Good morning Sapa Vietnam

Catheleen

Good morning Sapa Vietnam. We are settling into the gloriously cooler weather in this mountain town. We are enjoying the colorful sights of the hill tribe ladies selling their handicrafts, but they are relentless. Things you never say to one of these ladies "hi my name is Jim and we're from Canada" the other is "maybe my wife would be interested in that scarf". They continue to stalk us in packs of 6 or 7. At least we are never lonely .

Plastic stools and independence day

Over the last couple of nights in Hanoi we've walked around the local night market, where the neighbourhood had cordoned off some streets for pedestrians only. What a treat to walk around with some room around us, rather than being cheek to jowl with so many scooters and people. Most people were eating outside on the sidewalk on tiny plastic stools about a foot high, at little plastic tables about knee high. There must be at least seven million of these little stools in the city, one for every person. 

So the last couple of nights we joined the crowd of locals with a smattering of tourists at one of these outdoor places, and had our dinner on small plastic stools like everyone else. All the locals were out, some dressed well and others more casually. Small bones were on the ground from all the happy customers who had come before us and enjoyed some pidgins I believe, which were a speciality there. I gave that menu choice a wide berth along with frogs and other exotic items, and we settled down for a good meal on our little perches, with a good view of all that was going on around that particular street corner.

The country is gearing up to celebrate their 70th anniversary of independence on September 2nd. Here's a quick history lesson. Japan announced its surrender, ending World War II, on August 15th, 1945. Quickly afterwards, the Japanese forces handed over power to Ho Chi Minh, the communist leader of the resistance, and his supporters. He then declared independence on September 2nd, hours after Japan's official surrender. Thirty years of war followed with France, the U.S., and then the southern Vietnamese forces before the fall of Saigon in 1975, ending any remaining resistance to the northern communist forces. 

We've seen trucks rolling around with loudspeakers manned by officials in uniform announcing something related to the anniversary. Last night we saw a patriotic dance and singing performance on a street stage with ladies in red dresses with a big yellow star on the front dancing with uniformed men. Since this anniversary marks a new decade, we're told the celebration will be bigger than normal. We're leaving town tonight so we'll miss the fireworks display and the big gathering of crowds.

Yesterday we went on a walking tour with a couple of Vietnamese students from a local university. It's a program whereby students get a chance to practise their English and we get a chance to speak with some locals and tour around. Surprisingly it was free, and the students wouldn't even accept a tip afterwards. Frankly their knowledge of the sights wasn't the best, but it was great to walk around with them and chat. 

Eng still has one year left before completing her degree in administration. Kim just graduated last week with a accounting degree and will be starting with the firm KPMG in October. He completed an internship with the company last year. He hasn't travelled much within Vietnam or been out of Vietnam but hopes to do some travelling in a couple of years. He indicated he might like to work abroad for a few years if he can arrange the work visas.  

I asked him what Vietnamese people thought about the West, and the French and Americans in particular. He said that some older people still talk about the wars and still had strong emotions about past events, but young people were not alive at the time and feel no ill will to the West. He explained that it is important to remember the past but also important not to dwell on it but rather focus on the future. Wise words.

Here's the back of Elizabeth and me working our way down a side street with father, mother and a kid with a mask and toy on a motorcycle coming the other way. 

A Vietnamese story - living and working in Hanoi

At our small hotel we have interacted with a person named Bella mostly, who spoke English pretty well and who provided us with friendly and efficient service throughout our stay. She also provided me her take on life in Hanoi and Vietnam. She started off with a history lesson of the last 150 years in Vietnam and then moved on their oral and written languages, both modern and ancient. A bit dry and along party lines no doubt. She eventually confided more on daily life here.

Her biggest concerns are the high cost of living relative to wages, lack of government services (especially health care), and graft - what she called black money. She told me the official monthly salary for all government workers and government funded private companies starts at $200 USD per month, with increases over time based on seniority. But she said it is often hard to find these jobs and black money plays its role. She said everyone knows about black money but nobody is supposed to talk about it. 

She told a story of her friend who did well at university and earned a teacher's degree. Afterwards she thought she had secured an entry level teacher's  position at a high school which should have started with a salary of $200 per month. She was offered two options - either work as an unofficial teacher indefinitely for $100 per month or secure an official government recognised teacher's position starting at $200 per month. The problem was, to secure the official position, she needed to make a one-time black money payment of $10,000. She said the money would be parcelled out to the senior teachers already there in some kind of pyramid scheme, with the most senior people receiving the most. I didn't ask what her friend ended up doing. 

Most people must pay for all health care expenses themselves, plus additional black money to nurses, doctors and anyone else involved to ensure reasonable health care services. Government workers or companies supported by government funding would normally receive some health care benefits to pay 20 to 30 percent of the costs.  

She told another story about her niece who recently lost her hearing and will remain deaf if she doesn't have an operation which will cost $25,000 per ear. I asked why the operation was so expensive and  she said there is no expertise to do the operation in Vietnam, so experts would need to come from another country. One problem among many are doctors trained in Vietnam often leave the country for higher paying positions elsewhere, which exasperates the health care situation in Vietnam. Doctors often leave because of the low salary, and some leave to avoid the black money system, which is endemic. Bella said they are now planning to pay to have the operation for one of her niece's ears, but they will need to borrow heavily to do so.

