Zip lining in the mountainous jungle of Laos

Thursday, June 29
Cindy stayed back, but the boys and I joined Geoff and his boys for a morning of zip lining.  Once again, incredible.  Sixteen runs, the longest being 300 m long.  Going through the jungle on the side of the mountain, with a beautiful vista of rice fields below.  And the constant clouds hugging the mountains make the place look majestic.  Even the truck ride straight up the side of the mountain to get to the start was interesting, and the final drop by pulley had us free fall 7 m before being lowered gently to the platform.
Then for the afternoon we tubed down the river.  The bars were quiet for this time of year, but the antics of the people there were still extreme.  Lots of shotgunning and taking in balloons of laughing gas to get high, then back into a fast flowing deep river.  Wonder why they had one year with 22 tourist deaths.  Three girls coming down the river at the same time as us were smashed and loud.  Do not even believe they notice the incredible mountain view they were next to.  What a shame.  The boys were not impressed with the bars, we are so pleased as parents.
That night we went for a walk back to the airstrip and found out it was the one used in the Air America movie.  I knew it!  Korean hot pot for dinner and then we said our farewell to our new friends.  What a great couple of days in Vang Vieng.

Ugly town, but fantastic!

Wednesday, June 28
We almost did not make our tour this morning due to Luke being feverish, but a couple of Tylenol had him up and moving.  Glad it worked out as we ended up on a tour with Geoff, an Aussi working in China who is on holiday with this two boys, who are 9 and 10.  They matched well with our kids right off the back.  What a great day!  Started with getting into an inner tube and floating through a natural tunnel system we are thinking was about 500 m long.  Head flashlights made viewing excellent, but the rock is hard on the head.  We then kayaked down the river, and the panoramic view is absolutely amazing.  There are bars along the river, and we pit stopped in for a swim and a drink.  After the kayaking, we then drove out to the blue lagoon, this small lagoon with a rope swing and a branch about 6 m high to jump off.  Lots of fun, but the Asian tourists were crazy with their belly flops and jumping in groups on top of each other.  We then had a nice dinner together and called it a day.

The road to Vang Vieng

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Made the drive from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng today.  We joined a couple from the Netherlands and shared a private mini van to make the 160 km drive, taking about 3 ½ hours.  The new road takes much less time than the old road twists and turns through a steady stream of mountains.  Our driver Noi was very good, and therefore allowed us to enjoy the drive, as opposed to riding in fear of death.  The cloud cover made for spectacular viewing.  At just over the half way point we drove through some heavy rains, and in the process came across rocks and mud that had slide onto the road.  Very exciting.  The signs stating "Charp Curves, drive slowly" were not to be ignored.

We got into Vang Vieng around 1 pm, and it was hot, of course.  A walk around the town shows it to be one of the uglier towns on the planet, with the most incredible backdrop of mountains ever.  In the middle of town is an old abandoned airstrip that now hosts night markets.  Wonder if this is the Air America “the US government is not operating out of Laos” type of airstrip.  After organizing a kayaking trip for tomorrow, we have a delicious sandwich for dinner, with incredibly good mango smoothies.  As we prepare for bed, the party town nature of Vang Vieng shows its ugly head, with a young girl (19ish and maybe local) having what we believe is a drug induced fit, resulting in her screaming in the lobby and scaring the kids.  A big group of people surrounding her eventually resulted in her either falling asleep or deciding to be quiet.  The rest of the night was quiet.
 

It's just a waterfall.

Monday, June 26, 2017

We had debated on going to the Kuang Si Falls.  We have seen lots of waterfalls and is it worth going.

But we had people say that the falls are very nice and you can swim there in the pools at different levels.  We booked a van, but then it rained most of the night and we again debated.  Again, we have seen lots of spectacular waterfalls.  After another early morning watching the alms giving, this time with the boys, we had breakfast and left our hotel at 7:30 am for the hour drive (30 km) to the falls. 

