Things Wot I think about Travel: S.E. Asia

So in my last few weeks of travel I spent some time coming up with a list of things that are just... different when youre travelling abroad. Let me know what you think of this list, Id really like feedback and expand it from fellow travellers. So heres the things wot I think about travelling in South east Asia.

- When youre a kid, you only ever want to sleep in the top bunk. When you rock up to a hostel you just hope that theres a spare bed on the bottom and hate the fact that there inevitably never is. (This one could be just me)

- Sitting eating alone at a restaurant with a book is actually not a sad thing to do at all.

- A 10 hour bus ride is no longer a big deal, you just get on with it.

- You 100% trust that the guy who doesnt speak english and shepherds you on the bus actually knows where you want to go.

- Crossing the Road (and surviving) becomes a highly refined skill, not an everyday occurence.

- You find yourself thinking things like "Oh my god, ive never seen so many bananas in one place".

- That mosquito net you brought almost never gets used.

- Sharing a room with someone you met 30 seconds ago becomes the norm.

- The concept of waking up when it gets light actually annoyingly makes alot of sence.

- The concept of busses that will 'leave when its full' will foever annoy time constrained westerners.

- You may only be able to speak a couple of words in their native language, but you can always tell when someone is talking about you.

- A free breakfast is a key factor when deciding where to stay.

- The 'Best Price' is never the best price.

- It never rains but it pours.

- Things you would never do at home do not seem risky here ( riding a motorbike with no helmet, standing on the back of a pickup as it hurtles through the countryside, that kind of thing).

- Dinner and Lunch becomes a variation of either noodles then rice, or rice then noodles.

- You make friends with someone without finding their name out hours/days later.

- Seeing monks using technology and doing un monk-like things will always be funny.

- You wish lonely planet writers would just get to the point.

- A smile will get you a long way.

- You have a love hate thing with Kareoke.

- You've never heard your name pronounced in so many different ways before.

So there you have it, the things that I thought of, please feel free to add to the list by leaving a comment.

My blog post about Burma, and Thailand will be reaching you soon!

Mark

Cambodia

Hi everybody!

So Ive been very bad at keeping up to date with the blog, I know, its terrible. Here's a rundown, ill try and keep it to the point but I have a feelingI'm going to ramble on again. the Internet wont let me upload any photos so... this ones pretty unpictorial... if that's a word.

After an amazing month in Laos I headed on down to Cambodia for another month where I was to spend 2 weeks working at an orphanage, something that id organized before my trip from the UK. Taking the bus from Laos into Cambodia was really interesting. Laos is a land of trees and hills, and as soon as we'd got over the border it turned into flat lands and fields.

My first stop in Cambodia was to spend a couple of days in Phnom Penh, the capital city and commercial hub of the country. I spent a couple of days not doing touristy things but instead hanging out with Julia, one of Nick andKaties friends who is there teaching music mainly to expat kids. It was great to hang out with her for a few days and not feel the need tosight see . On my first day I ended up going to see Julia play in a Rugby 7's tournament held in the old Olympic stadium, something which I never thought would happen.

Before I arrived in Cambodia I made the effort to read the book "First they killed my father", an autobiographical account from a child's view of the Pol Pot regime that took over Cambodia in the seventies. I also ended up reading the book "The Killing Fields" based around an America reporter and his Cambodian fixer. I was really interested in everything that I found out about the regime, and I was kind of annoyed that I didn't know anything about it before hand. So the next part of this post is separate and going to be called 'Sod the Romans'

Sod the Romans... seriously sod them, well not them exactly but more the fact that through the years of 7 to 9 at school, all I really ended up learning about was the Romans and a bit of World War II. Maybe that was my fault that I never was really engaged by it, but since Ive come to CambodiaI'm getting frustrated about the fact that we're not educated in the UK about modern history. The Khmer Rouge regime was an eye opener for me when I came to Cambodia. I'd heard the name Pol Pot before butdidn't really know anything about him. If you're reading this and as ignorant as I was about the whole thing, here's a quick history lesson, please feel free to skip this bit.