She had fairness concerns over landlords too, who rent out their properties to businesses and those who live above the shops. Land values have risen so much in recent years with the booming economy that the rents are high for businesses in particular. Many of the landlords of expensive properties were able to avoid paying rental income tax in perpetuity with one-time black money payments to officials, something unavailable to the average worker who must pay income tax on their small income. For example, the landlord who owns the hotel property rents it to the hotel business owner for €10,000 per month, and pays no tax. I don't know what the landlord had to pay to avoid taxes, but I'm sure it was worth the official's while.

On another note, she said the property next door to the hotel is filled with around 50 renters living in crowded and squalid conditions, all sharing one toilet. The government wants to move them all to better subsidized housing on the outskirts of the city but most don't want to leave. These are people at the bottom of the economic ladder who beg, sell donuts and other small items on the street, or who have other low paying pursuits. While the government would pay them some money to relocate, most don't want to leave because they don't believe they could earn anything on the outskirts. 

While we were speaking an old lady came into the hotel lobby asking Bella for money. Bella told her no, and explained to me that she would give some money to someone who was disabled and obviously couldn't work, but not this elderly person who could still work. Her view was if she gave money to this person she would need to give money to a vast number of other people in a similar situation. 

Bella completed a degree in tourism some time ago and currently earns a salary of $200 per month. She pays some income tax and then pays rent of $100 per month, which she said doesn't leave her a lot for everything else. She told me that it would be impossible for her to afford the purchase of an apartment within commuting distance of work. She hopes a sky train will be built soon which would allow her to live with her parents in her ancestral village, which is 70 kms and two hours away from work by bus. A sky train would cut the commute down to 20 minutes. 

She is happy to be working at her job in the city, especially in comparison with the pay and conditions of factory workers in the outlying areas. She has done some travel to Italy, Germany. Singapore and Thailand, and has a visa to travel to Australia soon. She said it is very hard for Vietnamese people to travel abroad, not just because it is expensive for them but because many countries are concerned they will stay for better opportunities, which many do. 

She seems to be considering moving to Singapore to join a friend to work in the hotel or tourist industry for first world wages, but is torn because she would be leaving her family behind.

Here's John at a lake where we searched for a geocache. The pillars are part of an unfinished sky train planned to pass through the city. It's unknown when  work will be completed after some Japanese funding dried up last year. 

Hanoi in all its Crazed Chaos

Catheleen

Loving Hanoi in all its Crazed Chaos. Food tour yesterday - still full. Watched ladies make fresh rice wraps and noodles. Drank coconut spirits, ate snakehead fish salad rolls, fat noodles with pork and crispy onions, pho, bun etc etc. The absolute best hot egg coffee. Met some lovely teachers from Ireland. Night market dinner "al fresco" on small plastic stools. Today we enjoyed being led around the old city and French Quarter by two fantastic university students from hanoikids.org. Elizabeth and I are getting foot massage and pedicures now...heaven.

Look where you are going

It is crazy for a pedestrian in Hanoi and I want to talk about how me and mom got almost run over this afternoon by a bicycle.  This guy was not looking a head and he did that forever until he finally saw us. I was traumatized after that.  We had no place to go to get out of the way as we had motor bikes on one side and a wall on the other.  Luckily it was not a motor bike but a bicycle, but it was still so scary.  Crazy drivers...this is my last straw with Vietnam since we got here that and the constant loud beeping and honing of all the horns from the motor cycles telling us to get out of the way.

Why we where there is because me and mom went for a pedicure and John and Dad went for a geocache

But it was not as fancy as that

ok well that is mostly it well goodbye

Hungry ghosts and the emerald island

Yesterday we went to see the National Museum of Vietnamese History. The building itself was an elegant, ochre-coloured structure completed in 1932 by the French, and incorporated a blend of Chinese and French design elements. Some of the museum covered ancient history but we went through the recent history exhibits which described the French colonial period, and the wars and insurrections with the French, Japanese, French again, and Americans. The exhibit had a large collection of artifacts over this period, including the flight jacket and other artifacts from a U.S. F-4 pilot named Colonel Norman Cagadixo who was captured when his fighter jet was shot down on May 12th, 1967. I found this disturbing and tried looking him up on-line to see what happened to him, but I couldn't find any information.

The Vietnamese people I've interacted with fall into three groups so far - people beeping at me to get out the way or at least not veer into their vehicle, hawkers trying to sell me something which I don't want, and a some female staff at hotels and restaurants who speak English very well and who are very friendly and helpful. I don't know if it's the culture or just good business acumen - probably both - but we've had a number of friendly encounters which have made for a pleasant time. They are often particularly interested in John and Elizabeth, and seem to really love their hair. 

We've seen a lot of burning of paper in the streets the last couple of days. I thought this was just mad, considering how smoggy and hot the city is, and considering what a hazard this practise must be to people and property with all the floating embers flying about.  I learned this is not an everyday event but is instead part of an annual Buddhist "hungry ghost" ceremony to feed and care for ancestors by providing them with paper forms of necessities in the afterlife. Necessities include paper models of cars, houses and cell phones. I saw one person today burning money, but I'm pretty sure is was fake money. 

We walked around with a guide on a food tour today, and we stopped at a half dozen places along the way to try various dishes. At one place we watched the restaurant staff cook rice paper from rice milk, which is made from cooked rice pressed through cloth. The rice milk was spread out on a hot plate and covered briefly to cook. The paper was then used to roll some spiced pork, dried fried onions and other ingredients for our dining pleasure. Very good. 

