Category: 2011 Cambodia Vietnam

 

We decided we would like to finish our holiday with something different so went to The Elephant Village some 20 kms north from Luan Prabang in the jungle. We arrived at this meticulously prepared resort where the mission statement is ‘saving elephants is our mission’. Laos was known as the Land of the Million Elephants but the elephant in Laos is now an endangered species.  Some 1,600 remain of which an estimated 560 still work in the forest harvesting timber.  These elephants face a bleak future of hard work and abandonment.  The aim of The Elephant Village is not only to rescue working elephants from the harsh abusive environment in which they must make a living, but give them a brighter future, allowing them to roam freely in the jungle, group together in herds, mate and start families. The activities with the animals plus the accommodation at the resort, provide funds to support the elephants.

When we arrived, we were taken by boat to the other side of the river.  There we took part in the morning wash.  The elephant lifts one leg which acts as a step, then you hold onto the ears and haul yourself up to sit right under the ears.  We can tell you that it made us quite nervous being so high up just hanging onto the ears.  The Mahout (trainer/handler) sits behind.  The elephant lumbers into the river and is instructed to sit down. Then you are given a scrubbing brush and you have to wash and scrub the elephant clean whilst sitting on top.  The younger, more lithe backpackers stood up, slid down to the tail and also, sat on the trunk.  We were quite happy to stay in one place! Michael lost his scrubbing brush and his Mahout went diving in the river to find it which left Michael alone on his elephant holding onto his Mahout’s mobile phone. A nervous experience. Afterwards a seat was tied on the Val’s cleaned elephant, and we went for a ride through the jungle.

We spent the rest of the morning exploring the resort and pool, finding out about the vet hospital and relaxing under a hut which had a wonderful view of the river, mountains, jungle and the village gardens.  A delightful lunch capped off the morning.

It was then back to Hanoi, Singapore and home, sweet home.

We had a wonderful time. Thanks to Yarra Travel Junction for the marvellous organisation. We had lots of fun and made new friends.

We think it’s Thursday but without the carpet in the lift at Hanoi we’re kind of not sure!  This hotel is in the French Colonial style and has some very beautiful gardens, lily ponds and our room overlooks the Mekong River.  It is very peaceful with a special ambience.  Strange also to see the Mekong River in another country after having boated on it on the Delta in Vietnam.  According to the guide, the Mekong is about 4,500 kms long and starts high up in the Tibetan Plateau.  We haven’t actually checked this out but everywhere we go there is the Mekong.

We were up at 5:00 this morning to see the parade of monks in the main street of Luan Prabang.  We had organised a bus from the hotel to take us there but soon found out we had paid for more than expected. We had just arrived in the bus when a man on a motor bike pulled up beside us, laid out a prayer mat, placed a carpet runner over the top of the mat then put a basket of sticky rice on the mat.  Over the top of the basket was a long shawl.  The driver indicated that it was for us.  We had only wanted to go to photograph the parade but now we were expected to be part of the giving of rice.  The driver placed the shawl over one shoulder and told us to kneel on the carpet runner. We later learned that the scarves represent the asking of the monks to intercede for a better future life. No way could we kneel on our wonky arthritic  knees.  I sat side saddle and Michael sat cross legged. We think this must have been a disrespectful position as at this, the bus driver was most upset and indicated that if we couldn’t kneel we should stand. All this happened by gestures, as the driver couldn’t speak English.

Every morning, over 200 orange-clad, barefooted monks come from every monastery in the city and join together to make one long queue. They carry containers and receive alms in the form of sticky rice from the people kneeling on prayer mats laid out on the pavement of the main street. The rice is taken back to the monasteries and offered as food and intercession to the ancestors of the alms givers.  Some of the rice is eaten by the monks.  We have trouble with this as the sticky rice, by this time, is handled by hundreds of people.  Our guide later told us that people have to have clean hands because if dirty rice is given, bad things will happen to the alms-giver.  This made us worry about how well we had cleaned our hands that morning!! After a few minutes, Michael decided that his ancestors had been appeased and that he was now allowed to take the promised photos, so I ended with 2 baskets of sticky rice.  One is supposed to roll only a small amount into a small ball but this was beyond me, so a few monks got a lot of rice, and the rest had to rely on the others who had more aptitude with the rolling thing.

We then returned to the hotel for breakfast and appreciated the chance to relax outside in the colourful gardens overlooking the river.