On April 17th 1975 Phnom Penh was awash with cheers and greeting as the communist Khmer Rouge soldiers captured the city. A day later the cheers were gone, and a mass evacuation from the city had started with everyone being told that the Americans were going to drop bombs on Phnom Penh, and that they could return in 3 days time. Of course this was a lie, and in fact the city folk were being driven into the fields to work for the communist government. Suddenly money meant nothing and rich were now the poor, the poor still the poor. During the regime workers were starved of food as the rice that they grew was sold to China for arms, they could not say anything and were expected to do whatever the Comrades said. Many were killed for many reasons, monks, intellectuals, former workers under the Lon Nol government, even people who simply wore glasses were tortuously beaten to death as it was taken as a sign of intelligence...1975. What struck me was not really the fact that 2million people were killed (bearing in mind that the population at the time was only 7.1 million), but the fact that it was so recent and I didn't know anything about it. I felt a bit ashamed really and still wonder how many other places this is going on in right now and I'm not aware about it. The regime ended when Vietnamese troops fought back and took over in 1979, with refugees fleeing to Vietnam and Thailand, and then further afield.

Phnom Penh is home to The Killing Fields and S21. S21 is an old school that was converted into a torture camp in the heart of Phnom Penh, a sobering must for any visit to the city. When the camp was found, 9 bodies lay tortured on beds in different torture rooms. Photos were taken and now hang on the walls right next to where the beds and the tortureequipment still lay in the same position as when they were found. Its really eerie place and only gives a glimpse of what it must have been like. Rooms are packed with portraits of the many smiles that were lost, and individual cells the size of a toilet room are bricked row by row. Another must goes hand in hand with S21, the killing fields a few kilometres outside of the city is where the mass graves are located wherepeople from S21 were murdered and buried. Supplies were few in the communist government and bullets were not to be wasted on mere executions, pick axe being the weapon of choice. I could write for ages but shall refrain, but the reason it has to be mentioned is because the effect of the atrocities are still so evident all over the country. Not in the landscape or infrastructure, but in the people. I was waiting for a bus down to the south of the country and got talking to a street seller for about 45 minutes who spoke really good English, after a while as always, she asked me how many people there were in my family, I explained and then asked her the same question. "There is just me and my mother".Uncommon for Cambodian families. "I had a brother and sister but they died in Khmer rouge".... 1975. I heard similar stories a few times, people still affected by the regime.


I shall not go any further, if you are interested, I really recommend the two books 'First they killed my Father' and 'The Killing fields' that I read. Loung Ung's world , forced into Labour is so naive from her child's point of view, and the love for her father who dies (don't think I'm spoiling the plot with the title of the book and all that), is so powerful, her descriptions conjure a vivid picture of life in Phnom Penh.

Spending time in Phnom Penh with Julia was really interesting, and I was amazed by the amount of Ex pats that live there. One tradition that I was introduced to by Julia was going out toKaraoke with some of her friends and some random people. Not ashamed at all to sing at the top of their voice in company of friends, these Cambodians were cool. Its actually got a lot of western influences, with the majority of the western ex pats being French (Cambodia used to be a French Colony, they call itCambodje ). I only really realised how not commercial Laos was until I got to Cambodia and could see the comparison. Western Brands and Chains are all very evident inPhnom Pneh , but Cambodia on the whole is still a very poor country with the average wage being around $1/day (62p in our money). This was really evident when I went on my next stop to an Orphanage inTakeo called NFO.

The NFO
The NFO or New Futures Organisation is set up and run in Takeo province. A few years ago it was nothing with a few dollars, a couple of pigs and about 30 odd young mouths to feed. It was taken over by an English bloke named Neville who has turned it into a thriving place to grow up.

I really liked the NFO orphanage, had a great time there, but I did feel some of the time that I didn't really need to be there. Theres a problem with volunteering at somewhere like an orphanage in the sense that the place needs to be sustainable and be able to run by itself without the need of outside help, andthat's certainly what was the case here. It was great playing games with the kids, and helping them read but I felt that at the end of the day if Iwasn't there, it probably wouldn't make much difference, so... I went to teach English.

The orphanage is affiliated with various village schools but I went to one which was not and that was found by accident by another volunteer a few weeks before. This was by far the best thing I did while I was inTakeo and so rewarding, these kids were just the best. So willing to learn, and some of them really good. Its a free school teaching English run by two local guys who were equally as awesome. I taught in my first week with Amanda, and these guys were so grateful they took us on their bikes to theVietnam border up a 1hour hike to a temple on the top of a hill, looking back over into Takeo Province, great way to spend a Saturday.
The commute to the village school was amazing and I ended up taking a video, I've tried to shorten it and put it on youtube but its not been working, ill try again another time.

Time hanging out with the kids was great, there was one time when it started to thunderstorm and we all took cover, the kids did the opposite and went out to play in the rain, so of course we joined in and played water log football with them. Another good thing about the orphanage was the other volunteers, there were quite alot of them but everyone was awesome, and it was great to spend some time with the same people for a while.


