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Published: January 3rd 2009
Merry Christmas
At Lao Lao Garden Bar in Luang Prabang.We wish you all a MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! It truly is not the same being away, but it is special in its own way. We are lucky to have each other and the company of a friend we met in Hanoi 2 months ago, Winnie (from the Netherlands). We had a great Christmas dinner at a bar in Luang Prabang called Lao Lao Gardens, definitely not a traditional Christmas Dinner, but we can at least say we had Turkey...Lao style. We had a night full of chatting, laughter, eating, drinking, and playing cards (Thank you Rachael). The bar was decorated just perfectly...the only thing missing was the Christmas Carols (Trevor wasn't missing them...LOL).
So, just to backtrack a little bit, here is what we have done since the last blog...
We have been in Laos now for 1 week and are really enjoying it. We think it has helped us to rejuvinate ourselves and get back into the travel mode. We spent 2 nights in Hua Xia (the border town) and tried to get onto the Gibbon Experience tour, which we have heard so many amazing things about, but unfortunately it was full. We set off
Morning Alms in Luang Prabang
Us giving morning alms to the monks. down the Mekong River on a 2 day journey to Luang Prabang with an overnight in Pak Beng, a small village on the side of the river with nothing to do but eat and drink. It was an early night and then off we go in the boat again for an 8h boat ride to Luang Prabang. The first day it was a decent size boat with enough space to relax, but the second day was the same people crammed into a boat half the size. It was very uncomfortable, but we still had a good time and met many people along the way. All the socializing made the time go by alot quicker.
We got to Luang Prabang just after dark and had to find a place to stay. We were welcomed by a swarm of people trying to sell their accomodation so off we go checking our different guest houses to find a place with good value. We find that the accomodation in Laos is a decent price ($4 - $15/night), but it is very basic. It makes us realize that Vietnam was alot cheaper to travel in. We got amazing hotel rooms with free breakfast for
Monks receiving their Morning Alms
These personal and the offerings to the temple is the only food the monks get for the day. It is pretty neat, you use your fingers to give each of them a ball of sticky rice, oranges, or whatever else. It was a very neat experience. anywhere from $9 to $12/night.
We really like Luang Prabang. It has so many temples with over 300 monks, so there is never a lack of things to see. We woke up early one morning to participate in the morning alms where the monks receive offerings. At 6:30am you hear "dong...dong...dong" and then the monks start walking down the main streets single file walking past the people giving them offerings of food (rice, oranges, bananas, wafers,...) and flowers for the temple. This is some of the only food the monks get each day and the offerings dropped off at the temple during the day. The offering is to an individual monk and not shared with the others, so you will see many people giving every monk a small ball of rice (like 1"x1") to make it go further and so they can offer every monk that passes by something. It felt very special and spiritual to be able to participate in this ritual. The temples here are amazing, some very old, some have been redone, there is even one built on top of a small mountain (around 250 steps), trust us, it is tough after 2 days of trekking.
