Cycling and Eating in Yangshuo (Asia trek pt23)

And so we came to one of my biggest disappointments of the whole trip; a flight. The tour required a flight from Kunming to Guilin in order to keep the travel time down, so after travelling ten of thousands of kilometers by land and sea o make it to China, I had to catch a domestic flight as part of the tour. My aspiration of at reaching Beijing or Europe by land was finally destroyed in practice.

But not one to dwell on these things, I settled myself down for the flight which included some of the worst Airline food I have eaten in a long time, but otherwise as
uneventful as flights tend to be. Arriving in Guilin we again hopped on a private bus for a three hour drive to Yangshuo, passing the immense crowds of dutch people that seemed to be everywhere! A mere kilometer from the airport we ascended onto a rough dirt road before reaching a proper road about ten minutes later. Something tells me it wasn't the main road to the airport. As night fell we could see the faint outlines of the limestone karsts that the region is famous for. However by the time we reached Yangshou there was little left to see but the street lights of 'foreigner street', where we stopped at a restaurant for a late night snack and beer.

After a good night sleep in my own room, we awoke for a days cycling around the region. The area has similarities to Halong bay, but instead of the water the area surrounding the karsts is flat farmland used principally for rice. the area is flat which makes cycling easy. Making your way through back roads and villages is charming, though you never feel like you can get away from the people (a more general problem in China, surprisingly!) as there are buildings everywhere. Along the way a guy was teasing a yabby with a stick, and people cruised down the Yulong river on a Bamboo raft complete with rainbow coloured umbrella. While it looked very appealing, not enough people in our group were interested enough to partake. We continued cycling through more rice fields before arriving at our final destination; Yueliang Shan - otherwise known as moon hill. Actualy a few hundred meters before we arrive a group of Chinese ladies passed us in the opposite direction, before they all stopped turned around a followed us. I thought they had just figured out the directions of where they wanted to go and changed direction. But no! the ladies followed us for business! Moon Hill is a limestone karst that has a spherical shaped hole right through it, making the shape of a moon from a distance and good viewing platform for the surrounding region. Walking to the top we were warned by our guide that ladies (who followed us), with eksy on the shoulder, would follow us all the way to the top of the hill, offering drinks all the way. The further up the hill you go the higher the price, though this can be bargained back down again. On the one hand you can view this as excellent personal service, however most tourists find them annoying. I assured the lady that tried to follow me that I would not buy anything as was promptly left alone. However another person in the group did not have as much conviction and was followed all the way to the top. Two people in the group decided to play a game with her and started walking up in a very fast tempo. She tried her best but could not keep up. but rather than give up she continued, and caught up with them near the summit.

At the top we rested as is was a sweltering hot day and the walk took it out of us. Unfortunately we saw another tourist give the lady that followed him a handsome tip without taking a drink. Hopefully not too many people do this otherwise they might get the impression tourists are a fountain of free money rather than just a fountain of money. We took in the views and walked around the summit area before descending. By this stage I sympathised with the lady who had walked up the mountain, and was thirsty so I bought a coke, negotiating the price back down to a reasonable price. The descent was much easier that the ascent and quickly we were back at the bottom for a quick lunch before cycling back to the city.

Back at the city we had registered to do a cooking course. Anton handed us over the the cooking lady and we negotiated the meals that we wanted to cook. After this we walked to the local market. This market was similar to many others I had been to in Asia, with food laid out on heshan carpets on the floor, and meat hanging in the wet markets, but to one of our group who was a first timer. this was a shock to him and he asked me if I had seen this kind of market before. I said that this was the standard manner of trading agricultural products in south east asia. this took him by surprise and needed a moment to deal with it. What was unique in this market was that you could purchase dog and cat and other animal which were hanging there and live animal could be seen in small cages against the wall. this was also and little confronting for me, but it is the way it is.

We picked up a few vegetable and headed back to the restaurant, to the rooftop kitchen to commence our cooking. the three meals included dumpling, Gong Bao chicken (chicken chilly and peanuts) and eggplant. we started with the dumplings and after mincing the chicken set ourselves to work with the folding of the dumpling with moderate success. Some clearly more talented than other. Mine were somewhere in the middle. Next the eggplant, which was the first time I had cooked eggplant successfully, under the watchful eye of our trainer, who was a mother and had never undertaken cooking training in her life. Still the food turned out very pleasing. Last of all we cooked the chicken, on of my favourite dishes in China which we consumed alongside the dumpling, which had subsequently been steamed by the Chef. By the end of the afternoon we were all fat and happy and dinner was not really on the cards as nothing more would fit.

