...they're for lunch and dinner too!
Well, we are sitting here at Sydney airport after a nice 16 hr layover here, which has thankfully been increased by another hour and a half delay (HOORAY!). At least we have free internet for short bursts.
Let's go back in time to Laos since it has been a long time since we have written anything. Laos lived up to it's reputation as the "Jewel of South East Asia". We absolutely LOVED IT! The people are so serene and calm and the scenery is breathtaking. The North of the country where we spent our time is mostly mountains and jungle with the mighty Mekong meandering its way through.
We started off in Luang Prabang, a UNESCO world heritage listed cidty. The town is so cool, it is where the Mekong and one of its tributaries meet. There is lots of action on the rivers with boats and local kids swimming. The surroundings are beautiful jungle covered mountains. The city is laid back, clean, bustling with fruit markets during the day and a daily night bazaar full of handicrafts. A lot of the buildings are French Colonial architecture (Spelling worse then normal on about 2 hrs sleep).The restaurants serve huge baquettes andFrench pastries as well as Lao and Thai cuisine. our favourite was dthe Lao version of a the noodle soup which they typically eat for brakfast or lunch, full of chillies and so delicious! All for just over a dollar! Another highlight for us was going on a jungle elephant trek...well more like a nice ride in the jungle for an hour...but still well worth it. We did a bit of research and found a good company that is doing tourism responsibley so we knew the elephants would be well cared for. The drive out to the elephant camp was awesome, windy, dirt roads through the jungle. Sar and I got to ride on the same elephant and I even got to ride on the neck...and of course our elephant was the troublesome one who wanted to do some "off roading" giving me a bit of a fright. We survived alright though!
The next biggest adventure was the drive from Luang Prabang down to Vang Vieng. We took the express bus and the bus driver was in a hurry for sure! He was a maniac, people were getting sick the whole way and Sar was not too happy with how crazy he was driving...apparently merely honking while passing and screaming around a blind corner is perfectly ok in Laos! We made it safely though and neither of us got car sick.
We made our way out to Vang Vieng Organic Farm where we spent a week volunteering and sightseeing the spectacular countryside. Our days on the farm usually started with helping out Pai the goat guy, with milking, cleaning and feeding the babies. After that we would help out with the gardening, including digging beds or chopping sugarcane for fertilizer and we also spent one evening helping out an english class. The kids are just amazing in Laos, they are so happy and keen to learn...the english classes are all after school and the kids just love coming to them. They are any teachers dream! The atmosphere of 'family' is everywhere in Laos. Neighbours are considered famly, small children are rarely ever put down...they are cuddled and played with and passed from one family member or friend to the next, all day long, men and women alike. So wonderful to experience and wouldn't you know..hardly any crying.
The farm specializes in organic mulberry tea. We had mulberry shakes, deep fried mulberry leaves dipped in honey, mulberry pancakes, mulberry green tea! All of it delicious!
The farm is right on the Nam Song River and up against a mountain range...the funny part of the whole experience is the river tubing. Tourists get shuttled up beside the farm to tube down the river, which is full of bars *which are actually bamboo huts on th edge of the riverbed
!). Now the best part of the bars is the rope swings and zip lines set up all over the place...you get to launch yourself off of this really high bamboo platform into the river getting some serious air! It was such a blast. The part that makes it crazy is how drunk some of the tourists get while going down...we were one of the first to go down in the morning so it was really tame and we were a bit safer with only one beer at the last bar. It took us about 5 hours to get down and finish. The funny part is the music pumping from these bars, it is HORRIBLE and you can hear it at the farm, which is such a nice peacful place in the morning and evening when the tubers are done.
All in all we adored Laos and only saw a mere glimpse of what the country has to offer. We will be back!!
Much love to you all!
SarahandRoo
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
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