Day 23: & 24 Vang Vien and Ventiane

Day 23: Today I went to the caves in Vang Vien. These caves were used by the Laos people when the US were bombing then, because they thought there were Viet Congs hiding their. These people lived in these caves for a couple of years. These caves were not nearly a sophificated as the tunnels in Vien Moc. Then went tubing in the caves, which was loads of fun! Then we went tubing on the main river and there were bars all along the waterfront, so people could simply get out of their tubes and get a drinks and some food. We stopped at one of them and they played music and the Laotian people were all dancing. Met an English couple with two girls 9 and 6 years old. They were traveling the world for 8 months. Those two little girls were the youngest world travels I had met and the oldest one at 9 years old was full of knowledge, she was explaining to me how the titonic plates in New Zealand worked. That night I had dinner with the Swedes. It was three Swedish girls all working in Norways. Apparently the economy in Norway is very good, that alot of people go to Norway to work, the Swedish girls believed it was due to the oil production in Norway. They all told me in Sweden you can drink when you are 18, but you cannot buy alcohol at the local liquor store till you are 20, go figure you can get serve at a bar, but can't go buy alocohol at the local liquor store. That night I was daring and I tried pumpkin and potatoe pizza and I must say it was quite tastey and good!


Day 24: Today I left to go back to Ventiane. Got back and had dinner with Gayda...

Day 21 & 22: Ventiane

Day 21: Ventiane, the capital of Laos, is actually the slowest moving city I have ever been to, there are absolutely no traffic jams, I can't believe I am in the capital of Laos. Today I met a nice lady from Vancouver named Gayda. Gayda was the oldest world traveler I had met she is '80' years old and still sharp as a whistle and looks like she is about 65, her secret ladies is 'oli of olay'! We had breakfast together and then I headed off to the local market to do some shopping and then headed ot the 'Patuxai', which is Ventiane's 'Arc de Triomphe', similar to the one in France, but this one has designs of buddha and other buddhist figure on the walls. I guess it represents the blend of French and Asia. Then met Gayda for dinner that night. Gayda had a hard life. She got divorced when she was in her early 20's, which was back in the 50's and ended up raising a son on her own. Her ex-husband and her son were both schiophrenic and shot themselves. Gayda now alone as her son and her sister had died was building a house close to Ventiane. She wanted to live here, because it was cheaper and most of her friends back in Vancover had moved away. She wanted to also come and teach the young poor village kids English. That night Gayda and I had wine, cheese, and crackers in the courthouse in our guesthouse...

Day 22:
Today I left for Vang Vieng, which is a couple hours north of Ventiane. It has beautiful limestone mountains similar to Halong Bay, but the moutains are not in the water. Interesting they have quite a few places that show reruns of 'Friends' and I found one place that did reruns of 'Simpson's.

Day 19 & 20: Luang Prabang...

Day 19: Today hung out around town. The town is filled with cute little restaurant and cafes. I tried the yummy curry dish. Then met my friend Anna a Scot, but her parents are originally from England. She was explaining to me even the Scots have problems with the Protestants and Catholics fighting, similar to what is happening in Ireland. Then we headed for dinner and a great Laos hot pot, basically they grill the meat, buffalo, pork, and chicken on top of the hot pot and then on the saw they boil the noodles and veg. They also give you fresh lime, hot chilli's, and garlic to eat it with. Then we headed to 'Hive' a bar next door, boy I felt like I was in a bar in 'San Fran'.

Day 20: Today I left Luang Prabang for Ventiene, the capital. I must say I have enjoyed the people of Luang Prabang, the people are pretty genuine and nice. The people are definitely laid back and don't push you into buying things. It will be interesting to see if their subtle ways of selling will pay off. I figure I end up paying out the same as if someone was pushing me to buy something and I was haggling with them, I would probably try to haggle it down, where these people are so nonaggressive about it that I haggle a little bit, but not much as I know they are poor and don't have as much and I appreciate the nonaggressive approach. In the end I pay about the same, but prefer the nonaggressive approach.

I arrived in Ventiane, the capital of Laos and the streets are not safe, it is the most dangerous place I have ever been to. There are kids (as little as 3 years old) with guns and hand grenades lining the street and they are doing their violence acts in the name of 'Buddha', well that is water guns and water grenandes....yes it is Laos New Year and these people do not have any problem purifying and blessing people as they walk by. There are pickup trucks with kids sitting on the sides, ready to shoot and aim! Boy I had to strategically plan by walk into town, trying to avoid these people. Met up that night with my friend Delaine that night for dinner, who unfortuantely didn't quite get as lucky as I did with the kids.

