Vang Vien

Oh dear- my challenge for the day. Trying to describe this most random collage of a place. A little ‘Thai island’ flare mixed with coma-inducing outdoor cafes playing ‘Friends’ and ‘Family Guy’ (looped 24/7), cheap knock-off shopping, bookshops, dirt roads, Christmas light signs, swinging bridges to get to the next bucket bar, and the most fantastic view to knock your socks off- when you arrive in the dark and wake up the next morning! Welcome to Vang Vien- a party person’s paradise. Anything goes. To be perfectly honest, we didn’t get the greatest impression of the place initially, still a little bitter about missing the early morning monks in Luang Prabang, and a very long and windy mini-bus ride down south. However, the picture-perfect view brought redemption the next morning.

The mountains here look like something out of a fairy tale- rocky limestone cliffs on tall slender mountains with lush greenery that could be in a rainforest. Reminiscent of those beautiful old Japanese paintings- but I’ll move on from my obsession with the beauty of the place.

We enjoyed eating our brekkies cross-legged, sipping on fresh fruit shakes along the river. Lucky for Britt- she was the only one still healthy as a horse at this point, and V & I had fallen to the stomach bugs famous in SE Asia, running to the toilet more often than is lady-like to discuss here. Lucky you, catching us in a lady-like hour.

We started out paying $1.50/night for our ‘luxurious’ accomadation here, and splurged on an upgrade for an additional $1.50 (CDN) to a river and mountain-view room, with windows from the floor to the ceiling and a balcony to watch the sunsets from.

And now for the 1-word reason travelers come from far and wide to visit Vang Vien: TUBING. The farthest thing from a Laos cultural experience- but a necessary experience nonetheless. You’re welcomed at Bar 1 with the colour-of-the-day wristband, this way everyone can tell if you’re a tubing ‘virgin’ or have been at it for days on end.

We had a blast swinging from zip-lines (flying foxes) that would spin you into oblivion on spring-loaded lines into the shallow waters below. Leaving us no time to think about it, our friend Johnny had V & I up on the first swing- Bar 1. Sooooo ridiculously fun! The platform is approx 10 meters up in the air, you grasp the hockey-taped handle and swing back & forth over the river (with a full audience @ Bar 1) until braving the fall to the river below. After building up bravery over a few days- I thought it wise to double up on the swing with a friend.

Choosing the wrong time to jump can prove to be a fatal mistake- I could hear the painfully sympathetic ‘ooooohs’ from underwater on Day 3 as I let go of the handle, and landed head first, smacking the side of my noggin’ on the water below. Ouch. Speaking of fatal, there’s definitely been some deaths on this river. And if you really want a vision of this place- I’m sure there’s heaps of U-tube videos for your viewing pleasure.

We strayed from the river crowd for a day to enjoy some wicked rock climbing with Green Discovery. The climbing was great, and ballooned our female egos as we out-climbed the boys. It’s all in the legs fellas- regardless of how much you insist on using that masculine upper body strength.

We had an awesome group that day, and the lucky lads had the privilege of watching V & I fall to our misery. Not from limestone rock walls. No, no- we thought it was a brilliant idea to double up in a hammock during lunch hour- and swing in it together until we splattered our bottoms onto the hard dirt floor below L. Ow…the tailbone was a killer for the next few weeks. War wounds from traveling adventures are often bittersweet though; so while I grimaced during rough Tuk-Tuk rides in the weeks to come, I smiled remembering Vang Vien, rock climbing, and the fun shenanigans along the crazy river. xoxoxo Dd.

Welcome to the One Place in the World I'm a Millionaire: Laos...

