Patuxai

One of Vientiane's most recognizable tourist "attractions" (bless the poor soul who travels all the way to Vientiane to see this monument) is Patuxai. It looks a lot like the "Arc de Triomphe" in Paris, probably on purpose. "Patuxai" literally means the "Gate of Victory" (Patu = door or gateway, xai = victory). It's made out of concrete donated by the American government, which was supposed to be used to built a runway in Vientiane. (read more on Wikipedia) The Lao government chose to built Patuxai instead. It is, to this day, unfinished. 

Family standing outside (Christmas day tourism!)

Love Lao signs/ translations. This one includes: "From a closer distance, it appears even less impressive, like a monster of concrete."

The entrance to the stairwell to climb Patuxai has a ticket booth. Tickets are 3,000kip ($.40) a person, and to get to the top is 7 flights of fairly easy stairs. 

The view from the top is pretty neat- it would probably be better without so much smog. It's December and we need rain. 

This is the view going downtown (along Lan Xang, one of the biggest streets in Vientiane, designed a bit like the Champs Elysee in Paris) (lot of Paris imitating going on...)

Nick didn't get the Zoolander face memo

Overall it's a quick and cheap trip. There aren't a lot of tourist destinations in Vientiane, but this one was pretty fun. 

Merry Christmas!

We (Nick, my family and I) are in Vientiane for Christmas ! Celebrating at the apartment :)

Fireplace episodes on Netflix 

Mom gave Nick a desktop ping pong kit that he and Ollie played Christmas morn

Merry Christmas to you and yours !!!

Cat sushi

As part of the company wide fundraiser to raise money for the UN's World Food Programme helping relief's in the Philippines, I told my coworkers that for every $50 they donated I'd bake them a dozen cookies. This was stupid of me, as the project goal was $1000 which is 20 dozen cookies. And I also seriously underestimated how awesome my project coworkers are- altogether, including company matching, we raised at least $1600. (We have 15 people on our project.) 

So a LOT of cookies were made. Peanut butter, chocolate chip and sugar cookies. And brownies.

One coworker, who maxed out his donation matching by donating $250, requested 'cat sushi'. This is the image he attached to his email.

I couldn't do that... So I did this instead

Cat sushi

^ this is a cat

Getting mail in Laos

Our office admin visits the post office a couple times a week to check on our PO Box (Lao buildings, residences, etc do not have normal addresses so everything is usually sent via PO Box). 

Mail takes 2.5 - 4 weeks to get from the US to Laos (more if it goes through the Dominican Republic - that's what happened to a couple letters here... I guess Lao PDR is confusing for some). And everyone really really likes getting mail. 

The different stages of mail deliveries : 

1. Hope : 'you have something for me ? Anything with my name on it ? I'm not really expecting anything I just really really want mail...'

2. Envy: when other people get mail and you don't . Results in crowding the recipient and watching as they unpack every. Last. Thing.

3. Buoyant zeal: the feeling when you get mail. I got this birthday card in the mail yesterday from one of my favorite people stateside (thanks Kristin!)

Emails are great, but nothing beats the feel of receiving a real- life pen to paper card. Especially when you realize it required 8 Forever stamps. And the cost for shipping packages is astronomical.

Visit (Beautiful) North Korea...

So North Korea decided to open itself up to tourists - this has been widely discussed Stateside, particularly because of the arrest of American Merrill Newman, an 85-year-old Korean War veteran.

Laos and North Korea are two of six (I think?) communist countries in the world so it's not a huge surprise that North Korea is advertising in Laos. One Lao coworker sent us all the advertisement that he received through Facebook, which is a flight deal to North Korea (through China?). While North Korea isn't high on my list of travel destinations, it sounds like a couple people from the office are planning trips...

I don't read Lao, but I gathered from the ad that you travel on the 27th or 28th of December and the flights are 7,500,000kip (about $930).

