Now with added detail!, Part 2

I'm calling this version the "photo quality isn't great, but the story behind it is" version. :-) For part one go here.

The above shot was taken in Prague. I'd met Danilo and Elin, two really cool couchsurfers, and we were all in great moods. If I remember correctly, it was a Friday night and we were ready for a night on the town. As we walked to the meeting place for the CS party that we were going to, I stopped in the middle of the street to take this picture. The light isn't great and the shot ends up looking a little fuzzy and out of focus. I like it, though, because with all the good mood vibes in the air and the excitement of a night out with cool people, I was feeling kind of warm, fuzzy, and out of focus myself.

See those colorful, swirly blobs? Yeah, those are koi fish and in case you didn't know, they are very hard to photograph. (Well, at least they're not running away from you like sheep do, but they're fast and taking pictures through water is hard to begin with.)

I took this shot in Bangkok; it was a jam-packed day of activity and this was taken at the Jim Thompson house. I seem to remember being in a good mood on this day, too, and was so dead set on getting a picture of the koi that I literally spent 30-45 minutes taking shot after shot, going for the perfect one. I never did get it (you can see my other attempts here, here, and here), but I sure had fun trying and I had a big, goofy grin on my face the whole time.

Finally for today, we go back to Muang Ngoi in Laos. You may recall that me and Laos didn't exactly get off on the right foot and it was all downhill from there (I won't link to it because, well, the word 'explosive' should be the only reminder you need). Then I got to Muang Ngoi and all was right with the world again. People were friendly, the vibe was laid-back, and I started to feel like myself again at last.

This shot is terrible because I'm zoomed in super far which doesn't really work so well for a point and shoot camera. I was trying to get a good shot of the moon - if you squint and have a good imagination, you can kind of see it in the top of the shot, towards the left. The rest of the photo is a view of the restaurant that was directly across from my bungalow. I spent most of my afternoons and early evenings in Muang Ngoi laying in the hammock on my porch, watching the night get darker and darker, as I listened to the chatter coming from the restaurant. The peacefulness of it all makes me smile even now.

I suppose this edition of the story behind the photo should have been called the "good moods and happy times" edition. ;-)

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In case you're wondering how my friends in Christchurch fared, everyone is fine. Sean tells me that the damage was mostly not as bad as the media portrayed, and most Kiwis just looked at it as preparation for "the big one." I thought 7.2 on the Richter scale was pretty big, but I guess in the en zed it's only big if it's an 8 or higher, lol.

I named it

Someone came to my blog recently because they did a keyword search for the "name of cheapest dirtiest guesthouse in vientianne." Hopefully I saved them from my own fate and they managed to find some place else. Unless, for some strange reason, they actually wanted to stay in such a place. I can't imagine why they would, though.

Restored

Here's a recap of the last few days while I was out in the middle of nowhere:

The trip from Luang Prabang to Muang Ngoi was mostly uneventful. I arrived in Nong Khiaw just after 2:30pm and had missed the last boat to Muang Ngoi by a half hour or so. The logistics of how I got to Muang Ngoi don't really matter. In the end, I got a boat and only paid a little more than what I should have, after some hard core bargaining (and another passenger coming by, which helped, too).

(What a view!)

The boat trip to Muang Ngoi took an hour and gave me a chance to talk to Adam, a British guy who'd been in Nong Khiaw just to grab some cash before heading back to Muang Ngoi. He said that the whole village had been preparing for a wedding. Foreigners and locals alike were chipping in to help, particularly since there's a huge set of steps leading from the boat landing to the main road. Adam was clearly psyched about the place which got me in the mood for it since I'd been less than thrilled with my Laos experience up until that time.

