me. I could hardly walk down the stairs all day, and we lived on the 3rd floor with no elevators. You could hear me going “ow, ow, ow, ow” all the way down each time. It got worse through the day too.

So we took the day to do some gentle exploration of the gastronomic and ambulatory kind, perfect for the generally relaxed tone of the whole Laos vacation. Lunch ended up being a rather scary affair in the end – I ended up learning a lot about salmonella and typhoid fever thanks to Google after that one.

We bought an entire cut up pineapple that day. It was sooo good and took us days to finish. I will definitely buy pineapples when I get home, now that I have learned the trick of peeling them with minimum wastage.

1 – do a shallow peel to take off the tips of the scales. What will be left will run in spirals around the pineapple.

2 – cut spiral v-grooves all the way around to get rid of these little remaining “eyes”. Your pineapple will look really cool and you will have lots to eat.


Mike:

After another little rest, we decided to cross the Nam Song river on the seasonal foot bridge. This weakly constructed bamboo bridge would sway at every step we took and often threatened to dump us into the waters below. The handrail, as it was, was a couple feet too far out to be of much use. It was definitely another unintentional funride. It was made even more interesting when people decided to cross it, on motorcycle! Sheesh! Oh well, it was still pretty picturesque.



We took a little walk on the path across the river, which was surprisingly empty and free of cow poop. Considering how many cows frequent this path it was quite remarkable. Laos cows must be pretty clean.

We crossed the river again on a much larger, 1 lane toll bridge. This bridge was also entertaining as we watched it flex and groan as traffic crossed its narrow path. Crazy. It was a nice place to catch a sunset though.



Well, after the bridge walk, we ambled over to the Laos Tourist festival to check out the attractions. It was a pretty neat little festival, resembling a county fair. There were a lot of tourist exhibitions, touting all the cool parts of Laos, and it's cultural diversity. There was also a little amusement park, complete with a ghetto merry-go-round and mini roller-coaster.



The highlight for us, of course, was the food, I mean check out the amazingly tasty treats.



Actually, the food vendors were nicely torch-lit and provided all manner of grilled skewers. I had something that was supposed to be chicken, but did not taste quite right. It ended up being chicken hearts! They tasted a bit fowl. :D

We did discover a really cool treat in the form of a bamboo roll, filled with sweet sticky rice. The bamboo is peeled away like a banana and the rice inside is pleasantly scented and flavoured. Ming also got to eat her coconut, finally! Just not sure how clean that spoon was...





We grabbed a ton of local snacks too, that proved to be amazingly delicious. They were even better because they lacked any and all form of nutritional information. Guilt free!


Ming:

I’m glad that the tourist festival happened while we were there. It helped offset the awful backpacker wasteland that is Vang Vieng. Even at its height, we found the place quite quiet compared to Hanoi, and a lot easier to walk around in. After the festival was over, it was positively deserted in town.

The festival was a great place to try food. I ended up passing on most stuff because I could not recognize it and had no way of asking what it was. Even when you can, the answer may not mean much. Mike’s experience: “is this chicken?”, “yes”. It didn’t taste like any chicken we had ever eaten. Only later did I clue in that we had eaten chicken heart.

I had been warned that there might be roasted bats passing as chicken too, and we saw skewers of split open bird heads, chicken feet, whole frogs, whole little fish, entrails, whole hearts and livers (our skewer was sliced), you get the idea.

The bugs were something else. Dishes of black beetles. Dishes of whitish grubs. Dishes of giant what we thought were cockroaches. My parents told me that real cockroaches are stinky and taste terrible. What we saw was a kind of beetle whose name they did not know in English, but that tastes very good, according to my mother. The small male is not eaten, he is eviscerated alive and his pheromone gland, about the size of a grapefruit pulp, is pulled out and squeezed for the juice, which is added to soups as a flavoring. It is delicious, something that I can attest to as we had a tiny bottle of it that we used while I was growing up. The female is much larger and is fried until crisp, then minced and eaten with fish sauce, according to my mother. It is supposed to be very tasty but I have never tried that. No wonder Mom wasn’t scared to try fried crickets on our 2001 trip. She was no stranger to eating insects!

The rice-in-a-tube dish was cool. Dad said that it is a hill tribe thing. They would trek through the jungle carrying bamboo tubes pre-filled with raw rice. When mealtime came, they would add water, stop up the open end with mud, and throw the tube on the coals of the fire. When it was done, it was peel and eat, just like we did. Very cool.

