Dogs must have their day

In Hoi An dogs are venerated. I crossed the famous Japanese covered bridge and encountered this image. Many Japanese emperors were born in the year of the dog .

Lazy in Hue

Hue (pronounced way) is a large city though not nearly as big as Hanoi. I only had one day here and there were many places I wanted see, so I hired a rickshaw even though I've been somewhat critical of other tourists for doing this in the past. It was great!

Memorial to Ho in home he lived in while a school boy

Hanoi ....

More street scenes.

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First day in Hanoi

Alley in front of my hotel

I am enjoying Hanoi!!! It's vibrant and intense and the food is wonderful.

I will spend another day here and take the night train south tomorrow to Hue.

Beutiful young girls preparing to graduate
from seconday school

Beef steamed in bamboo

My last day in Laos

I went for a walk yesterday down a small lane that left the main street in the old part of town and meandered down to the Mekong. Cafes, galleries, a heritage center, Old Luang Prabang houses and an interesting wat made up my journey.

1) Motorcycles and flowers

2) A public bench -- unusual in LP

3) Entrance to the Heritage Center

4) A fine example of an old dwelling 

5) Entrance to Wat Xeingmauone 

6) A studio where novices make statues of Buddha

7) A Buddha garden

8) A mysterious open well

9) Old French homes on the street where I emerged from the lane 

Christmas comes early in Luang Prebang too

I was very surprised to see Christmas decorations today when I stopped off at an high-end coffee shop on my way to teach at the library.

A magical weekend

I spent the weekend on my own in Nong Khuai, a small village on the Nom Ou river. It was an arduous five hour trip here in a packed to the gills mini-bus, but the trip was well worth the effort. For young travellers, Nong Khuai is the jump-off point for rock climbing, trekking and kayaking activities. For me, it was a relaxing two days spent photographing the clusters of limestone mountains that surround the village and the village itself and getting to know people who live here and visit here.

View up the river 

My $10 a night guesthouse lower left

  A villager's back garden

One of the three village streets

Small farms under a karst cliff

A view from the bridge at dawn

My last day at Wat Mano

Friday was my last day teaching at Wat Mano. I found it really sad to say goodbye to the young novices, since I have come to care for each and every one of them in the short time I have been here.

The novices are very intelligent, kind-hearted and fun with beautiful spirits that shine from thier faces.  On Friday, we take a break from teaching English and relax and have fun creating artwork, playing games and completing puzzles. I found it easier to hide behind my camera rather than let them see how sad I was to be leaving them.

Most of the novices are talented artists. As much as possible, we integrate the creation of the artwork into the English lessons. Once created, we put the artwork up on the walls of the classroom. Buddhist novices are not permitted to have personal possessions while they're in the monestary.





Below, Liz, one of the newest volunteers, enjoyed seeing the intricate drawings of one of the youngest novices in our class.

Naga finds a home

Two families from Australia and the States by way of Singapore recently left the corporate world and relocated to Luang Prabang where they are managing a guest house across the lane from where I stay. I frequently eat breakfast on their deck overlooking the Nam Khon. There are several children in the two families; and this week, one of the daughters rescued a tiny kitten from the lawn of the golden temple (two posts back) and brought him to their home to live.

Named Naga, which means dragon in Lao, the kitten was far from fierce. Instead, Naga had weepy eyes, scruffy, sparce fur and was the smallest, most rejected member of the litter. However,he did have, according to Susie, one of the new guesthouse managers, "the friendliest disposition of all of the kittens on the temple lawn."

Following one week of care including visits to Luang Prabang's one vet, shots, vitamins, and lots of tlc, Naga is blossoming. His new family thinks he has gained a lot of weight, his eyes are clear and his fur looks better. He has even developed a liking for technology as you can see in the photo.,

Naga visits the guesthouse though not as frequently as he may like, "We don't get much work done while he is here. In fact, when he visits, we give him a different name, 'the timewaster.' says Susie.

