Alleyways and French cafes

This is a place of good and bad food choices. A good choice is to get a restaurant recommendation from a travel guide. A bad choice is to pick a random restaurant with a view of the river with no other patrons present. Catheleen's meal was clearly not edible, which should have been a clue to me not to eat mine, even though it did appear okay. I was a bit off for a couple days after that, but nothing too bad. I'll try to make better choices. 

There is an alleyway near the night market full of food vendors. It's about 100 meters long, has no exits except at both ends, and is covered along its full length with low hanging blue tarps, plastics sheets, and corrugated steel roofs to protect the vendors and patrons from the weather. Inside it is packed on both sides with food vendors cooking and selling all sorts of items. A popular choice are the all you can eat buffets along the way, where for the equivalent of $2 you can fill a bowl as much as you like with all kinds cooked meats, vegetables or curries. The alley is chock full at night with backpackers and other tourists, along with locals. I don't think I'm claustrophobic but this place makes we question that. The food looks good but I need more ambiance than a long, crowded alleyway. Nearby exits wouldn't hurt either. 

Early in the morning as I ran though the streets with wood smoke coming from kitchens along the way, I saw steam rising from the jungle, like little clouds nestled among the hills. It was a reminder I'm in a foreign land. I'm also amazed at how many dogs just lay on the main street with motorcycles and tuk-tuks driving around them. I guess it's not busy enough here to cause the dogs much concern. 

We travelled back to the waterfalls yesterday by local taxi, which involved bouncing around in the back of a small flatbed truck with a roof of sorts to keep the rain off. It was quite a ride as the truck twisted and turned its way around the valley for the better part of an hour. The driver had to slow down a few times along the way to let the water buffaloes pass by; those things are huge. The waterfalls were impressive and fun, and it was weird and slightly concerning to the kids especially when we finally realized we were being constantly nibbled by little fish in the pools. 

This morning we talked to our hotel neighbour Martha, who just arrived from Saskatchewan. She is here for a month to help set up a lab at the children's hospital nearby, which is the first children's hospital in Laos. She said she was quite surprised at the level of effort that will be involved to bring the hospital up to reasonable standards. She noted the child mortality rate during the first five years is around 80 deaths per 1,000 births, which is very high compared to the developed world.

Today we went for a walk to the old part of town near the row of Buddhist monasteries, filled on the other side of the street with shops and French-style cafes in ageing colonial buildings. When you throw in the communist party flags flying everywhere, it's an eclectic mix I wouldn't expect to find together. In the heat we didn't stroll for too long before stopping into a inviting outdoor French cafe with tablecloths, good coffee, and cool fruit shakes. My cappuccino was made well with real milk here, but we usually end up having Laotian coffee by necessity, which is a strong brew mixed with condensed milk. Not a great substitute for milk in my opinion, but they probably use condensed milk since it can be transported here easily without refrigeration.

Fish caught by light bulbs and chill lounge music

The first mate Dong was kind enough to interact with our kids throughout the sail trip. Last night Dong took the dinghy over with John to a fishing boat in our cove to drop off soft drinks for some of the crew. There were about 20 fishing boats in the cove. Many of them were banded together in groups of four or five, all with their bows facing the same way. The boats were about 40 or 50 feet long, brightly painted in light blue or aqua with orange or red trim, all looking like miniature paddle wheel boats without the paddle wheels. There we also many fishing boats that looked much the same except they had many long booms stretching out 40 or 50 feet on both sides of the boat, about 20 feet above the water. These boats had light bulbs attached all along the booms. I understand the lights are used for night fishing, and all manner of fish are attracted to the lights and so into the fisherman's nets.

On the way to dinner Dong brought the kids to the 7-11 store, which are everywhere, to pick up some banana pancakes for dessert. The Thai-style pancakes are a special treat and there are little pancake stands everywhere. The stands consist of not much more than a fancy wheelbarrow cart with one heat plate to cook up a crepe, which is filled with bananas and Nutella, folded and cut up into squares. They are very good.

It was a restless last night on the boat as the winds picked up with light rain falling. The anchor chain clanked against the hull, the halyards hummed in the breeze, and the lines bashed and battered about. Catheleen and I both slept okay with earplugs and the careless responsibilities of passengers. The skipper and crew, on the other hand, felt the weight of responsibility for the boat and all aboard and so did not have a restful sleep. I later heard they were up top a few times through the night to check that the anchor wasn't dragging, wrapping the lines and what-not.After breakfast we sailed over to another cove and then hiked up to a small waterfall. I say hiked because that is what the skipper was expecting, based on his last visit. It turned out that nothing stays static here for long as a road and stairs had been built since. It was just as well that most of the walk was on a road since I was in flip-flops. The water was cooling, and we all enjoyed putting ourselves into the flow of the waterfall. John was concerned about the anaconda situation but he was assured that we wouldn't see any big snakes in the little stream.

I knew lunch would be special when we arrived in the Haan Yuan cove and started our way up the bolders and cliffs to the Bamboo Huts. We first passed a bamboo tattoo hut. Next up the bolders was a juice hut, and then we passed a hot-rock massage hut. After walking up along wooden walkways made with rickety sticks for posts and leftover wood for planking, we arrived to the sounds of chill lounge music in the air. With a large poster of Bob Marley on the wall, I knew this place was a bit different. In an open area there were some people lying down on mats and pillows enjoying a juice smoothy or just meditating. There were others at tables having something to eat or staring into the sea. With all the tie dye, sarongs, and young tanned people around, it did have the feel of an updated and international dropout scene. I was told that there are many backpackers and other guests who stay here long term. Some get involved taking or teaching yoga or meditation. We had lunch on the floor on pillows at a short table, and enjoyed a great meal. This is the first time we've had brown rice rather than white jasmine rice with our meal. It was actually reddish in colour and worked well with the Masaman curry and other dishes. We were served by Burmese staff, some of whom wore yellow paste on their faces. I inquired and was told that the yellow paste is traditionally used for sun protection, and is also used for show. One young man was wearing the paste on his face in stripes like I imagine a Native American warrior might look. After lunch and beach time we popped champaign that the captain brought along for our final voyage, had a toast, and then left Mae Haat with a strong breeze on a starboard tack for our way back to Koh Samui. We had a great time on this sailing trip and I was sad to see the trip end.

Falls and White Rock

We started off our day with a visit to Bridal Falls.  The waterfall was nice but what I liked the most was the short hike through the forest. It's not like anywhere else I've been with its huge cedar trees covered in moss - reminds me of some kind of a cold jungle. We poked at the big slugs along the way and the kids made their way back and forth across the creek along fallen trees.

In the afternoon we headed for White Rock for lunch with relatives and some time along the ocean front- the kids made a geocache find near the beachfront, which they were quite excited about. Later we had a farewell dinner in Abbotsford with my parents. I like this picture with Catheleen and Elizabeth walking ahead while the train whizzes by along the White Rock shoreline. There's been talk for years about moving the tracks elsewhere which would be good, but for today we felt the rush of train rolling by at close quarters.

We packed in a lot of activities for one day. We're going to have to slow down the pace over the next six months.