Lao Lao

Lao Lao is the Lao name for Lao whiskey made from rice. I am in Vientiane province for a seminar I helped organise. We joined one of the participants in visiting his friends nearby for some lao lao. Not surprisingly, it tasted awful. The first one was infused in wood and was probably the nastiest alcohol I’ve ever tasted. I was hoping that it tasted much more alcoholic than it actually was, like some cheap sake’s I’ve tasted before. The second variety had some bits floating in it. Upon closer inspection of the bottle I noticed that it was full of insects. I’m almost certain that they were cicadas. A few days ago my friend told me he recently had deep fried cicadas for breakfast so that gave me some peace of mind. I’m sure the wood and cicadas in the lao lao had medicinal properties, so what’s a bit of short- term loss for long- term gain?

My friend had bought a bottle of Lao whiskey infused with wood for 60c. The funniest thing about it was that it was in a Johnny Walker Red bottle and they had kept the original box. The other funny thing was that there was a lipstick mark on the bottle when my friend bought it. Some people had a few sips of this lao lao but luckily he managed to offload it to the driver that took us home from our kayak trip.

My counterpart says it’s common for people to have a sip of lao lao infused with medicine everyday. His mother has some everyday. He says there’s an animal that can be infused in lao lao that will cure his asthma. Unfortunately this animal is rare and you might only see it once in three years.

Vang Vieng kayak

17 of us went on a kayaking trip between Vang Vieng and Vientiane with the Green Discovery tour group. I though it would be a peaceful paddle along the river and didn’t really think we’d needed all the safety techniques explained to us. Of the 9 plastic kayaks and 3 inflatable kayaks that went on this trip, only two didn’t capsize in the rapids by lunchtime. I was in one of these two boats. There were 4 serious rapids and some people capsized because they ended up crashing into others. One guy was momentarily stuck in a whirlpool which can be really dangerous. He said it sucks you in and then pushes you up. This happened to him about three times before he managed to get out.

My kayak did capsize before the day was done. I did accidentally capsize my kayak with my boyfriend in it because I’d jumped out for a swim and flipped it over as I tried to climb back in. After I capsized someone else’s kayak the guides flipped mine over as revenge. The scenery was awesome and the kayaking was exciting- a great day!

Vang Vieng bike ride and caving

A group of us hired a bus and got to Vang Vieng from Vientiane in about 4 hours. When we made a stop I saw some grilled rats on a skewer for the first time. I wonder how safe they are to eat. We stayed in some bungalows by the river. After dinner we went to have a drink. Unfortunately the bar had to close because it was near midnight when the cops do their rounds. The way they sell drugs is really blatant. The bar has a menu where you can buy drugs from. Some things you can buy include opium tea or coffee, a marijuana shake or pizza or mushroom tea. Alternatively you can buy drugs by the bags. A joint costs around $2 US and a marijuana pizza around $8 US. From memory an opium tea costs around $3 but rumour has it that it is actually codeine. There have recently been lots of schemes to get rid of opium poppy farming, including in the golden triangle region of growing in Laos, Myanmar and Thailand. People are trying to get the farmers another way of making a living.

We hired some mountain bikes and set off on a 7km journey to Poukham Cave. Vang Vieng is an absolutely beautiful place. It is surrounded by mountains of limestone. On the bike ride we saw lots of rice paddies. We saw young children that looked younger than 10 with fishing rods and slightly older children with a round mask and a spear gun for spear fishing. We saw families bathing in the river and washing their clothes.

Outside the cave we stopped to swim at a ‘blue lagoon’ which was actually a small stream with blue water which was unexpectedly cold- around 20 degrees. I could see beautiful fish in the water with colour so bright I thought it looked more like a tropical marine fish. We first intended to look at the cave but somewhere along the way we decided to go caving. It was quite a steep climb up- we were really climbing. There was a Buddha at the cave entrance but the cave was black from people touching it and smoking. We went further into the cave until we were in pitch blackness. It was amazing inside- large caverns of untouched limestone that sparkled. Some was toffee coloured and looked like toffee that had flowed downwards from the ceiling.

