photos typhoon laos 5

photos typhoon laos 4

photos typhoon laos 3

typhoon 2

photos typhoon laos

JOURNEY IN LAOS PART 6

After trying to clear away some of that big muddy mess, with the help of some villagers using their hand spades, in order to make a narrow path through for the wehicles, the first bus in line made an attempt to pass. It ended up with its 2 back wheels in the air hanging off the steep mountain and blocking the way completly for anything else to get by.

We had 2 options, spend the night there with no water or food, or take our luggage and walk. We were 10 kms away from Udomxai so we decided to continue on foot.  It was around 5pm so we had about one and a half  hours of daylight left. Two french guys we had met on the bus joined us so we felt more secure. They had just arrived from Northern Thailand where they had spent 2 months teaching children from the hilltribes. After about 1 mile, we realized that there was no way we could go any further. We had mud up to our knees and we could not lift our luggage. It was getting very heavy with all the mud stuck to it + they were already weighed down alot with many opium weights and silk weavings. 

Lucky for us just at that moment we came across a pick-up truck that was turning back towards Udomxai as they could not go forward through the mud. They offered to let us jump in the back, and in we lept! As we entered the town at nightfall, we saw the whole side of a building collapse into the river before our eyes. Of course there was no electricity so after alighting from the pick-up, we had to wander around by torchlight to find somewhere that would have us to stay.

The next day we asked our new friends if they wouldn't mind coming with us as we wanted to hire push-bikes to tour the flooded villages.  We had in mind to give little donations to some of the people whose houses had been washed away. It was heart wrenching to see what a precarious situation the people had all been put in. Most of the surrounding villages had been completly washed away and all their crops had been destroyed; by the worst floods in 50 years. The people were already working away, with the help of the army, to salvage their belongings from the muck and rebuild their woven bamboo and thatch homes.We stopped in about 10 villages looking around, trying to approach the people who were trying to salvage their belongings in the muck.   In one village, a headman took us around. He showed us where the river had risen, broken its banks and made new paths throughout the whole village. By the end of the day we noticed that the Japanese embassy had sent people to distribute rice and drinking water to all the villages. We were surprised that not one of the very many NGO's that are established in Laos was present with any aid to the area. A few days later, watching CNN in a comfortable room in Luang Prabang, we saw some coverage of the typhoon that had hit Vietnam, Thailand and China, but no mention was made of Laos.

Our new friends had interesting stories to tell s about their travels. They shared with us their experiences of teaching in the hill-tribes in remote parts of northern Thailand, including their culinary experiences of eating rats with Thai guards on the Burmese border. So we told them they definately had to go to Sam Neua for its lack of travellers and the good selection of rats to eat. That's where they went while we continued onward to Luang Prabang; back to civilization.

This is Laos' most famous and visited town. We hadn't been there for many years. it took us some time to re-adjust because it was such a contrast with what we had just been experiencing for the past 4 weeks. L.P. has still lots of charm...listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Centre, it is an outstanding example of the fusion of traditional architecture & Lao urban structures built by the French during the Indo-China period. Plus we found some very nice silver work for our gallery. 12 years ago we discovered 2 dishes here that are part of the regional cuisine of L.P. We have still never seen then anywhere else. One was stuffed lemongrass and the other a jungle curry made with  spicy wood and roots. We had the same meal again and it was still as good and memorable as 12 years ago.

The next day we returned to Vientiane where we spent a few days before returning to our favourite capital in the world, Bangkok.

  

JOURNEY IN LAOS PART 5

We are now heading to the northwest. By now we feel like veterans on the local bus, but unfortunately there is always a surprise around each corner. Every bus trip had unexpected delays. This time the problem comes from a big truck broken down in the middle of the small mountain road. The only way around it is to dig a new path on the side of the road but with small-borrowed spades, it takes forever. It does give us time to check a close-by village where the farmers were in the process of milling corn. Many times we got cought in mud-slides and floods blocking the roads, a common situation during the rainy season, but so far today the weather has been dry.

Next stop, the National Protected area of Luang Nam Tha, which is located in a stunning unsploilt primary forested area. We travelled around to the surrounding villages. We discovered that this area was formerly used to grow opium. As well as finding other varieties of beautiful weavings, we also found fascinating old tools and implements used during the opium trade days.

One problem with those long bus journeys is to find a place in the middle of the jungle to go to the loo. It's not so hard for men since they can use the side of the road, but it's a bit trickier for ladies... As soon as you leave the road, you can be sure to come back with your legs full of leeches. On this journey, I didn't have to venture so far into the bush since I (MaryPat) found a low road sign to perch behind. The exotic sign read "We are proud to have tigers around here".