(Foggy morning beginnings)

Muang Ngoi is truly a village. There are dirt roads and electricity only works from 6:30-9:30pm. There are just a handful of places to eat and locals outnumber foreigners. I went to a few guesthouses to see about a room and everyone was full. Not a great sign since I was hours away from civilization. Then someone said that I should go to the guesthouse on the corner because the owner was letting people sleep on the balcony. Apparently, the wedding party was the cause of all the full guesthouses. One enterprising owner, Penny, recognizing that she had unused space, decided that she'd supply hammocks, mattresses, and mosquito nets, let people sleep on the balcony, and only charge 10,000 kip a night (just over $1). Not too shabby, huh? I got my bag situated and immediately felt like I'd just joined a hippie commune except Pink Floyd was playing instead of Grateful Dead - more my speed anyway. :-) I walked down the street for a bottle of water and got a proper welcome to the village. A group sitting outside called me over to offer me a shot of lao lao (rice whiskey). It's bad form to turn down a shot lol, so of course I took it. Some people like it and some people hate it, but I think it's pretty tasty. The locals asked "good?" with a thumbs up and when I said yes, good, they cheered and offered me more. That time I had to laugh, but pass, and I went back to the guesthouse.

For the next little while, the guesthouse was the hangout spot. But then someone said something about a bonfire on the beach and the whole crowd started the somewhat treacherous trek to the beach. It was dark, see? Very, very, dark. So the people who didn't have torches (flashlights) stuck really close to the people who did. Once there, the bonfire was built and everyone settled in. It was a great night for a bonfire beach party. It was cool enough that the fire was needed and the sky was dark enough and clear enough that as far as your eye could see were stars, stars, stars. Some people had iPods, some had guitars, most had a Beerlao or two and we just hung out, joked around, and got to know people.


The next day my first order of business was to find a room. I found a riverside bungalow, complete with my own (cold water) shower and a hammock for 50,000 kip. On my way to the bungalow I'd seen some people from the night before, so after I checked in I went back to join them for breakfast. They were trying to get a group together to go on a fishing trip and since I didn't have any other plans, I decided that I would join them. On the trip were our Lao guide (Kao) and two of his helpers, me, a Japanese couple (whose names I never did catch), three Aussie guys (Tom, Aiden, and Cam), and a guy from New Zealand (Jason). We fished with nets rather than with poles and it entailed getting in the water and really wrangling the fish. On our first attempt we caught a fish and we were all so excited! After more fishing, some nets coming back with fish, some not, we did some tubing and then went to a weaving village about an hour up river from Muang Ngoi. The villagers didn't speak Lao, but they were happy to see us and show/sell the silk scarves that they are known for. The kids, particularly, were very excited and wanted to play and see the pictures we were taking of them. As excited as they were, they were also very wary of Cam and Tom who both have beards (Cam's especially is pretty big and bushy). The kids got used to the guys, but you could tell they still weren't totally sure that there were actually men behind all that hair. :-) When we eventually left, all the children followed us down to the beach to wave us off and say goodbye. It was really sweet.


It was finally time for lunch and what a spread we had! While we'd been shopping and playing with the kids, Kao's helpers had been preparing the food. Huge banana leaves had been laid out on the beach with place settings for each of us. We had grilled fish, sticky rice, community bowls of fish soup, pickled greens (which we guessed were a local green called morning glory), and sardines in a spicy sauce. Man, was it ever good! Everyone dug in and we ate until we didn't think we could eat any more. Then the lao lao came out and was passed around before we all helped clean up the banana leaves and clean the dishes in the river. Back into the boat for us, back down river to a spot where we were going to tube the rest of the way to Muang Ngoi. As the sun was going down and it was starting to get cool, I wimped out and decided to stay in the boat and not tube. In order to save face, though, I offered to take pictures of everyone with their cameras and that seemed to do the trick!

(Cam, the Japanese couple, Tom, me, Aiden, and Jason, getting ready to enjoy lunch.)

