Happy New Year

Outside the gate before the trip

We didn't go on an elephant trek, but we did get out of town.  We decided to go to southern Laos to a place called Si Phan Don, or 4,000 Island.  It is an archipelago on the Mekong between Laos and Cambodia.  I had seen some pictures of it and it looked beautiful.  Kyle and I decided to take advantage of the long weekend and go on an adventure.  It was pretty fun.




We actually spent New Year's Eve on the night bus to Pakse.  We left around 8p.m.  The night bus is a pretty good idea.  You get on the bus, go to sleep, and wake up at your destination.  The night bus is not designed for tall people, at least not tall people who share a bunk.  Even though it was a long night, it was still better than taking a 10 hour bus during the day.  We arrived and had some trouble figuring out where we were supposed to go next.  We got on a bus, went two blocks, got new tickets, the bus driver took us back to where we were and told us to go with another driver in a minivan.  We said hello to the new driver, gave him our luggage to put on top, he strapped everything on and said, "Wait here" before driving away.  It was a nerve racking 20 minutes. He did finally show back up.  We were put in the very front row, which wasn't secured to the floor so it was a wobbly 2.5 hour ride to the island.  We took a little boat (ferry) to the island and had a little time to say hello to our friends Matt and Nicole before they headed back to Vientiane.  They did give us a good recommendation on a place to stay and some good ideas for dinner and entertainment while we were there.

The King of Bus...still too small

Happy New Year-on the King of Bus

Ferry to Don Khong-the BIG island

Evening view across the river

A shot of our hotel from the river

The second day we went on a tour.  There are a couple of famous waterfalls and some endangered dolphins we wanted to see.  It was a nice day.  It started off cloudy and cool.  We took a long boat ride, a long bike ride, another boat ride, more bike riding, another boat ride, a van to and from another waterfall, and finally a boat ride home.  By the end of the day, the sun had come out and I was fried-on the tops of my arms and face-a serious farmer's tan.  Kyle was fine, but I was crispy.

Kyle on the bike ride

Getting "life-jacketed up" before looking for dolphins

The Irrawaddy Dolphin-this is a picture from the internet.  I was too slow

The first waterfall of the day

The second waterfall of the day

That is a LOT of water

There were many other tourists around

 We ended up heading back to Vientiane the next evening on yet another night bus.  This one was even smaller than before.  It was once again, nice to be home.  Enjoy the pictures.  Love, M.

Houston, We Have a Camera

It was finally time to bargain like a pro and get a camera.  Too many experiences to let the time go by undocumented.  We picked it up the day before getting out of town for New Years (More on that later).  Here are a couple of shots for now.

Kyle rolling Spring Rolls like a Lao lady-like a champ

Kitty Kitty-the kitten Kyle talked me into buying actual cat food for

Fixing the Yincin

Skipping Christmas

Kyle decided he wanted to see what it would be like to skip Christmas this year.  It seemed like an ok plan.  At least it would be easier to avoid most things Christmas because this is a place that doesn't really celebrate the holiday.  Well, the Lao people are starting to catch on to the idea that money can be made at Christmastime.  But, it was still relatively mild.  I heard Christmas music in a coffee shop back in October and didn't hear any more tunes until today.  I purchased a string of lights before Kyle arrived thinking we would get a tree once he got here.  They are still on the bookshelf.  Overall, aside from calling home Christmas night, we managed to avoid the commercial-ness of the holiday.

Friday morning we decided to get out of town, do something fun.  I had to take a quick trip to Thailand that morning.  When I returned home, I threw my stuff in the bag and we left.  We were talked into taking a minivan to Vang Vieng because it is supposed to be an hour shorter(we were on the bus on the way home and didn't seem to take an hour longer).  Before we even got out of town, the driver decided to move us to the front row and stuff 4 Lao people into the row built for 3.  So, we got to ride shotgun.  It was so nice to see something new.  The road was very bumpy and dusty, but it was different.

We arrived in Vang Vieng shortly before sunset and managed to find a decent place to stay.  Actually, it was pretty good-except for the loud neighbors.  It was right on the Nam Song river.  We went out to find a place for dinner.  We walked through town before deciding on one of the first places we glanced at a menu.  After dinner, while strolling through the supermarket,  we discovered a bottle of mystery alcohol containing a cobra with a scorpion in it's mouth.  Kyle asked the woman if people actually drink the stuff. She replied, "Yes.  It's for stronger."  Of course it is.