This little trip ends up being one of the trip highlights.  Wow!  Upon first entering the area, there is a bear rescue area with Sun and Moon bears.  They look like our black bear, but smaller and with a while crest on there chest.  The bears are harvested for their bile.  We then entered the first pool.  Upon my entering into very refreshing water, I was startled to find that the fish were biting my feet.  Stomping around in the water scared them away, but standing still resulted in instant nibbling.  Then I remembered seeing a show years ago about this place in SE Asia were people went for foot manicures by putting their feet into the water and the fish would eat the dead skin off their feet.  After a while, we were all enjoying the foot pedicure.  Very weird for a few prairie dwellers.  We then headed up to another higher level for another swim and providing our feet for fish food, and then another.  Eventually we hit the top waterfall which is magnificent.  The whole landscape is so perfect, it looks like a man-made waterfall in Vegas.  Absolutely stunning.

Acting as fish food.

About a km in on our way back to town we came across a moped accident.  A Brazilian woman with her daughter heading up to the falls went off the road and the mother’s knee ended up into a cement post.  After some discussion, we finally managed to get her into a vehicle to get her to the hospital.  They are to fly back to Brazil tomorrow, but I am doubtful that will be happening for a few days.  Not sure what was broken, but it sure did not look right.  The boys decided then that maybe travelling by van instead of moped is alright.

The heat today was intense, but this cooled off around 5 pm with a massive half hour downpour.  Must be only 35 now.

The top waterfall

The difference between a Novice and the Monk

Sunday, June 25, 2017

Cindy and I were up early this morning to watch the monks receive alms from the locals.  This is a 5 am daily ritual in Luang Prabang.  The locals purchase rice balls and distribute them to the monks as they pass by on the street by our hotel.  This is very important for the monks as this is their morning food.  After breakfast, the family biked over to the Big Brother Mouse program, designed to connect travellers and locals, providing the locals the opportunity to learn English, and the travellers the opportunity to meet local people.  Nate was a hit, and the other kids were calling him the teacher.  Locals ranged from about 9 to 22 years old.  One of the local guys had been a novice up until this year.  A novice is a monk in training and are identified by only having their robe over one shoulder.  At age 20, a novice becomes a monk and would then have both shoulders covered.  Kids will become novices because they may come from poor families, and this provides them with a free education, but they do a lot of manual labour.  And our guys new job after dropping out of monk school… a bartender at the local pub.  After our visit here, we stopped at the hotel before we planned to go for a bigger bike ride.  While in our room, our hotel rented one of our bikes out (for a second time) and dashed our plans as we were now down to four bikes.  We then went out for a walk of the town.  Evening back at the market had Cindy in her prime negotiating for items.  Her attempts of negotiating with a young girl for a couple of hats was quite humorous.  The local merchants at the market always start very high, and you can usually knock about 40 to 50 % off.  This girl moved from 200 000 kip to 199 000 kip, a drop of just over 18 cents, and she was not going to move more than that.  The boys then enjoyed another chicken breast dinner followed by mango milkshakes and banana pancake desserts.  They are still impressed with the food. 

Local kids playing in the Mekong River

Welcome to Laos

Saturday, June 24, 2017

Up at 4 am to catch a 5 am taxi for the airport.  As we head out, Luke finds his flip flops missing.  In many Asia hotels, one leaves their footwear at the front door and wear hotel flip flops up to their room.  The girl at the desk with the manager determined that one of the other guest would have taken them.  She then heads up stairs with Luke and starts pounding on doors.  The first guy wakes up and opens the door, she heads in and checks the shoes.  After no luck, a confused hotel guest is allowed to go back to sleep.  The second room she heads into produces Luke’s flip flops.  Things you would never see back home, Luke was impressed how she would just head into the room once the sleepy guest would crack open the door.

The flight is uneventful, although the boys were a little concerned with being dropped off on a bus in front of the plane which was a twin prop 70 seater.  Our arrival into Luang Prabang Airport was very scenic as we land between little mountain ranges.  At customs, we were thrilled to see that Canadian visas cost more than any other nation in the world.  $42 US each, plus a $1 US each processing fee.  Laos better be good!  And as of 9 pm, we are thrilled with Laos.  After settling into a very nice guesthouse, we headed for a walk on the main street.  What a pleasant and major difference from Vietnam.  Normal traffic, soft sales, and friendliness.  We find the restaurants on the main street to be expensive for Asia, so we head down a side street and find a noodle shop.  Dirt floors, home made table and bench, and some excellent noodle soup.  Now we are talking.  In the evening, we head back into town to check out the night market.  After a purchase of some Laos slippers, we head down the main local food court.  The kids are thrilled as the Laos food is much better than Vietnamese, not as oily being the main difference.  The boys each have a chicken breast on a stick, and Luke gets a buffet bowl of local food for 15 000 kip (2.50 Cnd).  On the way out, the boys get some little mini pancake / sweet cakes that are delicious as well.  Everyone is excited to eat tomorrow, a first time in a long time for that. 