Birthday dinner at Xang Khoo

Last week I turned 25. I got two cakes from work (well one was from Nick so I don't know if that counts) :)

Both were chocolate because chocolate is the best flavor 

And then a third cake at my birthday dinner at Xang Khoo

I've had a cold for almost 2.5 weeks now so rather than blowing out the candles I waved them off, which is a lot harder than it sounds. 

Overall great bday :)

McDonalds blue sauce

Nick ordered French fries from the McDonalds in Udon thani (Thailand).

Is blue dipping a thing in the states too ?

Lamborghini aka poor life decisions

Lamborghini being driven/ imported into Vientiane. I do not understand this at ALL. Half of the roads in the city are dirt, and the other half are covered in dusty dirt. And the drivers here (really in all of Asia) SUCK. Every car rental we have has bumps and bruises from accidents or someone hitting us or scooters running into the side of the car.

Which begs the question: why would you ever bring this car into Laos? 

I hate the Pizza Company

The Pizza Company is an Asian chain which has Domino's- like pizza (ie thick crust with weird gimmicks... ). I actually kind of hate the pizza here

Nick likes the pizza though, and on Friday we joined a couple of the guys there. I got the 'salad bar' option, which really just means I paid 35,000 kip ($4) to eat a couple pieces of broccoli and carrot. The bowl they give you is TINY and you only go up once (something they don't tell you till after you go up)

Christmas Carols at Lao plaza

Lao Plaza, the hotel we all lived in for over a month when we first got here, hosted Christmas carols last night.

I use the term 'Christmas carols' loosely, as they through some originals in there as well.  Not a fan ... But it was very beautifully decorated.

Hammer and sickle

For Lao National Day on December 2, business and residences around Vientiane hung the Lao flag and the Communist flag (hammer and sickle).

So now this is outside our office, every day.

Cooking attempts

Made red cabbage last night 

Here I am, cutting onions 

Like a boss

Insect surprises

Nick flipped out when doing the dishes yesterday morning- I ran over only to the kitchen only to start flipping out myself. 

This guy was in the sink, lying in wait. 

For size perspective, that's not a water bottle. It's one the the water dispensers you usually keep in the fridge. 

Massive antannae :/

Christmas party photos

Technically we had two Christmas parties (one was family friendly) but I was sick the first day

Xmas hats

Hm... Tequila 

Wat Phu (Champassak)

Wat Phu is "Lao's Angkor Wat". Built in the 6th century by some guy obsessed with phallic symbols (apparently even the location was chosen because a nearby hill was phallic-shaped), it's at a weird level of tourism. There's a ticket entrance and a lot of people to sell tickets, to bus you to the temple, etc., but not a lot of signs and very little information for what you are actually seeing.

That being said, I was really happy we went. This is a view of the top temple from the cliffside. 

Climbing the staircase to get to the temple- how pretty are those trees?!

According to a couple sources (looked up BEFORE we went to the temple; of course there was no signage actually at the site), the "Alligator stone", archaeologists suspect, was used in ancient rituals of human sacrifice. It even looks like it's human sized... very creepy. When we moved in to get a closer look, a weird looking salamander all of a sudden came out of the water pooled in one of the hand/claws of the stone. Bad sign; I got out of there fast) 

Buddhist shrine within the temple

In front of the "library"

Also, we biked there. It was only 15 k from the hotel, but the bikes weren't really meant for (a) speed, or (b) dirt/ gravel roads. But a 30k bike ride with limited sunscreen = a bit of a sunburn on my arms and legs. 

Bolovan Plateau in Pakse

For $100, our hotel arranged an all-day trip along the Bolovan Plateau, just Nick, me and our Lao van driver. It was awesome. 

The first of the waterfalls we visited was Pha Suam waterfall. What made this waterfall special wasn't the waterfall itself, but the village that had built up a (hopefully) sustainable visitors' area where tourists could purchase skirts and art, take pictures of the locals (for a price), or buy the food sold from little fire-pits along the walk ways. 

Pha Suam waterfall

Also (when we first arrived there, around 9am) there were puppies running all around the village. They were SO cute. When we went back an hour later the puppies were gone! 

