Laos #2: O.M.G. Ice. Coffee.

Nong Kiew
Nong Kiew is a charming little town/village on the Nam Ou river, flanked on both banks by steep limestone cliffs. We wanted to go on a Night Safari after Xam Neua, but the dates didn't work out, so we traded tiger spotting (had to be satisfied with a papier mache tiger) for a trekking-boat-kayaking tour at Nong Kiew.

The trek was a steep 500m ascent up to a lookout point. The trailhead is marked by a large poster at the main village road, and the trail is easy to follow. Didn't need a guide for this... but of course, our guide was helpfully encouraging ["(Last night) you drinking? Why no power??"], and provided us with Victory Bananas when we reached the top. The view was definitely worth the 1hr hike. Spent about 15-30min happily feeling on Top of the World, and enjoying our Victory Bananas.

Lao lottery! Match the animal you saw in your dream to the lucky numbers they represent.

The rest of the day was pretty chill. Boat ride up river, lunch on banana leaf 'plates', visiting a village, kayaking and finally... massage! The village is only accessible by river, and had just been outfitted with satellite TV-- a few of the wooden houses had bright orange satellites on the roof. The guide mentioned that villages along the 'highway/ main road' were more prosperous than their less accessible brethren. Kayaking down river was fun, even though there wasn't really any of the advertised whitewater. Our guide shared a kayak with JH, and kept egging her on to paddle furiously, while he laughed merrily from the back. The massage at the Sabai Sabai was ok, but the White Orchid in Vientiane was better.

In the village

A-maizing machine that removes corn kernels

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Luang Prabang

Travel from NK to LP was first road, then boat from Pak Ou cave down to LP. (Paid for in Thai Baht because we were running out of Kip and USD. Baht is a good currency to have in Laos.)

4000+ sculptures of Buddha have been placed in the Pak Ou caves. An informative sign there explains that the different poses depict important moments in the life of Buddha. Apparently there are over 100 poses/asanas illustrating this, and more detailed info may be found here. I like the 'Stop Arguing' pose (Buddha standing, both palms facing outward).

The Royal Palace at LP had a charming Lao traditional-European colonial style. In fact, the entire town center is a Unesco World Heritage Site, for its well-preserved blend of Lao and French architecture. Despite being the most well-known tourist destination in Laos, LP has a laid back, time travel vibe. Enough foreigners around to inject vibrancy, yet not too crowded-- you still have a sense of privacy as you gaze appreciatively at the glass mosaic frescos in the Royal Palace (fighting elephants! decapitated men!) and Wat Xieng Thong (such amazingness! tree of life, village scenes, war, kings, queens, monkeys, bananas... clearly... all you can ever imagine or hope to see as a glass mosaic.)

At 6am, the alms giving ceremony transforms the streets into a colorful array of camera-laden tourists. There are so many websites denouncing the rude behavior of tourists, that I was slightly hesitant and embarrassed to take part. But the street we were at was very peaceful. We kept a distance from the long line of saffron-clad novices and monks, and the (mostly women) locals respectfully offering alms. Alms giving is a form of merit, not an act of charity or pity. Only the best food should be given. The ceremony is a silent one, reduced to the purest form of giving and receiving.

Photo credit: Seok

Breakfast that day was in a suburb of LP. Xi led us unerringly to delicious rice noodle rolls (like 'chee cheong fun' in Singapore). Smooth, slurpy goodness with fried pork and fried shallots. Complemented perfectly with the.best.ice.coffee.ever. Incredibly thick coffee with loads of condensed milk. Just wanted to drench my tastebuds in coffee heaven. The tastebuds still rank breakfast that day as a Top 10 Epic Meal.

Ba-ba-ba, Ba-Ba-nana!

Seok and I regretfully left the others in LP and headed back to Vientiane. (Tastebuds made gentle enquires to brain about staying for another 100 breakfasts, but brain was quite steadfast about the matters of Work and Air Tickets.) Detoured to a waterfall on the way back, fed bananas to ravenous elephants, survived the extremely foggy New Road to Vang Vieng. Xi stopped at a few villages in hope of purchasing a pig for his family, but apparently most of the decision makers were out in the fields, and anyways the villagers were very content with that they had and weren't swayed by Xi's money.

Dinner was really delicious grilled chicken and black sticky rice from the Vientiane riverside market, eaten under a tent, next to a sleeping lady and a demanding cat. (It had started to rain heavily, and we took shelter under the nearest thing to a roof we could find.)

