Been There Don Det

A photographic journal of our trip to Laos, 2011 - Tet Holiday.

Itinerary:
Da nang, Vietnam - Hue, Vietnam by sleeper bus
Hue, Vietnam - Savannahket, Laos via the Lao Bao Border
Savannahket - Pakse (1 day)
Pakse - Tad Lo (3 days)
Tad Lo - Pakse - Champasak
Champasak - 4,000 Islands (Don Det and Don Khong)
4,000 Islands - Pakse
Pakse - Da Nang (so we had hoped, unfortunately getting home wasn't that easy)
Instead... we went Pakse - Attapeau - LoBy Border - Hoi An - Da Nang

Lao MUST HAVES:
flashlight
loads of bugspray
sunscreen
sun hat
light scarf or shall
wet wipes/toilet paper
cotton clothing
headband
journal
watch
handsanitizer
first aid kit
hoodie
earplugs

Lao Bao Border
- $38 for Laos Visa
- Don't worry if you don't have a passport size photo with you, which we didn't, the immigration officer will gladly take one for you with his cellphone!! Legit?

The majority of houses in Laos, especially those outside the city, are built of wood and placed on stilts. My theory is that the area under the house provides shade from the intense heat. You will often see a hammock hanging and other means of seating under the house, along with other things that would normally be kept in garage.

I like taking photos of STOP signs from different countries.

The mysterious "egg" fruit. Looks like a mix between a mango and an egg, and has a taste similar to that of a cooked sweet potato. It was given to us by the owner of the guest house we stayed at in Savannahket. I have never had anything like it in my life, but I loved it! Unfortunately, I am yet to find another one. Google tells me its called Tiessa and originates in the Phillipines.

Savannahket by bike!
- Bike rental 10,000 kip ($1.20) per day

Best meal in Savannahket! Dinner on the raft house (heuan phae), a floatable restaurant on the banks of the Mekong. These restaurants are known for their Khao pan, which is lettuce or cabbage wraps werved with fish, veggies noodles and a spicy sauce. The fish was delicious! White, flaky, and stuffed with lemon grass for the perfect flavor!

Laos Cemetary

Just like Piotr, the Laos people love watermelon! We happened upon this huge bag of watermelon seeds (which, i might add, are very tricky to eat) and drove past a huge watermelon market! I've never seen so many watermelons!

Tuk-Tuk to Pakse. Tuk-Tuk's are the Laos version of a taxi named after the tuk tuk tuk tuk sound they make.

From Pakse, we went to Tad Lo, a small village about 30 km away. However, the bus we took to Tad Lo dropped us just short of the village. Instead of walking 2 km with our bags, we decided to hop in this "vehicle" and ride there in style :)

The most memorable part of Tad Lo were the village children. From the moment we got there we were showered with attention from these 4 adorable little faces. They would follow us around the village holding our hands and giggling at everything we said.

Tad Lo is something of a budget traveler's paradise. We stayed at Mama Pap's guesthouse for 20,000 kip per night = $2.50. Tad Lo is named after a series of three falls, Tad Suong, Tad Lo and Tad Hang. Tad Hang is the first set of falls and the one closest to our guesthouse. It is the smallest and gentlest of the three, but has the best opportunity for taking a dip. Piotr and I went swimming only once because the water was soooo cold. However, the people of Tad Lo use the waterfalls as their shower. Just after 5pm, you will see groups of women and men meeting at the falls for their evening shower.

Yes, I did catch 2 goats in the act!

Animals walk freely around the village of Tad Lo. It's totally normal to be walking home and run into a couple of pigs, cows, roosters, dogs and if you're lucky an elephant!

After 3 days in Tad Lo it was time to continue our journey south to the city of Champasak. A trip that should normally take just over an hour, took us five thanks to this lovely vehicle! The driver stopped 3 different times to try and get a wheel fixed, this took over an hour, and landed us right back at the bus stop! Not to mention, the glorified tuk-tuk could only handle speeds of around 40 miles per hour.

We arrived to the ferry at dusk, after what felt like an eternity on the tuk-tuk. The sky was beautiful that night. For a moment, before the light disappeared into the night, everyone forget there frustrations and irritations of the long ride, and were overtaken by the calmness around them.

Champasak

Champasak is home to a ruined Khmer temple known as Wat Phu. The temple dates back to the 5th Century, but the surviving structures date back to the 11th - 13th centuries.

We only stayed one night in Champasak. After seeing the Wat Phu temple, we hired a guy to take us by minivan to the 4,000 Islands, a 2 hour trip by car. We had had enough of buses that take 5 hours longer than they should!

