Eating Leaves Can Be Delicious!

Today was a relaxing and very laid back day around Vang Vieng. After some coffee and reading we decided it was too overcast to go tubing, as we originally planned. We headed off to breakfast at the Organic Farm Cafe. I enjoyed some delicious mulberry leaf pancakes and a mulberry shake. Yum!! Mulberry leaves are fed to silk worms and if they are good enough for the silk worms they are good enough for me. After such a delicious breakfast we decided to rent bikes and travel out to the farm where they were the leaves were grown. We wandered around until we found baby goats, pigs, and had a snack of fried mulberry leaves. They tasted about the same as anything fried might taste. From the farm we went to one of the caves around Vang Vieng. There are a lots of caves in this area and man are they huge. I can now understand how whole villages would live in these caves during the Vietnamese-American war. There were some beautiful formations in the cave and it was a nice reprieve from the warm weather outside.

Plain of Jars

After traveling the nauseatingly winding road from Luang Prabang to Phonsavan we were all very happy to arrive safely at our guesthouse. Phonsavan is the capital of the Xieng Khuang province, a strange town since it was only built around 1975 after the Americans bombed the previous capital so severely that it had to be abandoned. In fact, while in Phonsavan we first learned that Laos is actually the most heavily bombed country in the world. During the American-Vietnamese War American pilots would "dump" their unused bombs over Laos before landing their planes back in South Vietnam to make the landing safer for the pilots. There are so many unexploded munitions in Laos that when visiting various sights around the city, tourists are forbidden to go outside of "cleared" areas. Also, they expect it to take 400 years for all the unexploded munitions to be cleared from the country and at this time only a very small percentage of the funding for this project is coming from the US. As you might expect, many Laotians are still very angry about what the US has done to their country.

It was very interesting to learn more about the US involvement in Laos. However, our main reason for going to Phonsavan was to visit the amazing Plain of Jars. Clustered in groups, but scattered in different areas outside the city are 4000 huge jars made of solid stone. No one knows exactly when they were crafted, who made them, or for what they were used. However, they are beautiful and it is suspected they were used about 2000 years ago for dead bodies to decompose before they were buried. The largest jar was two meters in diameter and two and a half meters high. Unfortunately, there are only three Jar sites open to the public, since they are the only ones that have been cleared of unexploded munitions and therefore considered safe. These ancient and mysterious jars were well worth the journey.

Laos Trekking and the Hill Tribes

We spent the last two days hiking through the Lao jungle in order to experience the traditional life styles of the Khamu and Hmong minority people. These villages were deep in the jungle and often times high up on the mountains. This meant that we were required to saddle up one more time for a mountain trek. The difference between this trek and Nepal was the altitude. But Lao trekking provided its own challenges. Many times the trail, if you could call it a trail, seemed to take the shortest route to the top or bottom of the mountain. Switchbacks seem to not have made it to Laos yet. Often times we were just bush whacking our way through the bamboo forests and river valleys. Despite the blistered feet and sore legs we made it to all the villages we planned on seeing. We even spent the night in a traditional village that was probably the most remote place I have been in my entire life.

Experiencing the older children taking care of the home duties as all of the adults went off to work in the fields really opened my eyes. Western cultures really do shelter children, when in other parts of the world it is not uncommon to have an eight year old taking care of three younger children. Also, the younger children are around knives and fire all day long without adult supervision. I guess that just means they are forced to grow up quicker than we are. Especially when most of the girls in the village are married by the age of 14. Life in the village was very simple but involved constant hard work. The rice and animals were in constant need of attention. When villagers did have a few minutes to rest almost everyone worked on weaving baskets or fixing tools. They are very resourceful and used almost everything they found in the jungle. They even used old bomb metal fragments to make their tools and utilized a old mortar shell as an anvil. We found most of the hard labor was the women's responsibility. When we inquired why, our guide informed us that men have such a shorter life expectancy and it is feared if they do more work they might die even sooner. His explanation of the difference in life expectancy (45-55 for men & 60-70 for women) was that women get to change their blood via birth or monthly menstrual cycles and the men are stuck with the same blood. Quite interesting!

Relaxing in Luang Prabang

After a nine hour bus ride through some very winding and mountainous passes we arrived in Luang Prabang. The countryside of Lao is very beautiful and peaceful. We have spent the last two days strolling the town. Along the way we have seen a number of local fabric shops, temples and markets. I have to admit we have been a bit lazy. It was nice, but today we realized that we have visited all the sites in town and are now running out of things to do. I guess that means we will have to look into Lao massages. Wow, we have a rough life!!! Tomorrow we are planning to sign up for a trek or boat ride that will take us too some of the nearby waterfalls and visit some of the local tribe villages. Who knows we might even get to ride an elephant!!!

Lao PDR

We arrived in Lao yesterday and much to our surprise it is quiet. One does not hear the incessant honking of horns, or wake up to the early morning sounds of traffic, street vendors and roosters, and there are not millions of motorbikes on the street.

We did not initially know it but we are here during the high season. This means that it took us a good hour or so of wandering around the town with our 18 kgs backpacks looking for a hotel that was not booked. We ended up returning to the first that we found, as we initially thought it was way too expensive, but after visiting several other more expensive hotels, learned it was actually "reasonably" priced. Our treat this morning was real mochas and true bagels with cream cheese. Although we have eaten well during our trip it was nice to eat something that we have not had for the past eight months.

