Luang Nam Tha - Muang Sing - Hanoi

The day after I arrived in Ventaine was the start of the Laos New Year which involves four days of celebration. Its funny to have New Year on the 14th to 17th April, it seemed to be more of a religious festival than anything, it involved a lot of washing of Buddhas, lots of eating and drinking, fireworks, tying a white string around your wrist for good luck, having strangers throw water over you or having people cover you in a white powder.

I really wanted to be able to go to Luang Prabang which is an old French colonial city, where the focus of the festivities would be and yes, another world heritage site but the transport in Loas is not so great and it wouldn't be possible to both visit LP and visit the minority villages in the north in one week. The travel agent was a bit pessimistic about being able to find accommodation in LP over the NY weekend and I really wanted to see the minority villages as I had really enjoyed Sapa so much so I opted for the villages. When I mentioned Sapa to the travel agent, she said "yes, but that area has already been opened up to tourism". Now given that I had never been anywhere as remote as that before I wondered what more remoteness could there be? I soon found out... I took the bus from Luang Nam Tha to Muang Sing, it was really a truck with some bench type seats in the back. The good thing was it was open and the fresh air kept me cool, the bad thing was that people stand by the side of the road and throw water at any passing vehicle (see above re: water throwing). The other bad thing is that the roads are dirt tracks full of potholes and the bus/truck thing bounces along all over the places shaking you to bits. At one point the road was closed in front of us by two large concrete blocks. The driver just attached a cable to one and pulled it out of the way. I was to discover the road closing thing happens quite often (about three times a day) and its due to the Chinese building new proper tarmac roads with lines painted on them (oh bliss). At first I thought they did this out of some humanitarian desire to improve the infrastructure of poorer neighbouring countries, but no, its because they are leasing the land near them from the Lao people and farming it for all sorts of things like timber (wood pulp); water melons; potatoes. When the guide first said Lapa Trees (at least that what I think he was saying) I thought he said Laboratory as in laboratory farm (lapa tree farm). So I arrived at Muang Sing to start the three day trek around the Akha villages. They literally live on the land. They grow everything they eat, expect MSG which they are fond of and which they add to every dish. This is the only thing they buy from the market. On the first night, the guide asked me if I liked chicken and when I said yes, he came back with a live one. They put all the food in the middle of the table and you just help yourself, I mean you don't get a separate plate, you eat out of the dishes on the table. At first I found this really hard to do and the guide would give me a separate dish and put some soup in a bowl for me but I got used to it. He liked to tease me by saying I must eat the head and feet of the chicken as they are the best bits, but he asked the nice lady who made the food the remove the offending chicken head away from the table because I wasn't eating any of the chicken. They eat a lot of sticky rice (cold sticky rice), even with breakfast. They pick it up in their hands and squeeze it into a ball and then dip it into some really spicy sauce and eat it. I did this on the first day and the sauce was so hot it gave me hiccups. The children wear torn clothes or no clothes but they do go to school. I got the impression that the traditional costume was something the people only wore to impress me. There is a standpipe in the village which is the only source of water but I stayed in a luxury lodge with running water and a solar heated shower.

The young men have a sort of bachelor pad/hut built for them by the family and they can invite girls there to stay overnight. Now girls can say no if they don’t like the man but as recently as 2001 a girl was beaten for refusing to sleep with a man who had brought gifts to the head man of the village and “lost face” because the girl refused to sleep with him.

The villages have all been moved from the mountains to a valley closer to Muang Sing. Some people like the move because they have water and easier access to the town but some people decided to stay in the mountains because the air is cleaner and there is less disease. TB is a problem and people don’t have money to go to the hospital for treatment. The water supply was provided by a German charity which has been helping the villagers overcome opium addiction which was a big problem in the past.

Halong Bay - Vientiane

Halong Bay - yuck, yuck, yuck. I didn't like this, for one thing when there are a million junks, mine was a bit grubby, maybe I just didn't ask enough questions when I booked it and maybe the others are better but they all looked a bit tatty to me. Meals were included but everything else, even a coffee after dinner was extra, they didn't switch on the electricity in the rooms till about 6pm so no fan or hot water for a shower. Then they asked us to check out of our room at 9:30 the next morning, it was just a pain and not at all comfortable. The bathroom had chipped tiles and the water ran out of the sink straight onto the floor. Halong Bay is a beautiful collection of limestone outcrops / small islands, on one or two of the bigger islands there are limestone caves with interesting stalactites and stalagmites but people just throw rubbish in the sea and its disgusting.

I was pleased to get back to Hanoi and check into my lovely clean 15usd a night hotel room. I decided to treat myself to one of Hanoi's best restuarants, Bobby Chinn's, very modern and trendy and only 45 usd. Next day I decided to take a bit of a detour from Vietnam and visit Loas. I caught a flight from Hanoi to Vientaine and I've just booked a trip leaving tomorrow to visit the northern villages. This weekend is the Loas new year so it should be interesting. I have to say the currency thing has just gone out of the window here, they use three currencies - usd, thia bhat and the local loa kip. The Loas kip comes mostly in 5,000 kip bills and when change money at the airport, you get wads of them, eg the taxi from the airport cost 65,000 kip. When I booked the flight from Hanoi, it cost 242usd and to avoid the 4% commission that they charge for a credit card transaction, I got 4 million Vietnam Dong out of the bank in cash, I've stopped doing that now because its just so inconvenient.