Our days on the island were spent chilling in hammocks, reading and playing cribbage. Our bungalow was right on the river with a beach front. However, we never made it swimming while there.

The 4000 Islands or Si Phan Don are a collection of islands in the Mekong River, in the far south of Laos. On the boat ride over to the island, you start to get an idea of why they are called 4000 Islands - there are tiny little islands everywhere! Some big enough for just one tree.

There are two big islands where people live, Don Det and Kon Khong. We stayed on the island of Don Det. The islands are very similar, the only difference is that you have to pay 20,000 kip to enter the island of Don Khong and it felt a bit more crowded. Overall, the islands are very chill, and there are lots of tourists.

Everything on the island is catered to tourists and their ideas of a good time.

Happy Bar Menu

Hangover Breakfast
2 eggs any style, Garlic Bread, Cheese
French Fries, Coke or Pepsi
Fruit Salad, Parcetamol, Valium

Cruisin to the waterfall!

The main tourist attractions in Laos are its waterfalls. The Khonephapheng is the largest waterfall by volume in all of Southeast Asia.

The monks walk around the city every morning collecting food for the day. They always maintain a single file line, even when they are not receiving food.

Monkey Business

On our last day in Don Det, right before leaving the island, we said good bye to our friend Curious George. George spent his days tied up to tree near our bungalow, checking out the passerbys. Piotr was the first to meet and greet the monkey, who calmly jumped on top of Piotrs arm and sat there like a good little monkey. When it was my turn, the monkey jumped onto my arm and hung from it, just long enough to steal the chapstick I had in the outside pocket of my purse. Before I realized what was going on, the monkey was off my arm and back on the tree...eating my chapstick!

And that was the end of our trip to Laos... Been there Don Det!

Tis the season for pancakes

When it comes to breakfast foods, I tend to favor savory ones over sweet. Eggs, in any form, are usually how I start the day. However, variety is the spice of life and breakfast is not to be excluded. Vietnamese Pho (soup), cereal, and muffins make an occasional appearance. Lately, I have had more time in the morning to venture into the pancake territory.

I love pancakes. They’re fluffy and filling. My favorite thing about them is the memory of eating them every last Sunday of the month at St. Patrick’s Pancake Breakfast. Grandma and Grandpa Young were always down in the church basement helping. Grandpa Joe was usually the pancake man, working the griddle and delivering us the perfect stack of pancakes on our breakfast trays. I remember the sausages and orange juice, but the pancakes were always my favorite.

As my collection of overly ripe frozen bananas began to take over the freezer, I decided it was time to have my own pancake breakfast. It was also the only way I could think of to use these bananas since we don’t have an oven. The banana pancakes turned out good. However, it was the second batch of pumpkin pancakes that were by far my ultimate favorite. The pumpkin pancakes seemed to fit perfectly with the cold, rainy weather in Da Nang. Not to mention, the markets are full of pumpkins, squash and sweet potatoes.

This week I plan on trying sweet potato pancakes. My mouth is watering just thinking about them!

Lighthouse Corporation throws a Party!

Piotr and I were invited to the celebration of Lighthouse Corporations (Piotrs employer) building completion this past weekend.  After attending the event I can undoubtedly say that these people know how to have fun and throw one helluva party!  The party was held at a fancy reception hall called 4U, fit with an enormous chandelier, stage lighting and stage, and 2 huge video screens on each side.  It was a formal event, so we recycled our Christmas eve outfits, smoky grey dress with ruffled neck for the lady and charcoal grey dress shirt and light Banana Republic khakis for the gentlemen.

The party started at 11am with wine and snacks, we arrived fashionable late in our matching greys at 11:20.   When the clock struck 12,  the snacks were replaced with 5 different delectable dishes and the wine was replaced with more wine.  The first dish was a seafood salad, the only ingredients I recognized was shrimp, but the flavor was the perfect combination of spicy meets sweet meets seafood.  I had thirds on the salad.  The next dish was a heavily seasoned beef wrapped around a mix of greens and served with slices of cucumber. Dish number three was roasted duck with gravy, mashed potato balls, and mini semi-sweet rolls.  The fourth dish was my favorite, baked fluffy white fish, lettuce leaves and finely chopped green chili pepper.  The idea was to take a decent sized chunk of fish, wrap it in the lettuce leave and then dip it in the chopped chilis.  YUM!  The fifth and final dish was the filler, stir fried rice.