Vientiane is a very modern city and so clean. We spent today wondering around the city and visiting the many wats, or Buddhist temples. They are so beautiful and unlike any architecture that we have at home. As we were walking around town we passed the US Embassy and Kenny, who has been wanting to visit an embassy since we started the trip, could not resist the temptation to go inside, simply because we could. We did the registration procedure and then quickly left when Kenny finally realized it was more like visiting the DMV than being entertained by an ambassador. As we all know after a trip to the DMV it is a good idea to stop for drinks. We decided to have a few sips of Beer Lao along the Mekong River. Those few sips turned into more than a few pictures and now I am not so sure that we will be productive for the remaining hours of the day. Tomorrow we plan to head to Luang Prabang which we have heard is a great place to hang out and relax. We are trying to make the most of every remaining moment we have on or dwindling days of traveling.

Hanoi, the land of Ho Chi Minh

Hanoi offers a slightly different view of Vietnam than we have experienced over the past two months. To start with it is certainly cooler and more expensive. The city itself if beautiful and has a magnificent history. We found it very easy to get lost in the many narrow and winding streets that are filled with shops that exhibit everything from Buddha statues and water puppets to old propaganda posters and cloth wall-hangings.

Ho Chi Minh commonly referred to as Uncle Ho, the second father for Vietnam citizens. His Presidential Palace and grounds hold a museum that is a major tourist attraction. Both were quite impressive and depicted the elegant but simple manor in which this very important individual in Vietnam's history lived and ruled. The highlight of Hanoi for me was Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum. Similar to the old communist Russian leaders, Uncle Ho has been preserved for millions to visit. The Mausoleum is a huge granite structure that reminded me of an impressive bank vault. Viewings are only allowed from 8:00am to 11:00am. I guess even in death this great leader needs his rest and solitude. This provided an interesting obstacle for Katie and I. With such a short window during the day many people arrive early to participate in this privilege. What we did not know is that the line to see Uncle Ho starts at one end of a huge compound almost out of sight of the Mausoleum itself. One could not just show up at the park of the Mausoleum and make our way to the line, as we tried. The entire section of the city is shut down during the viewing times and you have to walk an extra five blocks in order to get to the ticket counter.

The guards for this queue up ritual were quite impressive. We entertained ourselves during the wait by watching tourists trying to cut in line behind the guards when there backs were turned. It was truely amazing to witness the patience and determination that the guards displayed as they caught every dishonest tourist. We were even lucky enought to experience the changing of the guard. This is a amazing display of poise and reverence. It reminded me of the changing of the guard ceremony I witnessed as a boy at Arlington National Cemetery's Tomb of the Unkown Soldier.

Hanoi is also our last place to visit in Vietnam. It is hard to believe that we have been here two months and it is already time to move on. We will cherish the relationships and memories we have had during our stay. It truely is a beautiful country filled with beautiful people.

Tet New Year!!

The past few days have been a whirlwind of drinking, eating, and trying to stay awake. The staying awake part had nothing to do with being bored or lack of fun activities, rather it had everything to do with very late nights of partying.


After spending a few cold and drizzly days in the ancient city of Hue we took the train back to Tam Ky to spend the first three days of the Tet New Year with Mrs. Hanh and her family. As soon as we got back into town Mrs. Hanh came to take us to her house, and nourish us with her delicious food that we had been missing the past few days. Then it was time to get ready. We helped to prepare offerings of cookies, nuts, candies, and watermelon seeds for each of the Buddhist alters in the house. Then we helped with the last bits of cleaning, since at the beginning to the new year everything must be clean and fresh. In fact, almost the entire neighborhood could be seen washing down their motorbikes or the front of their houses.


While Kenny and Mr. Nyugen disappeared into a crowd of beer drinking neighbors, Mrs. Hanh and I went out to get manicures, pedicures, and our hair done. In addition to everything getting cleaned for the new year, everything also has to be new. We went back to our hotel to change into clothes that had never been worn before, watch the fireworks and wait for Mrs. Hanh to come back to get us. The first visitors of the year to any Vietnamese home are the ones who determine the luck of the house for the coming year. We were honored that Mrs. Hanh and her family wanted us to be their first visitors. However, we also wondered what on earth she could be thinking after getting to know us for the past month. Most of the traditions that occur during the first few days of the New Year are to bring luck for the coming year. Since we were feeling lucky we headed out for some late night Karaoke.


The first day of the Lunar New Year was full of family, food, and thankfully some napping. With Kenny, Mr. Nyugen, and Trung on one motorbike and Mrs. Hanh and I on another we headed out to visit each family member in their home and to take them with us to the next house. When everyone was collected we all rode out, caravan style to the cemetery where Mr. Nyugen's parents and uncle are buried. The cemetery was a strange mix of a carnival and a church service. The traffic to the cemetery reminded me of the traffic at a Christmas Eve service. Yet, there were vendors all along the road selling flowers, incense and offerings to bring to the ancestors. As I understand it, the ancestors from each family are invited back from heaven for the New Year celebration so that the whole family can be together. Afterwards the entire family went to eat together and visit other family members.


The second day was much of the same thing, riding our motorbikes around to visit friends as well as entertaining them when they came to visit the Hanh house. Most of the neighbors also wanted us to go to each of their homes, which we were more than happy to do. However, at each home we were given a beer, or a shot of rice wine. After visiting about nine homes between the hours of 9 am and 11 am we were in severe need of a bathroom break, black coffee, and a nap. We headed home for some of Mrs. Hanh delicious spring rolls, a snooze on the couch, and we ready for an afternoon of much of the same.


Being with the Hanh family for the biggest Vietnamese holiday was a unique and special experience. We were so welcomed by their family and friends and so appreciative of the abundance of hospitality we were given. When it was time for us to head to the train station, not only did the entire Hanh family come to see us off, but grandma and grandpa, as well as some of the neighbors came to say goodbye. Mrs Hanh even packed us delicious picnic dinner for us to savor the last of her cooking on our train journey north. I think these three days may have been some of the most memorable and special of this entire trip.