Most people(backpackers) go to Vang Vieng to tube on the river and/or party.  It is clear that most of the town is accommodating.  So, I thought that even though it has been a little cool, we would go tubing or kayaking-because that is what people do.  Christmas Eve started out cool and overcast.  Kyle said it would burn off soon.  It didn't.  We ended up renting motorbikes and exploring.  We paid money to go into the Tiger Cave (no idea why that is the name).  It was ok but a little bit snug.  I guess neither one of us are really cave people.  Plus, there was a huge spider the guide pointed out to us and some crickets.  I don't really like either.  We got to drive around through a dried up rice field.  It was really bumpy.  That evening Kyle decided to try fly fishing in the river.  I went to see how it was going and discovered him surrounded by 4 local boys wearing little more than their underwear checking out his process.  They stood around discussing what he was doing, the fly rod, reel, float line, and his bait-or lack of it.  They were cute.  One of them even jumped in and helped him reel it in.  It would have been a great picture.

Sunday morning, we got up after another night of pretty loud neighbors.  It was actually sunny, but still pretty cool.  The clouds and fog did actually burn off.  But, we were done and ready to come home.  We took the bus and it was long, bumpy, windy, queasy ride home.  When we finally got home, it felt great.

Overall, it was great to get out of town for the weekend and see something new, and great to be home.  We are trying to watch all of Lost before he goes.  It is a big project, but we are committed.  I have watched bits of it here and there and had forgotten about how engrossing it is.  Stay tuned for news about New Years-I want to go look for elephants.  Lots of Love, M.

Happy Happy

Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  I know it has been awhile since I have written, but better late than never.

Kyle is here visiting.  He is starting to get over the jet lag.  It has been nice having someone to hang out with.  He visited my class on Thursday evening and a couple of my students said that he looks like a movie star.  They couldn't say which one.  Definitely not Tom Cruise, but someone who could have been in a movie with Tom Cruise at some point.  We can just call him Hollywood.

Well, I will write again soon.  I hope that wherever you are during this Holiday season, you are enjoying it.

Interesting

I saw this online somewhere earlier this week or last week.  I thought it was interesting.  I was reminded of it tonight when I picked up this edition of Time from one of my favorite markets.  Makes you wonder why in the US, Time readers are being told anxiety can be good for you when there is so much more going on in our world.  I am going to discuss this with my class this week when talking about audience.  Should be a fun discussion.  Remember, it is good to have a variety of news sources.  Love, M.

UPDATE:  Ok.  I actually looked through the magazine after my post and to be fair, the anxiety story is in the issue I have.  I guess it is just the cover that is different.  But still, why?

A Few of My Favorite Things

A few friends and I watched "The Sound of Music" on Sunday evening.  Well, to be honest, I punked out after the children sang "So-long, Farewell."  Everybody else finished it.  Doesn't matter.  The point is, I have been humming songs from the movie ever since.  I decided to use it as inspiration for this post so maybe I can move on and get a new group of songs stuck.  These are the things I like about living in Laos.

When a traffic accident occurs, the police use white spray paint and outline the vehicles involved.  When I am driving around, I see lots of shapes on the road and try to imagine what happened.  This morning I notices a HUGE rectangle (must have been a truck) in a new place.  It also makes me thankful I haven't been involved.

Fresh fruit and vegetables.  I was told before I arrived that there wasn't much as far as grocery stores go.  It's true.  There are some shops where I can find familiar foods, but it isn't the same.  However, there are tons of markets.  They are outdoors and I love them.  I am particularly fond of my fruit stand.  It is actually a shop, but I always think of it as a stand and it is about a 3 minute walk from my house.  They have really delicious fruit.  I have in my fridge a recently purchased pineapple that is actually good enough to write home about.

The French influence on this city.  Considering this is an Asian country, I find it remarkable that it is possible to get really great pastries and desserts here-and they are affordable.  This is wrecking havoc on my waistline, I need to quit thinking of those chocolate croissants as miracles.  I also love that it is possible to get a great bottle of wine or some really delicious cheese and bread.

I can fill up my gas tank for about $2.50.  My water bill last month was $1.50.  I got a few things on my motorbike fixed on Monday and the grand total was $6.38.  Tuesday morning, I had a flat tire and it was just over $.62 to patch it. Unbelievable.

The sunsets.  I have seen some of the best sunsets I have ever seen in my life.  They are incredible. 

There isn't really an abundance of road rage here.  People may pull out in front of you or cut you off, but it seems to be a fact of life and people don't get mad and try to get even.  Having said that, I battle road rage almost every day.  I have realized that any time a car decides to pull out in front of me and it messes up my commute, I think, "Those jerks, they decided to pull out in front of me because I am a foreigner."  It is ridiculous.  That isn't really the case.  I am trying to relax.