Joining our tour were a couple of young women from Ireland, who were taking a year off from teaching to travel around the pacific region. It was an enjoyable day talking and eating with the guide and people from Ireland. The kids were quite interested in Ireland and the ladys' accents. The Irish girls complained about their cool and wet weather and we reciprocated with stories of long cold winters in Canada. Then our guide Joceline piped in to complain about the Vietnamese cool, wet season in January and February, when nothing dries out for weeks at a time. What would we talk about if we couldn't complain about the weather? 

Here's a picture of paper burning in the streets. 

Hanoi scam totally got a Jim yesterday

Catheleen

Hanoi scam totally got a Jim yesterday. I can only shake my head as they see Jim coming and he is like deer in headlights . Elizabeth and I are walking ahead, no eye contact and see a woman coming with baskets of what looks like donut holes and offers us the donut hole by almost putting one in our mouth. I quickly shoe her away, hand up, eyes down and walk faster. Then I stop at a corner and notice that Jim and John are no longer behind us. From the corner of my eye I see that Jim has stopped and has his big wallet out. He has decided to buy donut holes on the streets of Hanoi. I slap my forehead and go noooo! He then is arguing with the lady. I ask Elizabeth to find out what is going on. Elizabeth, my minion, reports back that dad is arguing over the crazy price of a bag of donut holes...$50 U.S., someone has taken one of John's new Keene sandals away for "repairs" and he is also trying to get that back! 󾍁. BTW The donut holes were absolute crap. And what is with the daily side walk fires. It is hot and smoggy as hell, there is absolutely no sidewalks to speak of and now we have to avoid impromptu fires and floating embers! Crazy in Hanoi, bring it on!

Agar.io

Hello there, John here bringing you a blog that is kind of like the Splatoon blog that I posted a while back but much bigger since the whole family is playing it and I recommend that you get your butts on it right now! Of course... After I explain what it is :D. Agar.io is a game where you start off as a tiny cell, and there are even smaller cells around the grid, you then can eat those tiny cells to get bigger and bigger, the cool part about this game is that your goal is to become the biggest cell among the other cells, what's even cool is that other people have the same objective and you can eat other people you are bigger than them. Pretty cool right, there are a bunch of other cool thing there are, like the fact that you can split your cell into two halfs and launch the first one from a distance, we you'se this to eat smaller prey. There are many, but what's cool is that my whole family is playing it and we laugh and have fun when we want to cool down. I suggest you get it yourself as it is a free website on the Internet (Just type Agar.io in the search bar) and is free on iOS as in an application. Hope to see you guys on a server and until next time, this has been John and is officially signing out!

Mom's B-day

Hello guys, John here bringing you the special birthday girl for the last blog in Van Viene, and if you remember the blog about me catching up... Yeah not even close! Anyways for the birthday girl's gift, it was a family tour with ziplining and kayaking. We arrived at the zipline/lagoon place in a Tuck-Tuck along with Koreans and French Frys (Frenchs). We got strapped in the harnesses for the zip line course and me and Elizabeth had a blast along with dad, Mom on the other hand was a little scared even though this was her doing with her birthday wish. It was all peaceful with the death cries of the birthday girl along the way, until we got to the last zipline which was called the spider drop. You are harnessed in this pulley and are literally dropped to the ground 40 ft down onto a really soft mattress.  This was the scariest one as it does not look safe and could potentially cause a heart attack. After the ziplining, we went to the nearby blue lagoon which is like a river pool with a cool current, we had fun as we jumped off really high branches from tree and floated around the entire lagoon. It was a great way to cool down after some hot times. Last but not least on mom's very neat and precise to do list, we went kayaking in the water Rapids of Vang Vieng.  I have to say that was some great fun as me and dad had to race against Elizabeth and mom, of course we had a guide and he showed us the way through the Rapids. We kayaked all the way back to the hotel exactly and between you and me... I think mom was satisfied. But until next time, this has been John and is officially signing out. Some pictures can be show here but I am making a blog about that specific fact, also I am very late in my blogs as I am leaving Hanoi tomorrow late at night and I am starting Viene tiene next blog. Stay with me guys :)!

Vietnam

Hello, yesterday we arrived in Vietnam/ Hanoi / World of motorcycles. When we arrived we took a taxi to our hotel and I looked out the window and I saw tones of motorcycles and traffic.We arrived at the hotel and it was a nice hotel and we could smell the pool from Reception.

We are all settled in the room and the set up was cool and different meant for family 2 single beds on each side of a double bed

It looks exactly like that. We chilled for the rest of the day and played agar.io if you don't know what that is look it up and start playing and at this

After that we went for dinner at the best pho in our opinion but our opinion has changed now that we have had many different versions of pho..this was John's expression on the first evening in Hanoi!

And then it started pouring HARD and we got soaked running back to the hotel n the dark.

Until Next Time!!!!

Next stop - Vietnam

We flew from Vientiane to Hanoi yesterday. After sorting out our visas with some difficulty at the airport, we purchased new SIM cards for our phones and took a taxi to our hotel. My first impressions of this city of seven million were of a new clean airport; impressive highways without much traffic; beautifully landscaped surroundings along the way, tended by workers in straw cone hats; flags flying over billboards celebrating the 70th anniversary of the communist party's declaration of independence; and a fabulous modern bridge on our way into town. 