Day 17 and 18: Luang Prabang

Day 17: Today was a slow day for my roommate Elizabeth and now as we had both come down with a cold. We got tickets for the Royal Ballet and then I walked around the market. Got a baguette sandwhich, which has cheese, chicken, pork, tofu, and some veggies. Strolled around the market and checked out there goodies. I was interested to find they have some Indian type food at the market as well. They have all different types of cakes that they sell. The Royal Ballet was interesting they performed the Ramayanan, which comes from Indian/Hindu mythology. It's interesting to see how alot of of the SouthEast Asian countries perform some kind of renactment of the Ramayanan or the Mahabarta.


Day 18: Today I had to book my flight from Luang Prabang to Ventiane. I went to a couple of the sales agents and they all directed me to Lao airlines, since if I went with them then they would have to charge me a surcharge. Boy I thought what nice people they are, not wanting to get money off of me. Laos are definitely the nicest group of SouthEast Asian I have met so far. I can see why alot of people like coming here as they are not constantly being hassled for money all the time. It's there New Year coming up and the kid are having fun splashing water at the people walking by. Luckily I haven't been bombed yet.

Day 16: Luang Prabang....

Day 16: Today we took a tour of some of the Wats here they were interesting to see, even saw some young monks in the Wats. I have been told not all the young monks go on to become adult monks. Jean, the British lady that was with us, told us one of the monks asked her for money and cookies, I thought that was interesting. They have alot of the naga (the multiple headed snake here). It's a pretty city, it's green and lush, with Wats scattered thru out the city, with French buildings, cute cafes, french cakes and pastries that are quite yummy!

That night we headed to Restaurant Brasserie L'Elephant. My friend Delane who is a chef in the US said that this restaurant is one of the best restaurants in Southeast Asia and boy was it good. We tried traditional Laos dishes, we tried some of the famous RiverWeed with sesame which taste alot like Seaweed. We had sticky rice, interesting I have not seen any other country in SouthEast Asia use sticky rice. Tried some jaew bawng, which is a thick condiment made with chili and dried buffalo skin. Had some pork, and chicken. The meal was $15 US, not bad for a gourmet meal.

Day 15: Luang Prabang

Day 15: Today I woke up to a cold unfortuantely, so I ended up going to the waterfalls in the afternoon with the new group of friends I just met, plus Elizabeth my roommate. The waterfalls were nice and relaxig, we passed by a few vendors and I realized how laid back they were compared to any of the other places I have gone to in SouthEast Asia. People only ask you once if you want to buy something, they are not constantly harrassing you like they are in all the other South East Asian countries. Boy I thought this is one of most poorest countries and they are so laid back about things. It makes me not really even want to haggle with prices to much as they are so relaxed about it. That even if it is an overcharge by their standards it's not so much for the U.S and in my perspective it's a donation to these people. After we were dropped off from our tour we saw a girl selling doughnuts on the side of the street. She had the most delicious doughnuts, chocolate, vanilla, cocounut, bean paste, yummy yummy!

That night we ate at the night market, a vegetarian buffet all you can eat one time piling for $.50, we washed down our meal with some Beer Lao, which is actually quite lite, but it is pretty strong, it was good.

Day 14: Hello Laos...

Day 14: Luang Prabang

Today I left Hanoi for Luang Prabang. I notice how lush and green it was when I stepped off the plane. I ended up meeting a couple of aussies, a brit, and another american on the bus going over to the hotel. We ended up having dinner at one of the local restaurants that night.

History Laos

Laos (land of million elephants)-French Indo China country. Around the 18th century Laos was controlled by the Siamese and then later controlled by the French. France did nothing for the country except permit opium production to flourish and allow colonial administrators to become renowned for their lotus-eating lifestyles. In 1953 France granted full sovereignty. In 1965 and 1973 the US devasted eastern and northeastern Laos with nonstop carpet bombing to counter the presence of North Vietnamese in the country. The US withdrew in 1973 and within two years the communists had taken over and the Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR) was created. The Lao government has set its goal to haul Laos out of the Least Developed Country bracket by 2020.