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Markets and Food

Triumphant haul of fried dough and eggs (photo credit: Seok)

Phonsavan market: Apart from the usual colorful abundance of vegetables, there were also bee larvae! maggots! civet cat! squirrel! I bought a small fish stuffed with lemongrass and chilli, hot off the grill. Lemongrass, chilli and grilled fish make a fantastic combination! The fish was full of small bones that made eating quite tedious, but the flavour explosion made it worth the work. =)

Xam Neua market: More vegetables and larvae, but also tiny frogs! dried bat! expertly skinned pig! Disturbingly grinning pig head on display on a butcher's table. We bought sticky rice, bamboo salad, boiled (custard?) eggs, veg, chicken, pork, and delicious fried dough for lunch and breakfast. Felt very local, eating with our hands, out of plastic bags.

Mysterious 'Animal' in a random village market.
Update: It is a bamboo rat, found in S.China - N.Indochina

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Conclusion:
We had a very ambitious itinerary, with way too much driving. If I could do over, will just do Luang Prabang and Nong Kiew, and maaybe Phonsavan (for the market experience).

But it was fun to hang out with Sich, Clar, JH, Seok and Xi. Xi has his own webpage, so you can contact him for your Lao transportation needs. He's a very safe driver.

Recommended Laos travel companions

We didn't get to see Southern Laos, and missed out on the coffee plantations and river dolphins. Something to think about for the next trip!

One last 'beautiful Lao countryside' picture

Laos #1: Finally Laos!

I absolutely had to visit Laos, which feels like a well-kept secret on the brink of being exposed. Finally managed to organize a trip with Clar, Sich, JH and Seok in Oct 2013.

Rejoiced at the direct flight from SIN to Vientiane via Lao Airline: the plane was new, with nice green leather seats. Economy class was almost empty, and business class was full of men in suits.

We stayed at the Heuang Chaleun Hotel. It's a bit out of the way. Perhaps not a good choice if you're going to be in Vientiane for a few days, but the room was the best we had in Laos, and breakfast is provided.

First order of business: Lao Massage! JH had done some research, so we found a tuktuk, haggled the price to $30k Kip, and made a beeline for the White Orchid Yoga & Massage. Traditional Lao Massage was $55k for 1hr. Our masseuses were joking with each other while they worked, and you're left wondering whether they're laughing at some deficiency in your physique.... but it really doesn't matter because you feel so goooood. It's like Thai massage (stretching and cracking) but with more acupressure.

Wonderfully languorous, we ambled towards the river in search of dinner. Had our first introduction to 'Mekong Weed' (salted and spiced riverweed, not the other kind of weed), and a Lao carnival/amusement park. It was an extensive carnival, with darts and airgun shooting games, food stalls hawking crepes, grilled meats and fetal duck eggs, and ferris wheel and bumper car rides.

Seok, JH and I convinced ourselves that we should take a ride on the bumper cars, which led to a hilarious and adrenalin-filled evening, made more enjoyable by a pair of girls who giggled and screamed in horror whenever they were bumped. I felt like we were hanging out with all the cool kids in Vientiane, with the flashing lights and pumping disco music at the bumper car arenas.

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Tubing in Vang Vieng (photo credit: Seok)

The next day, we were met by Xi, our driver. He brought us to some temples (Wat Si Satek), before we picked up Clar and Sich from the airport. Then it was off to Vang Vieng, backpacker and tubing capital of Laos. We took a boat ride upriver, passing many angmohs on their tubes, and riverside guesthouses advertising beer and happy hour. Vang Vieng is described in the guidebooks as a place to chill out, and it does have a cheap backpacker vibe. But Laos has so much more to offer than that!

Fishing village with fermented fish paste (photo credit: Seok)

After dinner of Korean hotpot, we spent the evening with Xi, drinking Beer Lao and snacking on fermented fish paste and pork skin. The fermented fish paste is slightly rubbery, sour and salty. Went well with beer and pork skin, and strangely I'm starting to salivate while writing this. But it was definitely right up against my comfort zone for foreign food, and required some willpower to silence the corner of my brain that was ringing alarm bells and blaring public service announcements.


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Days 3 - 6: Phonsavan - Xam Neua - Nong Kiew. Much drive. Such cows. Very potholes.

photo credit: Seok

Plain of Jars (Phonsavan)
6 hour drive to Phonsavan, and its Plain of Jars. The Plain consists of fields littered with hundreds of huge stone jars. Apparently some jars were also discovered in the surrounding forests. No one knows how they got there. No one knows what they were used for. It's a mystery as great as Stonehenge and the Nazca Lines.

Xi's story is that they were used to brew large vats of whisky after a victorious battle, but I think the burial jar theory is probably most likely.