Then I saw a diffent side. I noticed a heavy smoggy haze hanging over the city, and as we drove onto the smaller streets, I saw bright and drab coloured colonial buildings in various states of disrepair, and then I noticed packed crowds of scooters and people making their way along crowded streets. 

This city is so different from my experiences. The shops along the streets are often six or eight feet wide with goods seemingly spilling out of them. People work and eat on the street in front of their shops, and live in the two or three stories above their shops. The neighbourhood is seething and pulsing with people living and working in packed quarters. In the morning I saw people working in front of their small restaurants preparing fish, making dough, washing seafood and other tasks. In the afternoon and evening the spaces were filled with people cooking, and restaurant patrons or staff were sitting on plastic stools and chairs eating, drinking and smoking. There are sidewalks but they are mostly filled with endless scooters parked or parking, so we would inevitably end up walking along with a traffic. Items large and small are transported by scooters and small motorcycles, and ladies are sometimes carrying vegetables and goods in two large wicker baskets, carried by their shoulders by a stick and rope.

I learned in the short time we've been in Hanoi that if you want to cross a street, you need to move slowly across but with confidence and faith that the maelstrom of scooters around you will make adjustments to your presence. Such is the traffic system here, or lack of a system. The only traffic rules I can see in this city largely without traffic lights, stop or yield signs are to stay to the right and not hit anybody. Somehow it works and it's a wonder to watch, although unnerving as a participant. 

After settling in to our hotel, we went to a restaurant around the corner for a great introduction to Vietnamese cuisine in this town. We ordered a few dishes similar to those we would order in Canada, and they tasted similar but different; as they say on tee shirts around here, same-same but different. It was very good; I have a feeling the food will be the highlight over the next few weeks in Vietnam. 

On our way back to the hotel this afternoon while waiting to cross the street, a street vendor was able to extract a few dollars from me in an interesting and exasperating interaction. John and I were offered a small round donut each. Being naive newcomers to the city, we took the offering (mistake #1). They weren't bad, but a bit chewy. I indicated they were good out of politeness (mistake #2). She next filled a bag with donuts and passed it to me and asked for some money in return, but I didn't understand how much she wanted for these things, worth less than a dollar I'm sure. I would have paid a few bucks to end the exchange but she started quoting the equivalent of about 10 dollars for the sad donuts. I tried to return the bag of donuts back to the basket they came from but the lady kept arresting my hand and lowering her price slightly each time. I took out my wallet, put down the donuts, and offered her two and then three dollars. She kept asking for more money and I just had enough so I just walked away without the donuts. She took half of the donuts out of the bag and handed them to John. What a crazy bargaining experience for a few little donuts I didn't want. 

So as I was walking away John called me back because he was only wearing one shoe. While I was dealing poorly with the donut lady, the shoe guy next to her had applied some glue to the front of John's shoe while he was wearing it, and had somehow talked John into taking off his sandal. When I came back the guy was in the middle of stitching the front of John's sandal with this yellow thread that didn't match the black colour of the sandal. I told him to stop and return the shoe, which he reluctantly did - while asking for money of course.

I'm not sure what the lesson is here. Maybe don't take free donuts and keep your shoes on your feet? Or maybe laugh more and go with the flow. These people clearly don't have much and were only trying to make a living as best they could. Catheleen laughed afterward since she was the one who needed a few stitches in her sandal.

Here Elizabeth and I are at a park in the city. 

Buskers and bargaining

We visited a Belgian restaurant last evening which served a hundred different varieties of expensive beer to go with good steamed clams and fries. Come to think of it, we've been eating western food for quite a while now. I think partly as a change from local Asian cuisine, and partly because the recommendations we get on-line tend to favour western style restaurants. 

We mixed it up for lunch and dinner today and ate some local Lao style meals. One of my meals came with some tasty fat mushrooms I couldn't identify, which reminded me that I've seen a large variety of mushrooms on offer in Laos. Back in Luang Prabang the locals would pick wild mushrooms and sell them in the market, either fresh or dried. The first time I walked down to one of the main street corners in Luange Prabang I had to watch my step to avoid the mushrooms laid out on the sidewalk to dry in the sun.

We were walking around the night market last night and we spotted the first busker I've seen in Laos. The guy was rolling a crystal ball around his hands and arms, and he kept the ball so still in reference to the ground it looked like it was floating. We also saw two women with white robes and shaved heads. I hadn't seen that before and learned later that they were Buddhist nuns. 

We're arriving in Hanoi tomorrow a day earlier than indicated on our visas, and we discovered we needed new visas or we would run the risk that the airline would not allow us to board our flight. It all seemed designed to extract as much money as possible before we entered Vietnam. Oh well, lessen learned I guess - finalize your plans before purchasing visas.

While Catheleen sorted out our visas I took the kids on a bike ride along the river on the only bike and walking path I've seen in this country. Along the way I saw some floating shacks on the river next to a number of long narrow fishing boats I often see on the river. I wonder if people live in these shacks as their home or if they are used for fishing or some other purpose. After our bike ride we ended back at a French cafe we have visited often, which lured me in again with its good iced coffee and air conditioning. We heard many people speaking French here and elsewhere. I did a little research and discovered more French nationals visit Laos by far than any other Western nation.  I don't know why but I would guess it has something to do with the country's colonial past.