That night we ended up in another night club with Anson, entertained by a good quality DJ. I spent most of the night rolling dice in a rather simple drinking game, while others in the group started dancing with another group of locals. They eventually got invited out to do some karaoke, but I was enjoying myself too much to go, so I passed. And luckily too because and hour later Anson got hungry as he does often in the middle of the night and invited the last two of us to go eat some seafood with him. So we came to this little streetside restaurant at 1 o'clock in the morning and Anson ordered some sublime BBQ oysters (I think?)for us, as well as some other food which was delicious. While we waited we got talking to a couple sitting on the table next to us. After a bit of cultural exchange they left offering their left over oysters (as above?) to us which we consumed with joy as they drove of in some brand of expensive car. Again well fed is was time for bed so we headed home satisfied.

The next day we awoke early checked out and went for a cruise on the Li river. While beautiful in itself it was similar to much I had seen so I spent the time recovering from the night before and catching up on sleep. In fact the more interesting part of the trip was the short walk through the village needed to get to the pier. There were a variety of small businesses particularly those specialising in making fans. Also many local people coming to and from the market from the surrounding villages gave the area a lively yet untouched feel, which I found particularly interesting. But the heat was too strong that I had to retire to the bus for some respite.

Back in Yangshou, where I was finally getting a feel for the layout we had a few hours to arrange things before we left. From there we caught the overnight train north to Yichang, leaving the southern part of China.

Lijang and Tiger Leaping Gorge (Asia Trek pt22)

The following morning we all hopped aboard a private bus to Lijang. The tour is advertised as using public transport, however we had a lazy tour guide so every opportunity to make a public bus private or take a taxi was heartily pursued by our tour guide which made the whole tour more comfortable but less culturaly interesting. And so we travelled on our won tour bus from Dali to Lijang. Still roaming in the foothills of the Tibetan-Burmese Plateau we rose up into the hills north of Erhai Lake and towards Lijang. After a few hours driving the winding roads behind jeeps that double as learner driver vehicles we arrived on an empty four lane highway into Lijang which used exclusively solar powered street lighting.

Lijang is also a UNESCO world heritage sight and is arguably slightly more picturesque than Dali, particularly at night when it is sublimely lit up. We checked into the hotel and walked through narrow pathways down to the main square where you are again greeted by hoards of Chinese tourists. I was still feeling a bit hungover from drinks the night before and wasn't feeling in the mood. After a brief introduction form Anton, we wandered into the old town, hungry and looking for food. After 20min we found a restaurant next to the Jade river, which runs like a maze through the old town, and had some food. Afterwards, still not feeling good, and resenting the heat, I took a brief walk by myself before returning to my hotel room for some singing and solitaire. Sometime you just have to wait for these things to pass.

In the evening the group reconvened and had dinner before heading of the the theatre. We went to see a show in the Lijiang Nationality Culture Exchange Center Theatre opposite a statue Chairman Mao. The Mountain Rivers show, takes stories and traditions of the ethnic communities in Yunnan province and turns them into Dance (China consists of approx 56 ethnic communities and over 35 different languages). The elaborate production takes the costumes and style a little to far out of context to be referred to as traditional, but it is an amazing show with lighting and dance production on par with anything I have seen in the west! For a fuller description see This and other shows that I saw in China left me with high expectations for the opening ceremonies. There is an immense amount of talent in China and I expect this all to be on show during the Olympics. Of the most interesting stories told in the programme was from the Mousu people that do not h have marriages within their societies. Children are conceived when to people in the community agree to do so, and afterwards the two parties continue to lead seperate lives though the father still has regular contact with the child in a more informal manner (I have stated this very badly but you get the idea!). It goes to show how few things are truly universal.

Going to bed, I packed a small bag of necessities for the following three days as we headed further north out of Lijang to Tiger Leaping Gorge. I had heard a lot about this place and was keen to go, without really knowing what it was. It is in fact a valley created by an earthquake rather than erosion so that the mountains on either side of the river rise steeply for what feels like a few hundred meters. A spectacular view it is an area which is commonly walked and is still subject to landslides. Luckily we only had one minor rockfall throughout the walk. The gorge is divided into three parts; upper, middle and lower with at least the first two part delineated by a large rock sitting in the middle of the river where the tiger was said to have crossed. I am not quite sure if the crossing cause the rock to be there or the rock helped him but the name stuck. The first days we walked along the lower road, which is accessible by car and we were consequently passed by various trucks, buses and cars on the way making the walk less enervating. Interesting that the one sign on the road indicated that it was 'Tiger Jumping Gorge' while every other reference to it calls it 'Tiger Leaping Gorge'.