After a quick shower - and a shot or two of the sunset from my balcony - I was ready for the evening. Kao, our fishing guide, had invited all of us to his family home for dinner that evening. None of his family joined us at the table, but they all crowded around to join in the conversation (or try to, at least, as most of them spoke very little English). We had the most delicious noodle soup with chicken and some more of that ever present lao lao. The group of us ate, laughed, and hung out for hours before we decided that we should mozy on and let the little kids go to sleep. There was brief talk of another bonfire, but I think everyone was tired from the night before and the fishing, so we mostly just hung out at the restaurant near my guesthouse until people slowly started dropping off and making their way back to their rooms to call it a night.

Day three ultimately brought complete laziness. By this time I'd met my bungalow neighbors Julie and Adam, siblings traveling from Australia. The three of us seemed to get on well right from the beginning and it didn't take long for us to be laughing, joking, teasing, and all around giving each other a hard time. The cause of the laziness were the hammocks - they're just too darn tempting and way too comfy once you're in them! The most any of us could muster was a trip to the restaurant about 10 yards away. :-) Eventually Julie and Adam did go for a walk to a nearby cave (which they declared "meh"), but I pretty much didn't move. Later, Leslie (Canadian) and Lars (Norwegian) came around and we all hung out on the balcony, watching the sunset again and listening to Adam and Leslie play their guitars. The rest of the night was more of the same, pretty quiet, as a lot of people including me had decided that the next day was going to be the day they left. The first boat is at 9:30am, but it can often sell out so people try to get their tickets as early as possible. The following morning, I joined Adam and Julie for breakfast after packing up (and giving a passing-by Aiden money to buy my boat ticket for me!). Emails were exchanged all around with promises of "If you're ever in Australia/America, let me know and you can stay with me!"

(Dusk from my balcony with a tiny sliver of a moon.)

So what boat was I getting on and where was I headed? Well, after much back and forth, I decided that I was going to have to leave Laos a bit earlier than I'd originally planned. I'd wanted to head east and cross the Laos/Vietnam border overland, but the bus from Nong Khiaw to Sam Neua is 12 hours long and leaves once a day. Logistically, it was looking like it was going to take me longer than I'd have liked; if I have any hope of being in Beijing by mid-March, I need to get started on Vietnam to do it justice. It was back to Luang Prabang for me where I've booked a flight on Friday to Hanoi.

In closing: Muang Ngoi was just what I needed to end my short jaunt through Laos on a positive note. It was incredibly beautiful and laid-back. The people were fabulous - I can't remember the last time that I saw so many foreigners working together with locals to get a job done. And I met people from all over the world: Lao, British, Italian, German, French, Swedish, Norwegian, Israeli, Japanese, Australian, New Zealanders, American, Canadian, and probably a handful of others that I'm forgetting. I think I must not be doing a good job of explaining why it was almost a magical place. Not just for me, either; some people would come for one or two nights and end up staying for four or five. Eventually you have to leave because if you don't, there's a chance you never will!

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Pictures: Yeah, who knows when they'll be uploaded. I think there's a total of 24 shots on Flickr now, but there are at least 100 more to go. The connection for uploading is painfully slow, but I'll get there eventually.

Hello world!

Well, I'm back. Didja miss me? :-)

This is going to be a shorty-short post because I've been back in Luang Prabang long enough to find accomodation (same place again, this time in a tent!), take a shower, check the bazillion emails that happened while I was without electricity for four days, frantically search for a flight to Hanoi for tomorrow (!) (also: probably won't happen at those prices!), and now I am meeting some friends for dinner soon.

Here's what you need to know: Muang Ngoi was fabulous. Gorgeous, relaxing, great people. Totally a place I would recommend and go back to again.

More later. . .

Into no-man's land

Laziness today. Pure laziness. Although I went to bed around 11pm last night, I still didn't get out of bed today til about 10am. I had coffee at my guesthouse, took a quick walk up the street for bottled water, and then went back to the guesthouse...where I proceeded to do absolutely nothing that didn't involve a book or a hammock.

