On January 2 we check out of the hotel in Luang Prabang, board the vans early and head
north toward Nong Kiau. Along the way we stop at a small village (so
many small, cool villages). Laos seems to be doing a good job of keeping
their country as authentic as possible against the influx of tourists
and the huge temptation of money. So many places in the world give in to $$ from corporations (McDonald's, Starbucks) and big hotel chains. I
didn't see any of that in the small part of Laos we visited. It may be
different in the capital city of Vientiene...
In this village they have many woven scarves and trinkets for sale. One interesting thing I see is an old vintage looking opium pipe. Very cool.
There
are some sweet teen girls running a shop and braiding each others hair.
Dick asks them to braid our hair which they love. We joke and talk as the girls work on our strange, foreign hair with their combs that look like they've been used for 20 years. It is a wonderful
way to connect other than the usual tourist participation. Dick Grace has a pretty
amazing way of connecting with people. He is always doing little magic
tricks and talking with people to find out who they are. He definitely
lives from his heart and he inspires me every day.
We drive for a bit in the vans and then jump on a boat to head upriver. Our next stop is a village where they make local whiskey. A beautiful Lao woman of around 60 years old shows us her process and lets us taste the results. To me it's like fire and gasoline running down my throat and into my belly, but I guess some people really like it. It's very interesting to see how the whiskey is made and distilled using only an open fire. I love hearing and watching this woman, even though she speaks a different language - but she doesn't speak much. She doesn't have to. She is so elegant and graceful We were all very entranced by her.
We walk around the village for a while, purchase some beautiful scarves, talk with the children and visit the small village Buddhist temple. It is a beautiful day so far.
We take the boat back to the vans, and head toward the mountain village of Nong Kiau
and drive for more than three hours, through many small roadside
villages. People and families all sitting together talking or cleaning
their small shack homes. No one on cell phones or watching tv. Very nice
to see that some parts of the world are still unaffected by technology.
I am sitting up front with the driver who is very sweet but doesn't
speak english, so we aren't making any small talk. Besides, he needs to concentrate on the twisting, turning road and the hazards of chickens, dogs, children, motorbikes and falling coconuts. I have hours to just
think and process all that I'm seeing and experiencing. It's sort of
mind blowing, these last few days. I feel greatly honored to be a part
of this group and looking forward to the coming days.
We
arrive at the Nong Kiau Riverside resort after dark and we and our
bags are taken to our rooms - more like a bamboo hut but with everything we need inside.
We are all pretty exhausted and we put down our bags and quickly freshen up for
dinner in the small open air dining room at the hotel. We remove our shoes when we enter and they kindly have semi-warm slippers to wear on the chilly wood floor. The food is delicious and
the beer Lao is nice and cold. We talk about our day over rice and
vegetables, pumpkin soup, spring rolls and curry. We make our way back
down the small path toward our hut and tuck into bed with a big down
comforter for warmth. It's a bit nippy up here in the mountains. I
can't wait to see what it all looks like in the morning.
I
wake up with the sun and go outside to our little deck over looking the
Nong Kiau river.
Everything is so green and lush. There are little boats going up and down the river, men fishing for their breakfast and it's all so quiet. Am I still sleeping/dreaming? Pure peace. I stretch my tired body and practice some breathing and yoga poses to get myself going. It feels so good and is such a gift to wake up in this magical place. Birds and butterflies dance around me as the morning fog lifts from the river and from my brain.
We meet for a delicious breakfast of eggs, warm bread, various mystery meats, some fresh cucumbers and honey crepes. Along with hot coffee, it's the perfect meal.
When
we finish, we walk together across a long bridge over the river and
through the small village. Everyone is starting their day, opening
shops, brushing sidewalks clean, hauling vegetables to the market. We
meet up at the boat dock and we board two long tail boats for a trek
upriver. The views are stunning and I feel like I'm in a magic fairy
land of green hills, tall mountains, strange looking cows drinking from
the edge of the river....it's all so cool.
After about an hour and a half, we stop near a
village and wait for our other boat but it's not arriving. We begin to
worry and our empty boat is sent to look for them while we wait on the shore in a beautiful spot. It seems that they
had an engine failure and then the boat started to take on water so they
had to pull to a small island in the middle of the river. When one of
the girls said she needed to pee and walked toward some small brush in
which to be discreet, she was told to not go to far - there could be landmines. What a
sobering thought. We learned that millions of landmines are sill hidden
all over Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. People inadvertently walk on them all the time and get blown up or body parts blown off. There are several organizations worldwide who are working to find and detonate these terrible weapons of destruction.
The boat is finally
repaired and joins us where we have stopped. We walk up a steep path
towards a weaving village. All of the ladies are out with their wares.
Beautiful scarves of every different color. I want to buy one of
everything, but I choose a beautiful black and white almost tribal design
that I love. The material is a heavy cotton and I know I will love it for many years. After a couple of hours, we go back down to the boats
and head down river towards a small cafe and walk up to a beautiful spot
overlooking the river on this glorious warm day. We have a simple meal
of rice, spring rolls, vegetables and cold beer. It feels so nice to
relax in the sun and talk with everyone. We are still getting to know each other....
We have another hour on the river to get back to
our village so we relax and enjoy the ride. When we return we all
rest for a while and some go out for dinner in the village and some stay
at the hotel restaurant for hot soup and red wine.