The gorge is very photo friendly though the best views were left for the second day on the upper road. At the end of the afternoon Tina guesthouse appeared precariously perched on the side of the hill. It still meant another 1 hours walk before we got there. Upon arrival, Tina cam out and offered beer and I was seated and drinking before the rest of the group arrived at the hotel. It was a hot day in the sun and on the road and we were glad that we had arrived at our resting place. Not having many other place to eat in the area, we ate at the hotel before retreating to the lounge room for a group meeting in about what to do for Anton birthday the following day. Here we spent the evening trying to learn Happy Birthday in Chinese as well as adding intricate designs to the birthday that we had bought. This required the assistance of the singing waitress at the hotel and was achieved with mixed success. As a group we went to bed however after going back to the restaurant I was compelled to come a play with a group and thus spent the evening playing, drinking and having a good chat. Bedtime then.

The next morning we traversed upwards from Tina's guesthouse to take the high road back towards were we had come from the previous day. This unlike the first days track was a real path that winded along the side of the mountains. Here we greeted the local mountains goat and the tourists heading in the opposite direction. Here the scenery became more beautiful as the Clouds cleared after morning rains gradually revealing more of the mountains during the day. I didn't look forward to the walk after discussing it difficulties the night before and with the rain overnight. However on the day the walk was easily completed and neither difficult or a dangerous as I had suspected. Our end point in the middle of the valley, gave us the opportunity explore another small village. Set high in the mountains this village seemed to have more wealth than was indicated by the agricultural products grown in the area. And upon further inquiry it revealed that many of the people in the area owned property which was used for mining the mineral
rich ground. Bringing much more wealth. Returning to the guesthouse the way was block by a six year old girl with a stick. She was shy at first but after a bit of encouragement started to become quite active with her stick, almost you would violent and continued to try to block the path all the way back to the guesthouse, laughing all the way. It was surprising that we arrived back safely.

The guesthouse had more beautiful views, particularly from the toilet which was open to the elements. No need for reading material here. The restaurant provided a perfect to celebrate Anton's birthday with the whole group and eventually with everyone who was staying at the guesthouse. Coincidentally a Chinese person who was walking with his friends was also celebrating his birthday. There was much joy and merriment, and bit of tap dancing, a failed psychic, some singing and an impromptu visit by a dolphin, at least that's what it sounded like. After many drinks the night got overly emotional and we all headed to bed, a few of us having to visit the bathroom before being able to rest.

The next morning we descended back down the mountain and back to were we could catch the bus. An uneventful day. There, our guide, having pre ordered the bus we hopped straight on and headed back to Lijang where we stayed another night. This time we had spare time to experience some of the nightlife but I wasn't in the mood, so apart from banging some sticks on the table along with the rest of the crowd and the African drummers. The next day we had an all day bus trip back to Dali and then straight on to Kunming, which of course didn't excite the senses. Arriving back in Kunming I thought I might try and attack the night scene myself. However fate would have it that I couldn't leave my room mate behind and so we went out together. Though the walk took us longer than expected we arrived at the right street to be greeted by huge neon lights and more than a block of bars and nightclubs. In China nightclubs are more for talking with loud music rather than dancing and drinks are almost as expensive as in Australia. But the DJ's are miles ahead of anything that I have heard in my lengthy but non-illustrious nightclub career. After trying out to bars, and sharing cheers and handshakes with the locals we got in a taxi back home.

Another day in Kunming didn't quite provide enough time to do the things I wanted so I settled for some aimless walking, a stop at the bank and lunch before meeting back with the group in the afternoon to have an early dinner before flying to Guilin for the next stage of our trip.

Border Crossings, tours and streetside games (Asia Trek pt 21)

So I waited and through the convenience of Facebook was able to meet up with Nelleke and Marga who accompanied me into china. This was the border crossing that I was most concerned about on my travels and the feeling was compounded by the difficulties in obtaining a visa which had resulted in the telling of a white lie. Anyway with tickets purchased, we made our way to the proper bus station, after being taken to the wrong bus station (we wondered why the price was so cheap!). Here we borded a minibus that was labelled in english and Chinese. Here the great adventure to China began.