Xi has a favorite restaurant in Phonsavan. He brought us there for lunch, dinner, then breakfast on day 4. We just took his word for it that there are no other acceptable eating establishments in Phonsavan.

photo credit: Seok

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Many caves are hidden in the cliffs

American Secret War: Of Caves and Craters

Laos is the most heavily bombed country (per capita) in the world. 260 million bombs were dropped on Laos, and an estimated 80 million failed to explode, posing an immense threat today.

Conflict between the French and independence-seeking Lao Issara (Free Lao) party after World War II, morphed into a war between the USA/Royal Lao Army and the Indochina Communist Party/Parthet Lao. The US Airforce were bombing trucks and troops along the Ho Chi Minh trail at the Vietnam-Lao border, pretty much from 1964 till the end of the Vietnam war in 1973.

Toilet

The Plain of Jars was decorated with multiple bomb craters, and we could see large white furrows on the surrounding hills, which Xi said were excavations for unexploded ordnances (UXOs).

We visited the Tham Piu Cave where 374 villagers were killed, and the Viengxay Caves, a vast network of limestone caves, 480+ of which were occupied by the Parthet Lao and supporting villagers. The audio tour is quite informative, and painted a vivid picture of life under constant threat of bombing raids: farming by night, cooking becoming a dangerous activity, planning a war.

Wall in Xam Neua (photo credit: Seok)

I'm glad that Laos is more peaceful now. The villages we drove through have sufficient chickens and cows to constantly cross the roads and impede traffic, so that must be a good sign, right?

Beautiful Lao countryside

Myanmar 2011

It's been 3 years since my trip to Myanmar in 2011! My sudden jolt of motivation to blog stems from cleaning out my room and discovering my Myanmar notes, buried in a quiet corner.

Went to Myanmar with Lena and Zach, to visit their friends Todd, Alessa and David. David & co. are making low-cost treadle pumps for irrigation -- starting from a project in the D-school extreme affordability class, then funded by IDEO, and now making a real difference to farmers in Myanmar. 

As we got the grand tour of the factory, Todd shared the challenges of manufacturing in Myanmar. 

Supplies: most materials are recycled again and again, with variable quality. "Do you want the recycled plastic, or the recycled recycled plastic??"

Suppliers: some don't have basic tools, like calipers. "Oh... that was why his parts never fit well..."

Staff: their finance manager was helping himself to the till in various ways, and this is accepted practice. "Well.... if the family needs it..."

Multiple insects available for your dining pleasure

But they were generally happy with what they've managed to accomplish, with multiple product iterations already in the market, and a visible impact on the lives of their customers.

I'm really envious. These guys are living the dream. True, the internet speed there will make most teenagers sob in despair, but hey, tea leaf salad everyday! and er... delicious fried insects. 

Went to the Schwedagong Pagoda. It's hard to miss. Big golden pagoda, lighted by night even if the rest of Yangon has electricity rationing. But when one has the oldest and most sacred Buddhist pagoda in Myanmar, with relics from not just one but FOUR Buddhas (8 strands of hair from Gautama!), it's probably worth a little extra expense. The pagoda has a crown with 5000+ diamonds, 2000+ rubies, topped by a 76 carat diamond. Visitors can look at the 76 carat diamond on the top through a telescope provided for that purpose.

It's definitely impressive, particularly because of the number of Buddhas one can pray to simultaneously. With that many benevolent ears in attendance, surely one will grant your request...

We also took a short trip to Bagan. From Wikipedia:

From the 9th to 13th centuries, the city was the capital of the Kingdom of Pagan, the first kingdom to unify the regions that would later constitute modern Myanmar. During the kingdom's height between the 11th and 13th centuries, over 10,000 Buddhist temples, pagodas and monasteries were constructed in the Bagan plains alone, of which the remains of over 2200 temples and pagodas still survive to the present day.

Bagan is awesome. More fun than Angkor Wat, because you can explore many different temples without being accompanied by everyone and their grandmother. Each one has interesting murals, or carvings, or resident bat colonies... If the temple is locked, just look around for the attendant who will cheerfully unlock it, and even direct you up to the roof for the best view.

Will let the pictures speak for themselves. Only two other things to mention about the trip:

1) Go for the puppet show. We went to one at Bagan. Incredible! Acrobatic handling of puppets, with great skill. Some very funny skits, including a lecherous puppet with expressive eyebrows =)

2) Get a massage. Lena and I went for one at Seri Heath and Beauty in Yangon. 1hr of being kneaded and pressed and pulled costs 10,000 khat. Can't remember the exchange rate in 2011, but it was something ridiculous, like $15 sgd.

I need to go again! The trip was too short, and I haven't had enough tea leaf salad.....