Kampot
After the Orphanage I decided to go down to Kampot in the south of the country. Here I spent a couple of days including a trip to an old colonial house on the top of a mountain which was used by theKhmer rouge. Instead to killing people by axe, here they just threw them off the cliff. It was a pretty eerie place and not very safe, but this isCambodia, there are no health and safety rules.

Siem Reap
I was going to spend some time on the south coast but decided instead to try and make it to Thailand for the full moon party where some other volunteers from the orphanage were going to be.
Siem Reap is the home of Angkor Wat, an amazing array of temples in the North of the country. The temples are awesome and I spent 3 days exploring all of the temples. I went by bike Had a few problems with my camera so some of the pictures arnt focused properly but here are a few of the best ones.

In Siem Reap I got some traditional Cambodian hospitality. walking back from dinner one night a bloke called me over to a table outside a shop where he was drinking with about 5 other people and insisted I drank with them. Turned out to be one of the best nights while we all got drunk through a distinct language barrier. He said it was his birthday,turned out it wasn't... seemed he didn't need an excuse to have a few though.

Into Thailand

I left Cambodia in haste and definitely hope to go back there again some day, the people are the nicest that Ive met so far, so hospitable, generous and happy despite everything that their country has gone through.

As I write this I'm actually leaving Thailand as I go into Myanmar having spent 3 weeks on the beaches learning to dive, so I am one blog post behind. I will write about Thailand when I return from Myanmar.

That's enough for now. Thanks for reading.

I'm such a loser! UPDATE!

UPDATE!

So apparently becoming aware of the fact that I am very good at losing stuff hasnt actually stopped me from losing anything, so there are a few updates to the previous list. Hopefully I wont make too much of a habit out of it.

- My Second Hat (I took it to the orphanage in Takeo and never saw it again)
-My USB stick (Had all of my photos on it which was annouying, left it in the computer at the internet cafe in Takeo)
- Hand Sanitizer ( No idea when this happened. It think it must have been a while ago but ive only just realised.
-One of two plug adapters. Once again, had this in the orphanage and it went walkies.

Hopefully this will be the last post to do with this, but who knows.
_________________________________________________________________

So, there is a longer post to follow about Laos (ill give you the inside scoop about what it says though, it says its awesome). However heres a little bit for you.

You would think that being responsible for my own actions and property after 3 months away would be a given by now, but there is one thing Ive not been good with.... not losing stuff. Here goes:

-2 x tshirts (baring in mind that I only brought 2 out with me in the first place). I actually lost the second one as I was trying out the replacement for the first one in an Indonesian market.

-My hat (brought at a discount on the condition that i spoke english to the guy for about an hour)

-2x pairs of shorts. Both left at the saelao project in Laos (only brought 2 pairs with me as well).

-Gaffa tape, because what sort of a tech would I be if i didnt bring gaffa.

-ipod case (now my ipod is fooked)

-rainjacket which I left in the storage copmpartment of a motorbike.

-New sunglasses left on a song thew, a type of public minibus (sort of, more like the back of a picup with benches).

- 2 pair of pants

- 20 pounds. Pretty sure I sent that home with a bunch of stuff by accident.

I will return not a changed person because of my travels, just with a completly new wardrobe.



Off to Phnom Penh tomorrow and start at the orphanage on Monday for two weeks. Hopefully it will be awesome, really looking forward to it and seeing a new country.

Mark

Life in Laos

So you've heard about my trip to the north and how I spent my birthday, but heres a rundown of what I got up to in the rest of the country.

THE NORTH
I started off in the north west border town of Houxai, a fairly basic introduction to the country with not much going for it except for a steady stream of tourists to make money out of. Because the Laos currency is slightly.... prone to fluctuation, not many people exchange their money outside of the country so I was revealed to find an ATM there. I sat with some new friends, overlooking the mighty Mekong river with a bottle of Beer Lao, something that at the time I didn't know was going to become very familiar.

I took the bus to Oudoxmai in the middle of the north of the country. The roads are terrible here and a journey takes twice as long as it should do just because of it. They are trying to mend them but its a bit like painting the forth road bridge, a never ending task. One important thing I found out about Laos is the concept of 'Laos time'. This is a state of mind where nothing is rushed. As soon as you try and fight the system to get somewhere fast, it fights back with its joker card, 'Laos time'. You simply have to give in and go with the flow other wise it becomes exhausting.

I had a great time in the north, and really felt off the beaten track and saw a lot of amazing things. The hills are just stunning and seem endless. The rivers used to be the lifeblood of the country and for many still are carving their way through almost every town. I spend many a day relaxing on a boat heading for another place somewhere down stream. The country is simple and there is little western influence, something ive only realised since I got into Phnom Penh. I think to many its communist vibe is what keeps them out.