Night Market Displays
We cannot believe all the vendors set up and pack up every single night AND how much do they sell each night??? We went on a trek though the northern part of Luang Prabang province for 2 days and 1 night with our friend Winnie. We trekked for 6 - 7hrs day 1 and a trecherous 8hrs, mostly up hill, on day 2. We passed though 3 small villages where they have not seem many, if not any, "falang" (Loa for foreigner). The tour we went on was only introduced 3 months ago, so we were lucky to experience it "untouched". We trekked along the route the villagers take, which goes up and down hills and crosses 30 streams through the jungle and forest and is only accessible in the dry season. The rivers rise over 10 meters in the rainy season and so powerful it forces the locals to take a very long and almost unpractial route. The first village we went through was very small and as soon as we arrived we heard the kids yelling "falang, falang" and many kids and adults came to see us. We had a fun game of "throw the flip flop at a stick with beads and try to knock the beads off" with the kids. The kids and adults had a good
laugh at our throwing technique (or lack there of). We continued on to the Yunang Village (not sure of the spelling) where we spent the night. They welcomed us with a ceremony to bring us good luck and good health during our travels. It was a very touching experience that gave Winnie and Erin "Kippen Vel" (what the Dutch call "Chicken Skin", what we call Goose Bumps). They even sacrificed a chicken for us (we have never had chicken that fresh) as part of the ceremony which also included rice whisky (30 - 50% alcohol). Not 1 shot, but 2 and then we were up to 4. It was followed by a string being tied to each of our wrists which were to be worn for 3 days and then ot be burnt in a fire. Our night consisted of visiting with the children and joining in with the locals in celebrating the Medicine Man's new home. The kids had lots of fun playing "patty cake", listening to Trevor's IPod, learning English, singing, and just hanging out. There were so many kids that we couldnt just give something to one or the other so luckily we had some Canada stickers
we brought from back home. The kids just LOVED them, so much so that some still had them on their heads or in their school books the next morning. Trevor's IPod was a big hit with the kids, they just loved hearing the different music through this "electronic thing" that you can push buttons. They would give us the "thumbs up" if they liked the song and you would see their little heads bobbing up and down.
Later that evening we were invited to a celebration party at the medicine man's new home (what we would call a home welcoming party). It started early in the day and went on into the early hours the next morning. They had the drums out and were singing, stomping their feet, clapping, and dancing the night away. This is a tradition for them to welcome the good spirits into their new home. We joined in with the fun and were encouraged to drink ricewine from a jug on the floor out of bamboo straws while clapping along. Trevor even joined into the knife dancing which all the locals loved and were even talking about it the next morning when we got up.
Our homestay was quite the experience, we had a nice bed setup on the floor upstairs where the whole family slept, each of us had our own mat on the floor and a blanket folded to be a pillow and a mosquito net. We truly had a local village homestay experience...especially when we got woken up by the roosters, local music, and chatter at 6:30am. Oh, and the most authentic experience was the washroom: toilet = forest, toilet paper = leaves, and bath = river.
Before we set off for our second day of treking, we stopped in at the local elementry school. We all really felt a connection to the village and wanted to give back to them. Winnie, Trevor and I decided to donate some money to the school to help families who cannot afford to go to school and to help buy suppies for the school. The money we donated was enough to put 33 children through school for 2 years. We had also brought some reading books (in both English and Lao) and some colouring books that would be distributed to those who needed it the most. It was quite touching as all the locals
gathered around the school to see why these 3 foreigners were sitting in the classroom with the children. They were very thankful for our gift...which was a gift for us. What perfect timing with the holiday season! It was such an amazing experience...definitely the BEST experience we have had to interact with locals so far on our trip.
The next day was truly gruling. It was 8hrs of straight up hill and then straight down hill stopping through 2 villages. We were pretty tired and didnt have as much time so there was not much time to interaction with the locals, but it was a different tribe so it was great to learn about their way of living as well. We made it through our trek with some sore feet and an overall feeling of happiness. To make a long story short, out van wasnt there to pick us up so we ended up having to wait around for 2 hrs for a ride back into Luang Prabang. To make the time go quicker we got out the game Quiddler, a spelling game from back home, and had a blast with our 2 Lao guides, Yai and Lae, and
Winnie playing the English spelling game. We also had many laughs trying to pronounce a Lao phrase from our phrasebook and having Lae guess what we were trying to say...it just showed that proper pronounciation is key. What a great Christmas Eve!
Christmas was definitely not the same being away, but at least we had eachother to share it with. We had a great day talking to family, doing some sightseeing around Luang Prabang, and of a great dinner at Lao Lao Garden with Winnie. We had an amazing Lao-style dinner which was a fondu/hotpot to be eaten like soup. The middle was a grill for our meat, including turkey so WE CAN say we had a turkey dinner for Christmas!
Not sure when we will be able to check in again as the internet isnt the most reliable here. Once again, we hope you all had a great Christmas and New Years. 4 months down, 6 to go.
Talk to you later!
Erin & Trevor
xoxoxo
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