After leaving the Bus station on the fancy new road, smooth and easy, the bus was pulled up twenty km before the border and an officer came through and checked everybody's passport. One person obviously didn't have the right paperwork and was asked to leave the bus and was left behind. As we proceeded to the border more and more concrete buildings appeared and the wealth gap between Laos and China emerged. The bus stopped and we all got of to get our exit stamps for Laos we proved easy with a 1 dollar fee. Back in the bus we proceeded to the Chinese border which felt like a metropolis in comparison to where I had been. Multi-storey buildings start appearing on a regular basis and signs in Chinese start increasing. We reached the border and got off the bus and for the first time, I had to have my bag searched. This made me nervous as I hadn't thought at all about what was in my bag and whether it would be legitimate to take into China, including a bottle of Metholated spirits. But the Officer could find nothing objectionable, after smelling the methylated spirits and the three of us were allowed to pass . Surprisingly the officers on the border were very friendly and greeted you in English and spoke English to you. You were questioned multiple times as you progressed through the border crossing and like other border crossing in South East Asia the procedures and processes to get through took some figuring out. But without any major dramas we three crossed the border safely and headed on to Mengla.

Arriving in Mengla a few hours later we then transferred to a bus to Jing Hong, however getting cash to pay for the bus proved difficult. None of the banks accepted foreign cards and the only bank that exchanged travellers cheques or cash would not open for another 2 hours; we had to leave ASAP. So we returned to the bus station where a man was offering black market exchanges. After 10 minutes of dealing we eventually came to the conclusion that trading Euro's would provide the best outcome for us and so we go hold of some Chinese Yuan to pay for our ticket. The lady behind the counter pointed us toward a bus which took us to the correct destination. On the way we stopped for lunch in what looked like an old commune building. And inside while the kitchen looks initially like a very unhygenic place, but a second look at the serving of the food revealed that everything was on polished stainless steel. Lesson 1: the Chinese are generally very hygenic around food.

Arriving in Jing Hong we were coaxed to stay in a hotel next door to the bus station (very convenient!) which had a room with three beds in it for a reasonable price. After obtaining more cash to pay for the rooms we settled in before walking the night markets. After eating some very spicy fish soups on the street for dinner (Mmmmn, at least I thought so!) we headed towards a park were hundreds of locals had congregated (a scene that is repeated across china), with people talking, selling goods, dancing and playing and singing traditional songs. Here we also got a few friendly hello's as we passed. People generally seemed in a good mood and were friendly towards us; something that I had been taught somewhere not to expect. Not sure where? We continued to walk through various streets before returning to the hotel, buying a pack of cards and playing cards on the street, much to the intrigue and amusement of local passerby's who quickly gave and audience. I think generally they though our game was simplistic and boring particularly as there was no money on the table.

The following morning back on the bus to Kunming to arrive one day early for the 22 day tour to Beijing. Enough time for me to have a look around town. Kunming the regional capital of Yunnan province. A city that rides entirely on electric motorcycles. In the whole time I was there I saw 2 petrol motorbikes. the bus trip was scheduled to take nine but took 12 and arriving late in the evening we were not sure if Nelleke and Marga could catch a connecting line to Dali, their next stop. But again the friendly staff at the bus station pulled out all stops to make sure they got a ticket and made it onto the right bus. I left the bus station and hired a private driver, for the same price as a taxi, to take me to my hotel, where I spent the night in a hotel room with two japanese tourists.

The following morning I changed room to the one booked by the tour company and spent the day walking the streets and observing the large contrast of giant shopping centres that would rival anything in Sydney and the small streets and houses where families still live together in a simple life. The Islamic district that is mentioned in the Lonely Planet of 2007, had been turned into a construction site and there were only two streets left which didn't contain a lot. I also sat in the main square in the middle of the city where I was approached by two Chinese girls, but as son as they found that I couldn't speak Chinese, they promptly left. I was refreshing to meet young women that just wanted a conversation with you and not anything else. The whole was city had a very good feel about it and on my way home I stopped to watch a game of Mah Jong and was promptly invited to play. The group of younger Chinese were quite surprised that I could play, and after I sat down, I even managed to win a few rounds. This even though they could not speak english and I could not speak Chinese. Particularly the pictures stone where hard as the numbers were not written on the stones. But nearing the end of the day I had to return to the hotel to meet and greet the tour leader and rest of the tour. I said my goodbye, though we didn't understand each other and moved on. A great beginning!

The tour group consisted of seven people including me, which was a nice size for a tour group. It consisted of a German, now living in Switzerland who spent the month wrapped up in relationship issues, loved his hat, but was a mean tap dancer .
A young Australian girl that could eat like no woman i've ever met and could be employed as a smoke detector. A middle aged Australiam male who worked as a truck driver, recovering from a chest infection and quiet was his middle name (he was somehow there but not there.) A English woman that toured with tours, takes life as it comes and with whom I shared a lot of laughs. And lastly and middle aged australian couple that have been backpacking the world together for years, enjoyed cryptic crosswords, and spent most of the spare time by themselves. Of course there was me and the Guide Anton. Anton was a complicated character who enjoyed the drink, his parents had issues with the Chinese government post Tianamen square and subsequently spent time in Canada and the parents of his girlfriend refuse to give approval to the relationship for lack of money. I spent a few late night in the nightclubs and bars with him and was impressed by his love of country and hospitality. His daily instructions to us included the memorable, "Get your stuff, get your belongings, don't left anything behind." So it was with this group that I spent the following 22 days from Kunming all the way to Beijing.