If you are interested in learning more about this pleasant guesthouse, contact Susie, Steve or Rachael at:

Villa Merry No 1 at +85671252325 or
www.villa-merry-guesthouse.com or merry1@getlostinlaos.com

I recommend them highly.

The most famous wat of all

Wat Xieng Thong is Luang Prabang's "oldest and most frequently visited temple." Located on the cusp of the peninsula where the Nam Khan joins the Mekong, the wat compound contains the main temple with beautiful swooping roof lines and an interior where gold stencil work depicts dharma wheels and exploits from the life of King Chanthaphaniit, the king many Lao consider the last good king.

Three chapels and several ornate stupas dot the surface of the rest of the compound. My favorite chapel contained two reclining figures, one a sinuous reclining Buddha and the other a lovely reclining member of the feline family.

Unlike other temples I have visited , tourists were free to take photos of interiors, which made the main temple and the chapels seem like museums as well as places of contemplation and prayer.

However, the absence of novices and monks may have been due to the day (Sunday) or the time of day I was there.

The peaceful temple

I have spent the last two days sick in my room, not on the trip North I had planned to take. No, I was not ill from some exotic Asian illness; rather I had fallen a foul of the Australian flu courtesy of a new volunteer who brought it with her. All was not lost however because I had time to look through my photos for other topics of interest. 

Last weekend, I visited an interesting temple called either the peaceful temple or the golden temple, depending on which guidebook you consult. It is a new temple, constructed about 29 years ago and required a 30 minute tuk-tuk ride out of town.

There are five floors in the interior of the temple, each floor containing murals representing different levels of existance. The mural I have included was one of my favorites and came from the first level depicting life lived poorly. (The mural reminded me of days spent navigating corporate life.) Murals on the successive levels showed daily life lived well, religious life, heavenly life and at the top up some very steep stairs enlightenment. This final level had no mural, simply the sky. 

Visiting the UXO Center -- some painful truths

During the war Americans call the Viet Nam War and SE Asians call the American War (or the Second Indochine War), Laos became the most heavily bombed nation per capita in world history. Many of the bombs did not explode and remain buried in the ground or under water today. They are a constant danger to children and adults living in the different provinces. Formal studies show that at least one Lao is injured or killed daily from UXO damage.

The most significant danger comes  from cluster bombs, bombs with a casing designed to split open mid-air and spew 670 small "bombies" over a 500 square metre area. When disturbed, bombies explode and shoot steel bullets designed to kill anyone within a 20m radius.

I visited the UXO Information Center in Luang Prabang this past week. There, videos of children who have been severely damaged by bombies caution other children to not pick up metal in the forests and fields. Posters share information on bomb types and graphically show some of the damage these bombs caused. Neutralized bombs and bomb casings from the war appear in numerous displays.

As I left the center, one of the staff asked me if I had enjoyed my visit. She was very aware I was the only American in the building. How do you describe shame to someone who does not understand its meaning in English?

Trip up the Mekong today

I played tourist today and took a boat trip up the Mekong River. It's the end of the rainy season, so the river's level is starting to drop. The river remains deep and wide, however.

One of two heavily touristed spots we stopped off at was the "whiskey village." A small shed caught my eye there. This building charmed me with its simple, sweet design.

Back in Luang Prabang to teach a class at 7:00 PM, I started my third week of teaching. I continue to work with young novices at Wat Mino and young adults at a small college across the lane from my guesthouse.

A room with a view

I have a new room in the main guesthouse rather than the dormatory where I've lived for the past two weeks. I now have a balcony over-looking the Nam Khan River, a shower that does not share space with a toilet, a small deck, enough storage space and no barking dogs in the hallway.

The weekend has been pleasant.  I visited two beautiful wats (temples), took photographs of nightfall on the Mekong River, 

enjoyed an hour long foot massage and met many of the new crop of volunteers who arrived on Friday.