Lack of horn honking.  This one goes along with the previous item.  Occasionally a bus will honk so people know it is coming (they aren't frequent here).  I also have heard big trucks honk-as if they aren't obvious.  But, I am pleasantly surprised that in this land of people constantly cutting others off, there are blaring horns all the time.  I am again the exception to this rule.  I honk when I am trying to cancel my turn signal. I get these buttons confused on a regular basis and it always results in two things.  One, I scare myself.  My horn is really loud.  Two, I get a lot of stares...a LOT.  It happens more than it should although it is getting a little less frequent.

My house.  Compared to my last living quarters in Iraq, this place is great.  I got new curtains from my landlady and a new couch and coffee table.  It is very comfortable now and I like my neighborhood.  I like this place.

Ok.  I think that is it for now.  There is a lot to like about this place.  Will write more soon.  M.

Fire

I have noticed that it pretty much always smells like something is burning in this country.  A few nights ago, I was totally convinced that someone was standing right behind my house smoking a cigarette.  I did what anyone would do, grabbed my scariest looking knife and went to investigate.  Don't worry, My landlady lives behind my house on the opposite side of the fence.  I could have yelled.  Well, the cat who has decided to hang out in my yard hissed at me, but that was it.  I guess my neighbors were burning something.

 While smelling smoke is a normal occurrence and seeing smoke even less so, actually laying eyes on the flames, is almost unheard of.  I don't know exactly how long ago this was, but I feel like it happened sometime in the last 2 weeks.  It was nearly dark and I was out trying to finish up some errands.  I wanted to stop by the DVD shop on my way home to pick up some new stuff to watch.  It is on a one-way street.  I turned and headed down the street.  I didn't make it very far before I saw a woman running towards me.  I quickly noticed that not only was she running, but she was motioning for me to turn around and yelling.  I don't know for sure what she was yelling because it was all in Lao, but I imagine it went something like this, "TURN AROUND NOW.  SAVE YOURSELF WHILE YOU STILL CAN.  DO NOT GO ANY FARTHER ON THIS STREET.  YOU WILL REGRET IT."  I didn't stop and turn around so after I had passed her, she decided to throw one more yell my direction.  I am relatively sure it was, "YOU CRAZY FOREIGNER.  YOU ARE GOING TO DIE.  I TRIED TO WARN YOU."  Really, I have no idea what she was yelling, but it seemed serious. 
 
Instead of turning around, I decided to just park where I was and walk the rest of the way to the shop.  There isn't a ton of excitement in this city, so it seemed foolish to just turn around and not see what all of the commotion was about.  There was quite a crowd gathered outside of the DVD shop (it seemed there were many people picking up movies).  They were all looking up the street at the electrical fire taking place and the attempt of a few people on a third story balcony to put it out.  They were spraying it with a fire extinguisher.  They would spray for a little while, stop, the flames would appear again, most of the people in the crowd watching (there was a big crowd) would scream or gasp or gasp and scream, then they would spray again.  I watched this for a bit, found it to be anti-climactic and decided to go get my movies before everyone else decided to.  That plan didn't work.  A big family came back in and were talking about the fire and movies and trying to decide.  All of a sudden, a really loud set of screams came from outside.  The young boy decided to run out and take a look (I am not so dramatic as I used to be, so I stayed inside).  He came back in saying that the fire was HUGE.  So we all went back outside to look at it.  It turned out that the HUGE fire was actually a street light that came on while we were inside the shop but was somewhat hidden because of the immense cloud of fire extinguisher smoke in the air.   I went back in to finish shopping.

I made my selections and left.  I decided that I would stay just a little bit longer because it was a little bit fascinating.  I have no idea how many fire extinguishers they went through.  Eventually, the power went out on that side of the street.  Everyone was covering their noses and mouths.  The fire did go out and stay out long enough for me to decide I had had enough excitement.  I jumped on my motorbike and went back the way I came.  I was hoping to see the yelling woman so I could give her the, "See.  I made it just fine" look but I didn't.  As I turned off the street, I noticed three things.  First, I heard a very faint siren that could only belong to the fire engine.  A little late, but they were on their way.  Second, there was a remarkable fog in the street behind me from all of the extinguishing.  Finally, I really need to quit breaking my cameras.  Love, M.

P.S.  I wanted to give this post a more creative title.  I can't figure out what a fire engine sounds like written down.  I even googled it and didn't get a satisfactory answer.