Before Asia, I always swore I would never backpack with an actual backpack. I was a suitcase girl and thought I was quite clever for being such, instead of having to rummage to the bottom of the backpack for every little thing I could just unzip and flip open my suitcase and have everything in plain view. Due to a hunch and the kindness of Perth friends, who supplied a backpack for each of us, we ditched our suitcases in favor of the traditional favorite way to backpack. Please let this be warning to all, do not attempt to backpack with a suitcase here ever(!) unless you are a glutton for punishment. After only six days into our trip in SE Asia I can plainly say that if I had, in fact, brought my suitcase along on this trip I would be hating life and probably would have abandoned my suitcase and all belongings five days ago. Case in point; we arrived at the Laos (pronounced La-ow) capital, Luang Prabang, and as we disembarked our long-boat we found ourselves standing on the river bank staring up at a steep hill with a narrow, v. steep staircase that would lead us to the city and all I could do was think of the hour that it would have taken me to slowly bump my way up the staircase if I had stubbornly brought my suitcase. Thinking this, I was blown away when we saw some locals carrying 50 kg bags of rice on their head up the hill and passing the foreigners with the backpacks as we climbed up.

Luang Prabang, a gorgeous slow-paced capital, pop. 52, 466 is thought by Lonely

Planet to be the most sophisticated, photogenic city in all SE Asia. It is easy to see why; nestled between 2 rivers, the Mekong and the Nam Khan in northern Laos, you are easily won over its many charms, most noticeably, the orange-robed monks hurrying down the streets. As I previously mentioned, I love the monks. My finger itches, wanting to take a photo, every time I see a monk. The stark contrast between the brilliant orange and the old city streets is striking. I was also won over its many french cafes and bistros scattered throughout the city; half-way around the world from Paris, we could wake up and stroll across the street and find ourselves having savory breakfast crepes for only $1.50. We were expecting the previous two highlights but the last, my favorite, took us by complete surprise.

A 45-min tuk-tuk ride and a short stroll through greenery and we found ourselves at the first of many, many breathtaking multi-tiered waterfalls tumbling over limestone formations into a series of cool, turquoise pools. Our mistake was thinking that 2 hours was all we would need here. I could have spent a full 8-hrs there easy strolling between the natural, swimming pools. One particular waterfall was a young kids dream swimming hole, complete with a rope swing and a deep, cool pool.

There is, and the end of the series of small waterfalls, is the big one, and if you were smart, unlike us, and left enough time to climb up it, we heard of a quasi-secret random pathway you can follow off the beaten track that will lead you to a gorgeous, secluded swimming hole. Next time.

After a day of adventures we had an evening of $3 massages (we're sold... one per day sounds good to us), market shopping and the difficult task of

choosing what to eat for dinner amongst the dozens and dozens stalls at the night food market... If I were more adventurous we could have tackled the mystery meat on

stick or goulash-type surprises but in the end we settled for a booth w/ traditional veggie, pasta, rice, and meat concoctions. For 10,000 Kip (note: 10,000 K = roughly $1 CAD which allowed for a cheap thrill; taking money out of an ATM and my anemic bank account revealed me to be a millionaire in Laos... woot woot) we received a large bowl that we filled to the top from any dish.

Sadly, we had to move on from this gorgeous town and so we headed off to our next destination via mini-bus. We were pre-warned that traveling in Laos can be slow and prone to breakdowns but regardless, I was blown away by our travels. I reckon its a good thing that we are never in a hurry cuz it could only lead to sky-high stress levels. I was riding shotgun and I swear our driver never passed 50 km/hr, even on the highway. Some hills he wasn't even topping 10 km/hr. It was a long journey. Originally 5 hrs (to drive 140 km), it was stretched into 8 hrs thanks to a flat tire. We loved our delay

though. As our driver diligently worked on fixing (not changing) the tire we watched a gorgeous sunset and took the opportunity to venture into the tiny village in search of a toilet. Due to the remoteness of the village, no local spoke english and, of course, we spoke no Lao so through a combination of butchered Laos words (thanks to Lonely Planet's Basic Laos Vocab) and ridiculous gesturing we were able to convey our mission. The locals are so sweet, a lil boy led us all the way to his own house and his mom let us use their squat toilet. Driving slowly (v. slowly) through the windy road gave us a fantastic chance to see country side, villages and locals. We were blown away seeing full families doing manual labour on the roads, toddlers, elderly and all, digging trenches/ditches, beating fern leaves on the road (not sure what that's all about) and placing fern leaves on blackened hill sides... Apparently, the Lao people have a slash

and burn farming tradition that dates back hundreds of years that have left only 10% of Laos w/ original growth forest compared to 75% a hundred yrs ago.

xoxo

V

Three tickets for the slow boat please!