We then spent the morning in the Historical Old Town. We started at the fresh food market checking out the exotic fruits and vegetables, visited the National Museum which was once the Royal Palace of the King and visited more temples with lots of gold.  In the afternoon we took a leisurely 2 hour ride up the Mekong river to some caves containing thousands of gold lacquered Buddha statues. The caves are a destination for local pilgrimages, especially during the Lao New Year.

Over the past 4 weeks we have been on many different styles of boats but this was the most plush and comfortable.  It is called a “long tail boat”, 24 metres long, only 1.5 metres wide and finished in highly polished teak with intricate carvings.  Very comfortable for a nap after the early morning start!

Val forgot to mention the village we were taken to on the way to the caves, perhaps because it wasn’t imprinted on her mind like it was imprinted on mine. This village produces Meekong Whiskey, and it was pretty good stuff.  I had to taste all three varieties and the walk back to the boat, through lanes lined with ladies weaving and wood carvers, was a delight.

She also forgot to mention the sunset over the mighty Meekong on the way back.

Glad to be reminded that it was Wednesday by the carpet on the lift floor as we rode down to breakfast this morning.  Not sure how we’ll cope when we change hotels.  We also had our usual army escort.  The generals are having a long “conference”.  They are not very friendly and never smile or say hello.

Whilst waiting at the airport for our flight to, the Ancient Capital of Laos and a UNESCO preserved city, we did consider that it might have been quicker and more interesting to drive but after learning that it is a 10 hour ride up and down mountains we decided that flying is certainly an easier option even if less adventurous.

Luan Prabang is nestled in the valley of the Mekong River in norther Laos.  It is surrounded by beautiful country and many high mountains. Our new guide kept us busy the whole afternoon.  We visited Wat Mai, a temple renown for its golden statues and Wat Sensoukarahm which feathures a dazzling golden facade.  We finished the afternoon tour by climbing 400 steps to the top of Mount Phousi and enjoyed the panoramic if rather hazy views.  The night market had some handicrafts sold be Lao hill tribes and we found the quality and colours superior to Vietnam.  We wished we had saved our buying until Laos.

We found out that both our Vientiene and Luan Prabang guides are hoping to get married in two years.  They are busy saving as it is very expensive, what with paying dowries to the bride’s family and the huge guest list as everyone from past and present acquaintances must be invited and transport paid for if they are coming from a long distance.  As you can see we are quite nosy about our guides personal lives!

Dinner was at the Roots and Leaves restaurant and we were quite overwhelmed. Picture a deck floating on a lily pond, with a floodlit island covered by a big umbrella reflecting in the pool.  Add dancers plus musicians and you get the idea.  It was simply perfection. Food was good too.  A wonderful end to the day.

Last night Val and I had a great meal in the hotel restaurant and were entertained by Lao music and traditional dancing, very, very graceful and extremely skillful. An art that has to be learnt from a very young age when fingers and joints can be trained to bend to unbelievable extremes.

It was Tuesday, we knew this because the lift told us (they change the carpet every day). Reminded us of that wonderful English TV show The Teachers- where you are told the day in various funny ways.

Again we were escorted to the lift by our guard of Generals, captains or whatever they were, the hotel is surrounded by armed guards, and we feel completely safe.

Today we were picked up at nine, by our guide, Mr Varasan (call me San), and taken on a tour of local temples, starting with Wat Sisaket. This temple, San explained, was the only one left intact after the Thai invasion in 1828. We finished the temple tour at a very special place for San. It was at That Luang, one of the holiest sites in Laos, that 12 year old San entered the monastery to later become a monk. He spent eight years there, leaving when he was twenty. This, he explained, is normal in Lao society. Laos is a very Buddhist country and it is usual for the boys to be sent to monasteries to become monks and gain a very good education, as well as achieving goodness. Some stay, others like San, leave and resume an ordinary life. Girls achieve goodness and are looked after by marriage.  I like Buddhist countries.  The people are so nice, probably because there are so many Generals!

We finished off the tour at the victory arch. We weren’t going to tell him that we had been there yesterday, but we couldn’t climb all those steps again, so we broke it to him gently and we headed to our restaurant, possibly the best in Laos, The Kaolao, for an unbelievable lunch.

Next was the Morning Market, you have to see this place to believe, it was almost unbelievable. You can buy anything here and the quality was, yes you guessed. San even checked out a nice gold necklace, he is saving up to get married- a very expensive business- makes you wonder why they bother!

On the way home we got him to drop us on the banks of the Mekong, well our driver did, I havn’t mentioned him because I can’t remember his name. Val and I checked out the un-big statue of the first King and then back home James! We aim to check out the dancing again, but a light meal this time because we’re busting!   See you later.