We met four monks that were acting as tour guides for a Japanese girl. I was talking to one of them and apparently he had been studying in Vientiane and started working for the Ministry for Education. The Ministry decided to send him to a monk school in Vang Vieng and that’s how he ended up there. In hindsight, I don’t think I’m supposed to talk to monks because I’m a girl, but they did talk to me first and were taking a girl for a tour. It was funny when the monks hid and then jumped out to scare the Japanese girl!

I used to think of monks committing long periods of time to studying as a monk but these days, especially in Vientiane, I think it’s more temporary. I’ve known people to do it for a day, others a week or two. Friends have seen them out buying mobile phones or at the internet café playing video games.

7 months

I’m still really enjoying living in Vientiane and can’t believe I’m well over the half- way point of being here. There’s still a lot I’d like to see in the Vientiane. The weather is really pleasant now. It has dropped to 25 degrees at night and days are probably 31- 33 degrees. I’m lucky to have so much free time because I live so close to work, my maid does my laundry and I eat out. This probably won’t happen again! During the week I do aerobics about once a week, have a language lesson and have started to go to netball training once a week too. My Lao still isn’t very good, but I can understand conversations a little better now. My speaking is still quite bad- but that’s ok!

My work is going well- I can see the end of the project I’m helping manage. I’m amazed with what can be done with $50 000 AUD in Laos- have five 3-day seminars including food and accommodation, employ 2 people for 6 months, make 1000 t-shirts, a short film and lots of brochures and posters.

This weekend I’m going to Vang Vieng which I’m looking forward to. It is meant to be a beautiful town surrounded by limestone landscape on a river. The downside, I’ve heard, is that restaurants play Friends and the Simpsons all day and the backpackers aren’t particularly well behaved. This is not helped by the availability of ‘happy’ pizzas and shakes containing marijuana and/ opium.

I’m going to Singapore and Malaysia at the end of the year which should be fun. I’ll go home in March for a week and head straight back to Asia to travel. I have to go home otherwise I’ll lose some privileges from the volunteer program.

Adina Spa

I had heard this was the most luxurious beauty/ relaxation place in town and went after being given a voucher from there. It did live up to its reputation. It is in a lovely house with a courtyard in the middle. It has been professionally decorated, with silks everywhere and the staff very well dressed.

I had a traditional Lao massage. Instead of the usual soap, they wash your feet with a couple of slices of kaffir lime. They give you somewhere to hang your clothes and you have a private room whatever service you order. The massage itself was very good. It cost 53, 000 kip (5.30 USD), including the 25% off special that is on at the moment. This is twice the price of the massage I usually get.

I saw a middle aged Aussie guy order a massage of 4 hours! I can see why. It felt like a 5 star hotel, not a least developed country. I think I'm happy with my usual massage for half the price, but I might come back again when someone comes to stay from abroad.

Some treatments are very expensive- one 75 minute of the facial costs 2000 Baht which is over $60 AUD. I can't think of any service that priced within that range in Vientiane. Other services include body scrubs and wraps, waxing, sauna and spa.

Location- Kaysone Phomivane Road, the middle road that extends from Patuxay. It is probably about a kilometre from Patuxay, and if drive from Patuxay it is on the left.

Kaysone Phomvihane Memorial Museum

I visited this museum about Kaysone Phomvihane, Communist revolutionary leader and former President of Laos. It is one of the most beautiful buildings I have visited in Laos so far. Strikingly it contained very little information about Lao history and I couldn't really establish what this guy did What it did contain:

• Many photos of Kaysone posing with groups of people
• Many photos of Vietnam- I'm unsure why
• Some personal possessions of Comrade Kaysone Phomvihane including glasses, a clock
• Random displays about products Laos makes including beer Lao and Pepsi soft drink, pharmaceuticals from Pharmacy factory 2, samples of Lao washing powder
• A large statue of Kaysone Phomvihane outside the museum

More information here: http://www.culturalprofiles.net/laos/Units/163.html

Entry- 5000 kip
Location- Kaysone Phomvihane Road Km 6. It is the middle road that extends from Patuxay

A week at work

I attended a seminar that I helped organise a couple of hours from Vientiane in Thalat. This time we stayed at a government- run resort. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, just a few cockroaches and no TV. Some of my Lao collegues did notice the differences between the privately run business and this government one and could see why which was good to see.