Leaving behind the beautiful Chiang Mai we decided to head into the country of Laos (which is east of Thailand) by way of the slow boat on the Mekong river. Now don't let the term "slow" deter you from traveling this way because it is well worth the 6 hours the first day and 8 hours the following day. Well we may be a little biased because we met some great aussie and kiwis on the way over that turned the ride into a great time!
On the eve of our slow boat trip we stayed right at the Thai border, Huay Xai and the guesthouse was adorable with wooden rooms that had individual mosquito nets that added an air of ambiance to the little rooms. Morning came early as we headed to the border and had our first experience of getting a visa in Laos. Let me tell you that this was the most frustrating, unorganized system of receiving a visa I have ever experienced!!!! We just got in behind a mass of people and there was no lines, no information or signs in english. We tried to get information of where to hand in our passports but from one person to the next we got told different things, shoved in different directions and just really had no idea what to do. Minutes turned into a couple hours and I won't go into the dreadful details but the process went something like this. finally hand in your passport to the office with a couple forms filled out, wait in the mass lineup as the officers randomly chose which passport and visa to do next (no order, no reason, just randomness). Ok so the process of getting your passport is they hold your picture up on the window and you have to see it and other tourists yell out the names. So you wait and wait in the group of sweating, anxiously awaiting tourists for the blue Canadian passport to show up! Two hours later it happened, with Grant's red passport and we were on our way to the slow boat.
Now this slowboat is an old rickety contraption that looks to be about on its last life. There is hard wooden seats; you can buy pillows for the trip which we did to sit on that made it much more duable. But I personally would recommend stealing the front and sitting on the floor with your pillows so you can stretch out! Also I vital aspect of really enjoying the trip and I know this isn't easy but get on the boat with the good looking Australians and the hours will fly by!!! Our first day was filled with meeting new people, kiwis, aussies, british and the sweetest french girl there is and getting to know them. We were amazed at how beautiful the ride was and to see the little villages huts and people on the banks of the river fishing and making a life was like being front row in a documentary! We stopped at a little village to stay our first night and had Dan and I had quite the scare episode in our room. There was a sweet little gecko climbing on the walls of probably our sketchiest guesthouse stay to date. Being girls we were thinking of sleeping and that gecko crawling on Dan at night so I was determined to squish it with my sandle. It was 1 in the morning and the moment I lightly tapped it we screamed bloody murder and ran to the farthest side of the room. The body of the gecko was no where to be found and we slept with one eye open thinking the gecko was out for revenge!
The second day we got plenty of sandwiches for the 8 hour ride and claimed the front of the boat. The back is where the engine is and it is soooo loud that it is worse than four tractors I swear! So we got far away from the noise as possible! We literally spent 7 out of the 8 hours playing Wizard...if you don't own this game go right now to a games store and buy it because it will provide endless hours of fun! It was soooo much fun and made the hours flow by easy enough that we found our slow boat had arrived on the shores of Luang Probang just as the sun was setting. It was perfect!
So recap for the slow boat....pillows check, super fun hot boys check, wizard cards check, food and beer check, rice bags to lean on check, camera to remember the moments check.
Now you can enjoy the stunning scenery, new friends and arrive in Luang Probang with great reviews of the slow boat! More to come of our crazy adventures in SE Asia Love always B

Obsession

Dear Family and Friends,

I have become a stalker; a creeping paparazzi. SE Asia is famous for their orange-robe clad monks strolling the streets and I fell in love with them at first sight in Luang Prabang. The vibrant orange contrasted with their dark skin is stunning and they have such an air around them that you can't help but stop and stare everything you spot one. At first, I tried to resist snapping shots without permission but, after a few days and no photographs, I became desperate and took to running down streets following some distant monk in orange before abruptly slowing down a block behind them. My stealth skills are severely lacking as I was caught every time.