They also had tree houses and cabins throughout the jungle area. It didn't look like anyone was staying there, but I would definitely consider it.

When wiping a mosquito off the back of Nick's neck, it exploded, and I got blood all over me. (Mosquitos- and insects/ creepy-crawlies in general- are what I hate most about the jungle)

Sign in the Katoo Village Center museum. To summarize: sleep with a local, pay the government $, have a jail sentence and buy the village a cow.

The next waterfall we visited was Thad Fane, which (I believe) is the most well-known of the waterfalls in Pakse, just because of how incredible it is. We couldn't even see the bottom! There isn't much to do, except stare in awe from the viewpoint, but there WAS an incredibly steep hiking trail that we didn't dare venture (both of us were wearing shorts and there were too many bugs/ snakes to feel comfortable, plus I was still rocking my flip flops).

We then stopped at a coffee plantation, where one of the workers explained the coffee making process. Nothing super surprising, but Nick and I got to eat one of the coffee "fruits" (a red berry-type fruit that surrounds the coffee bean). It was cool.

That Yenng (spelling?) was easily the busiest of the waterfalls, probably because there were so many places to walk around. There was a Buddhist monks' picnic near the top of the waterfall.

Also there were a lot of people at That Yenng that wanted to take pictures with me. Not sure where those pictures go. Do they just post the pictures on Facebook and declare me to be their new friend, though I have no idea who they are? I don't get it. 

It isn't normally part of the tour but there is a really cool Buddha on the top of the mountain across from the Mekong. Nick and I climbed to the top. Then back down. 

On the left a skirt that I bought in Katoo Village (I have no idea how to wear this skirt, but it felt nice to support them). On the right a sihn I bought at That Yenng, which I need for work :)

Overall a lot of hiking, a lot of waterfall viewing, and a lot of fun

River Resort in Pakse

For my birthday, I asked Nick to take me to Pakse for the three day weekend. 

(Side note: December 2nd was Lao National Day, the FIRST Lao holiday we've had since we arrived in May. I am so jealous when I see my friends have time off on MLK day, 4th of July, and Thanksgiving... working Thanksgiving was especially hard.)

Pakse is in Southern Lao, and seems to mostly be filled, tourist-wise, with traveling retirees and backpackers. Most of the guests at the River Resort, the hotel being a "luxury destination" and far from Pakse center, were older travelers, mostly from Europe and the States (some Australians). Nick and I were by far the youngest, but we didn't mind because this place was INCREDIBLE.

We found a package on their website (pricey for Laos, but not bad overall) for two people for two nights. It included:

1. A riverside villa (awesome, outdoor shower, balcony)

2. A river cruise for two (wasn't really excited about it originally, but it turned out to be great)

3. Two aromatherapy massages (they were OK, at best. Staff could use better training)

4. 10% discount on food

This was the package rate for the high season; I'm sure it would be much cheaper in the low season.

On the river cruise. The River Resort staff in charge of hosting us was great

View on the River cruise

Sunset view from the villa

The Mekong River is pretty muddy and gross. I wanted to explore the "beach" a bit and ended up getting stuck. One of the very sweet gardening women, Noy, came down and helped me out of the mud, then helped me clean my clay-caked flip-flops.

Getting stuck :(

Washing my flip flops off with Noy.  How the conversation went :
Noy: (speaks a bunch of Lao)
Me: "Yeah I tried walking over there *gesturing a walking motion* and I sunk!"
Noy: (speaks a bunch of Lao) *starts cleaning my other flip flop*
Me: "Khop jai!"(Thank you)
Noy: (speaks a bunch of Lao)
Me: "Yeah I know, I'm a mess!"
(Both awkwardly laughing because we have no idea what  the other is saying)

The River Resort was about 35 minutes from the Pakse airport, so it took a long time to get to the Bolovan Plateau (about an hour, see "Bolovan Plateau" blog entry). They were only about 15 k from Wat Phou (another blog entry) and provided bikes to get there and back so that was an incredibly beautiful ride. Plus so many kids were excited to see white people on bikes!