The group attending the seminar was great. They all knew one another which helped. They sang folk songs on the bus- one about the beautiful 4000 islands in the south. The leader sang through the microphone meant for the tour guide on the bus. They tried to encourage me to sing, but I refused. During the seminar they sang a song about getting together and fighting the war against America.

Talking to my collegues, Marx and Lenin's works are still taught. There is one subject per semester on their ideas at university. They are required to recite lengthy passages of their texts word- for- word.

60km bike ride and dragon boat festival

My housemates had been for some long bike rides recently and were going to cycle to a dragon boat festival some 30kms away. I decided to join them. It was one day after I returned from India and it made me appreciate Laos again. The path along the Mekong river was beautiful. There were nice houses, and fisheries in the river. All the children all yelled out ‘hello’ because we look like foreigners- my housemates in particular. There were rice paddies and gorgeous shiny new temples along the way.

We reached the dragon boat festival over an hour later. It was a huge party- not what I expected at all! There was a stage with huge speakers with a band and people out on the dance floor. Many people were already drunk at 2pm. We were invited to sit down with some Lao people, but I refused drinks. There was Lao party food out- popcorn, sticky rice with banana, ice blocks and roast meat. There was a bit of dragon boating going on. It looks really impressive as there are around 50 people in each boat. The boat goes really fast.

The ride home was also good, but I got quite tired and hungry for about the last 5kms. We saw a person draining the blood out of freshly killed duck’s neck while two of his mates looked on. People like eating raw duck’s blood in larp. Not such a good idea in these times of bird flu! Some people on motorbikes road beside my housemates for several kilometres just to talk to them and invited us to a dinner- the people here are so friendly.

Vientiane province

I am back in Vientiane province for another seminar my organisation is running on educating government officials about human rights. I helped organise it, so I thought I’d come to implement it and do some work with the project team so they’re not too bored while they’re here. Before I came to the first of these sessions, I was concerned it would be a bit challenging to be with 20 government officials and 6 people from work for 3 whole days due to the language barrier. Also, I thought the government officials would be mostly older men. I forgot the age profile is different here Laos so some people were actually young so it’s good to see some young people learning about human rights.

We had dinner with some people with disabilities who are members of our organisation. They served us barbequed fish freshly caught from the river, a chicken soup with a pretty good chilli, ginger, and coriander sauce. They have a mushroom farm and one of them makes furniture for work. Before he had his furniture business, he had to catch fish until midnight to make a living. An NGO donated some rice to our organisation which we distributed to our members. It was funny that this food aid ended up in my stomach! I could tell the quality was low, but it wasn’t bad- just a bit more crumbly and less fragrant than usual.

More of Pune

What I did for the rest of my time in Pune…

Watching dance

The local dance group came to do some classical and folk dance for the group at Sangam. The teacher was an excellent dancer. She wore over a kilo of bells on each foot. Some of her dances involved slapping her foot on the floor so it made a loud noise- she said it took her 10 years to be able to make the noise!

Bollywood film and learning to Bollywood dance

We saw a Bollywood film, Bollywood being Hindi language films made in Mumbai. It was called Chake De India about an Indian women’s jockey team. We learnt a bit of Bollywood dance afterwards. It was a lot of fun. I thought it was much like aerobics- good that if you don’t keep up you can just attempt the next bit.

Laughter club

I’d heard of this laughter club being popular around the world. It started in India and an elderly couple ran the session. People get together and do laughing and breathing exercises together to help with stress relief and as a way of making friends. This session was really good. You just do silly exercises then pretend to laugh until it turns into real laughter. Eg pretending to blowing up a balloon and when it bursts you laugh, pointing at everyone and laughing, chanting hi hi ha ha ha ha, laughing when you get on the phone… really fun!