I understand now why the majority of pictures of monks are of their backs. These stunning men seem to glide down the street at an impossible speed. I figure they have become accustomed to being minor celebrities and having the "paparazzi"everywhere so they have adapted; they must have developed subtle tricks to avoid someone taking the perfect shot, whether its by speed walking or by turning their bodies, just so at just the wrong time. It's a v. buddist thing to do; avoid confrontation, just zen-ly ruin the shot.

Imagine our dismay when we discovered we missed the daily early morning 'march of the monks' in Luang Prabang. Lonely Planet really dropped the ball on that one.. Not one word of mention.... My fears that our monk-spotting days would end once we left Luang Prabang were unfounded but my initial fascination remained. It became a running joke; I was always on 'monk watch', ready to whip out my camera at any time. In Vientiene we rented bikes and were riding around town when a buddist temple caught our eye so we stopped to investigate. I was casually milling around, talking to our travel buddy, Grant, when a monk walked by. I stopped mid-sentence and was ready to go into stalker mode when the monk approached us to say hello. My heart about stopped and my mouth dropped. Until that moment, monks appeared to be unapproachable, like they were the pope or Brad Pitt but this chatty 24-yr-old monk seemed almost as excited to talk to us as I was, if that's possible.

Facts about buddist monks that I learned in our conversation include;

Most buddist men spend some of their lives as a monk. Young boys can begin their training at age 10
At age 20, with a special ceremony, they become a full fledged monk

The orange robes signify...? OK, I did ask this question but I didn't really understand his answer... I googled it and it said something along the lines that they have to die the cloth with natural dyes and the natural dye ingredients produce the deep orange color.

They keep strict discipline. They do not drink alcohol, play soccer or become married.. If they do choose to marry, they can no longer be a monk. They also only eat twice daily; in the morning and late afternoon (that would be the hardest part for me, for sure).

Just when you think you're getting better, you're proven wrong. We were in an internet cafe in Vientiane when a monk walked in and sat on the computer next to Britt and we all just stared. Seeing a monk using technology seemed as funny as a tight-rope walking fish. Brittany did all creepers proud and tried to peek at what spiritual wonders he was up to but unfortunately, her Laos language skills are non-existent so she quickly gave up. I would like to say that I have become accustomed, almost immune, to seeing monks, but I haven't. Each day when I see them strolling down the street, umbrella in hand, heads slightly downcast, I can't help but smile and think that I will miss them dearly when I finally leave SE Asia.

xoxo
V

A Thai Day in the footsteps of Princess Di!

1 flight from Bangkok to Chaing Mai, $70. Time in Chaing Mai with Carol Chewla, priceless! We literally have to turn and pinch each other some days, because the 'fairy tale' days are so multiplied on this trip. Today was another one of those days. Carol took us for the ultimate tour of Chaing Mai, the same lovely lady who picked us up from the airport with an Í heart AB Beef'sign in her hands. She swept us off to brunch (we were pumped to take our first ride in a Songtaew- a red open-backed truck with 2 long benches inside- the way to ride in Chaing Mai), and brought us to a gorgeous open-aired bakery! We skipped the great looking breakfast/brunch options for the even greater authentic Thai cuisine. Carol ordered an amazing spread of special Thai dishes for us- and we loved them all! We haven't come accross cocroaches yet, so it's still safe to say we haven't found a food we dislike in Thailand yet! One of our favorites are the fresh fruit shakes- today we tried Mango and Banana Blueberry, yummy! We shared our stories over brunch, and it was a very special time with this amazing woman. It was cool to hear her story: of a girl from Claresholm, AB ending up living and raising a family in Thailand for the last 20 years! What a great conversationalist & encourager! We were fascinated as she told us stories about the history of Thailand, it's people, and the current state of politics. Thailand has a bright future, I really believe this.