Meanwhile, the MC's were keeping us all entertained with games.  The first game was who could count the highest in one breath.  The winner counted to 110 (I think... it was in Vietnamese.)  The next game involved lots of beer, 2 teams, a "help me" sign and Piotr and I on opposing teams.  Piotr slammed 3 glasses, I didn't slam any and my team still won:))) ha ha  Thanks to that game, I walked away with a free bottle of wine and wine glass to go with it.  However, games were not the only form of entertainment.  Intermittently, between the games there were singing acts put on by different employees of the company, many of whom are Piotr's students.  Did I mention that all the while, the wine glasses continued to be refilled, the beer continued to be poured and the food continued to be ate.   A performance by Mr. Vu, the top dog, and the rest of the engineers, signified the end of a great party.  The time was 1:30pm.  Thank you for coming, and don't forget to pick up your gift at the reception!

Would you be mine? Could you be mine?

Won't you be my neighbor?

Hello online neighbor, I'm glad we're together again!
I've been thinking about the importance of good neighbors and the role they play in our lives.  My online neighborhood network is made up of family and friends, who follow my life through status updates, new posts, photos and comments.  A few ways we stay connected are through reminiscent "remember when" comments, chat sessions with friends, fancy apps that declare ones relationship status and how they are connected to the rest of the "neighborhood" and friendly "pokes" to say hello.  Although these neighbors may not be able to water your plants for you when you're out of town, they will always be there when you need a laugh or just want to connect with someone.

On the other hand, there are the people who live around you and the benefits they provide, like making a livable, enjoyable, secured place for living.  These are the people you rely on to watch your place when you're not around, lend you a cup of sugar and make you more alive through their new friendship.  I would describe my neighborhood in Da Nang as loud, friendly, and close knit.  We live on the street of the welders and carpenters, so naturally it is quite loud on our street.  Not mention the weekly Karaoke sessions that start at 8am and go all day long.  Needless to say, there isn't a whole lot of peace and quiet on the streets once the sun comes up.   The people who live on our block could all pass for family in my book.  I can't tell who lives where, or who's mom, brother, sister, cousin is who, because it seems they all live everywhere.  There is an open door policy in this neighborhood, if the door is open, you're free to come in.   We were made aware of this policy early on, but luckily we were eased into it with the neighborhood kids.  It wasn't until we had three regulars at the house, Cam, Thinh and Hung, that the rest of the peeps on the block felt comfortable walking in... WHENEVER they wanted:)

The ladies of the neighborhood will walk in and bring you food, help cook, try and show you what you're doing wrong and how to do it right, like sweeping for example, or just sit in bed with you and google translate and try on jewelry.  The men will walk in for a quick game of Chinese Chess and a LaRue, and the old women walk in probably because they have no idea where they even are:)

However, its the kids that come over on a daily basis that have made this neighborhood special.  They are a huge part of our day and will be a huge part of our experience in Vietnam.  Although we have our three favorites, we still experience an influx of around 8-10 kids trickling in and out throughout the day.

Piotr and Cam (pronounced Gam.)  Cam's grandma lives right next door to us.











Tai and Hung.  Tai is Cam's little brother.  He doesn't venture over that often.  Hung is the most adorable little girl I've ever met.  She is the daughter of the cooking lady (2 doors down from us.)  Hung is very smart, she repeats everything in english and she loves to come over and color.  Her artwork, along with the artwork of Cam and Thinh is displayed in our kitchen.

Thinh and Cam posing on Piotr's motorbike.  Thinh (pronounced Ton) is sporting the colorful clown wig and Cam is giving us a nice leg shot.

The hammock has been a HUGE hit with the entire      

neighborhood.  75% of the day it is being used, 1% 

of that time is by Piotr or I.  

Neighbor girl, Uyen.

                                                   Cam showing off for the camera again :)

 

This is Ba. Ba is what you call Grandma.  Ba is a funny lady. Piotr calls her a jokester.  She's always walking around laughing at herself :)  I would say she puts in a good 5% hammock time:)

Cam and Thinh.  Strike a pose boys!

In honor of the New Year, our neighborhood put up the Vietnamese flag up and down the block.  Here is Cam showing off his national pride.

Piotr and Cam making a batch of delicious Vietnamese coffee!  Mmmmmmm :0

The neighbor ladies, myself and google translate, chillin on my bed.  The ladies decided to get out all of my jewelry and try it on.  The lady on the right is the cooking lady (Hung's mom).  She feeds the neighborhood every morning and afternoon, right outside her house.  The lady on the right is Cam's aunt.  She is pregnant in this picture.  I haven't seen her in a few days....I think she may have popped!  Her and her husband live right next door with grandma.  

As you can see there is always something going on in my neighborhood in Da Nang.  Thanks to the people in these pictures for making this such a beautiful, friendly place to live.  

So let's make the most of this beautiful day,

Since we're together, we might as well say,

Would you be mine?

Could you be mine?

Won't you be my neighbor?