Lyn and I have split company with Val and Michael to return to Melbourne – yes, we arrived safely home this morning Tuesday.  For the next couple of days, Michael is providing the posts of the rest of their trip of 5 nights in Laos.  Thanks Michael.

….and then there were two…..

We left our beloved “leaders” at Ha Noi airport at eight in the morning, leaving them to their marathon wait for their flight to Singapore.  I sincerely hope that they did not drink any of that indescribable liquid sold as ‘coffee’ or ate any of those salad rolls, last seen ‘walking’ along the shelf.

Arriving in Vientiane, we were met by our guide, Sen, and driven to our run-down, flea-pit of a hotel-only to be greeted by the entire Lao armed forces! They were having a little get together and most of the generals seem to be on our floor. We had been ‘upgraded’ and were installed on the six floor-where all the rooms, have their occupant’s names on the doors (ours didn’t), but we didn’t mind because our room is just sensational (Unbelievable).  Pictures are included.  We have our own ‘ming vase’ in the ‘vestibule’, a bar, sitting room, separate bedroom with chaise lounge, two TVs plus two toilets and basins! The only drawback is there so many places to put things that when we tried to leave the suite for our exploration of Vientiane there were cries of “have you seen my glasses, watch, camera?”

There were dramas to be had at the ATM whilst trying to get out the millions of Kipp needed for a few dollars but we were a little concerned when the millions didn’t eventuate.  Had our bottomless credit card emptied and left us destitute?  We tried again in the next ATM, this time a seedy little box on the street.  It gave us some cash but decided it liked our card so much it would keep it!  Val asked the lovely person in the shop and she phoned the bank and insisted that they come out to us and rescue the card.  Meanwhile Michael realized that we didn’t have any identification on us-back in the hotel safe, so went back to get the passport.   However, when the guy arrived, Michael had not returned so he handed over the card anyway.

We discovered the Patuxay Monument, Laos’ version of the Arc de Triomphe.  Of course we had to climb to the top to photograph the views.  The whole area is very beautiful with lakes, gardens and fountains.

Even on the drive from the airport we noticed that there were more cars than motorbikes compared to Vietnam.  There are heaps of 4 wheel drives all in excellent condition and surprisingly well behaved on the road.  We have been so used to traffic lights that are not obeyed in Vietnam, that when once we tried to cross the road on a red light because we had waited so long, we were looked at crossly by the locals.

Whilst having our dinner we were entertained by some dancers and musicians. Unfortunately we didn’t have our camera with us.  Next time!

Today as we look out over the Sa Pa Valley the mist is very dense and we can only see white.  Yesterday, when the weather was fine, our Hotel is ‘hanging’ off the side of a cliff and we can see most of the valley we have walked around in the last two days.  We have breakfast, which is not the best we have had on this great tour of Vietnam, and are picked up at 8:00am for the long 100km drive to Bac Ha.  I say ‘long’ because it takes over 3 hours.  There is a short 10km section of divided road but the rest is steady going although the road surface is smooth most of the way.

Bac Ha market is the largest market in the area, situated in the small town of Bac Ha.  Each Sunday morning, it is literally a riot of color as many different ethnic groups such as Flower Hmong, Phu La, Black Dao, Tay, Nung minorities, gather to buy and sell.  We spend 2 hours exploring the interesting market, where ‘anything’ is available.  From textile wear to handcrafts, food, raw meat (guts and pig head included).  The non-vegetarians amongst us become instant vegetarians for lunch.  There is a ‘live’ market too.  Chickens, ducks, dogs, cock fighters, geese, and water buffalo.  Lyn and I buy ‘nothing’ although we are pressured many times, “Buy from me?”  The quality of the handcrafts is good and durable but our suitcases are full and heavy.  We see a guy having a haircut and his nostril hair cut was included.

We find a place to have lunch at a ‘tourist’ restaurant.  The vegetarian set menu is the request – yes, there is omelet included, again.  If eggs are aphrodisiac, then we will need to put out the ‘Please Do Not Disturb’ sign on our return home.

Leaving Bac Ha, we wind down the valley to a stop where we leave the van and start a 30 minute walk through a farming area and to a canoe pickup point.  The canoe is iron with a motor on the end of a shaft.  The steering is in the method you move the shaft around.  We make our way down the Chay River and experience the picturesque scenes on the riverbanks.  They are ‘mining’ sand from the river.  We then re-join our van towards Lao Cai and visit the boarder to China.  There are people carting large loads of cargo across the bridge, from China into Vietnam.  Perhaps the loads contain ‘copy-cat’ products for sale in Vietnam.