Our first stop after brunch was Thaksin's Silk Factory. We were mesmerized as we watched the step-by-step process of silk worms growing & feeding off of the mulberry leaves to removing the silk from the silk worms, and lessons on how to spot 'real silk' from immitation silk (hint- you burn the fabric sample, real silk smells organic). The masters behind the beautiful silk sheets are the women who weave @ 4000 thread count behind their wooden foot-controlled machines. It's a fine art. Britt and I both purchased scarves from the discount store upstairs- made us feel like divas, now we just need to find the men with the convertibles! (I'm a big fan of '69 corvettes in case you do stumble upon a good-looking chap :-).

Stop #2 was the Umbrella Factory & handpainters! I have a love for Asian umbrellas- and was thrilled to be spoiled with the factory tour on our second day in Thailand! Stop #3 was a brilliant silver factory/workshop/retail store. I think the artists were busy making products for Pandora as we toured through- the pieces were intricate & beautiful! Having our very own friend along as our tour guide proved to be a neccessity while purchasing items here! The ladies working the shop told us the only reason they were giving us such a good price was because our friend spoke Thai- thank you Carol! Valena is now the proud owner of a custom-made starfish pendant (again, we have Carol to thank for negotiating this one), and I am glowing with my new silver ring. I absolutely love it- it has a Citrine stone in it, which is famous for it's healing properties & for being the King's colour! Random fact: Thai people associate a colour with each day of the week. The King was born on the yellow day, hence yellow is his colour! Speaking of royalty- we felt like princesses ALL DAY LONG! Most of the places we visited also had photos up from when Princess Dianna herself visited these places. Some of the employees were eager to tell about their experiences 'the day the princess was here'- especially our chatty friend at the umbrella factory. He really liked to talk.
We got to quickly meet Carol's husband, and see his Tailor Shop business. Hard to believe- but Carol had even more up her sleeve- and swept us away to get pedicures soon after! Hands down, the best pedicures we've ever recieved. The Thai girls that gave us our pedis did them with such precision, care & artistry- I don't think anything will ever compare. We now have little flowers & artwork on our big toes- gotta look flash when you're backpacking! Carol took the time to run down the street for us, and returned with cold drinks as we got spoiled- and introduced us to Oishi Green Tea! Not only was she the greatest tour guide, she also playe social convenor & arranged for us to meet back up with Grant later that evening.
We got to the mall in time to see the Strawberry Festival, and models walking up & down the runway representing different countries around the world. We shared a great meal with Daniel & Carol, and they helped us scout out memory cards, and other supplies for our upcoming travels. We simply cannot thank these beautiful people enough.

We headed to the night markets & indulged in $4 full-body Thai massages. Heavenly. All 4 of us took the 1.5 hr massage after about 20 minutes in. I swear they put you in a trance- and you can't see life past getting the best massage you've ever had. Easiest decision i've ever made. They pulled moves on us- cracking toes, cracking our backs, twisting our spines, stretching our torsos....the list goes on and on. It was incredible! We ended our evening with a little more shopping at the night markets (because we're girls, and we have energizer-bunny built-in stamina for shopping all day long). Poor Grant, it was obvious how painful our shopping habits are- and he was only with us for 2 hours! I think he was quickly re-thinking travelling SE Asia with 3 girls. I couldn't even sleep that night, my mind was whirling in overdrive from the excitement of the day. Peace. d.

To SE Asia We Go.....

My desire to go to Asia dates back to my book-worm days as a child in
Spring Coulee. I would go to the library and check out books on Chinese, Thai, Japanese etc mythology and just fall in love with the culture. More than a couple times in the last few years, I have looked longingly at trips to Thailand but the occasional horror stories of trips gone bad made me change my destination to Europe or South America. But when we were in Perth, we just couldn't not go to SE Asia. It is so close and so cheap to fly here from Perth. Countless Aussies each year flock to SE Asia for that same reason which is why I've discovered that the best people to ask re: safety in SE Asia are Aussies. And it was 99.9% favorable so after debating about it for 3 minutes, we booked a ticket to Thailand...

As hard as it was to leave our new family, the Ashes, and all our friends in Perth we are all excited to being moving on to another adventure. The only down side is that we are split again; Danielle, Brittany and I are off to tackle SE Asia on a poor-man backpacker budget and Jodie is bound for the Philippines to volunteer with a church group and provide love and care for locals.

