The Nam Ou River, Laos

Hi Everyone,

I am now in Vietnam, but in this post will only talk about the rest of my trip in Laos. I can't put any pictures up yet because they can't do that on this computer, but hopefully I will soon.

After leaving Luang Prabang, we headed by boat up the Nam Ou river. It is a spectacular river to take a long boat trip up. The water is a nice shade of green, and the banks and mountains nearby are covered in plant life. We also saw the occassional village, as well as lots of fisherman, and one elephant!



We stopped after the first leg at Nong Kiew village. While there, we met Houme and his very animated and talkative (though not in English) father, who took us on three days of trekking. We climbed a mountain and spent a night in a small village homestay.



As most tourists just spend the night in Nong Kiew before moving on, the locals started to recognize and greet us, and we stayed an extra day because we got invited to a wedding. The wedding was fun, but I drank too much Lao Lao (which translates to homebrew firewhiskey) because they kept offering it and I didn't want to be rude. Around 5 (the wedding started at noon), I left for a break, but didn't make it back. Oh well.

We then continued upriver to Mong Khua, a much dirtier and less interesting town. Of note, however, was that a rockband from the capital, Vientiene, was visiting, so I went to check them out. I took place at the local Buddhist temple, so I wasn't sure what to expect. It was very poppy, and the singers were also melodramatic actors. I think it was sort of a pop opera about a love triangle, with a comic relief MC who would come on sometimes. The age range was very strange. There were little kids there with their parents and grandparents, but also teenagers and people my age. Maybe when a rock group comes, its an event no one wants to miss. Also of note was the ferry they used to get across the river which devides the town. It is a platform attached to a cable which is moved by an old dirty steamboat that looks a hundred years old.





From there, we took the bus to Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam. It was a long ride, made longer by the two hour border crossing.

I hope everyone is doing well, and I will tell you about Vietnam later. Goodbye!

Luang Prabang

Hi Everyone,

I am here in Luang Prabang, Laos. It has been great so far, at least since we got off the pane. The flight started off rough. The original flight was supposed to be Toronto - Chicago - Tokyo - Bangkok - Luang Prabang. However, when we arrive at the airport, we found out our first flight to Chicago was cancelled. So instead, the rerouted us to Dallas. On the plane, I was seated at the back between a father and daughter. When I realized this, I offered to change seats one of them, but they said "no, I like the aisle, and my daughter likes the window seat, but thanks for the offer." They then proceeded to talk over me for about 3 hours while I tried to sleep. After that though, besides beeing long and grueling, the flight was alright.

Luang Prabang is really fun. It situated next to the famous Mekong and the not as famous Nam Ou rivers. It is super hot in the afternoons, but the temperature drops enough in the evenings that I was shoes and socks and a long sleeve and a jacket. I don't know how I'm going to manage it in this part of the world as it gets warmer though. I'm pretty far North, and its only going to get hotter as time goes on and I go south, and I already can't manage the afternoons.

Anyway, the highlights so far have been these three things:

1) We took a boat accross the river to walk in a nearby village and see the temples nearby. While we were there, we were approach by two Laotians who worked for the government tourism department. They are thinking of opening a new official trekking route for tourists, and were going on the route to survey it and make sure it was entertaining enough, and wanted to know if we wanted to join them as the sample audience. Of course we said yes, so our one hour walk turned into a six hour hike with a free tour guide. We saw a bunch more temples and statues, how suger is made from sugar cames (and got to chew on sugar cane until we felt sick), and a buddist monestary. In the monestary, a beautiful tamed bird came right up to our feet. That was really cool, until it started to crow loudly and peck at our feet, and chase us around as we ran away. The tour guides and monks really enjoyed that.




2) Today we went to a famous waterfall near Luang Prabang. I don't remember the name, which is embarrassing, but it was spectacular. We walked to the top, behind it, and down the other side. If anyone ever visits here, it is a must see. I will post some pictures on this blog eventuially.



3) My dinner today, consisting of an all you can fit on a plate vegetarian buffet and a fresh pineapple, papaya and banana smoothy, was about 90 cents. Granted, this is the cheapest meal I've had so far (not the norm), but still pretty cool.

The day after tommorow I am going up the Nam Ou river for about a week, and then will cross the border into Northern Vietnam and take about a week to get to Hanoi. In that time, I will be mostly in very rural areas, so I will probably not check my email or add any new posts until then.

Also, in answer to a couple questions, My plan is to travel for five months and to go to Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, maybe southern Laos again, Thailand, Burma, and the Phillipines. I am just going to have fun, but me and Nika, my travel partner, are trying to arrange to volunteer for 'Hope" organization in Cambodia for a couple weeks. Also, if you send me your mailing address, I will send you a post card. When I download some pictures, I will post them with the appropriate entries and let you know there are new pictures.

Bye!

Eitan

Night Before leaving

Hi Everyone,

Rather than figuring out how to make my own blog, I am just continuing my parents', which I figure still applies as I am still a Waldman. I am more or less packed and more or less finished everything I needed to, though leaving it to the last minute was kinda stressful. I also shaved off all my hair. In doing so, I learned a valuable lesson.

I figured, how hard can it be to shave a head? My dad does his every week? My mom suggested I go to a barber, but I figured why pay ten bucks when my dad can do it for me. Well, he started by cutting off alot, and then got to shaving. Unfortunately for me, when he was cutting, he cut a bit too close in parts, so I had to shave it closer than I wanted. Even so, on the right side of my head there are about three bald gashes where he cut too close. He also shaved the back way too high and way too uneven. The moral of the story is don't get a haricut from my dad, unless you want it all shaved off, not just a long buzz cut. You can't see the mistakes in the pictures below, because I angled my head so you couldn't.

So, I'll try to update this blog relatively often instead of using mass emails. Have a good five months everone, and I'll see you when I get back. Feel free to email me. If you send me your address, I'll try to send you a post card. If you don't want me to notify you when I update this blog, just let me know.

And on an unrelated to my travels note, here are two pictures of my wicked awesome relatively new bike. I won't be taking it with me, but I can't wait to ride it when I get back. See ya.