Lao Holiday

I just returned from my first true holiday since being in Laos. It was long overdue, and I dare say lived up to all expectations. Due to work visa issues, I'm still unable to leave Laos without giving our National Officer heart palpitations (it would involve beginning the work visa process from scratch, a thus far, 6 month process). So I decided to take a Laos holiday and fall in with the backpacker crowd for a week long excursion.

Huay Xai on the Mekong.

Takes a little pep talk to take that leap of faith

Leaving the tree house. That first step is a doozy!

Zipping into the tree house.

Tree house from day 1.

Can't beat the view.

My adventure started with a short hour flight up to Huay Xai in Northwestern Laos. The town itself isn't much of a draw, although it is nicely seated along the Mekong. Most tourists find their way to Huay Xai either entering or leaving Laos via Thailand and Chang Mai. I chose to start my trip there due to the draw of something called the Gibbon Experience.

The Gibbon Experience is a zip line, trekking trip through Bokeo Nature Preserve, home to several families of Gibbons. I had heard mixed reviews, although leeches, rats and cockroaches seemed to be the biggest complaints....it is the jungle after all.

A long walk off a short plank.

The crew - we're old pros by this point.

So, we left Huay Xai Monday morning for a three hour ride into Bokeo. Our group consisted of six people, myself, a Canadian, Regan, a British couple, Richard & Amy, and a pair of Irish guys, Johnny & Colin. I think the group of people definitely made the experience in large part, after all, you do end up spending three full on days with these people with little privacy or time away.

Tree house for day 2

Lucky for us, it wasn't raining Monday morning and our truck was able to climb the horrible, muddy tracks into the nature preserve. We arrived at the trekking take off point around noon and headed out for our tree house.

Trekking in humidity and heat such as Laos makes for a trying adventure, especially when you're constantly watching your feet to try and head off any leeches who try to get a little too friendly. Having been warned about leeches I had expectations of those you see in "Stand By Me". Alas, these little suckers were only an inch or so long and about the size of a shoe string or smaller. So they could easily find their way into your shoes via the shoestring holes and then shimmy themselves up to find a nice spot to attach.

The waterfall, nothing to write home about, but at least it's cool and wet.

So after an hour or so trekking, we reached our first zip line and got hooked on the feeling of flying over the jungle with a bird's eye view. So maybe the safety gear looked a little worn and the instructional videos were pretty short and lacked proper English. We tried not to think about this as we clipped our harnesses in and took off.

Day one ended at our tree house, an amazing little fort built 60 feet off the ground. A bit of a childhood fantasy for most of us! One large room, a semi private bath with a full on view of the jungle while you shower or use the toilet and a slatted floor through which the soap can easily fall.

Our meals were brought over by the guide via zip line and were nothing to write home about. Sleeping accommodations were likewise meager, a couple of mats on the floor and a mosquito net to deter creepy crawly visitors in the night. I did manage to squish a large spider with my barefoot when on a nighttime bathroom run...not one of the better experiences but better squished then crawling into my bed with me.

The next morning we awoke to hear the Gibbon's singing at dawn but rolled over for another couple hours to sleep. A late night of Uno and Laos wine made for a late start on day number 2.

Deluxe accommodations

Day 2 we trekked for another couple hours, found some entrepreneurial locals selling BeerLaos at exorbitant prices (and happily spent all the kip we had), and made our way to tree house number two. Upon our arrival there I noticed a bloody stain running down the back of my pant leg. Upon inspection I had a gushing leech wound and upon further inspection, a fat little leech happily attached to my other thigh. Yuck!!!! A lighter made quick work of the little blood sucked, but non the less, not an enjoyable experience.

We spent the afternoon swimming and lounging by a local waterfall enjoying our warm BeerLaos (who knew tree houses lacked refrigeration). Day 3 found us trekking back out of the jungle, ridden with mosquito bits, harness rash, and oozing leech wounds. All in all, a successful jungle adventure and a good time.

Day 2

Amazing scenery



Slow boats - seat about 80 people on old school airline style seats.

From Huay Xai, I took a slow boat (2 days, 17 hours) down the Mekong to Luang Prabang for a couple nights of eating, shopping, and enjoying the cute french provincial town. The trip down the Mekong was beautiful and despite the longevity, was rather enjoyable. The scenery was stunning and I managed to finish my book, enjoy a cat nap or two and just relax.


Buddha caves



In Luang Prabang I toured the Ock Pop Tock weaving facility and saw how all the Laos silk scarves are made. Makes you appreciate just how time consuming and difficult it is. 

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Laos loom

The patterns are amazingly intricate

The various natural dyes the Laos use

Creepy Critters

Monstrous spider we found in our kitchen.....his little brother was hanging out in my bedroom.