For the past few days the weather has been terrible. It has rained non-stop. From Luang Nam Tha we bused on to Muang Sing where we visited more ethnic villages in the area on pushbikes. We had plans to go to Xien Kok to a monthly fair attended by ethnic groups from Burma, China and Thailand but the fair had been cancelled, so we decided to head to Udomxai.

Udomxai is a bustling market town since it is a stopover hub for people moving between China, Laos & Vietnam. We expected our bus journey to take 4 or 5 hours, but the usual unexpected was of course just around the corner... Massive flooding had occurred throughout the region over-night. It was devastating to see houses and sometimes complete villages washed out along our way. The rice fields were destroyed and the road was covered over with mud from landslides. As we approached Udomxai the situation worsened. We reached a long line of parked-up trucks. We walked past them to check on the road condition. At first we thought the problem came from electric poles and wires lying in the middle of the road, but further down we saw a huge mud-slide that hadn't been cleared and no trucks on the other side, which meant that there was more trouble ahead.

JOURNEY IN LAOS PART 4

The region of Sam Neua is famous for its silk weavings but most of them are sold to Japan through agents as soon as they are made. This intrigued us, so we decided to go and see these villages for ourselves. It was going to take time so we ended spending an extra couple of daysin Sam Neua going back and forth. Each day took us to different areas, accessible only by pick-up truck down extremely bumpy dirt roads. We were not disappointed, as the weaving quality was amazing. it was exotic to meet Hill Tribe people who had never been outside of their province. each single weaving takes a woman 2 to 4 months to make, so they only had very few available. It was a very slow but enjoyable process going around every day to the different villages to search out the people who wove and to buy their creations. out of all the villages, Sam Thai is the one with the most stricking pieces. No wonder you never see those weavings in Laos. They are in such high demand that they are all exported right away to countries where they fetch very high prices.

Our evenings in Sam Neua would take us to the local bustling market. It came to life around 5 PM daily when the farmers and hunters came down from the monutains to the town with their wild animals and foods. We discovered that in this part of laos they seem to eat every-thing that moves except for may-be butterflies! If you wanted to try out eating any kind of animal, Sam Neua was the right place. We saw bats, rats, foxes, iguanas, dogs, worms, insects and hedgehogs, just to name a few.. on sale at this market. If you wanted rat, you had the choice between live or dead ones, from the river or the jungle, fresh or dried.

We love markets, especially the ones we have seen throughout Asia but this one is certainly the most amazing and colourfulone that we had ever come across. We ate fruits and vegetables that we had never seen before. Also, another great thing about being there was that nobody could speak english so we were able to practice our Thai and Lao.

We put a few videos at the bottom of the page. We left out a few that we felt were too gruesome. We just want to show a way of life, but if you are a bit sensitive, it's better to not look at them.

The Lonely Planet Guide has a few mentions of some of the villages we went to visit. We were checking their recommendations on accommodation, on our way, when we came across a funny line. The author was referring to " rat free" rooms being available in the village. We didn't think too much about this until the next morning when we came face to face with a big rat in our bathroom. We wanted to discuss the matter with the owner of the place. The problem was that in the Lao language the word for rat and mouse is the same: "nuu" . So we had to make sure that he understood what size of animal we were talking about. It was not just a poor little mouse but a big ugly rat. Anyway there weren't too many choices of accommodation in the village so we decided to stay and found a way to keep therat out by blocking the shower hole since that was his way of getting in. On the other hand, the couple who owned the place was doing a great job at keeping the mosquitoes out. every evening, at around 5 Pm when the mosquitoes were starting to com in, they would get their electric bats ready and flip them around frantically until they were all killed. They had a routine well worked out and you could see that they loved doing it. it was like their 'relaxation time' at the end of the day.

We headed further north to Vieng Xai. Our primary reason for coming here was to see the caves where the members of the Communist Lao government had lived for nine years during the Vietnam War, from 1964 to 1973. This is a beautiful hidden vale, dotted with karst hills. We met with a guide and organized push bikes to visit the caves to-gether. Our guide was a veteran soldier from that era, so he gave us first hand stories about the war. Some giant caves could hold a few thousand soldiers. We visited the caves of the 5 leaders; each one had his own cave and lived there with his family. They were fascinating to visit. We also saw a theatre cave for visiting performers from Russia and China. Another one was a fully outfitted hospital donated by Cuba, but we were not allowed to see it. In 1973, when the war was officially over, each of

leaders came out and built his own villa in front of the caves where they had lived. They continued to live and rule Laos from here for a couple more years before they could return to Vientiane. After they moved, they kept them as holiday villas. We liked especially the one of the 'Red Prince' who converted to communism after his civil engineering studies in France. He had a heart shaped swimming pool in the front garden built on a bomb crater.
No doubt this place will get a lot of visitors in years to come