We have a meal in a restaurant in Lao Cai before boarding the ‘first class’ express to Hanoi at 8:00pm.  We ‘stuff’ ourselves into our room and take up the sleeping position for 8-9 hours.

We awake at 6:00am but lie in waiting listening to the roosters all around the valley, and for the first person toget moving in our homestay.  Amazingly, none of us get up during the night as it is too difficult to get out of the mosquito net, climb down the sqeeky stairs, out the front door and along the house to the loo.  It is a full flush toilet but does not take paper – there is a bin beside for that stuff.

After a chat about the hardness of the bed, we are served tea and coffee outside looking over the Sa Pa valley.  The young daughter enjoys watching herself on the video and becomes a friend of us all.

The work of cutting the rice, thrashing it, sifting the chaff and bagging it has started for the day.  Breakfast is pancakes or, crepes – they are thin and covered with honey and banana; they taste better than McDonalds.

After packing, we start our walk for the day.  It is much shorter than yesterday and the track has dried out somewhat.  The slower pace gives us time to take photos we didn’t have a chance to take yesterday.  I wish I had my tripod as the movement in the fields is worth having done well – oh well, we will just have to put up with some jitter when the DVD is complete.

We all notice the difference of the faces.  The men and ladies’ faces tell stories of hard work, the children that of culture being engrained in them, but given a chance and they will beam.  Lots of photos are being taken with big lenses to fill up the space.

The area we are passing through is Giang Ta Chai village of the Red Dao minority.  Their clothes are hardy, black, and many have embroidery of high quality.  The many ladies and girls along the walk are trying to sell us handcrafts, some are the greatest rip off merchants around, we find, when we check out a local handcraft store.

The harvest is busy.  It is interesting to notice a couple that have a table set up to do their gleaning.  The rice falls down a hole and there are a couple of fans blowing the chaff away from the pile of rice.  As the rice is separated, kids roll down the piles of chaff before it is ‘fired up’.  Then the rice is spread out on tarpaulins to dry and bag for use during the coming year, for in this region, there is only the one harvest per year instead of the two or even three.

We walk around 5kms to where we meet our van, which takes us back up the valley to Sa Pa.  Fortunately, we are able to check in to our Hotel early and we are able to get a shower before lunch.

Sa Pa town seems to be just one big market.  Traders are all over the place.  The shops market good wares.  There are a number of “North Face” shops selling Gortex clothing at a very cheap rate.  $55 for what appears to be genuine product of the quality sold in Australia for over $400.  Keens walking shoes and sandals are $35 each instead of $150-200.  Good quality ponchos are just $8.  So … we buy.  Massages are going cheap too – 60 minute foot and leg massages for $5, 75 minute body massages for $12.  Lyn and I take the body massage after we have eaten dinner and made final purchases.

We retire at 10pm after packing ready for a big day ahead, which includes an overnight train trip back to Hanoi.

I awake soon after midnight – the train is stopped.  Half an hour and a train passes us going the other way.  The air conditioner is working and all are snoring their heads off.  I play iPhone Sudoku for an hour and a half before I fall off to sleep again.  I awake at 5:10am thinking that the iPhone has fallen out of my hand and onto the floor.

A ‘tap, tap’ comes along the carriage as the conductor wakes us as we near Lai Chai, just 3km from the China/Vietnamese border.  There is no-one on the platform to help us with our baggage so we walk 9 carriages to the station exit to find our guide, Hai, waiting for us.  We board a Hyundai van for our one-hour trip to Sa Pa.

It is raining and quite foggy.  Sa Pa is a mountain town.  It is very busy with lots of tourists finding breakfast and walking gear before setting off on a trek through the expansive valley we see ahead.  We have breakfast in a little restaurant from a set menu we can choose from, but only the one item. Hai comes back and announces that Lyn and Val don’t have the right legs for walking the trek planned for today.  “How dare you Hai!”  The shorter trek is planned.

Lyn and Val believe it is time for new ponchos. We find a shop with good quality ponchos at $8.50 each.  They are very bright but we buy these iridescent monstrosities and make our way back to a meeting point we have pre-arranged with Hai.  He suggests that gumboots are the best to journey in, and the girls think so too; so off again to buy Chinese gumboots.  Lyn, Val and Michael come back 30 minutes later in a pair of gumboots each, as well as two pair of new socks each; fit to be trekkers in the Sa Pa region.  I decline the idea and stick with my Keen sandals.

