Bread and condensed milk

So every Friday we have a breakfast for the office that is sponsored by our company, usually Lao pork sandwiches, fried eggs with bread and sausage, or basil pork with rice. 

As of last week one of the Lao companies we work with also started providing breakfasts, so every Wednesday we also get breakfast at work :) and their breakfast options are a new experience...

Yesterday, for example, it was soft baguette bread laid out with cans of condensed milk.

You put the milk on top of the bread and it tends to look a bit weird, for breakfast...

Though really it just tastes like bread with honey, if the honey were to have a dairy element to it.

COPE Visitor Center

One thing that everyone says you must do in Vientiane is to visit the COPE Center. I sent my family there when Nick and I had to work back in December, and they really liked it... 

Nick and I went Saturday morning (we scootered by it, since the sign outside says "Center of Medical Rehabilitation" and has no mention of Cope). 

The COPE Center is mainly funded through donations, and helps in the rehabilitation and physical therapy for people with disabilities. They have education materials on display, which demonstrates how they get the word of their program out to the more remote villages (there are 5 sites in Laos that help with fitting people with prosthetic and doing physical therapy, and if the patient is unable to pay- like a lot of the rural village people- COPE will cover all expenses and bring them to one of the 5 sites)

One of the main attractions at the COPE Center (it is really small) is the movie theater, which plays documentaries about the work of COPE and about cluster bombs.

One of the main focuses of the center is the presence of UXOs (Unexploded Ordnance) in Laos.  Due to the Vietnam War (called the "Indochina War" over here, and that encompasses a long time before the US got involved), Laos is the most heavily bombed country (per capita) in the world. There are still many people who are killed or injured each year due to cluster bombs that are hidden, or while handling scrap metal. About half of these people are kids.

There is a movie about "The Convention of Cluster Munitions" at the center. It depicts representatives from countries around the world getting together to sign an agreement against the use of cluster bombs.

Most developed nations have signed. The US and China have not.

They had a "Leg Mountain" of prosthetic legs at the center.  

At the front of the center they have a gift shop and a donation canister (made from a prosthetic leg). Nick and I both donated to the cause, and I ended up buying a shirt that says "Stop Cluster Bombs, Please".

(Please excuse the messy apartment behind me)

For more information about UXOs in Laos, here's one site: http://www.uxolao.org/

Or you can just google "cluster bombs"

When everything at work fails

Got in Monday morning 8am- tech guy is out sick, program / environments are down and there is no internet. All of this makes it really really difficult to do our jobs...

And yet this is not unusual. Our first months here the internet and power would go out a couple times a week ... It's not as bad now but it's still frustrating.

Monday morning at work with no connection:

Beerlao Tank-top

Every person who comes through Laos usually ends up with a Beerlao Tshirt. For Saturday's Aussie Rules Football tournament I ended up wearing my ill-fitting Beerlao tank top ... 

Plus pink shorts to support the Lao - Falang ARF team, the Pink Elephants.

And this pic for good measure.

Chatuchak Market

Saturday afternoon Nick and I took the BTS to the terminal BTS station, Mo Chit, to explore the weekend market Chatuchak. It was ENORMOUS! There were hundreds upon hundreds of stands throughout the building, selling everything from food to antiques to art to clothing. 

This map is a loose model of how everything is supposed to be laid out: 

For a more thorough blog about Chatuchak: http://www.bangkok.com/shopping-market/popular-markets.htm

Some awesome things we did/ saw/ bought:

1. A chocolate dipped, almond covered banana. It was amazing. 

2. Sliced green mangos covered in this granulate chili/ sugar powder stuff. For $.66. 

3. Beautiful artwork and lighting fixtures. If I had any room in my carry-on I would have bought so much stuff (and I did end up buying a wall clock that was made from wood taken from old Thai school buildings)

4. Pet shops that have bunnies (which you can pet!) and puppies (which you can't)

5. (At the moment) "Shutdown Bangkok" T-shirts for sale. I bought one, not necessarily for political reasons (though ousting corruption from the government seems as good a reason as any to have major protests), but because the protests were such a big part of our weekend.

6. Fake Fruit stands. There were multiple of these, which I do not for the life of me understand. ONE Fake fruit stand makes sense, but THREE? Why?! How much fake fruit variety do you need?

7. This lady. Take a close look at the picture (which I had to grab super subtle-y).

On the lady's right shoulder there is a squirrel. It's attached to her necklace by a thin metal chain and it was scurrying from her right shoulder to her left shoulder, curiously looking up at the people walking by from time to time. I almost didn't see it (Nick missed it completely) but when I realized that this lady had a PET SQUIRREL it blew my mind.

There were a lot of other really cool things at the market, but we were only there for a couple of hours (it was hot and I hate crowds :)) 

Above Eleven

Nick and I went to dinner at "Snapper", a New Zealand restaurant in Nana (that's what the BTS station is called, anyway). The restaurant had good food (a nice break from Asian cuisine, anyway) and the area we were in was awesome.