The first day in Kunming there was nothing on the schedule so as a group we went to Green Lake Park to watch more Tai Chi and Aerobic, getting shoes polished before heading to the student district to find an english bookstore, successfully. After this we returned to the hotel to eat the locally famous "Over the bridge Noodles" which is served with various tasty condiments including chickens blood, with the group. Our first serious foray into Chinese food. The Yunnan food uses a lot of seaweed and chilli in their soups giving at a very complex and unique taste. The chicken's blood turned a few people off but over all it was very nice but far too much to eat. We would find out that this is quite normal in China as we always had food left over. In the afternoon we proceeded to Walmart, to prepare some snacks for the overnight train to Dali. Man I hate shopping centres and this was was one of the worst!

On the overnight soft sleeper to to Dali we had a very comfortable trip and arrived in the early morning full of verve. The train arrives in the new city, so it is another 40min bus trip to the old city which contains much of its city walls and old interior though as it is a UNESCO World Heritage site is one big tourist park. We stayed in a guesthouse just outside of the old city and served 'Internet Coffee' and had a pool
which Anton enjoyed for a midnight swim after a bottle of Vodka. While the other ate breakfast in the hotel I walked down the street I picked my usual breakfast of noodle soup for less than a third of the price. Then we walked into the old town a picked up our bicycles and cycled through the old town before heading in the direction of Erhai Lake, though the rice fields. We had joined with another group so now there were about 20 of us. Our group was lazier so we spent most of our time at the back particularly as one of the group had sore hips and struggled for much of the way. As we got close to the shore of the lake we entered another village with small cobbled street and through my lack of attention lost the rest of the group ahead of us. So a small group of us missed the opportunity to visit a locals home, who wasn't home at the time anyway. We were told to head to the pier and 15 minutes later the rest of the group appeared. By this stage I was already starting to feel like one of the rat pack and was taking every opportunity to make some space for myself.

After reconvening we all got on the boat to the other side of the lake were we would continue cycling through some more old villages before eating lunch and having some free time. The whole region is very picturesque as a large mountain range descends onto the lake and much of the old regional architecture and dress remain intact. The Chinese government is also taking efforts to protect the environment by charging a protection tax for everyone that boards a boat on the lake and fishing is only permitted for six months of the year leaving the boats lonely and unattended on the shore. Lunch was the usual good feed and afterward we spent an hour walking through the streets. Upon peeping through one of the doors, I saw a whole load of a suspicious green plants with five pointy leaves, commonly found in Amsterdam. As I would find out later the is a substantial industry in Dali.

Walking through some of the smaller passages an old lady was just leaving her house when she saw us. She then turned around locked the second lock on her door before walking away. I guess that would be normal if you see a hoard of tourists from foreign lands coming at you. At one point I managed to lose the crowd and ended up being the last one back on the boat. The return trip was fateful. We were meant to dock in a village far north of Dali and then cycle back, but the low water level and growth of weeds meant we were unable to get to the shore, so we continued to the next point were we also could not moor. Finally we docked were we left from but were now a few hours behind schedule, by which stage some were not in the mood to ride back, so they hailed a bus from the main road while the group cycle back. Not easy or pleasurable with the strong headwind and a moderate incline at the which broke the hearts of some who walked it. But we all made it, took photos of the Three Pagoda from the outside to avoid the fee and returned our bikes to the store. We where then left to ourselves for dinner and some drinks in the nightclub district, where local singers performed for the non-existant crowd.