Day 14: Hanoi

Day 14: Well my last day in Hanoi and I wanted to pay Uncle Ho (Ho Chi Mingh) at the masoulem, but unfortuantely it was closed for a special occassion. Then I headed out to Hanoi Hilton to check out the US POW camp. This is where they put US prisoners of war during the Vietnam War. It was interesting the way the Vietnamese display the US treatment of POW's. They showed happy pictures of the prisoners writing letters home, and playing the guitar, etc... I guess that's why they call it the 'Hilton', makes me wonder how true that really was. Interesting to find out Senator John McCain was one of the POW housed there!

Well it's my last day in Vietnam. I have enjoyed my stay here. To sum up Vietnam a French Indo China country, it's a strong Chinese influence the most I have seen than any of the other SouthEast Asian countries with the pagodas, forbidden city, the hats that they wear, the food, the clothing, the religion, a bit of Indian influence with the Champa tribe that has orgins in India, all with a French twist with all the aritecture, the written language is French, the food (crossiants, cakes, and baguette sandwhiches and pastries), the churches. Can't forget the rice paddy fields you see everywhere, people fishing , the school girls all in white uniform with their bamboo hats and their perfect posture riding their bikes to school, and the peoples determination to succeed, I guess they have to be after kicking out the Chinese, French, Japanese, and American. Oh did I forget to mention it's communist. I guess I keeping forgetting about that as you see so much capitalism everywhere.

Day 12 and 13: Halong Bay

Day 12 and 13: Today I went out to Halong Bay. The bay was beautiful with emerald green moutains jutting out of the water. The cruise was nice and relaxing for the most part, we took a tour into some of the caves and did a bit of kayaking.

That night I headed out to a little Euro shopping and do check out the local Cha Ca, which is fish braise in broth and served with noodles, fresh dill, and peanuts. It was quite tastey, I ended up sitting with a newlywed Spanish couple. They told me they had dated 30 years before tying the knot, boy that's the longest courtship I have ever heard of!

Day 11: Hanoi

Today I left Hue to go to Hanoi. Arrived in Hanoi and noticed all the beautiful French aritecture. The tall thin french buildings, which were elegantly decorated on the outside, reminded me of a tall elegant french woman, the buildings were all along the drive from airport to the city. Hanoi is a cute city and definitely has more of the Euro/French feel than Saigon does. It is also more relaxed and spread out. It was finally nice to get some bread as the city is loaded with crossiants, french breads, pastries, etc.... Got to the hotel which was called 'Lucky' hotel and the hotel clerk told me I needed to pay the driver $10 for the ride, I was pretty astonished as when I booked the hotel they told me free service was included. We argued for awhile and he agreed to drop the price than he told me the trip to Halong Bay I had purchased was sharing a room and not for one person, a bit shocked as the tour guide I had booked it thru told me I would get my own room, he was happy to offer me an upgrade for $15 dollars, figuring I didn't want to guess who my roommate was I decided to get the upgrade. Feeling unlucky at the 'Lucky' hotel after all the things I was told was not true, I decided to go commisserate with some Westerns and headed to the 'Kangaroo Cafe', which is owned by an Aussie. The owner gave me some recommendations of hotels in the area after giving me an earful of how the Americans should have never invaded Vietnam, etc.... I booked myself at the 'Freedom' hotel. I figured I was now free from the unlucky 'Lucky' hotel.

Walked around and headed to Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, which gives a background of all the the different tribes that make up Vietnam, it was pretty imformative. Ended the night going to 'Baguette and Chocolat', which had great food. The rest. has a great concept, it takes disadvantage kids and street kids and trains them for high-end culinary careers.

Day 10: Hue

Today I decided to go with my guide Hui to the Vinh Moc Tunnels on his motorbike. It was still rainy and cold, but decided to go forward with the ride, which was about 2 hours away. We headed to the Ben Hai River, which was the the line of demarcation between South and North Vietnam. The Ben Hai River is the Mekong River, but they changed the name, Ben Hai means 'in the middle' . This is where alot of the battles were fought. On the South Vietnam side they show a big statue of a woman and her child, waiting for her husband to come back from war. Then went to go visit the Vinh Moc Tunnels where a group of North Vietnams lived under ground for 6 years and I even met a gentlemen that was born in the tunnels. I tried to talk to him, but he was deaf due to the bombings. They had a hospital, places where people lived, a bathroom in the underground tunnel. There were three levels. It was definitely easier to get around than Chi Chu tunnels by Saigon.