After a few hours of that, I started to get hungry, realized the time, and then realized that I knew *exactly* what I was going to do. I walked to the market and got another one of those chicken sandwiches. What can I say? It was good, cheap, and portable! I took my sandwich up 138 steps to the first landing of Wat Tham Phu Si. There are more than 400 steps in total, but I wasn't feeling that energetic after my day of laziness. I ate my sandwich, read some more, and watched a lovely sunset. Since my pictures aren't up and running yet, check out some of these images instead.

Now I will head back to the guesthouse where I suspect I'll do more of what I'd been doing earlier. In addition to a new novel (a 900 page Stephen King/Peter Straub doozy), I've also spent time looking through a guidebook (oh! did I mention that Simon gifted me with one before he left?) to figure out next steps. I can't stay in LP, in a guesthouse out of my budget, for much longer, after all. Remember when I said I was pretty sure I was going to head to Luang Nam Tha? Well, change of plans, peeps. The only concrete reason I can think of for changing my mind is that Luang Nam Tha is west of LP, so I'd have to do some backtracking since Vietnam is the next country I'll visit and that's to the east. Backtracking wouldn't have been so horrible, but I think Vietnam is calling to me more than Laos these days.

The new plan is to take a bus to Nong Khiaw tomorrow where I will then transfer to a boat to Muang Ngoi Neua. Neither of these places have much in the way of infrastructure and I highly doubt they will have phone or internet connections. I'll be out of pocket for a few days, but I'll still try the SPOT to see if it works. Back in a few days!

More than a leetle

I half thought that I'd have a hard time getting a seat on the bus to Luang Prabang last night, so I got to the bus station early just in case. As it turns out, I was there 20 minutes before the 6pm bus left and it was cheaper than the next (8pm) bus, so I took it. A few hours in to the trip, I turned to look out the window and was amazed at the number of stars I saw in the sky. I ooh'd and aah'd for a second and then just as quickly as the thought "I wonder if they can still see stars like this at home, what with all the snow they're having?" sprang into my head, tears just as quickly sprang into my eyes. Hey, whoops, whaddya know? I actually am more homesick than I realized. So I laughed at myself for crying like a baby on a bus and tried to get some sleep.

The bus arrived in Luang Prabang on time. I didn't expect that. I certainly didn't expect to be plopped at the bus station at 4am either. (Maybe next time I'll pay the extra money just to be sure that I don't arrive in a new place before sunrise?) My tuk-tuk drove me to the guesthouse and then drove right off again, regardless of the fact that the place was very obviously closed and locked up for the night. I couldn't exactly go looking for another guesthouse because it was likely that at that hour all the others would be closed, too. So I sat and waited. For, I don't know, almost two hours? Only to be told that they were full. Argh. Here goes the search-for-accommodation walk again. Some places were full, some places were out of my budget. It was at about 7:30am when I started thinking that maybe Laos didn't want me to be here. I've never had such a hard time finding a place to stay before and then my stomach revolts on top of it all? Jeez. Right about then I found a place called Wat That Guesthouse. It's a bit out of my price range at 70,000 kip, but it's a single with a nice view and a CLEAN, hot shower. Let me tell you, after a long, hot shower and a nap, I was feeling restored. Still more than a leetle homesick, sure, but restored nonetheless.

After my nap, I wandered around LP to get a lay of the land. It's very cute and is bordered by the Mekong River on one side and the Nam Khan River on the other side. There are tons of wats and since I'd been templed out and avoiding them recently, I actually checked out quite a few of them. Wanting to give my stomach another day or so of a break, I ordered a chicken sandwich that came on the largest baguette ever with tomato, cucumber, lettuce, and mayo - for just over $1. I ate half and saved the other half for later, that's how big it was. When I finish up with email I will go back to my guesthouse and plop down on a hammock with a book for awhile before I go out to see the night market.