Travelling abroad often involves bargaining for relatively small items, something I'm not used to or find particularly appealing. I wanted a piece of luggage and stopped in at a store to enquire about a piece of luggage which looked okay. The lady quoted an initial price which was much more than what I would pay in Canada, which seemed much too high to me. I countered with a much lower price, and then she lowered her price slightly and showed me some other cheaper pieces. At that point I walked away with the lady chasing me to make another offer. I declined, for no other reason that I just don't like the hassle of bargaining for small items. Catheleen has agreed to take on the job - I think she enjoys the process.

Here are some of the shacks I saw on the Mekong. 

Luigi make-a the Pizza!

Yesterday we took a large mini van from Vang Vieng to Vientiane the capital of Laos. Nether iAd was bumpy again and we crossed a few mountain ranges but nothing like the ride from Luang Prabang to Van Vien.  The trip took 2 hours which was not bad, I needed Gravol for the ride.

When we arrived in Vientiane we went straight to lunch at the backpackers hostel next door.  Dad ordered the hamburger and it looked so good that I got one as well.  They totally forgot John's order of spaghetti and he was crazy hungry.  He then decided against the spaghetti and got the chicken burger which was ready super fast.  Mom continues to eat only Laos food, good for her but we need some comfort food lately.

The next day we visited <<The Patouxay>> which is like a huge monument and they call it the Arc de Triomph just like the one in Paris because it looks like that one but more Asian.  The locals call it a concrete Monster or vertical runway as the money for it was supposed to go to building the airport.  It is a monument to remember the people who died in the war.

We went all the way to top and the really top part was accessed by this rickety spiral staircase.  John found a Geocache up there, the clue was to go high and that the Geocache was magnet.   After all of that we went for lunch at the best pizza place in the world, it is called Pizza de Robbievand it is three doors away from our hotel.

John ordered the special pizza and chose three meat toppings.  Mom and dad shared a Italian ham pizza and I got the Quattro Fromagio.  My pizza was the BEST ever!! The cheeses we think on mine were Blue cheese ,Mozzarella, Parmesan and possibly some kind of fancy we goat cheese, very fancy.

Mom and Dad's  pizza was good with the special Italian ham - prosciutto.  My leased favourite was John's pizza.  One of the meats that he chose was hot dog - blah!  Luckily we had enough pizza left over so we took it back to the hotel and out it in the fridge. Me ate it fir dinner and mom and dad went out to a nice restaurant by themselves. 

Well then that is it for today goodbye

Vang Vieng is gone already?

Hi there, John here bringing you a bit of a shocker and interesting stories :) of Vang Vieng. First off is the fact that it went by so quickly those 4 nights. As you can probably tell by me saying this is that I am in Vientiane and it is amazing, but while I am writing this blog I realize that Vang Vieng has passed by so fast. But don't worry, we still got amazing and cool story's for you in stock for this blog which will be coming shortly. Okay so here's one, so we arrive at our hotel that is amazingly fancy compared to previous ones we been to with 5 hotel dogs and a crazy nice looking pool right? It was pretty awesome and I loved it a lot, we got to enjoy the pool on the first day and we were out. The next day, the pool was completely out of commission and this was the only reason why mom booked this very hotel in the first place. Things got only a bit worse as me and Elizabeth's room was complete garbage. The first night Elizabeth and I got completely lost on the way back from getting banana pancakes.  We could not remember the name of the hotel or anything and it was dark, past 9pm.  We had left mom and dad at the German restaurant and we just kept walking.  We finally went into another hotel and asked for help. They were incredibly nice to us and knew where we had to be so they suggested they would take us back safely. Me and Elizabeth were in a complete relief phase until the escort told us to get on the back of his motor cycle... It was pretty crazy as Elizabeth sat in the front and me in the back, I literally felt like I was gonna fall off any second, on top it that, the guy went crazy fast and went over crazy speed bumps. It was a crazy experience and we thanked the guy so much, and so we had a great story for we our parents and for you guys! Last thingies on the list were the 5 hotel dogs, they super sweet, adorable, awesome, and crazy dogs. 4 of them were the average expected dogs right, Pretty normal behaviour... Except for the way they sit down, they would sit down with their legs sticking out on the sides and it was the funniest thing, the reason for this is because it's really hot in Laos, and they need to cool down by putting their junk on the cold hard floor of the hotel. If you were wondering why I left one dog to talk about as their is one more, it's because this one is a crazy little rascal! He would run around the entire hotel with the biggest amount of energy and his little tiny legs, in this case it would be appropriate to call him a crazy little furball because his haircut was so funny! His entire body had a small amount of fur but his head was a Pom Pom. Like it was just histarical, but he was nice and sweet. Until next time, this has been john and is officially signing out. Next blog will be on vang Viene as I still need to cover some stuff, pictures are also coming soon!

Newspaper articles and beer

I've tried reading the main English language newspaper in Laos called The Vientiane Times once or twice. There are many reports of meetings of government officials either praising other officials for improving infrastructure or occasionally criticizing others for not making enough progress. There are articles trying to encourage or educate people on something; one article provided a case study on a rice farming family that became more prosperous by learning how to grow vegetables. Another article provided some statistics on progress made to eradicate poverty by 2020, where poverty is defined as adequate food, clothing, shelter, clean drinking water and access to health care. One last article on the post and telecommunications sector "stressed the importance of imbuing civil servants and workers with stronger political ideology to ensure the successful implementation of the ministry's plan in the coming years." I'm not making this up. Apparently the Laos constitution allows for a free press, but it is also illegal to criticize the government. I guess if you can't criticize, the articles above are about all you're going to get. 