It is a small world.  During a walk to young children come running up to us and ask if we are the Canadian family that was in Australia.  Cindy recognizes them as a family we had talked to in Melbourne.  They take us to their parents who are at a restaurant and we spend the next hour catching up on each other’s travels.  Ends up we had gone to the game footy game in Melbourne, and would have been sitting in the same section.  They will be returning home to Hamilton in mid July after almost a year abroad. 

Tourism gone bad

Friday, June 23, 2017

After a noisy night from all the party action and traffic on our street, we woke to a funeral parade.  The casket was being pushed on a cart down the street followed by a four man band, who despite their small numbers were very loud and actually could carry a tune.  Then we were off on another tour.  This one of the Mekong Delta is a prime example of tourism gone bad, with excessive over tourism.  After a couple of hours on a cramped mini bus in which I was seated next to a teenage Vietnamese boy who was not pleased at having to sit next to me.  A couple attempts at conversation were met with a quick look away and out the window.  Even more petrifying to the young man was his falling asleep and having his head roll onto my shoulder.  He then overcorrected and banged his head into the window.  Though he was going to cry, but he toughed it out.

The tour had us boat over the Mekong River (which is huge and over 35 meters deep) to a honey factory, and then to a coconut candy factory, then a 1 km ride on a cart being pulled by a malnourished horse, then a ride in a paddle boat down a narrow side channel.  The paddlers were very skilled to maneuver in a small water way packed with other tourist boats.  Next, a stop for some fruit and live musical entertainment by some poor girls who will never make it far.  We then had a tasty little lunch at a spot specially designed for the tourist, with climbing ropes and other entertainment.  Final stop, the big Budda’s.  Happy Budda, Sleeping Budda, She Budda, they were all there.  How tough are we?  The boys went to check out one building but were kicked out by a monk.  Tail between oiur legs, we then headed back for Saigon for our last night in Vietnam.

The Cu Chi Tunnels

Thursday, June 22, 2017

Up early and off to the Cu Chi Tunnels.  The two hour bus ride takes us through a factory employed by people disabled by the Vietnam War, either directly or by birth defects.  Seems if you are disabled, you are forced to work in what look like very undesirable conditions.  Then off to the tunnels.  This tour was fantastic.  Luke and I shoot ten bullets out of  M1 American rifle (unfortunately the AK 47’s were not available), we walked down 100 meters of the 250 km of tunnels in the area.  They also demo’ed the horrible booby traps that the Viet Con had devised.  Everything for a slow painful death.  The tunnels we went down are quite a bit bigger that the originals.  The Vietnamese are a small people, and the Americans were described by our guide as slow due to their size from eating too much KFC and drinking beer, making slow like turtles.  The final video was interesting, as it was created from the Viet Con perspective, who had developed a hate for the American bullets and bombs. 

Now that is traffic!

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

We have a taxi from the hotel waiting for us when we arrive.  He has been waiting since 5:30 am, our planned arrival time, and it is now 7:30 am.  Again, the traffic is amazing, and Ho Chi Minh City is far more congested than Hanoi.  We drive in very tight quarters to all around us, and I am still amazed that we have not witnessed a crash (or a smash as the Aussi’s would say) as yet.  I had stated my perceived driving rules earlier, but I still have not determined when traffic lights are actually used, and when they can be ignored.  Seems that once an intersection is a certain size, then the lights seem to be in effect, but I am not sure what the cut off is.  Still impressed with the ability of people to make a left turn by driving into oncoming traffic and then working their way over in to their own lane on the right side. 

Spoke to soon.  Went for a walk toward the city square, and on route two taxi’s side swiped each other.  Did not see the actual collision, but did get to watch the near brawl after.  The one driver jumped out and ran over to the other car, and was very aggressive.  The other driver then got out of his vehicle with a steel pipe.  Not sure if he hit the other driver, but it seemed to settle him down a bit.  They then made their way out of the middle of the intersection and to the side of the road.