Giant lizard...probably a good foot long. We have a pair living inside our house as well.

Queen's Jubilee

Celebrating the Queen's Jubilee with British friends!!!!

Joining the ranks of Jeannie & Sherri...

So I'm officially setting the goal to run in the Angkor Wat half marathon in December. I'd heard about it and toyed with the idea, but now I'm publicly sharing my intention with the hope that humiliation is a better motivator than sheer will power. I've been running since my ankle dislocation but figure having a larger goal to work toward will help keep me consistent.

Angkor Wat!

I was talking with a woman this weekend who ran the 10 K last year and said it's really amazing. You start at sunrise and run a loop around the empty temples while the sun comes up. Sounds like a once in a lifetime experience to me. Plus it's relatively flat and that time of year the weather is tolerably cool. And there are lots of cheap but fancy hotels around to lounge in for recovery.

The Half Marathon a couple of years ago.

So here's to joining the league of McDonald (& Abbott) women runners! :)

Lost in Laos

I like to hope I have some faithful readers out there who have been missing me desperately. If not, I'll just pretend.

I did make it down to Southern Laos earlier this month, Paxse and Savannakhet. I visited two provincial clinics and got to know the staff.

I apologize for the absenteeism this month. I'd love to say I've been swept up in exciting new adventures but truth be told I've just been working and trying to stay cool. The good news is that I received my ID card today. It's a little red book, how very fitting, that is an intermediate step in my receiving a work visa and being able to leave the country. Our visa guy, who is employed specifically for the purpose of getting visas for the expats, says I should have my work visa by the end of June for sure. So, with that in mind I'm planning my holidays.

I'm taking my birthday week off in June to travel up to Northern Laos. There is an environmental project called the Gibbon experience, www.gibbonexperience.org, where you trek into a nature preserve, sleep in tree houses, zip around on zip lines, and hopefully see some gibbons. I'm pretty excited about it. Then I'll take a boat back down the Mekong to Luang Prabang for a couple days.

I've found a couple amazing looking yoga retreats. One outside of Angkor Wat in Cambodia and the other on a little island off Phuket in Thailand. They both look great and pretty affordable so I'm planning to take a week in July to check out one or the other.

I promise to be more diligent in the near future and make some good use of my camera.

National Parks Laos style

My housemate Zoe bought a car this weekend. An old school 1987 Isuzu Trooper for $12000, ridiculous but apparently cars in Laos maintain their value.

So Zoe, Rory and I took a road trip Sunday to the National Park/Protected area north of Vientiane. It's a good 2.5 hour drive but worth every minute when you finally arrive. A day of lounging, swimming, tanning, and enjoying some much needed nature.

Sunbathing after a swim.....now this is how life should be.

Four little monks climbing in a tree. I think we scared them off when we stripped down to our bikinis.

Can't beat this!

Living in Vientiane, it's amazing how much I miss going on hikes, even in the ridiculous humidity.

Low tech bridges.

Laos Wedding

I'm wrapping up a busier than usual weekend in Vientiane. Rather than the usual pedicure, massage, yoga and napping, this weekend I actually made it out of the city for a bit.

Saturday, a coworker had his wedding. My first Laos wedding was quite the experience. Keeping with the theme lately, the weather was insanely hot, which led to wedding of minimal dancing, excessive sweating and ridiculous consumption of liquids of all kinds.

As you enter a Laos wedding, you are greeted by a couple girls holding a shot of whiskey. So every guest at the party drinks from the same little shot glass as they enter the party (a little unhygienic if you ask me). Then you drop your envelope into a great golden container (the envelope has your name printed on the front so they know exactly how much money you give them). You're then seated, handed a glass of beerlao and invited to enjoy the buffet of all the standard Laos grub.

Your second mandatory whiskey shot comes when the bride and groom walk around with the same shot glass (yet again) on a platter full of money. You place money on the platter and take the shot of whiskey while congratulating and greeting the bride and groom. Amazing what a drinking culture Laos is. All social events revolve around drinking and forcing your friends and family to drink as well.

After a couple more shots and maybe a beerlao or two, you find your way to the dance floor for some good old traditional Laos dancing. You must be asked by a man. You then stand in a line across from your partner, avoid making any kind of eye contact, casually step side to side while moving your hands up and down. It's pretty much mandatory, despite the heat and the strangeness of dancing with a straight face (smiling seems to be a no no). 

Luckily, this Mung wedding was an afternoon ordeal and wrapped up after a couple hours (lots of Laos weddings go all night).

My coworker, Bounma.

Some Laos women putting on a show in hopes of catching a man...single women are forced to participate (yuck).