We finally set off, with an equal number of hill-tribes ladies in tow.  We try to fend them off but they stay by us.  We find they are looking for work.  “What work?” you say.  They turn out to be the best ‘walking sticks’ you can own.  Strong hands are available the minute the track gets slippery and hard to stay upright on.  Now, these ladies are worth knowing.  They have steady feet and strong bodies to take even our weight when it starts to slither along.

We take the track to the bottom of a deep valley.  It is a misty rain when we start but we end up shedding our glorious ponchos.  I slip over twice and Val and Michael the once.  The others are very clean.  We see the people tending their crops and gardens despite the conditions.  The scenery is not real bright but you can tell that on a clear day, beauty would surround you.  Rice fields on the mountainside are everywhere.  The track is muddy and slippery.

At our lunch spot, we farewell the ladies by purchasing  some of their handcrafts.  Lunch is ‘sub-way’.  White rolls, tomato, cucumber, omelet, and ham.  Some of the drinks are new to us.  Lemon tea in a can, guava juice in a can, watermelon juice in a can.  Coke had a rest for me for the day.

After lunch, we trek further down the valley to a village of minority tribes. There we see lots of other trekkers, some whom we saw back in Sa Pa.  We find our homestay and sit down to a cup of green tea.  Some of us take a shower.  I find the bed and go to sleep, with out a problem, for 90 minutes.

Dinner is served at 6:00pm after an entre of “Vietnamese” Fries.  We eat with the family of husband and wife, a couple of cousins, grand parents, and a daughter who is so cute; all she needs is to know English and she would be western.  The meal is made up of rice, chocos, tofu, vegetable stir-fry, egg omelet, buffalo meat, pickled bamboo shoots, spring rolls and watermelon.  Following the meal there is nothing much to do so we are in bed soon after 8:00pm.  The bedroom is upstairs and the bed is a thin mattress under mosquito nets.

We wake up early.  The security light is beaming into our room.  The room is comfortable and we have slept under mosquito nets appropriately hitched to poles from the corners of our beds.  Breakfast is different – back to very basics.  Would you believe French bread sticks, omelet, butter and jam?  Oh!  We have tea or coffee provided – but just the one cup each, is included in the menu.  We pay for the extra one – 1,000 dong (50c).

Cuc Phuong National Park is an area shared by three provinces

We set off on a 20km ride to an ‘easy’ walk of 6 km.  The drive is on a concrete road that meanders through the tall, tight undergrowth.  We arrive at the starting point and get packs and water sorted out.  Our destination is to a 1,000 year old tree.

Generally, the track is good, wet but places slippery in places.  After 500 meters, we are convinced our guide is not quite spot on – this is a category 3-4 walk, not a category 2 as has been explained to us.  The steps get steeper, the undergrowth denser.  An interesting little lizard is steadfast to, and the colour of a rock.  Ants are nipping a worm to kill it for future eating.  Long legged spiders give Lyn a fright and so the rest of the trek is taken up ensuring they don’t get near her again – her fear of leeches is still prevalent.

We make it to the top of many hills.  It starts raining and on goes the ponchos again.  It is just a passing shower and hardly penetrates the high overhead tree foliage.  Steps, and more steps.  Val slips over 3 times, that I notice, without injury.  We arrive back at the van for transport back to the visitor’s center.

We are too late to visit the Primate Rescue Centre, and so have lunch before setting off on our return to Hanoi City.

The Hanoi Hilton is kind to us in letting us use the Fitness Center to shower and prepare for our train travel tonight.  We sit around in the foyer and enjoy a ‘western’ snack before being collected for the train station.

Arriving at the station, we are met by crowds of people jostling for a space between the maze of motorbikes and buses doing the same as us.  A guy sees us not sure where we should be going and grabs our train tickets, takes a look, and says “follow me.”  We are off – on a journey not to be forgotten.  He finds the person who allocates our berth on the train.  Then off to where the train is parked in the marshaling yards.  We reach the train 5 minutes before the engine hooks on to the train.  Our ‘helper’ asks for his tip for service.  It has to be $2.  Oh well, what the heck and we pay.  When we struggle up into the carriage we eventually understand the numbering system.  Ah, the number is our ‘berth’ for the night.  A small room with four beds, four people, four people’s luggage is not much spare space.  We giggle – heaps.

The train leaves 10 minutes after scheduled departure time at 9:10pm.  It seems the position to be in for comfort, is the sleeping position.  So we take up our positions for the next 8 or 9 hours; sudoku books and pens at the ready, or iPhone/iPad for games to be endured.  By 10:30pm we have all fallen asleep.