Our walk extended to the Ho Chi Minh tribute square at the base of the Tony Stark office building.  Although renamed Ho Chi Minh City after the communist leader, the locals here still refer to it as Saigon.  The north may have won, but this is still the south.  We headed into McDonalds for a drink during a massive downpour.  The rain coming through the fixtures and fan in McDonalds was very impressive.  Glad it is not my roof.

That is a lot of garbage

Tuesday, June 20

There was a strange line across the water in Nha Trang?

Tuesday, June 20

A quiet day in Nha Tang.  We go to the beach a couple of times, but the boys are too disgusted by all the garbage to go for a swim.  We all agree that if we had come here for a beach holiday, this would have been deeply disappointing.  We have been spoiled by the beaches and surf in Australia.  Street life is what I love in these countries.  Knowing that this is everyday life is fascinating.  The barber on the street having a snooze, the mini restaurants that pop up on every street corner.  Anything goes.  And again, the electrical organization around the hydro poles is incredible.  We stay at our hotel until 7:30 pm and then for the first time since Capetown, load our backpacks onto ourselves and go for a walk.  It is about a mile to the train station and we decided (Cindy and I) that we needed to do some actual backpacking.  The boys are very good about it, and with the sun being down, the walk is very pleasant.  Motorcycles do a little more to avoid me know as I now believe I have a decided weight advantage over them.  We board our train just prior to 9 pm.  We thought that the overnight soft seat from Da Nang to Nha Trang was a step down from the nice sleeping berth we had on Luke’s birthday, this train is a definite welcome to the world of backpacking for the boys, and a return to old times for Cindy and myself.  The car is full, thankfully we have assigned seating, and after our seats are vacated we get settled.  We are the only tourists on this car.  People are sleeping in the aisles and under the seats, and there is garbage everywhere.  We all have are jackets for the AC shock, but unfortunately the AC only works occasionally on this train, so it is quite hot and humid on board.  We have multiple stops during the night, a couple lasting close to an hour, to allow other trains by.  We arrive in Ho Chi Minh City a couple hours after our scheduled arrival time.  Glad to be off the train, and believe it might be the last overnight journey for this trip, and hopefully any other trip in the future.

The beaches look good...

Monday, June 19
Nha Trang is a famous get away in Vietnam due to the impressive beach that highlights the city waterfront onto the South China Sea.  The beach is miles long and is beautiful.  After having a snooze, we went out for a swim in the afternoon.  After checking things out, and determining the water might not be that safe due to the pollution, we headed back.  Cindy and I returned to the beach about 45 minutes later to take some pictures, and found the beach packed with thousands.  As the temperature cooled, and maybe as people got off work, the place filled up.  From afar the beach looks beautiful, but as one walks down the beach, the garbage is appalling.  Bags of garbage left, stuff washing onto shore, what a shame.  We have been explaining to the boys issues with infrastructure that do not permit the standard to cleanliness that we would expect in Canada, or compared with beaches in Australia and South Africa.  But ultimately garbage gets thrown onto the ground because that is what is done here.
Nha Trang at night is very nice (harder to see the garbage on the beach).  The beach walk has many water fountains and it is very busy.  A festival is going on and the activities are plentiful.  After a few days in smaller cities, we are back at having to be cautious and brave once again in our efforts to cross streets.  I understand that our street crossing abilities will be even more tested in Ho Chi Minh City.

Da Nang to Nha Trang Overnighter

Restaurant serving chicken.

Sunday, June 18, 2017
Today was a day of waiting around.  Our train did not depart from Da Nang until 8:45 pm, fortunately we were allowed to keep one room until 5:00 pm.  We did not swim today though, as the night before resulted in a lot of phlegm coating the pool, and this morning the staff were using mass quantities of chlorine as the fix.  Went for a walk to get some bread, and ended up buying some great sandwiches for 20 000 D each (just over a dollar).  Our taxi van picked us up at 6:00 pm to take us from Hoi An to the Da Nang train station.  Ended up being a 50 minute taxi ride.  Da Nang is a huge city, and as we found out later, the third largest in Vietnam.  The main bridge is in the shape of a massive lit up dragon, very impressive.
The overnight train was not quite the luxury we had from Tam Coc to Hue the week earlier.  The sleeper berths were booked, so we took the soft seats which are far more economical.  After nine hours though, not a very soft seat.  And as per tradition in developing countries, they do not put a reasonable control on the AC on the train, and we all froze during the night, even with jackets on. 39 C in the day, 15 C on train.  We woke up to a beautiful sunrise over the South China Sea, to the sound of the local hacking up of a lung, and to loud local music being piped over a very poor train speaker.