For some volunteers, Laos is a culture shock. It's quite warm and humid, the traffic is lively with no laws governing where and when you can cross the road, and many animals -- dogs and cats -- who roam everywhere. I am no longer the oldest volunteer here. A very pleasant 75 year old woman arrived from NYC where she is a retired college professor. The other new volunteers are from Singapore, Switzerland, Germany, England and Australia. 

It is a wonderful mix of languages and cultures when we meet.

Lao cooking school on Saturday

Four hours of cooking and you are not seeing dessert! On Saturday, we took a tuk tuk several miles out of town to attend a Lao cooking school taught by a young chef from a local restaurant. What I am displaying with such enthusiasm includes sticky rice with smokey eggplant dipping sauce, chicken-stuffed lemon grass, fish wrapped in banana leaves and a buffalo (water) gratin. This was all cooked over a charcoal-fueled brazier. Some of it was steamed (the fish and the sticky rice). The rest was cooked over open coals either directly or in a pan.

For a bit of perspective -- in the tribal villages, most Lao subsist on a diet of sticky rice and dipping sauce. About 60 percent of Lao live in these rural villages.

Dropping off children at the local primary school

Most parents and older siblings use motorcycles when dropping the young children off at the local primary school. I believe education is now compulsory for children in Laos. Parents are very eager to have their children educated and most value the ability to speak English, which they see as a means to well-paying jobs.

Teachers are respected. Most are required to work the first year without pay, however, and salaries are low by Lao standards.

Our low tech but highly functional resource room

All of the nineteen volunteers teaching English at Luang Prabang use the resource room several times a day. Here, we develop lesson plans, hear how teaching is progressing for everyone and get to know one another.

The volunteers who are here currently come from Canada, the United States, Columbia, Mexico, Scotland, England, Austria, Germany and Australia. Volunteers range in age from 18 to 71. The majority are women; five are men.

Despite our differences, we get along well and are uniformly looking forward to this weekend!

Teaching at Wat Mano

I teach at Wat Mano four days a week. These photos were taken yesterday. The class is small --- six novices and the wat school manager's son (who is in the white shirt). Global Vision International (GVI) volunteers have been teaching here for several years though my class is new to English. Loa enjoy fun and play so much of our teaching involves games and activities.

GVI has a new tablet so, in the lower photo, one of our volunteers, Anissa, works individually with students using fun software where the students can see, hear, and practice the alphabet and numbers.

One of the small challenges of teaching novices is to follow the guideline of not touching them directly at any time.

My local Starbucks

"Book and Tea" beats Starbucks by  a mile and is one of the pleasures of Luang Prabang. I've been in training for two days and start teaching tomorrow. I'll teach two classes -- one of young adults and the other of early grade school age.

Splendor on the road to Luang Prabang

I traveled yesterday to Luang Prabang where I will be living and volunteering for the next six weeks.  The trip was breath-taking - limestone mountains, hill tribe villages, the mighty, muddy Mekong River. Today I move to the guesthouse I will be living in while here and meet the other volunteers. I am so glad I came. 

Are we there yet?

To get from Sherwood, Oregon to Vientiane Laos, I:
*took five flights lasting a total of 22 hours
*spent 17 hours in airports waiting between flights including an over-night stay in Saigon where I "slept" on a bench
*enjoyed every minute of it

Trip highlights so far include:
*learning that the best way to manage a 14.5 hour flight is to take a sleeping pill
*appreciating the kindness of the Saigon airport employees who found me a quiet place in the airport to rest
*being serenaded by my Vientiane guest house manager who plays guitar and likes old Carpenter songs

I took the photo below at Wat Si Saket in Vientiane, one of the most beautiful Buddhist  temples I've ever visited.

Last day in the garden

I am doing what I can to get the garden ready for winter in Oregon. It's in the 90's in Laos now.

At the beginning

A thousand - or more - miles starts with a single step. I will go down this road in Oregon Monday morning on my way to Laos. Flying standby is always a little nerve-racking, but if all goes well I should be in Laos October 15. San Francisco, Hong Kong, and Ho Chi Minh City are my lay overs - airports only.