Maharastrian feast

We had a special closing dinner which we all dressed up for. I got my sari back and one of the staff members put it on for me which was good because it’s not very easy to do on a first attempt. It was about two bed lengths long. We learnt how to do rangoli, which is a type of art which involves making patterns on the ground with coloured sand for good luck. We made a rangoli artwork for our setting at the feast. Maharastra is the state that Pune and Mumbai are in, and we had food from that region. We ate with our hands from plate made of leaves.

Ghandi National Memorial
Ghandi was imprisoned in Pune in a prison. They then shifted him off to an old palace where his wife and secretary died. I visited this palace where his ashes are now stored. They had a bit of interesting information about the life of the man but the displays wasn't in very good condition! The palace is quite beautiful though. It's all white and has a big, well- maintained garden.

Feasts and festivals part 1

Shopping
I have been shopping in Pune and have bought some blue and amber sari material, some bangles, bindis and some material to make a Pubjab suit. I'm having the Punjab suit made. It comprises baggy pants, a long tunic and a scarf. My sari with blouse is also being made. We'll dress up with all our new clothes and accessories during the closing dinner which will be a Maharastrian feast. Mahrastra is the state I'm in. Idols of Ganesh, some elephant looking god are out for sale as the festival is on soon.

International night
We had an international night where people talked about the places they came from. The Bedfordshire bunch did a real deadpan version of Cinderella. I can't be sure I got the humour! The Devon bunch dressed up as country bumpkins and sang a funny song. They have been telling me all about Devonshire cream teas which come from their town, and about clotted cream. I did some fun Irish dancing and taught the others to do Lao dance.

Doorstep school
I visited a school which is part of an organisation that aims to educate children that would otherwise not be educated. They work alot with the children of contruction workers. Construction workers move around every 3-4 months so their children often don't get the chance to go to school. The might move to an area where they don't speak the language making it even harder for the children to go to school. They work with Mobile Creches also which look after the tiny kids so the bigger kids can go to school.

Dinner with a family
I went to house of family of a local 6-year-old cub Scout for dinner with a couple of others from England. Everone attending the event visited the families of Scouts in area with special housing for employees of the pharmaceutical company. The family took us to a temple which was a replica of one that is in Kashmir. They recreated a 10-metre long cave which had 20cm of water of water in it. Once we waded through the water there was a beautiful shrine at the end. They were so kind to cook us a lovely dinner and show us pictures of special ceremony the boy had.

Manaski Centres ( I think I spelt it wrong)
In India they have a caste system from the Hindu religion. It is technically illegal, but is still practiced and is a human rights issues. The Untouchables, or Dalits are out of this caste system and are only entitled to the really bad jobs in society. We saw a video about the discrimination the Dalits face. Some aren't allowed to use wells and rely on others to fetch their water. Others have to take off their shoes in areas of other villages. Some Dalit children had to clean the toilets and make tea when other children didn't have to. Generally the face discrimination and occasionally violence. There are 250 million Dalits.

This organisation gives Dalits the option of converting to Buddhism to help them overcome the psychological barrier that is one of the factors stopping them from achieving what they can. They have a variety of programs to help the Dalits out.

Arriving in Pune

I caught a 12 hour train from Goa to Pune. Pune is a few hours drive from Mumbai. The train ride wasn't too bad. There are three tiers of beds so unfortunately you can't really sit up and I was on top so I couldn't look out of the window. I could smell toilet odour for some of journey but couldn't tell whether it was coming from inside or outside the train. When the train stops some people come a board to sell fried foods. Otherwise the train staff come around to sell tea and snacks. I ate some chapatis and chicken drumstick on the train and it was actually quite nice and am happy to have lived to tell the tale.

In Pune I am staying a centre run by Girl Guides/ Girl Scouts to run events for participants around the world. I thought I'd be one of the oldest in this event but I'm one of the younger ones. Most are over 40 and most are from Devon and Bedfordshire in the UK. There are a few people from Canada. The event started this morning is called 'Feasts and festivals' which should be good.

