Laos

Greetings from Laos!

We finished up our project at the TECC on Monday and caught a flight to Luang Prabang, Laos on Tuesday. Although the TECC had more hands on than any of our other projects and although it was a good experience overall, we were all ready to leave. The accommodations were quite awful, and we were all very sleep deprived and completely sick of eating the same thing everyday by the end of our 14 days. Some days at the TECC were absolutely great! On those days we got to do a lot of hands on work, and learned quite a bit. A typical day for us would start with a hike alongside our elephants out into the jungle to drop them off for the day. Upon returning we would make the rice-milk for the orphaned baby elephant we nick-named ‘Ricky’ and after it had cooled off we would feed him. We would also help with treatments which were all cleaning and dressing wounds. One day Matt and I even got to go out to a rehabilitation facility and treat some elephants there. They had everything from ‘man-killers’ to land mine victims. There was one elephant that had killed a total of 9 people! You should have seen the chains on it!

Other days at the TECC were not so good. These were the ones where we sat around and actually did nothing. Unfortunately there were far too many of these days for all of our liking. In North American culture, sitting around at work would definitely not fly…but in Thailand and other South East Asian countries, it is completely acceptable. It was a hard adjustment for us, as we felt uncomfortable feeling as though we should be doing something. For the most part, it was not TECC’s fault; there just was not a heavy case load.

So anyways, we spent two full days in Luang Prabang. It was such a quaint and beautiful town situated on a peninsula on the Mekong River. We spent one day exploring the town on some bicycles we rented for the day. We biked up to a large temple on a hill with a great view and had lunch overlooking the Mekong. Luang Prabang also had a fantastic night market which filled an entire street. Hmoung vendors would come out every night to barter for their beautiful silk scarves, paintings, clothing and carvings. We agreed that we could have purchased one of everything if we had enough money and suitcase room! There were also fabulous crepes filled with your choice of fruit, nutella, honey, etc. and delicious fruit shakes for about 75 cents CAD.

On our second day it was raining heavily in the morning and we lucked out when it let up in the afternoon. We hired a ‘taxi’ to take us out to the Kouang Si waterfall. The taxis here are quite unique. They are flat bed trucks with two benches running along the sides of the back and a roof. During our one hour trip out to the falls we had the unfortunate experience of running over a duck as we passed through a village, which was quite sad to see. On a brighter note, the waterfall was absolutely gorgeous! It was about 60m high, and spilled into a bunch of turquoise pools you could go swimming in. We hiked up to the top of the waterfall and edged our way out into the middle of the river. A make-shift fence had been put up to keep us from being swept over the falls. It was so beautiful, and we took some really great pictures. After our hike we were so hot and sweaty, and a swim in the cool water was exactly what we needed! It was so refreshing…Ryan and I used a rope swing to jump into one of the pools. On our way back to Luang Praband we picked up a Laotian family of 6…making it a total of 3 people in the cab, 6 tourists and 3 other of the family members in the back. Sometimes it was surprising the truck could even make it up some of the hills!

So today we took a bus from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng. It was supposed to be a 6 hour bus ride, but about 2 hours into the ride our bus broke down. The assistant to the driver was at the back of the bus trying to tinker with the engine when steam shot out all over him…giving him some pretty bad burns. He seemed to be alright after a while. So that put us about an hour behind schedule. The bus ride was really beautiful but also a bit nerve-wracking along a winding mountain road with no guard rails. Needless to say we eventually made it safe and sound. We explored Vang Vieng a bit, and it is a really interesting place. It is a completely tourist based town, with tons of bars and restaurants with cushiony seats and either ‘Friends’ or ‘Family Guy’ playing. You can literally find a place playing any season or episode of ‘Friends’…it is hilarious! We are planning on renting tractor inner-tubes and floating down the river, which is ‘the’ thing to do here. We are also hoping to rent some scooters and head out to some nearby caves for a day to explore them.

I really like Laos so far, however it is one of the poorer countries we have been to and definitely the least developed. It has a rugged beauty with sprawling mountains covered in dense jungle. It doesn’t seem as touristy either (relatively), which is something that we both really like.

Anyways, that’s all for now!!! Will write again soon when I get the chance!