Sapa

I just got back from a trip to Sapa, in the mountains North West of Hanoi. Its got to be one of the highlights of the trip so far, its so beautiful and the people are wonderfully happy and friendly. The region around Sapa is populated by ethnic minority groups living in villages of approx 200 or so. They really live on the land, growing rice and they have chickens and buffalo. I took a two day trek and stayed overnight in one of the villages. In just a few hours walking, we passed through three different villages, all with different dialects and different (very colourful) costumes. My favourites are the Black Hmong people, they are very friendly and the young women are stunningly beautiful. On the first day it was raining so much that we were soaked, I had a streaming cold and the malaria pills had made me throw up, luckily one of the ladies on the trip had some flu and cold tablets so that helped to stop my nose streaming. However, there was a thunderstorm during the night and next day, the path was just a mudbath, we were slipping and sliding all over the place. The village people follow the tourists all the way along the trail trying to sell trinkets and embroidery, its very very difficult to say no to the small children. I now own seven brass bracelets, four cloth bracelets, two cushion covers, a skirt and a keyring. One little girl who must have been about three or four years old followed one of the men in our group for about an hour, saying in a sing song voice all the way "you buy from me, you buy this one..." They just run along the path beside you either in wellingtons or in plastic sandals, I was wearing my expensive trekking boots bought in New Zealand and they were helping me through the slippy bits. I felt like a I had a personal trainer, my helper wouldn't leave my side and she set some pace dragging me up that hillside, of course after that its very difficult to say no when she asks you to buy her cushion cover...

Today I am in the internet cafe opposite the tour office, waiting for it to open. I'm going on a trip to Halong Bay, staying overnight on the boat (junk).

Singapore - Malaysia - Hanoi

Abel Tasman lived up to expectation. It is a beautiful coastal national park, we took a jet boat with the layaks on the back along the coast into Marine Reserve then we paddled back to the kayak landing point. We paddled around an offshore island which is the seal breeding ground and then along the coast. I was one of the more experienced at kayaking as I've done it a few times now and the guide was egging me on to paddle through the gaps in the rocks. At the end of the trip he said I should go out on my own next time which was a pleasing complement but as I was leaving the next day, I didn't have the opportunity.

Monday - Singapore
The flight was ten hours and Singapore is four hours behind NZ so by the time I arrived I was feeling quite tired. I had arranged to meet Pearly at the airport but as we have never actually met before I had no idea what she looked like and she was in the same boat. She's a smart lady however and we found each other. I was so delighted that she brought her husband and small daughter to greet me. I felt very happy because usually when I get off the plane its all the other people who are meeting friends, hugging and so on. We went straight to the famous Singapore seafood plaza to eat chilli crabs - delicious. The whole time in Singapore and Malaysia was just one big eating event, trying lots of different delicious local foods. At one point Pearly and her sister were joking with me that they eat dog in Vietnam which is true but I don't think they sneak it in and pretend its beef, I think they tell you up front that its dog. Then they told me that in China, they eat the brains of monkeys while the monkey is still alive. Just the thought of this makes me feel ill.

Pearly and her husband go to meditation in Malaysia every Saturday and they invited me. The meditation master (Telamaha) was delighted to see someone from Europe and offered to take me sightseeing in Malaysia, I wanted Pearly to come along too as he doesn't speak very much English and I don't speak any Mandarin. We set off on Thursday after I had spent a few days sorting out my visas for China and Mongolia. We visited Malaka, Kuala Lumpar, Batu Caves and Genting Highlands, we stayed with Telamaha's sister in KL. The view of Genting at night from KL is magical, its a little city of lights on top of a hill in the distance. We went did all the sights in KL and went up the cable car over the tropical rain forest to Genting, really really beautiful.

Telahama did all the driving and refused to let me pay for anything. We visited lots of great little local restuarants that served delicious food, it was wonderful. I am so good at using chopsticks now that when they gave me a knife and fork in Hanoi yesterday I didn't even notice it till halfway through the meal. I can even pick up peanuts and that is not easy. Last night in Hanoi I had the local grilled fish which was cooked in front of me at the table with fresh dill, green beans, parsley and spring onions, it was heavenly and it cost about three pounds.

We got back to Singapore late on Sunday night and my flight to Hanoi was at 10am the next morning. When I got to the hotel I slept for an hour to catch up and then I didn't even leave the hotel room till I had unpacked and sorted out what to keep and what to chuck. As I travel, I seem to collect things and there is only limited space in the bag so every so often some things either get sent home or just tossed if they are really worn out or grubby, this sometimes seems a bit strange to the hotel chambermaids but I have no option. For example, in Oz and NZ, backpacker hostels have a kitchen were you cook and meet other backpackers, here the food and hotels are so cheap no one does that. But I had some cooking oil, rice, pasta etc that I am not carrying around when there is no kitchen to use. There was an M&S in Singapore and I had managed to buy some new knickers that are not the flimsy kind but the good old M&S hard wearing ones that are just what you need when travelling.

Hanoi
The traffic here is mad, there are a million motorbikes, they don't always stop at red lights, they don't always drive on the right side of the road and they sound the horn all the time. Crossing the road is like a suicide mission, once you start to cross, you have to pray and keep walking as they will expect to go around you. If you want a real white knuckle ride, forget bungy jumping, take a motorbike taxi, its best if you close you eyes and just hang on. If you walk along the street carrying a guide book, people will hassle you to buy something or ask if they can practice English on you. Tonight I was sitting by the lake to cool off and ended up helping a student with his English homework which he got out of his bag and we went over together.

Women really do walk along wearing conical hats and carrying baskets of fruit and veg to sell. Prices are often quoted in USD which is a bit strange considering how much effort they went to to kick out the USA during the war... The exchange rate is 16,000 USD per Vietnam Dong or 29,000 pounds sterling per VND. I decided to give the Teva sandles another try (the flip flops I bought in Sydney were at end of life), this time they cost me 480,000 VND. I lost the will to haggle any more with the woman over whether I should pay 450 or 480.