When we went exploring after dinner, on the lookout for a place for dessert and drinks, we turned down a darker street and almost turned back, but then I saw the sign for "Above Eleven", a rooftop bar recommended by one of our more adventurous friends. And we were dressed well enough so we took the elevator up (it's on the 37th floor, no idea why it's called Above Eleven).

The bar was awesome. The view was great, the drinks were pretty good, and the Peruvian Asian cuisine is supposedly really delicious (we split a Tres Leches cake and I have to admit that was the best Tres Leches I've ever had). It was a bit expensive, and we were really lucky to get a table- we were expecting to sit at the bar. Service was pretty disappointing but I think that's standard in most Asian restaurants. 

View of Bangkok from Above Eleven

How Nick looks at a fancy bar

How I look at a fancy bar

(But don't I look like the squid Doctor guy from Futurama?!)

Purr Cat Cafe

(Bangkok) On Sunday I wanted to take a water taxi over to the Kao San Road area (lots of historical sites, plus it's along the water), but the canal dock closest to us was in the middle of a protest zone.  So we decided to go to a cafe a friend told us about instead. It's called the Purr Cat Cafe, and you are surrounded by cats. (Nick is a massive cat person, which I think is kind of weird for a straight man in his mid 20s... but his family loves cats. My family loves dogs, but there you go.)

To get to Purr Cat Cafe: Take the BTS to Thong Lo. Walk north on Sukhumvit 53 for about 1.5 km. It's on the left. 

They have a BUNCH of rules, and if you break any of them, there's a 1,000 Baht ($33) fine. (The hardest rule to follow is "Do not hold the cats".)

They have incredibly sweet and energetic kittens, but you can't pet them. They're in their own screened-off area.

Also they make you wear these super sketch leather slippers. They felt gross.

Cats. For DAYS.

Cat decor everywhere (Hayley you seeing this?)

Also side note: They had a lot of "pretty" long-haired cats. Long haired cats are, for the most part, assholes. They don't want to cuddle or be picked up or even look you in the eye. The ONLY nice cat was the ONLY short haired grey one. Nick has a pictures somewhere but I'll have to track it down.

The cat climbing furniture was built into the walls, the columns, between the rooms...

Lording over the other cats. He was just sitting like that for 5 minutes. 

The place smelled of cat, which is no surprise (and it wasn't as bad as I expected), but I didn't want to get food there... we split a massive pot of tea and it was very unappetizing watching the cat hair float in my cup.

Also they didn't open till 11AM on a Sunday so we had to kill time for over an hour before we could go in. 

Banana Club sign

We walked by this storefront near the 'Nana' BTS station 

Protests in Bangkok

As I will blog about in another post, Nick and I went to Bangkok this weekend despite warnings from the US embassy- and my dad- fearing for the safety of foreigners during the Bangkok Shutdown. 

Summary : the current Thai Prime Minister,  Yingluck Shinawatra, tried to clear her brother, a former Thai PM himself, in an amnesty bill that would allow him to return to Thailand from self-imposed exile. One of the political parties in Thailand (the People's Democratic Party?) had a major problem with this and has been trying to oust Yingluck from her role. Starting in December, city-wide protests and marches in Bangkok have brought the issue global attention and travel warnings were issued from the States (and pretty much every major Western country).

Jan 13 marked the beginning of the 'Bangkok Shutdown', which is supposed to last anywhere from 20 days onward. Lots of disruptions throughout the city, and more recently there have been explosions or homemade bombs.

So that's what we (Nick and I) were heading into when we arrived in Bangkok Friday night. 

Our hotel (Vie Hotel) was near a major protest site, next to the Siam malls, but we didn't experience many problems with it - 

 Protestors near Siam center mall

Picture of Victory Monument (taken from metro above)

Also the press has been a target of violence recently- I think that's why they didn't give the author name for this Bangkok Post article ?

Frankly the protests really only made one major difference in our trip- I really really wanted Outback Steakhouse for lunch today. Due to lack of customers (I assume), it was closed. I was very very perturbed. 

'Murica

Darts at Q Bar

Getting dirty & elephant poop-y with Green Discovery

Green Discovery is a tour company that operates throughout Laos and is supposedly very "fair trade" / eco-friendly/ sustainable. It's also one of the more expensive tour companies ($60-80 for one day of elephant activities, per person), but it came so highly recommended that I organized a day of "Elephant Riding / Trekking" for my family as a Christmas present.

We met downtown at 7:30am (or 8am?) and then took a tuk-tuk-ish van up to a nearby weaving village, where I'm pretty sure all of us all of us WAY overpaid for scarves that were probably just imported from China.

 (With our guide on the right, Kia)

Then we stopped off at the "Tomb of Henri Mouhot". Henri Mouhot was the French naturalist who was off exploring butterfly species in Cambodia when he accidentally stumbled upon Angkor Wat. (How an entire civilization of people forget about a massive stone city in the jungle for 400 years is beyond me... but well done Henri.)

Anyway, he apparently caught malaria and died just outside of Luang Prabang. Rather than move him, they just built a tomb around him.

It's seriously in the middle of nowhere.