Our journey began with 3 flights, 3 countries, 5,245 km all within 24 hrs in order to reunite us with our Team NZ friend, Grant, who'd we met on our Stray Tours in October... He was kind enough to wait in Chaing Mai in Northern Thailand for us so, it was a marathon travel session to catch up.
Our first stop in our journey was a lay-over in Singapore, which I had just previously discovered last month is both a city and country in one. We choose this lay-over destination specifically so we could reconnect with a newly-made friend from our time in Melbourne, Alex!!!! Alex just graduated Uni, moved back to Singapore and was such a trouper that he met us at the airport at 4:30 am so we could make the most of our 6 hr stint in this amazingly, immaculately, clean city. I have never had such a whirlwind tour but it was great; we had a daring breakfast of fish balls, laksa, sugar cane juice and more before jumping on the public
transportation (which is freakily clean, enough so to eat off the floor I swear... All thanks to a total ban of food and drink on all forms of transportation) I've always heard about the fantastic shopping in
Singapore, but luckily for my already-anemic wallet we were touring the city before business hours so we were thankfully resigned to window shopping...

I must say how lucky we are to be Canadian. We touched down in Bangkok and had a good sweat over possibly missing our connecting flight after seeing the border guards in Bangkok give the third degree to Russians. Luckily, we just walked right through without even a single question... Then we were on the plane and only 1.5 hours from our destination, Chaing Mai, the 2nd largest city in Thailand located in the northern tip of the country. We mused how lucky we were that after countless flights this trip, this would be our first that we wouldn't have someone waiting for us upon landing... Little did we know that once we landed we would walk off to someone holding a "I LOVE AB BEEF" sign. Turns out that Danielle's family friend had previously moved to Chaing Mai years ago and heard that we were landing and thought we would like a welcome crew. Just another example of the kindness of people we have run into. It really made our day seeing that sign.

I could go on for ages about how much we love Thailand after only one day. 'Love at first sight' is a phrase that comes to mind.
In the first day we rode elephants through stunning greenery, rode a bamboo raft down down a lazy river, played and swam in waterfalls, and bartered with vendors at the nights markets and walked away worried for our backpack's capacity to hold bargains. My favorite part of the day was when we visited a village of a long-necked Padaung tribe from the northern hills of Thailand. It was surreal seeing the stunning women and girls with gold rings around their neck and knees; I felt as if I had accidentally stumbled into the pages of National Geographic. Traditionally, only Padaung girls born on a Wednesday of a full moon were destined to have their necks fitted with the coils, but now other youngsters are enlisted to meet the tourist demand. At age 5, women of the tribe receive their first golden rings around their neck. Until age 25, they continue to receive additional rings that will gradually depress their collarbone which leads to the "elongated neck". They remove the golden coils yearly to allow one 'ring-free' day; their weakened neck muscles could not support the head much longer.

It feels good to be back in backpacker mode and we are in our best form yet. We have even whittled our luggage down (<29 kg between the 3 of us) so much that viewers of our previous amount of luggage (Unc Doug, Daniel, etc) would hardly recognize us. We have a lot of SE Asia to see in a limited amount of time. We mean business...

Love you all!!
xoxo V

A day in our life in Perth

Go for a weekend trip to Rotto with cute Aussie boys. Return from the boat and jump in the pool because it is 43'C in the city. Get out and stay in aircon in the house. Sleep. Eat. Attempt to watch a movie from the endless supply of tv series and movies brought back from Bali. Sleep. Wake up and go for a run along the Swan river. Go for a swim after the run. Go inside in aircon. Go for a swim. Go grocery shopping. Jump back in the pool to cool off and have competitions of; holding your breath the longest, handstands, backward flips and frog jumps. Watch Rod vaccum and clean. Offer to help but get denied and go back into the pool. Hang out with the family. Eat an amazing meal that Jenni cooke (homemade sushi, roast lamb, curry chicken). See friends. Go out. Come back and sleep. Life is good!