The group had settled in by this stage and everyone was getting along nicely, and I was becoming lazier by the day. The following day I was interested in getting away on my own, and planned to head to a small village north of Dali as it was said that a small festival was going on. However two others decided to join me and after walking to the wrong gate because I got my North-S-E-W confused hailed a bus from the side of the road and travelled to Xizhou. Arriving on the edge of town we were greeted by Ponies with cart offering lifts and other city chaos. We walked into the town which was ripe with activity, though I could never really make out a festival. Walking down one of the market streets, we passed a small hairdresser and with time on my hands decided to have an impromptu haircut. Indicating to the old man waiting in the shop that I wanted a haircut he called to someone outback. Out came a middle aged lady with short hair whom I guess has recently migrated from Vietnam. Friendly she was not, but certainly willing to rip me off. We negotiated and with the help of the German, Tobias managed to negotiate a price. However never let a nearly bald man negotiate for you, for somewhere along the way the hairdresser had got the idea that I wanted my hair short like him. So I could only look on as watched my hair disappear at an alarming rate with inconsistent quality of hairdressing technique. It was too late to pull out as she continued to cut, and shave and cut, and shave until I was left with about 3mm of hair left on my head. Not what I wanted, but if I wanted a real haircut, I should
have gone to a real hairdresser! Left left on good terms and with hair freshly cut and washed we proceeded through the market street. At the end of the street we came to a small square with lots of stalls with food to eat and locals dressed in traditional clothing. I order some noodle with the deft use of my fingers while those with me looked on with skepticism. To old ladies on the same table started smiling and talking about us and eventually for reasons I cannot remember she pulled out her pension card with a photo and age. we found this quite charming so I pulled out my drivers license and showed it to them which they found amusing. And so we communicated a bit, with the help of Tobias, our personal translator. I asked if I could have a photo but they refused. they will live on in my memory though. It was reaching the end of the day so we headed back and like usual the bus found us rather than us it and so we were back in Dali in a flash.

We ate dinner as a group again expertly ordered by our fearless leader Anton. Marga and Nelleke who had spent the previous days in Lijang joined us halfway through and we had drinks together back at the hotel with the tour guides and others from the group. At the end of the evening we parted again vowing to meet up again at some stage. In the same way I will meet up with you, my beloved readers again.

Laos Vital Statistics

Most ubiquitous brand names: For anyone that has been to Laos or read about laos, one company stands above all as a national institution; BeerLao. Available everywhere, drunk by everyone (at least those that can afford it!). Each city is draped in the Beer Lao flags. Tourists love it, and realise that it seemingly high gas content can make you feel bloated after a big night out. The locals love it too, but most can only afford to drink it on special occasions. It's 8000kip (1$AU) price tag for 750ml exceeds the infinitely cheaper and more popular rice whisky, which is mostly home made. The only down side; the company is now owned by Carlsberg.

Sarongs: The sarong still find a prominent place in the Village life of Laos and the women wield them like expert. those guys hoping for a sneak peak while the ladies are bathing in the river or getting changed have scant hope against a woman's dexterity. this is ofcourse learnt form a young as as children from about 3 onwards are gifted the sarong and start their training. While it take some year to fully master even the kids are quite adept at adjusting the sarong for the given purpose.

The happiest people on Earth: this may be an exaggeration but they seem to be a happy bunch of people. Even with the average wage being around $2 a day, the people of Laos can always find an excuse for a party. I think that not a single day passed in Laos, where I didn't see some family or group holding a party. Maybe this also stems from the same character that allows the Laos people not to hold any grudges. Unlike Vietnam where Americans can still be treated suspiciously, in Laos there is no such animosity amongst the people. Be prepared to be invited to party with the locals if approaching small villages.

Locals vs. Tourists: Tourism always has a down side it seems and for the Laos people it mean being pushed out of the centre of the cities. In Laos, it seemed more apparent than other countries in South East Asia that the tourists live in one are and the locals in another. In the man tourist centres interaction between the two in minimal. This in part makes sense as the income gap is wider and the restaurants, hotels, shop that fill the tourists areas like Luang Prabang are totally unaccessible for the locals and so they keep their distance. In their place foreign investors setup restaurant chains in the major centres specialising in poor quality western food, premium prices (by local comparison) but make you feel like you are in a cafe in Sydney or Canberra. While just down the road you can get a beautiful noodle soup for 60 cents.

Change: The Laos government had made a commitment to turn Laos into a developing economy by 2020. The requires a lot of change and this is happening fast. Laos will open its first stock exchange later this year. It has now vowed to implement a national rice reserve. Investment is opening up and new deals to increase transport flow between China, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos are continuing to open up the borders and the country. Tourism inflows are growing by ten's of percentage points each year and their is still a large capacity for growth even though tourism is not a good industry to base an economy on. Investment in more hydroelectric dams, and other large infrastructure (mostly by China and Thailand) and mining contracts (mostly from Australian Mining Co's) is bringing more and more money into the country and greater access to amenities. I guess what I am trying to say is that if you want to enjoy Laos, I would go sooner rather than later before it becomes another Thailand.

Canoeing the Nam Ou River to Luang Prabang (Asia Trek pt20)

The next morning I woke up early to walk to a nearby cave, where again Laotian people hid during the American bombing raids. The cave not overly large or spectacular is interesting as they have added signs indicating what was done in different parts of the cave. i.e where the general sat, where the medical section was, and other such sections. Accessing the cave is a pleasant 30min walk from the town and after some negotiations about money with a lady that had difficulty doing negative mathamatics in her head.