It’s funny how the restaurants do not carry coconuts on the menu. I spent days looking for coconuts and had to settle for fruit shakes. I finally found coconuts to eat and drink at the fair. It did not occur to me until later that the vendor had not running water to clean his coconut spoon. Note to self – add cutlery to travel kit. Bowls wouldn’t hurt either.


Mike:

After our snacks and nice dinner, we headed home to the hotel. The hotel dog, a cute young pup, was having problems with an ear infection, so mostly lay around, whimpering quietly. Ming sprang into action and prescribed a homeopathic remedy for the poor pup. Seems homeopathy is much more common out of North America.

How can you not feel for a face like this?



Ming:

We rounded off the evening nicely with some homeopathy for me. The hotel manager’s 3month old pup had a lingering ear infection lasting 2 weeks so far, and she did not want to give it antibiotics unless there was no other recourse. She was delighted to learn that I was a homeopath with an interest in treating animals. I took the pup’s case and did not have the right remedy in my travel kit, which is heavy on digestive upset remedies. Luckily, Rachel had a kit on hand that contained the right remedy so I gave her instructions on how to administer the remedy. The pup was much better the next day, zooming around the hotel lawn, barking at the children and no longer whimpering when I examined her ear. Cute little thing.


--------------------------------------------------------------------


Feb 1st: Ming's first Climb

Mike:

Well, today would be a very cool adventure day as we signed up for a half day of rock climbing! While I had climbed before it was Ming's first time, should be interesting...

We met up with our crew promptly at the required 8:30 AM. Of course, we spent the next half hour waiting in the van (adjusting to Laos time). We picked up a small crew and got kitted up for climbing. There were a few initial tense moments as our guides seemed somewhat surly and not very helpful when we were getting sized up for our gear. Thankfully, they were just a bit grouchy from too many loud, annoying tourists and loosened up a lot on the rock.

The hike up to the rock face proved to be quite the challenging scramble and highlighted the fact that the limestone karsts here were very, very sharp! I was a little hesitant as I felt like I would be climbing on razor blades!

Well, after setting up our ropes we all proceeded to have a great time scaling the cliffs. Ming was a bit nervous at first as climbing is not the same as scrambling! You have to trust your feet, and your rope and not cling to the rock face. In any case, she did fine and conquered her fear of heights, scaling the rocks successfully! Bravo!

I had fun also, straining a bit on some of the more difficult climbs, but doing fine. While the rock was sharp, we didn't get cut up (much).

The interesting story of the day was a tall swiss fellow cimbing with 8 fingers. He blew off his index and middle finger of one hand playing with fireworks in his youth (insert Public Safety message here). He used to be a climber in his teens and it showed, as he did very well that day.

The not so interesting story was a young french woman, who after hurting her hand on the first climbing attempt, proceeded to pout the entire day, ignoring the rest of the group for most of the afternoon.

We did meet a nice teacher from Oakland who was going through a mid-career crisis. She was just passing through town and decided to do some climbing. She was definitely a natural as she made short work of even the more difficult climbs. Very cool.





After our climbs and a nice (late) lunch, we just gathered ourselves for the journey back to Vientiane. We were pretty exhausted so didn't do much the rest of the day. It would have been nice to get some more Lao snacks but the festival was already winding down. Oh well, maybe next time!


Ming:

I almost chickened out of this one, but Mike wasn’t going to let me. He prepped me by telling me a lot about the theory and techniques of rock climbing the night before. I have a fear of heights and had been caught out several times on hikes with cliff or steep rock scrambling sections where the real possibility of a serious fall had frozen me on the spot until I could force myself to go on. There, falling was not an option. I am still not used to falling being an option, though I saw that in action as several climbers fell that day and just slipped a few inches and went on. There are no handy rock shoes on a hike either, one cannot trust one’s footwear a lot of the time, leading to clinging on for dear life.

Mike thought that the beginner climb on this day was a moderately difficult one, so I am glad that I made it okay. Twice too. The second time was a lot easier, and I could see how one could easily get to like the challenge. It’s just that I already hike and bike and camp and paddle… where to find the time?

The guides were awesome when we got to the rock. It had looked like they would give us no instructions at all, but they did once we got there and were invaluable in me completing my climbs. I would sit there and have no clue what to do next, and they would tell me where the next handhold or foothold was. Amazing. Mike was right about the sharpness of the rock. I ended up with scratches on my hand and knees, and I had bruises popping out on my knees for days after the climb.

Check off another of the things I wanted to try during this lifetime!

These physical activity days were good for the body. I fell asleep on those days so fast, I didn’t even have the chance to turn out the light.