I forgot to mention that when we were zip lining a couple of days ago we went swimming in the stream and pools. Almost everyone was in a life jacket in the pools, and when I asked why, I was told they were all Koreans and so couldn't swim. I imagine some Koreans can swim but not the group of 30 or so we were with. 

We enjoyed our time in the small but growing town of Vang Vieng with its red muddy roads, chocolate brown and fast flowing  river, blue/green streams and pools, white and black limestone cliffs, and misty green hills. But it was time to go. 

We left yesterday morning by private van, passed by endless rice fields, and listened to our driver swear in Lao every time he hit a pot hole he couldn't avoid. Along the way south we passed a town every kilometre or so, with the same yellow sign at the front of two or three stores or restaurants with a picture of  BeerLao and the name of the establishment. For the first two weeks in Laos we thought there was only one type of beer for sale, which is almost true. At one point we needed to stop the van to allow a gaggle of geese to waddle past. 

It's now our second day in Vientiane and I'm sitting beside the pool at our hotel after another hot and sweaty day of activities seeing the sights. Catheleen and I went for a walk around town just after 6 AM this morning to beat the heat of the day, but it was already a hot and humid 26 degrees Celsius and rising. We had a nice walk along the boardwalk though where hundreds of stalls had been set up last night selling clothes and other wares. Everything was cleaned up and removed by the morning. There were a few brave souls going for a run along the river and we saw some aerobics enthusiasts exercising in the park to a dance mix of George Michael.

This town is much bigger than the other towns in Laos we've been to. Luang Prabang has about 50,000 people and Vang Vieng has half that. The capital of Vietiane has 700,000 people, and boasts infrastructure we haven't seen elsewhere in this country like street lights, some side walks, a park and an actual mall. I smelled garbage almost everywhere we went, but I didn't know why since I didn't see much garbage in the street and Catheleen didn't smell it. It turned out to be dried fish, which is sold everywhere, and used for soups, pho, and probably other purposes. 

Here are the kids at the Lao version of the Arc de Triomphe called the Patuxai. It's a war monument built between 1957 and 1968, dedicated to those who fought in the struggle for independence from France. It's ironic to me that the monument is in the French style, albeit with heavy Lao influences. To be fair though, the French borrowed the arch war monument style from the ancient Romans.

Zip-lining and kayaking

Start by cooking a crepe, slice a banana on top, fold it, spread it with Nutella and drizzle condensed milk on top. Cut into bite sized pieces and serve. They call them banana pancakes. We've had them in Thailand and now in Laos at stands on the side of the road. What could be better for a late night dessert.

We went zip-lining yesterday morning. I started off in a foul mood after a long ride over muddy, bumpy  roads in the back of a truck. But once I saw people zip-lining through the trees over a 100 feet above us I perked up. The climb up the hills over jagged rocks was maybe not as safe as it could have been, but the zip-lining itself was well done with good equipment, trained staff, and well built zip-lines and platforms. What a thrill to cross from one tree to the next through the jungle! We rode along about ten zip lines, and then came the finale. We needed to drop down on a line about 100 feet from the last tree platform to the ground below, what was called the spider drop. Elizabeth was the first to drop down, and as she hung on the line she asked "what do I do?". Our guide told she needed to do nothing  and let her fall with a "goodbye". She, and then the rest of us, one by one, would drop in near free-fall before the person at the bottom applied the brakes to arrest our fall. This was the only part that I was a little concerned about, since we were relying on the person at the bottom to arrest our fall correctly. But it all turned out fine with lots of thrills and screams.

In the afternoon we went kayaking for about eight kilometres down the Nam Song river. With a guide in his own kayak, John and I were a kayak and Catheleen and Elizabeth were in another, we passed a few small rapids along the way, which we aimed for when we could. We also passed below one shear white limestone cliff after another, each stained with black moss and partially covered in trees which somehow managed to cling on. Later on the route we joined up with some people tubing, and passed a few bars along the river with music blasting and signs trying to lure us in for a drink. 

Most of the tourists we see along the way, at least the non-backpackers, are Asians from other countries including Korea, China and Japan. This was evident for breakfast at our hotel where many of the food selections look to me more like lunch or dinner rather than breakfast. The kids were more adventurous than Catheleen and me and have enjoyed noodle dishes and curries on rice for breakfast. I usually just stick to the omelettes and toast.

We've rented bicycles for the day a few times.  Sometimes we rent three and Catheleen lets one of the kids ride on the back of her bike. It a great way to get around but we usually come back from our rides pretty hot and sweaty. I'm getting better at putting the chain back on a bike when they occasionally fall off.

We've been relying on recommendations from on-line sources when picking a restaurant. My main motivation is not to get sick eating something that's off, but it has resulted in some good meals here in Vang Vieng. We've been to a German place for Schnitzel, an Israeli restaurant for shish kebabs in pitas, and a French restaurant for beef bourguignon and goat cheese salad. All were good. In all cases it seems the restaurant operator is making do with simple ingredients, or else making their own products, like goat cheese. I understand it is prohibitively expensive and sometimes impossible here to import many of the products easily acquired where we live. 

Zip away

OMG, today we are going Zip lining on one of the best. We took a tour to the zip line, and we took a tuck tuck it was on a dirt road so bumpy.