So - I'm feeling better. My stomach's been back to normal for 36 hours now and homesickness hasn't gotten the better of me and forced me to pack it in early. Thank you to everyone who commented with kind words. The comments brought on some tears, too, but this time just because I was reminded how much people miss and love me.

Pictures coming soon. The connection in Vientiane was pretty bad, so hopefully it will be better here and I can get everything uploaded.

Explosive

I'm feeling very out of sorts today, although I guess the feeling officially started last night. I went to bed early-ish, very tired, but unable to sleep because of the mosquitoes. They were buzzing near my head and biting wherever they could find an open patch of skin until I pulled the blanket over me to make it harder for them to get at me. I eventually fell asleep, but woke up very hot (blankets aren't really necessary when it's in the mid-70's at night) and, well, putting this somewhat delicately (and I apologize ahead of time for TMI), needing to be in the bathroom RIGHT THAT SECOND. Do you know how much fun it is to jump down from the top bunk, grab your shoes in the dark (because that gross bathroom without shoes? Hells no.), unlock your door, get to the bathroom, and barely get there in time? And then realize that in all that commotion you DIDN'T GRAB TOILET PAPER??

I'm not really sure what caused my stomach issues, although if I had to guess, I'd say it was the papaya salad I had for dinner last night that was so spicy my lower eyelids were sweating. I was still feeling a little off this morning, but that was probably due to the three ginormous cups of coffee I had for breakfast (no appetite), which I only stopped drinking because it was making me nauseous.

All of these things combined with the fact that I'm feeling a leetle bit lonely and homesick? Well, apparently it makes me overuse caps lock and italics, but it also makes me anxious to get out of Vientiane and (hopefully) to a place where I feel like myself again.

The plan? Still tentative.

Last night I sat outside my guesthouse, reading and playing a new game of Solitaire that I learned called Clock. (Btw, remember when I said that my room "wasn't exactly dirty, but also wasn't exactly spick and span?" Yeah, well, I've changed my mind. I have to sit outside because - yuck. I can't wait to leave this place which just may well be one of the dirtiest places ever. Sabaidy Guesthouse. Remember that name and only go there if it's your last choice.) I met a Texan named Simon who has been teaching English in China for the last two years. What's with Texans teaching English in Asia? Zach does the same thing. Anyway, Simon was a wealth of knowledge. He'd come to Vientiane from the north, the direction that I am somewhat blindly heading, so he was able to recommend some places. He also was telling me all about different ways to get from Vietnam to China via bus and train because I'd told him that the flight from Hanoi to Beijing was more expensive than I thought it'd be, but that I'd already committed to being there mid-March. When it came time for Simon to go to bed because he needed to be up at 6:30am, I gladly offered him the use of my cell phone to use as an alarm since he'd lost his. He made it seem like it was the biggest deal ever, but as far as I was concerned, he helped me much more than I helped him.

Today I went to the Victory Monument, a new-ish 60's building that is also referred to as the vertical runway. Apparently the US donated money was supposed to have been used for a new airport runway, but this concrete monstrosity was built instead.


You'll just have to trust me when I say that it looks much better from far away. For a 3000 kip entrance fee, you can walk to the top for a view of the city, but even that was just so-so. Afterwards I went to the morning market which I'm sure started out as a traditional market, but now it's more like a mall. In fact, check that, I just remembered that they are doing construction work and are actually turning it into Talat Sao Mall. There was jewelry, iPods, washing machines, cameras, fabrics, slippers, bamboo baskets, and all kinds of other stuff for sale. I was half-heartedly looking for a tank top, but didn't find one in my size.

I decided then to go swimming for awhile. There's a public pool right near the national stadium and they only charge 10,000 kip for a swim. I was already wearing my suit and had a big, thick novel with me, so I figured it would be a good way to while away some time. I also spent some time trying to figure out next steps in Laos, but I'm not too much farther along than I had been. I had wanted to go east to Phonsavan to see the Plain of Jars, but it's a little too out of the way, I think. So my current plan is to take an overnight bus on Thursday to Luang Prabang. I will most likely go to Luang Nam Tha, in the far north bordering Burma and China, after that. After that, I have only the slightest idea.