Then back in the tuk tuk van which took us to a village even further outside of Luang Prabang. Kia (our guide) explained a lot about animism, taking care of the ancestor spirits and some cultural/ religious beliefs of the Hmong, high land Lao and ethnic groups in the village area. Twas fascinating stuff.

We got to walk around the village and see all the homes, people farming, chickens running around...
then we saw this:

I didn't get to close up, once I figured out what was going on. There's a pig in the middle of that group. It's being... prepared for dinner. Very disturbed once we realized what all the wheezing sounds were.

Also, this:

("This" being the massive knife that those children are playing with. How old are they, 3?! If that?!)

From the village our hour-long trek commenced. It was pretty leisurely. 

The trek ended at another spot along the river (not the Mekong River, a smaller one). Then we got in some small longtail boats and headed upriver.

(Ze boys)

The boats dropped us off next to the Tad Sae waterfall, which is one of the main tourist hot spots in Luang Prabang (it also has an elephant camp).

Really way too excited about feeding the elephants... they're greedy little buggers though. I gave my elephant one sugar cane and she tucked it inside it's trunk (not mouth) and asked for another. And another. And another. And then she had seven pieces of sugar cane and she tried to eat them all at once and dropped all of them.

Parents heading off on an elephant ride.

Cute.

Then we got to parade our elephants around the waterfall.

Lunch was a Lao "picnic". It was kind of sketch, not going to lie. Stewed vegetables and indistinguishable meat is even worse when it's cold.

Our schedule was apparently a bit different than the normal "Elephant Riding and Trek" schedule. Normally, there's a tour of an elephant camp before lunch, then you ride the elephants after lunch. For our group, though, we weren't able to go to the elephant camp (it's being turned into a Highway?) so we did elephant riding before lunch and elephant BATHING after lunch. And elephant bathing is 342879923659823748029348 times cooler than elephant riding.

(Mom and Dad refused to go. The water was cold, but sitting on the neck of an elephant as it dips it's head into the water is just the coolest feeling)

One downside of the elephant bathing: The elephants poop. In the water. And then the poop just floats alongside you. No one picks it up, or pushes it away from you. Then it disintegrates, into the water. Where you are.

Note the little brown thing in the water behind our elephant? That's poop. (You can disregard my face)

I didn't mind the poop so much, but Nick (clean freak that he is) kept saying "God I hope the poop doesn't come this way. It's in this water. The water that you are getting in your mouth RIGHT NOW."

Anyway. We had the option of zip-lining around Tad Sae for $35/person but it was only for like 20 minutes and that just seemed ridiculous. So we dried off, packed up, and went on our merry way back to Luang Prabang.

Luang Prabang with the Family (and Mount Phousi)

This is kind of a belated post, as all of this happened before Angkor Wat/ Cambodia/ Vietnam with the family, but better late than never.

For Christmas vacation Nick and I met my family in Luang Prabang, which is a really beautiful city in northern Laos (way more picturesque than, say, Vientiane).

Luang Prabang was really cold (low 50's in the morning), which was crappy considering all of us had brought warm weather clothes.

We spent the first day exploring the city. In the middle of the town district there is a hill called "Mount Phousi". "Phousi" is pronounced "poo-see", so of course Max and Ollie were laughing every time we passed something named after the famous site- Phousi Hotel, Mt. Phousi, Phousi Stupa...

Along the trail to the top of Mount Phousi, there are Buddha figures, miniature caves, and women who sell these tiny sparrows in woven bamboo cages (I think we paid 10,000kip? so $1.20?) Once you arrive at the top, you can release the birds- and opening the cage without hurting the birds is way harder than you would think- but not before the sparrows crap all over your hand.

After our exploration of Mount Phousi, walking along the river and grabbing a couple of fruit shakes from a street vendor, we ate dinner at Tangor, which had really good French fusion-y food at around the same price you would pay in the States (aka more than $15/ person).

Some of the dishes we ordered came with rice, and at Tangor they take obvious pride in their presentation so each mound of rice was topped with a small red chili. This red chili is a garnish, not to be eaten, but Ollie thought he would be a bad ass so he ate it in one bite.

And ended up with eyes watering, gasping for a glass of milk from a waitress who was looking at him like he was a moron.

The next day the family all rented bicycles from a hostel along the main drag. We then biked to the bank of the Mekong River and took a ferry (10,000kip per person + bike, each direction) across, getting a bit of "local flavor" (ie getting SUPER lost on these dusty dirt roads). Also one of the bikes kept falling apart so every 10 minutes or so we had to go through the whole ordeal of fixing it. Or, rather, Nick, Max and Dad did, while Mom and I talked or took pictures.

Also Nick's birthday was December 23rd. I celebrated by buying him a light-up Santa hat and dragging him to a cooking class. 

Highly recommended cooking class at Tamarind. It was cold outside but the teacher was funny and the food was good. We learned a lot about cooking techniques and different local ingredients that the Lao cooks use to make their dishes. Also I discovered how much I love tamarind fruits (which look super weird)

Also this dog: (notice the blue eyebrows). What?