The
next morning we have an early departure, as we have to drive about four
hours back to Luang Prabang to catch our 1 pm flight to Cambodia. We have
another wonderful, but quick breakfast and hit the road. We get to the airport in
plenty of time to catch our flight, which lasts about 45 minutes until
we reach Siem Reap, Cambodia.
In this village they have many woven scarves and trinkets for sale. One interesting thing I see is an old vintage looking opium pipe. Very cool.
There
are some sweet teen girls running a shop and braiding each others hair.
Dick asks them to braid our hair which they love. We joke and talk as the girls work on our strange, foreign hair with their combs that look like they've been used for 20 years. It is a wonderful
way to connect other than the usual tourist participation. Dick Grace has a pretty
amazing way of connecting with people. He is always doing little magic
tricks and talking with people to find out who they are. He definitely
lives from his heart and he inspires me every day.We drive for a bit in the vans and then jump on a boat to head upriver. Our next stop is a village where they make local whiskey. A beautiful Lao woman of around 60 years old shows us her process and lets us taste the results. To me it's like fire and gasoline running down my throat and into my belly, but I guess some people really like it. It's very interesting to see how the whiskey is made and distilled using only an open fire. I love hearing and watching this woman, even though she speaks a different language - but she doesn't speak much. She doesn't have to. She is so elegant and graceful We were all very entranced by her.
We walk around the village for a while, purchase some beautiful scarves, talk with the children and visit the small village Buddhist temple. It is a beautiful day so far.
We take the boat back to the vans, and head toward the mountain village of Nong Kiau
and drive for more than three hours, through many small roadside
villages. People and families all sitting together talking or cleaning
their small shack homes. No one on cell phones or watching tv. Very nice
to see that some parts of the world are still unaffected by technology.
I am sitting up front with the driver who is very sweet but doesn't
speak english, so we aren't making any small talk. Besides, he needs to concentrate on the twisting, turning road and the hazards of chickens, dogs, children, motorbikes and falling coconuts. I have hours to just
think and process all that I'm seeing and experiencing. It's sort of
mind blowing, these last few days. I feel greatly honored to be a part
of this group and looking forward to the coming days.
We
arrive at the Nong Kiau Riverside resort after dark and we and our
bags are taken to our rooms - more like a bamboo hut but with everything we need inside.
We are all pretty exhausted and we put down our bags and quickly freshen up for
dinner in the small open air dining room at the hotel. We remove our shoes when we enter and they kindly have semi-warm slippers to wear on the chilly wood floor. The food is delicious and
the beer Lao is nice and cold. We talk about our day over rice and
vegetables, pumpkin soup, spring rolls and curry. We make our way back
down the small path toward our hut and tuck into bed with a big down
comforter for warmth. It's a bit nippy up here in the mountains. I
can't wait to see what it all looks like in the morning.
I
wake up with the sun and go outside to our little deck over looking the
Nong Kiau river. Everything is so green and lush. There are little boats going up and down the river, men fishing for their breakfast and it's all so quiet. Am I still sleeping/dreaming? Pure peace. I stretch my tired body and practice some breathing and yoga poses to get myself going. It feels so good and is such a gift to wake up in this magical place. Birds and butterflies dance around me as the morning fog lifts from the river and from my brain.
We meet for a delicious breakfast of eggs, warm bread, various mystery meats, some fresh cucumbers and honey crepes. Along with hot coffee, it's the perfect meal.
When
we finish, we walk together across a long bridge over the river and
through the small village. Everyone is starting their day, opening
shops, brushing sidewalks clean, hauling vegetables to the market. We
meet up at the boat dock and we board two long tail boats for a trek
upriver. The views are stunning and I feel like I'm in a magic fairy
land of green hills, tall mountains, strange looking cows drinking from
the edge of the river....it's all so cool.
After about an hour and a half, we stop near a
village and wait for our other boat but it's not arriving. We begin to
worry and our empty boat is sent to look for them while we wait on the shore in a beautiful spot. It seems that they
had an engine failure and then the boat started to take on water so they
had to pull to a small island in the middle of the river. When one of
the girls said she needed to pee and walked toward some small brush in
which to be discreet, she was told to not go to far - there could be landmines. What a
sobering thought. We learned that millions of landmines are sill hidden
all over Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. People inadvertently walk on them all the time and get blown up or body parts blown off. There are several organizations worldwide who are working to find and detonate these terrible weapons of destruction.
The boat is finally
repaired and joins us where we have stopped. We walk up a steep path
towards a weaving village. All of the ladies are out with their wares.
Beautiful scarves of every different color. I want to buy one of
everything, but I choose a beautiful black and white almost tribal design
that I love. The material is a heavy cotton and I know I will love it for many years. After a couple of hours, we go back down to the boats
and head down river towards a small cafe and walk up to a beautiful spot
overlooking the river on this glorious warm day. We have a simple meal
of rice, spring rolls, vegetables and cold beer. It feels so nice to
relax in the sun and talk with everyone. We are still getting to know each other....
The
next morning we have an early departure, as we have to drive about four
hours back to Luang Prabang to catch our 1 pm flight to Cambodia. We have
another wonderful, but quick breakfast and hit the road. We get to the airport in
plenty of time to catch our flight, which lasts about 45 minutes until
we reach Siem Reap, Cambodia. 
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