Standing on top of our shadows.  Tough finding shade at noon in Hoi An.

 

The Different Sounds

 Hoi An has many stage performances going on at any given time.  The volume is cranked to painfully deafening levels.  This packed out show had three fire fighters doing a singing number with a Village People type dance number.  This was about as close as we could get without hearing damage.
The Asian culture continues to expel huge amounts of phlegm at any time.  Last night at our pool, the boys decided they had to vacate as some of the adults on a tour group were letting the loogies fly in the pool.  This, along with the all favorite nose blast, was more than enough to get them out quickly.  The experiences we have had with people letting loose with horks has been disgusting, and amusing.  The polite elderly lady who was asking about our trip prior to stepping between Luke and myself to spit into a pool was impressive  Luke thought her loogie grew legs and swam away.  Our overnight train ride had a man lose a lung as our morning wake up call.  And every now and again we will see a sign that prohibits spitting, but definitely not enough of them.  The benefit of witnessing the Asian spitting culture, the boys feel this is disgusting and have vowed to not be spitters.  The trip is paying off.
Nate continues to get petted occasionally, but Levi's death stare seems to give locals the message that he is not to be petted.

Another day in Hoi An

The Chinese are certainly the most travelled population now. This long line of Chinese tourist were sent out on their tour of the city.  The departure was well choreographed, and we then saw them later motoring down the street.  Levi thought it might be the grade class of '07 - 1907.

 Darwin might have been on to something..  A common sight on the streets are locals getting their grey hairs plucked out.  This three some was a little more interesting to watch.  They are very involved in their work.  And as I have mentioned, it is hot here.  How hot?  Well, not only is the barber shirtless, so is his customer.  Tried to convince the boys to go in for a haircut, but it was a no go.

And Luke has found his grad suit.

But it was decided not to purchase the family set.

City of Lanterns

Outdoor market.

Wednesday, June 14

Candles floating down the river.

Hue is the city of lanterns, and a textile and tailoring centre for Vietnam.  Cindy questions the legitimacy of the advertised 100% silk scarves, and noted that the surging is not the straightest she has seen, but if you want a suit or shirt made up, this is the place.  Today we took Luke's backpack to the shopping centre to get fixed.  The first flight of our trip on Iceland Air had shredded a couple of straps that were deemed non repairable.  After finding a translator in the sewing area, a lady agreed to sew up the straps.  Although we overpaid at 50 000 dong (told it should cost no more than 40 000 dong), paying $3.00 instead of $2.40 will be absorbed by Luke's quickly dwindling university fund.  The outdoor market stretches outside the shopping centre and is a very interesting, and busy, place to walk along.  Narrow, with lots of people walking and pushing through on bikes and motocycles.  Always enjoy the ladies with the slabs of meat on a crate with their homemade swatters keeping the flies away.  What is additionally amazing is that the women working outside in the heat are all wearing jackets.  The inside of the shopping center is a big warehouse packed with vendors selling their goods in crowded aisles. 


Thursday, June 15
A quiet day at the hotel.  Cindy is busy working at arranging flights to and from Laos and Cambodia as we realize that bus travel into that area is going to be slow, uncomfortable, and slow (yes, I realize I said slow twice).  What we would have done in our 20's and 30's no longer seems that attractive.  The boys will have to miss out on the long uncomfortable bus ride until they are can do it on their own.
We went back out for dinner at the same place as last night.  Twice a day for one hour each the national radio broadcast outloud what I assume to be propaganda on the benefits of communism.  We timed our meal today to avoid having to listen to the show, as this nice little restaurant has the misfortune of being next to one of the broadcast speakers.

Ordered chicken for dinner, but it escaped.

The hydro poles are an electricians dream