Goa

I spent a fun few days in Goa which was an hour plane ride on the coast south of Mumbai. It is not the most beautiful place I have seen, but I had fun hanging out with a psychiatrist from Dubbo and a couple from Parma in Italy who were happy to answer all my questions about ham and cheese.

Goa was once a Portugese colony so it looks rather European and has many churches. I stayed in the capital, Panaji. I mostly just wandered around the town and enjoyed the food they had to offer. I had some delicious Goan style fish with chilli and tomato, lots of Indian style pancakes and breads and plenty of masala tea they call chai. The tea is virtually all made up of milk which is just excellent.

I found a small pub listed in my trusty Lonely Planet. The owner stated in the book died from alcohol problems. It was the most disorganised thing I'd ever seen. No menu. I saw them run out to get food, which I guess isn't too uncommon. The most unusual thing there was the distinct lack of toilet. To go, they close the kitchen door so they can't see you and you use the gutter! Right next to where they leave the dirty dishes.

I visited my first market in a town in India in a town called Mapusa. It was not so different from the markets in Laos. Most of the produce is on the floor and there are many tailors. I also visited the beach because that's something that has got to be done in Goa. It was ok, it wasn't that clean.

Australian volunteer health check

Five people have visited the hospital in Thailand of the 17 volunteers I came to Laos with.

• One had a broken arm x-rayed and plastered after a motorbike collision with an intoxicated cop
• One person was under observation in case their infected throat got worse
• One case of appendicitis
• One ankle was x-rayed and plastered as the ligaments in a dodgy snapped whilst walking
• One fell through some rocks in Thailand and needed wounds dressed

From other Australian volunteers while I've been here:

• I've heard of one case of dengue
• I've heard of one case of leptospirosis which is a parasitic disease

Aside from that- I think most people have got food poisoning. Some not more frequent than the locals including me. A fair few people have had general colds including me.

Mumbai

I'm in India! I had always wanted to come here and when I realised it was much cheaper going from Laos than from Australia I decided to go.

I stayed with my friends' relatives in Mumbai for a couple of days. They looked after me really well, cooking me some delicious Indian foods. They seem to schedule their meals so they're served on the dot! Their family have nap time too which I appreciate. I'm glad they could give me some information about India otherwise I would have tried to bargain for taxis and auto- rickshaws before I get in. Auto- rickshaws are exactly like the tuk-tuks in Thailand and Laos but in much better condition.

Mumbai isn't actually as crowded as I expected. Maybe I'm didn't visit the most crowded areas. The city is absolutely huge so maybe it's not as dense as some of the busy areas in cities with smaller areas. I think it's fine to travel as a woman alone. Many people eat alone in restaurants so it's not so weird being alone. The people are generally friendly and helpful. Most people I've met speak perfect English. It's easy to get around- taxis are cheap and you can pre pay for them. You pay your hotel and give a slip to the driver once you've arrived at your destination so the driver can collect their fare from the hotel. The traffic is not really scary at all, I never felt like I was going to die in a taxi.

I haven't found it as overwhelming as I expected- it was probably easier coming from Laos than from Australia. I think I've just been in the tourist areas so I haven't come across much poverty. Though I've seen some of the housing where I'm sure the living conditions are crowded and uncomfortable and it smells from the outside. They look like some of the housing in Laos, but much more dense.

The weather here is nearly exactly the same as it is in Vientiane at the moment. The temperature is about the same, as is the frequency of rain. Mumbai is virtually the same latitude as Vientiane. I'm glad I havesome inner bo bpen nyang (no worries) from Lao to help me get around India okay. I get approached by many salespeople on the streets but they really bother me- I'm actually happy to see enterprising behaviour! I already learnt in Laos to do without toilet paper so I have that challenge covered too!

I have just been wandering around town. I visited some very old caves with stone carvings on Elephanta Island. The food here is as good as I imagine. I've been here 3 days and haven't been sick yet. Though Lao food is virtually fat free so even if there's a bit of butter or other fat in food I feel really full quickly.

I'm off to Goa!