May your days be merry and bright!

Hello Friends and Family!  I have to admit to being extremely lazy about my blog the last couple of months...Sorry:)  We have been so busy!  Blah Blah Blah, yes, I know, you hear that all the time, we're all busy right?  My other excuse is that we haven't had a camera, and what's a blog post without a picture to go with it.  However, the holidays are here, we are getting a new camera for Christmas and I am making it my New Year's Resolution to write more!  I can't explain everything that has happened over the past few months, but I'll do my best to give you the abridged version.   Here it goes:  I have successfully performed in two parent meetings this month.  Although I disagree with having them and think they are a pain in the 'you know what' to plan for, they played out nicely and the parents were happy.  I went to a Ladies Luncheon/Christmas Exchange with a group of 20 lovely ladies, organized by the extra lovely Liz.  When the luncheon was over, I had a belly full of pizza, a cute new purse and Vietnamese doll and a handful of new friends that I looked forward to seeing again.  Meanwhile, Piotr was continuing to try his hand at surfing.  He never fails to come home with an injury, but he is now able to stand up on the board!

We both had Friday and Saturday of Christmas off.  We both missed our families. We were both happy to have each other.

Santa wasn't able to bring our families to us this year, so instead, he brought us 2 days FULL of sunshine, which we both agreed made the holiday seem extra special.  Christmas Eve day started with  the neighborhood boys, teaching them how to cut out snowflakes, which we decorated our doors with.  Around 3pm, we went to Bread of Life for their annual staff Xmas party.  It was a wonderful event!  Kathleen (owner) gave a touching speech to the staff about how much she loves and appreciates them, and then one of the deaf staff members told the Christmas story in sign.  We ate.  We laughed. We cried. Then we played!  Kathleen organized a gift exchange, kind of like a white elephant exchange, only she had provided all the gifts.  Each person got a number.  The higher your number, the more gift options you had to choose from.  So, number 1 started by choosing a present and opening it.  Then number 2 came up, chose a present and then had to make the difficult decision of keeping the present (without knowing its contents) or trading with number 1.  We were number 32 out of 35.  When it came round to our turn, the hot item seemed to be the huge bulk size jug of cooking oil.  Without a second thought, Piotr took a present from under the tree, handed it to the guy who was currently holding the oil and snatched up the oil.  Unfortunately for us, number 33 had her eye on the oil too, and within minutes it was gone.  We ended up with a girls shirt.  Sorry Piotr :(  

From Bread of Life, I went to the physical therapist and Piotr went to pick up my computer, which had completely crashed the night before.  My session at the therapist left me feeling relaxed and aligned and ready for the evening ahead.  Piotr had made reservations at the Life Resort for their Christmas Eve Buffet.  We were joining a couple that lived down the street from us, who also happens to be the guy Piotr works for at InDanang.com.  We ate again.  We enjoyed the company of others.  We came home.  We went to bed.

Christmas Day, like Christmas Eve, was full of sunshine!  I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day.    After talking with my family (funny that it was already Xmas day for us and still Xmas eve for them), we headed straight for the beach.  I caught a few rays and Piotr caught a few waves:)   A few friends joined us on the beach, and then later we joined them for my first ever vegan Christmas dinner.  The dinner turned out to be fantastic, which didn't surprise me, but pleasantly surprised Mr. Meat and Potatoes, Piotr, who thinks a meal isn't a meal unless it has meat and potatoes.  We ended the evening with the classic "A Christmas Story", which was better than I remembered it.  I really enjoyed the narrative.  It was Piotrs first time seeing it and he agreed, the story is really well written and told perfectly from the memory of a young boy.

Sunday.  Boxing Day.  Chill out.  Make a run to Metro.  Cook up a huge batch of flour tortillas, which should last us the week.  Eat quesadillas.  Drop by the Boxing Day party at Liz and John's, enjoy a couple glasses of wine, some good conversation, and call it an early night.  With work again on Monday, the holiday was coming to a close.  All is all, it was a wonderful Christmas!

Side note:
We now have 2 bikes, which I tend to use more often then Piotr, but we love taking them to the market in the morning!  I also got a pair of rollerblades!!!  The best location to blade...up and down the beach.  Amazing!  We bought X-mas presents for the 3 neighborhood kids who ALWAYS come over and hang out with us (Cam, Thinh and Hung)... the kids were sooo happy and surprised and I'm pretty sure we were a huge hit with the parents!  Piotr's present to me was a Vietnamese rice hat, 2 pairs of faux sunglasses, and a surprise still to come when our friend gets back from the states.  I got Piotr a nice silver money clip with a diamond in it.

Merry Christmas!

<3 angie

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