When we arrived we had to wait 5 minutes because a group before us was going.Anyways after we waited it was ready to get geared up the guid explained the safety rules and stuff.

We climbed all the way to the top which was really hard because of the rocks we finally arrived at the top at it was so high

John went first I was so scared but when I stepped off that platform it changed

I counted 12 platforms and the whole distance was 1kilometer it was awesome 

After the whole experience we swam in the Blue Lagoon

That's dad jumping off a tree

That's me and John. Not to brag but I jumped off 7 times well goodbye oh and I almost forgot happy birthday mom!!!!

Zip lining and kayaking in Vang Vieng

Catheleen

Spent an incredibly exciting birthday zip lining and kayaking in Vang Vieng Laos. We broke every safety rule in the book and are "Still Alive"! The last "Spider Drop" was like out of a James Bond movie with the evil villain dropping us off the platform one by one, straight drop 100 feet down. What a blast of adrenaline!

Kujo, Night Market, And Cool Cards

Hello guys, John here bringing you your last blog in Luang Prabang. If you didin't know, we are already in Vang Viene and I have pretty crazy blogs planned for you guys and not as much in Luang Prabang because it was mostly a relaxing time. Anyways so let's get right to it! Our next door neibours from our hotel have a tiny little rabid dog pet thing that pretty muchs guards the place from me only! I said that he was kindove messed up and looked like he had rabbis because his mouth was red, and so mom decided to give him the name kujo. I would always check if kujo was in his natural habitat or kujo's lair to be more precise, he is pretty scary and he hates me but loves everyone else... Kujo 2015! My main source of food in Luang Prabang is gonna have to be the night market with it's deliciously inspired French, Lao and Thai food. Everyone else was not as keen as going to the night market every night as I was which was kindove lame. My favorite thing of food there which I got most of the time we're these homemade pork dumplings which we're sooooooo gooooooood! I didn't forget the extra spicy that I had on them so that no one would eat them except for me :)! The night market was a unique experience which sometimes didin't go all your way. For instance, my mom got a toffee browning from a vendor and was so excited to eat it, but it was actually fake toffee and was peanuts on a brownie. My mom though this was one of the most devastating times in her life as she was complaining and we never heard the end of it. The last thing that I would like to tell you guys is that me, Elizabeth and mom each got two special cards each at the night market that open up into a cool little paper foley thingy........ Anyways, you just might be lucky enough to get one if the mail system in Laos doesn't fail, but there really awesome and you just might be lucky enough to get one of them from us. We have two each and a cool little way of getting them is if you comment on this blog and maybe comment your address as well so it will be more easy for me. I will show you some pictures of them but as always, until next time, this has been John and is officially signing out. Pictures for other blogs are coming soon I promise! 

Elizabeth's⬇️

John's awesomely better one's⬇️

Mom's⬇️

First day along the Nam Song

More on the kids adventure last night. We were at a restaurant only about 50 meters from our hotel, and we let the kids go off to a nearby stand for a banana pancake. They somehow managed to get lost after getting their dessert and wandered a few blocks the wrong way. They eventually stopped in at a resort lobby to ask for directions, but they couldn't remember the name of our hotel. They did remember it had a pool so after describing the pool the lobby staff identified their hotel and arranged for someone to give them a ride back on the back of a motorcycle. This was Eilizabeth and John's first time on a motorcycle, and without helmets too. John said he was on the back holding on and hoping he wouldn't fall off, with Elizabeth in the middle. Not great parenting on our part, but it all worked out. We'll spend more time at our next stop ensuring the kids are oriented and know the name of our hotel.

Vang Vieng is a small and relatively peaceful town, which is great for us. About as much excitement as I've seen in this sleepy place was a cock fight out on the main street last night, which was strange to see as I passed by. Vang Vieng had a notorious reputation as a backpacker's party town, but the party scene was shut down by officials three years ago after a number of party goers drowned in the river. It was a raucous place, maybe what the world would look like if teenagers were in charge. A typical day would involve a tube ride down the river with a plastic bucket filled with red bull and whiskey. There would be stops at dock bars along the way for more drinking and possibly a makeshift zip line ride down into the river. Restaurants along the river would openly sell shakes, pancakes and omelettes laced with magic mushrooms, opium, or weed. The lack of adequate medical attention in the area at the time I'm sure also contributed to the death rate. 

We rented bicycles and visited the local caves across a walking bridge over the Nam Song river. They were pretty cool with good pathways leading into caverns.  Lots of dripping water was falling on the stalagmites and stalactites, so they were still actively being formed. The kids drank out of coconuts, which a vendor cracked open enough to get a straw in. Later John and I rode out quite far in search of a geocache, but in the end we realized the cache was on the other side of the Nam Song river. There was a zip line at the river with people going over and John thought we could use that, but I pointed out it's a one way zip line with no way to get back to our bikes. John wanted to ask around about finding a boat across but that was the end of the line for me, so we headed back. 

I noticed a lot of construction going on, and some very strange trucks used to haul construction material around. They consisted of rough wooden trailers around 8 x 12 feet, pulled by what looked like an oversized motorcycle with tractor tires, with long handles so the driver could sit farther back. 