But how is it pronounced?

Twenty-four hours later and I'm still not any closer to figuring out how "Vientiane" is officially pronounced. Most westerners seem to say vee-en-tee-ann, but I've also read that it's pronounced we-en-chan, vee-ang-chan, we-en-teeyan, or some combination of these. I also haven't figured out how to say hello (but I think I'm on the right track) or other basic phrases, and I have no idea what traditional Lao food is like. This may be forgiven since I have only been here for a day, but this is one of the (many) reasons why couch surfing has been so great. Having Toto in India and Sam in Bangkok show me the ropes was truly invaluable, particularly because I met both of them in large cities in countries that I'd never set foot in before. Have I sung the praises of Couchsurfing.org recently? Because it's high time I did.

Anyway, I mostly just wandered today to get a feel for the city. Although I wanted to get both my Vietnam and China visas, I only applied for Vietnam. With the upcoming Chinese New Year's celebrations, embassies will be closed so I would have had to pay extra for one day processing for one of them and then do regular three day processing for the other (your passport can't be in two different embassies at the same time). The Vietnam visa is only good for 30 days and I could only get single entry (I half think this was a language barrier issue, though, as single and multiple entry were both options on the application form). Since I'm trying my hardest to get to China to meet a friend on March 15th, it's looking like I will only be in Laos for two weeks before heading to Hanoi. I'm still trying to figure out an itinerary, even a very loose one, and I'm hoping that I'll be able to reenter Vietnam and Laos after China. Fingers crossed!

Not really working

This morning I checked out of my guesthouse in Nong Khai, briefly checked email, and then headed for the border. It was my first overland border crossing in SE Asia and my first crossing into a Communist country. It was all very easy, actually. I went through customs on the Thai side and got my passport stamped, then I got on a bus to ride into Laos. The application process took a little while, but less than the hour they told me it would take. From there I got on a tuk-tuk and went 20km or so in to Vientiane.

And that's about when my plan to ditch the guidebook stopped working. Didn't take very long, did it? You see, I didn't know where I was going, which guesthouse I was looking for. So I just picked a direction and started walking. I saw ZERO guesthouses. Yes, clearly I went the wrong way. I eventually ran into some farang and asked them. Finally I was at least in the right part of town. One of the first guesthouses I went into was the right price (20,000 kip)*, but I wanted to check other prices because it was a dorm that wasn't exactly dirty, but also wasn't exactly spick and span. Besides, I thought I might be able to find a single for 40-50,000 kip. Dudes. I walked the streets for about 3 hours and couldn't find anything. Guesthouses were either full or 150,000 kip (or more) and out of my price range. By this time, I was absolutely exhausted, annoyed, on the verge of tears, dripping sweat, thirsty, hungry, and probably some other things thrown in, too. I went back to the first guesthouse (praying the whole way that the bed I'd seen - the last one - was still available). Luckily it was and my first order of business was a shower.

I'm not giving up on the no guidebook plan just yet, though. I do want to at least get a map tomorrow. I'll try to do it sometime before or after my embassy run. I'll be going to the Vietnamese and Chinese embassies to get my visas sorted out. Since I'm guessing that it could take 3-5 days, I want it to be top priority.

And now, I'm off to grab a beer. I think after the day I had, I deserve it!

*$1 = 8,480 kip, so 20,000 kip is about $2.35. It was really easy to spend money in Thailand. See tigers, elephants, and cheap massages for just a few examples. So I'm going to try to keep a better eye on my budgeting in Laos. I'll be aiming for somewhere between 85-125,000 kip/$10-15 per day. Not a lot, but I think it can be done. But not if I stay in a room that's 150,000 kip!