Trip to Thailand .....Continued

Continuing from my last post......

ring, ring (conversation between my mom and I while being stuck in Thailand)

Me -Hello, Mom?

Mom -Ah, where are you??
Me-Oh, well I can`t catch my flight back to Vietnam through Bangkok because of the protests at the airport. So I got a flight tomorrow morning to Laos, the country between Vietnam and Thailand and I will get a connection to Hanoi and I should be in Da Nang by tomorrow evening.`
Mom-Ah ok, you had us worried, the news is making this look very scary.

Me-I know, but I haven`t seen any protesting and really the airports are just backed up like when we get a snow storm at home. No need to worry.


ring, ring (conversation between my mom and I from Luang Phrabang, Laos about 12 houres later with a very choppy connection)


Mom-Hello?
Me-Hello?

Mom-Hello?

Me- I have arrived in Laos but I can't catch another flight out for a week.
Mom-WHAT? Where are you? Is it safe? Oh my nerves!

I think I gave them a few more grey hairs that week but really I was safe and actually enjoying myself...I think that makes it worse;-) Love you Mom and Dad!

After discussion with the CECI office in Hanoi, I decided that instead of wasting the week trying to get back to Da Nang by bus, I would to take my last week of vacation in Laos and bought the next available ticket to Hanoi from Vientiene, Laos. I grabbed a Tuk Tuk into town to find a cheap hostel.
Common mode of transportation - Tuk Tuk!


I set off to discover Luang Phrabang...I knew very little about the place, since I wasn't really planning on visiting Laos until January, I hadn't done my research.
Luang Phrabang - BEAUTIFUL!!!

It is a sleepy mountain town (pop. 26,000) in Northern Laos along the Mekong River.

The Laos population is 67% Buddhist and 10% of the population in Luang Phrabang are monks. This was very visible in their daily lives. Here I came across some young monks practising their morning drumming session.

Then I came across some monk laundry hanging out to dry!!












The markets were so beautiful, filled with woven products from the local indigenous tribes, hand made umbrellas, and of course lots of tasty snacks!












Wanting to get out into the beautiful mountains I saw from the plane I signed up for a 2 day trek to a remote village. There were 7 of us in total ; a young Irish couple, a young American girl, a Polish man, and our 2 guides, Cay - born in one of the minority villages, then his family was relocated to the town because they were opium farmers and Gang - who spent 12 years as a monk (both incredibly intelligent, hilarious and extremely generous). We started with a short boat ride up the Mekong then begin the 8 hour trek.











We soon came across a small village where they were drying river weed (similar to Nori - the seaweed use to wrap sushi). They collect it from the river banks then dry it out on straw mats but not before adding tomatoes, garlic and seseame seed for flavor. Once it is ready it is eaten with sticky rice and chilli paste...it is very yummy!!

Drying Chilli's to make chilli paste!!! YUMMY

Ok back to the hike! First day the plan was to hike for 8 hours and stay with a village the the peek of this mountain!!

It got pretty steep at times and was much more challenging and remote than the hike I did in Thailand the week before.





The views were spectacular



and so was the canopy of bamboo over our heads during the last hour, and steepest part of the trek.









We arrived at the village and were greeted by the children.















They were so entertaining. The little girls just wanted to get their picture taken so that they could see themselves on the camera screen. The little boys, however, were a bit more shy.













The next morning we woke up above the clouds.

And got ready for the steep trek down the mountain. We went through a few villages and came across a wedding. The locals invited us in for some dancing and drinks. It was about noon and everyone in the village was `3 sheets to the wind`! They had live karoke under a bamboo hut and lots of homemade wine. It was one of those moments I will never forget and couldn`t have planned it if we tried. They were so welcoming and happy to have us there to celebrate with them.

Once back into town. I met some great people at the hostel I was staying at and they were heading down to Vientiene the next day same as me. So we all took the same bus. And headed the 6 hours down to Vang Vieng. I stayed in Vang Vieng for 2 days and did a crazy tubing trip down the river with my new found friends. Then it was off to Vientiene to finally catch my flight back to Vietnam. The 3 hour bus ride to Vientiene turned out to be 5 hours and the seat I bought in the bus ended up being a spot on the floor beside the driver!!It wasn't the most comfortable 5 hours of my life but the views were spectacular!

Once I finally got to Hanoi Sunday evening, I missed the connection flight to Da Nang so I had to take the 1 hour ride into Hanoi at 8pm and then back the airport at 4am the next morning to get to Da Nang. Absolutely exhausted I finally made it into the office at 9am Monday morning. It was great to see everyone and they were happy I made it back safely. All in all it was a bit hectic trying to get the planes, trains, and crowded buses back as they say when life serves you lemons, make lemonade!! It turned out to be a fabulous trip.