Arrived in Vang Vieng

Our four hour drive south from Luang Prabang offered stunning views of the mountains as we climbed above the clouds and then back down again. I think our driver was in a hurry and was going a bit fast so we had to hold on to something on occasion as we veared around corners, cows, small children crossing the road, and the occasional rock slide. We climbed in low gear up though the mountain pass where the air was cool and then back down again to the valley and village below. I don't know why the guy was in such a hurry but we eventually stopped for lunch at a small place where the driver said we had "ten minutes". We were pretty hungry by this point and I wasn't going to settle for a bag of chips for lunch. So we ordered off the menu and ten minutes later the guy sat across from us and sighed a bit while we finished our meal. On the way to our new location we were stopped by an army checkpoint where someone in uniform checked the driver's papers. Seemed odd - I have no idea why. 

We are now in our hotel in Vang Vieng with a beautiful view of the Nam Song River and the shear cliff mountains in the distance. It really is picture postcard perfect. It rained for a few minutes while we looked at the view, with the big rain drops bouncing off the river - very beautiful. 

For dinner we went a few steps down the road to a Laos and German restaurant. It was a one man restaurant owned and operated by Katz, who was born in Bangkok as second generation Chinese immigrant, lived in Germany and married there, and now serves shinitzels to tourists like us. We had a good chat after dinner and looked at his artwork on the wall. I told him it was a very good meal but we did have to wait a very long time for dinner - it was just him cooking and serving. He said he could use the help but couldn't hire anyone else, especially anyone Laotian, since they wouldn't care like him, or know anything about German cooking. He was an interesting fellow who really cared about his craft and business. We'll be back.

While we were chatting with Katz we sent the kids off to get a banana pancake at a nearby store. They has quite an adventure and ended up getting a motorcycle ride from a nearby resort down the street.

Last night in Luang Prabang

I caught the news today and heard there was a bombing of a temple in Bangkok; 20 dead and 100 injured. We're far from Bangkok now but it was shocking to hear of this incident in a place frequented by both locals and tourists. The world has always been a dangerous place at times and it looks like it's not going to get any safer anytime soon.

It's our last night in Luang Prabang and we took a different path than normal, looking for a new place for dinner. We went down a street with some more upscale restaurants and saw a small gym in a building with no wall facing the street, with a few Lao men working out. That was a first. And on the way back I saw some teenagers on motorcycles having a good time laughing together and then zooming off, with the guys riding their bikes and the girls on the back - I guess they can have fun here like everyone else. At the hotel restaurant for dinner we talked to Tok, our waiter, who spoke English very well, which a rarity here. He wanted to tell us all about the area. He mentioned that last January was unusually cold with night time lows of 4 degrees Celsius. The hotel was not set up for this kind of cold; visitors would order a lot of soup and the restaurant staff would drape them in blankets. He said March is not a good time to visit here also. It is very hot with temperatures near 40 Celsius with a lot of smoke in the air from the farmers burning their fields.  He had nice things to say about the town too; it's a nice place to relax and take it easy. This theme has some up a few times around here.

I had a business meeting with someone in Canada via Skype from my balcony to get the best Internet reception. I called him at 7 PM my time which was 8 AM his time. While we chatted the dogs were barking, the motorcycles were zooming by, and the Lao people below me were talking about whatever soap opera they were watching at the end of their day. I hardly noticed the noise but I guess it was a bit unusual for my counterpart, who called me from his quiet office into the depths of South East Asia. He kept laughing at all that was going on around me.

Down by the river on bike ride I spotted something new. It looked like a carpet cleaning robot, but this one's job was to keep cutting a small patch of grass in the only park-like setting I've seen around here. I think the park is associated with an adjacent restaurant near the river, but we checked it out anyway. As we strolled around the small collection of pathways, grass and gardens I spotted a fisherman on the river. He was on a tributary next to the main Mekong River and was casting a net from the bow of a small boat common to this area. The boat was like a canoe really, very low to the water but square and I assume more stable. He expertly cast the ten foot square net into the water and then pulled a line to try to catch whatever was below.

But it's time to move on. We'll take a van down south tomorrow, about a five hour drive.

Miss Clarol hair dye

Catheleen

Live from the chair. It is time that I had my hair done and this open air "salon" is primitive at best. I found it way off the main drag, lots of corrugated metal but it had not one but two salon type chairs and a cabinet of Miss Clarol hair dye! The lady pulls my hair left or right to communicate. The lazy stray dogs and obligatory rooster are selling points. Not as good as the pace in Samui where John got a haircut...he got to hold a kitten during his haircut.

Worst papaya salad ever

Catheleen

You simply cannot trust a restaurant that served me the Worst Papaya salad ever. I am a huge fan of Thai papaya salad and they have a lovely variation of it in Laos. However we made a rather poor choice of a lunch restaurant on Saturday. The papaya salad was the colour of the Mekong river and smelled equally as foul. I tried a micro bit and immediately stopped eating deciding not to have lunch at all. The dish was so foul smelling that we asked for the dish to be removed from the table. Jim and Elizabeth's lunch dishes seemed ok at the time however they are still feeling the effects today. John and I totally dodged that bullet...still alive in Laos

Theatre

Hi again well today we did a lot of things but the best was the Theatre we watched a traditional Laoshian dance.

They all dressed up and danced the night away. The girls did something weird with they fingers but it was still beautiful.

There was this story about this princess who was like kidnapped or something and they tried to find her.

There was a lot of fighting and stuff the boys were all like protectors of these two different people actually 4.

Anyways we had a good time and I almost forgot abou the band there was a band and they did all of the music for the piece and one girl was singing.

This is Elizabeth signing out.