After returning to Nong Kiew I settled into continuing to relax by playing guitar and reading books. It was only when going out to look for something to eat that I met Jordan, and American who somehow or another had decided to buy a canoe off a couple of other tourists and was planning to canoe about 100 km back to Luang Prabang. At this stage I wasn't exactly sure where I wanted to go, but Luang Prabang a city I had already been to twice was not on that list, so I kindly declined. Throughout that afternoon and evening I ran into him a few more times and while he had found a guide, which took a lot of effort, he had not found someone to join him. It was only late in the evening after we had watched a Movie at a local movie house, which consisted of small rooms with cousions, TV's and DVD player was I finally pursuaded to join him on this adventure. Only as he expected it to take three days which would still give me enough time to make it o the Chinese border by the 23th of of the month.

Having not done any planning myself I got up early in the morning, packed my bags and made a rush to get food and supplies together, ready to leave at the agreed time of 10am. Sitting in the Cafe eating breakfast, our captain Jordan arrived having still not readied himself to leave. So I took another two hours before we were finally ready to go, with rope, footballs, sticky rice and coca cola. All loaded up with supplies, Jordan, our guide and I, started to long paddle downstream, with amused looks and smiles from the locals who couldn't understand why we didn't just take a normal boat.

Initially it was hard going as the current was slow and after turning a corner a substantial headwind greeted us. But we continued. After was while the road departed the river and we came into an area of untouched forest and spectacular mountains, with villages untainted by road trade and tourism. Occasionally we would be passed by locals on boat or pass locals fishing or working in the river. Our guide made conversation with them in order to sus out out much progress we had made and where exactly we were. Lunch was held on the side of the river.
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By the evening we had to look for a place to stay and after visiting a village where an aunt of our guide lived, eating some food and watching the kids play we to moved on to find a place a little further downstream to stay. This was a process of landing near a village and putting our guide to work on finding a place to stay. We were actually quite fortunate as the uncle of our guide and previously done a lot of trade down the river and was thus known by everyone. So upon leaving our guide father had to the guide that he should mention his name and opportunities might arise. From this it emerged that actually relatives of our guide lived in the village where we had landed and agreed to put us up for the night. Unpacking all our stuff from the canoe and walking up into the village, we were greeted by the now familiar looks that comes with being a 'falang'. A quick bath in the river with the locals before wandering around the village and using the guide to translate find out more about the lifestyle, which apart not having any access to fresh water apart from a stream was much the same a the other villages that I had been in.

Dinner consisted of sticky rice, bamboo soup and chicken which was freshly slaughtered and payed for by us was the usual high quality. While I dug in, being fairly used to this style of eating with the hands, Jordan ate with some skepticism about the hygiene as I had in previous situations. The solution for which was a can of coke after the meal. Of course none of us got sick over the three days. After dinner was cleared, I was invited to play guitar to the family and some friends which had come to joins us, so I played and few tunes which was thoroughly enjoyed even if they thought it a bit odd. After that Jordan spent more than an hour stuffing around trying to achieve a camera trick, to show off, but never managed to do it and my impression that everyone in the room thought he was slightly crazy.

We went to bed and woke up to head off for a second day, gifting a football to the village as a general gift for their hospitality, loaded up the canoe and headed down the river again. Today was a long day and after being sunburnt on my hands the day before, I strapped them up in bandage and that with orange hat and brown shirt on, must have made me look like crazy man. Today the scenery remained beautiful but the occasional rapids stared to increase in complexity and danger. In a way we were fortunate as inexperienced canoers that it was a gradual build up allowing us to train on the earlier ones so that we had more control on the later rapids. Occasional miscommunication made the rapids all the more interesting and on this day we managed to avoid scraping a rock by a hairs breadth almost knocking our guide into the river. But we survived. Progress was slow however and differing opinions on the distance we would still need to travel brought us some concern as to whether we would make it on time.

The rain also proved to be an issue with intermittant rain making the canoeing somewhat less pleasant but there was little we could do but keep on paddling. After finding a bit of shade under which to consume lunch and have a rest, we continued and to our joy arrived at the point where the road joined the river again indicating that we had travelled half way. This gave us new found optimism and energy and we continued for a few more hours before again stopping of at a village and again sending the guide in to find us accomodation. This aggain proved no difficulty and we unloaded, bathed and washed our clothes in the river before going to the local store to buy a few beers. Slipping and sliding on the path that had now turned to mud because of the rain, we made it back to the house we were staying in and shared beer, whisky and food with the family with the TV on in the background. This village along side the main road was connected to the electricity grid. Dinner was social and more translation occured, them asking questions of us and us asking questions of them. Of significance was the fact that two of the men had large tatoo's from the knees through to the midriff. This was done because in their generation it was done in order to attract a partner. This tradition has fallen by the wayside since but the two brother probably in their fifties or sixties still wore them with pride and keen to show them off. After dinner we prepared for bed by hanging mosquito nets in the living room, some thin mattrasses and then of to bed.