Then we headed back and saw the rice paddy fields along the way. What a sight to see with the light rain the rice paddies which are a light green were glistening in the distance. We stopped to get gas and as one of the cars were backing up I suddenly heard 'Jingle Bell's', I thought what on earth is that. Later that night I was talking with my spanish friends Gemma and Anna and they told me when cars back up they play different songs, they even heard 'La Bamba', interesting I thought. That night was my last supper with my new spanish friends Gemma and Anna from Spain. We ended up eating at a place that didn't quite meet my cleaniness standards as some of the tablecloths had spots on them, but I decided to give it a go with them. To my amazment the food turned out to be good. I must say despite I have not had bad food in Vietnam yet.

Day 9: Hue

Well today left Hoi Ann for Hue, which was the former capital of Vietnam under the 13 emperors of the Nguyen dynasty from 1802 to 1945. I woke up to the rain, it was a nice change from the boiling hot weather that we have had here since I have been here in Vietnam. Took a minibus from Hoi Ann to Hue. Got to Hue, which is a beautiful city with the river running across it. Reminds me of London. Saw the Imperial Enclosure and the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City is within the Imperial Enclosure. Then headed for the Tomb of Tu Duc. The tomb and surrounding areas were pretty amazing to see. It was cold with a light rain and trees were green and some were orange it reminded me of alot of autumn in the northeast. It was serene and beautiful. I strolled along the side of the pond to look at the tomb of the emperor and his wife. Then headed to a pagoda. Found out that females can be monks as well, but they live in seperate pagoda's.

Day 8: Hoi An

Today I got up and went touring around Hoi An to look at the local sights, saw a couple of temples and saw alot of the Chinese influence with the pagoda looking structures. Then I headed for lunch and tried another of Hoi An's specialities 'white rose', a petite steamed dumpling stuffed with shrimp and tried the Le Brieur beer a local Vietnamese beer.

Then I decded to go on a tour of My Son, which translates to 'Beautiful Moutain' it was about 30Km from Hoi An. The drive over was a nice drive, we saw school children riding their bikes they all wear white. The girls wear long shirts and pants. Saw woman working in the rice paddie fields. My Son is nestled in a lush valley surrounded by hills. My Son was a religious center between the 4th and 13th century for the Cham empire. It was interesting to see that the architecture is so similar to Ankor Wat, we went inside some of the ruins and saw statues of Vishu, Brahma, Shiva, and Gnaesh. Some of the ruins were destroyed from the American bombs. Apparently theory has it that the Cham empire came from India and brought with them the Hindu religion. Vietnam seems to have a strong influence from the Chinese and the French and a bit of Indian influnence. Chinese with the pagodas, dress, and some of the food. French with some of the food, architeture, and the Vietnamese written language was created by a Frenchmen. Indian/Hindu influence with some of the aritecture. It's interesting to see how each of the SouthEast Asian countries are different, but have influenced one another.

I came back and had to try the last Hoi An speciality, which was yummy fried wantons. Basically they are fried wantons with crab meat, tomatoes, and corrinder on top and they put a dipping sauce over it. I had it with a lime lassi, which was very yummy. Finished off the night picking up my winter coat and party dress that I got tailor made, gotta get some. It's my last night in Hoi An I have enjoyed my stay in this quaint charming town.

Day 7: Hoi An

Today I took a Vietnamese cooking class. It was alot of fun, we took a tour to the local market, which had quite a distinct fish smell to it. Then we headed on the river boat to the cooking class which overlooked the water. We made a couple of different dishesm which included the spring rolls, eggplant in tomatoe puree, and vietnamese pancake. I notice that the Vietnamese use alot of rice crepe paper for their cooking. You can see the influence the French has had on the Vietnamese cusine with the crepese that they use for their rolls and baguette sandwhichs and various pastriese you find. Also the Vietnamese food uses alot of mint and corrinder. Hoi An is known for it's tailor shops and they are literally everywhere and at very cheap prices. Ended that night going to dinner with two spanish girls I met we tried the Hoi An speciality of Cao Lau, which is doughy flat noodles mixed with croutons, bean sprouts, and greens, with pork slices in a savory broth. We then walked around thec canal area. Hoi An is set around the water and if there is a full moon than the city puts out it's chinese street lanterns in various colors, it was beautiful sight to see.