The following morning it was raining, os we held off packing the canoe until the rain eased. Unfortunatly this did not happen so in the rain to took our stuff down the slippery banks of the river, at which point I slipped and was covered in mud, as was my backpack, guitar and my umbrella broken. Not happy, I was stroppy with the other guys to get things happening and after a fully clothed dip in the river to clean myself we were off. Wet and not particularly looking forward to a long day in the rain. It didn't really let up until late in the evening, although it did get lighter. Utimately the rain did us a favour as the pace of he river really picked up and we where cruising down the river without too much effort. More rapids ensued including one which had a 50cm drop and got the adrenalin pumping but we made it through safely. Disagreements as to the best course of action increased, communication started breaking down after two and ahalf day on the boat and discussion over the appropriate techniques increased. All do to the increasing complexity of the rapids.

Early in the afternoon we reached the bridge crossing, a sgn we had been waiting for for some time which meant we were near the merging with the mekong. After a quick lunch underneath the bridge,we turned a corner which revealed a beautiful karst in the distance which warranted a stop off on an island in the middle of the river for photos. While the others were busy with photos a young boy appeared from the other side were he had been fishing. I had some peanuts which I offered him and which he enjoyed. So much so that he disappeared and came back with a small fish in his hand, which he offered in exchange for the whole tin of peanuts that I had. I really like those peanuts and had little I could do with a fish that I declined the deal, instead giving him our left over sticky rice and dried fish which he took and disappeared. By this stage the impromptu photoshoot was finished and headed on our way and within half and hour we were on the wide mekong river.

This river which was much busier with tourists boat visiting a nearby cave, looked came but being about twice the size of the river we had previously be on, moved with a much larger force. And the first and only set of rapids we came to tested our skill to the outmost and last minutes changes in direction because of the current were frequent. But again we made it through exhausted and exilirated at our achievement. Following the rapids it was a long row all the way to Luang Prabang, which we had now committed ourselves to getting to by the end of the day. After some false impressions of the end we arrived in Luang Prabang in the late evening and and settled into our hotel rooms. I decided to stay one day before leaving to prepare to cross the border. During that day I decided I would try to contact Tee. After receiving information that he was indeed around town I wandered around looking for him. But a wandering tourist is prime meat for the Tuk-Tuk driver and many offered to help me. After I said I was looking for Tee, one Tuk-Tuk driver phoned him for me and told me he would be there in 10 min. So I waited and was disappointed that it was no the Tee I was looking for.

After having no luck on the street I went to the tour company that he worked for and asked to contact him. They had his number and after a short phone he arrived 10 minutes later. By this stage it was to late for lunch but he offered to take me to his home again. I agreed and checked out of the hotel, still having to pay 50% of the room fee and drove past the market, where I purchased more pens and schoolbooks, before heading out of town and across the river again to Tee's house. I had clearly impressed the houseold as that night before dinner the whole family coalesced and a ceremony was held in thanks to me and to 'pray' (for lack of a better word) for safety on my further travels. The family animist by religion believe that figuratively speaking your shadow is very important for your wellbeing. If your shadow departs you which can happen whenever then you are more prone to illness. The ceremony which involved a chant will placing string around my wrist, eating chicken and drnking rice whisky, was aimed at ensuring that my shadow stayed with me. It was one of the most moving moments f my travels. This was followed with a large banquet meal where the rice whisky glass was passed around the circle. A very pleasant evening.

the following morning, Tee drove me to the bus station to take the bus to Lam Nam Tha, from where it is easy to cross the border into China. The bus trip is again long and what is interesting is that the quality of the main road is one of the poorest I had experienced in Laos even though it i a significant tourist and freight route. But obviously not important enough to repair. But after 8hrs of driving and almost arriving in Lam Nam Tha, a left hand turn takes you on to the most modern and sophisticated road in Laos. Why you ask? Because this is the major trade route from China through to Thailand and the whole road was financed by China in order to facilitate that trade. It also acts as an early sign of the immense development difference that become apparent upon crossing the border. After settling into a hotel I ate and hung around waiting for Marga and Nelleke whom I had met in Phonsavan to arrive so that we could travel into China.