Luang Prabang
Most people get a 2 day slow boat down the Mekong with 59 other 'Falang' (white people) from the border town where I entered, to Luang Prabang the ancient capital of Laos and home to an amazing array of temples. It was made a UNESCO world heritage sight in 1994 and you have to wonder what UNESCO was thinking before then, because its a precious place. Beautified with old colonial french architecture and still keeps a very Laos vibe with the many temples. I made the effort to rise at 5.15 one morning to see the monks do their monking and wonder the town for the giving alms ceremony that they do every morning. Its one of those things that if the tourists wernt there then maybe they wouldn't do it every day but it was great to see. Its one of those towns where you could spend a while watching the days go by. Its one of the few places where there seems alot of older tourists, maybe catering for them a bit more than the party town of Vang Vieng.

Vang Vieng & the SAELAO family
I was originally going to head over to Phonsavan home of the plain of jars, strange ceramic pots dotted among the countryside that nobody really knows much about, but I changed my mind on the morning of my bus. I instead headed to the Infamous town of Vang Vieng, home to many a drunk gap year tourist hell bent on being a dick. The main attraction is the tubing, the art of getting pissed on a river whilst sitting in a tractor tyre inner tube and the crazy slides which together have killed 8 people just this year. Although I was planning on joining the party I found something which was far better, the Saelao Project as reccomended by Jane who I did my trek in the north with. Run by Bob, a Lao born man with excellent grasp of English having spent 12 years in Canada, the SAELAO project sits 7 km out from the chaos of Vang Vieng a stones through from some incredible caves and Blue Lagoon. Its a beautiful place designed to set an example to the local community about sustainability. Thanks to the influx of falang the once small town of Vang Vieng has exploded in size having a new guesthouse built every 38 days! Bobs aim is to help educate the local people about how this isn't sustainable and learn about how to gather materials needed for expansion, without destroying the landscape. There's a restaurant which cooks meat from the village, uses rice from the fields using on a stove supplied by gas made from cow dung. It teaches English to locals and has a newly built community centre, the only problem being the lack of volunteers and money to keep the good work flowing constantly. Working on the project was one of the best things in Laos, I only spent 5 days there but would love to go back if I get the chance, its an amazing place to live.

Vientiane
Vientiane is quite unremarkable in almost every way. I was expecting more from the capital which just sprawls out like a large town more than a city. I did take a chance to visit the national museum which gives a bias outlook on the history of the war against the ''imperialist Americans'' who bombed Laos repeatedly during the Vietnam war, making Laos the most bombed country ever. This was the reason I took Rachel's advice and headed over to a place called Cope. Cope is a centre for amputees who have lost limbs thanks to the UXO (Unexploded ordinance) which still litter the Lao countryside. Many don't see them before they explode, and for others the high price for scrap metal makes rooting around a risk worth taking. It was really interesting, especially knowing that a custom made new limb can be made for only 30 pounds. I pride myself on being able to sleep almost anywhere, that was before I left Vientiane on the sleeper bus bound for Pakse, a truly headbanging experience.

Pakse & the Bolvean Plateau
Another unremarkable town but a base camp for trips out over the Bolvean plateau, a lush wetland teeming with waterfalls and other beautiful natural sights. I did this on a 2 day loop with 3 other europeans on motorbikes. Aware that if my Dad knew he would freak out I chose not to mention that before the trip. It was truly beautiful, and 2 burst tyres was not enough to flatten my spirits. Riding through dusk as the sun was going down, on roads lined with the most beautiful villages as all the kids waved as we went by was just amazing and another experience I was not going to forget. Almost at the end the end of my trip I headed down quickly to Don Det

4000 Islands
A backpackers paradise, the 4000 islands sit on top of the widest part of the Mekong river. There's not much to do except relax and enjoy with Don Det being the island of choice, although we did see an awesome waterfall and were lucky enough to see the rare Irawady dolphins from about 20m away. An amazing place to reflect on an truly unique, beautiful country.


So now I'm in Cambodia and start my orphanage project tomorrow for the next 2 weeks. I took the effort of reading the book "First they killed my father'', an important book written from a child's view about the genocide which happened in 1975. Learning about it has made me realise how screwed up the British History lessons are, because this is way more important than the colour of a romans tunic and yet something that most people (including myslef before I came) never get taught about.

Thats all for now, more to follow in a couple of weeks no doubt.

Trekking Northern Laos

So since my last entry abut Indonesia I've rushed up through Thailand and Malaysia to the Laos border. I wasn't sure what to do in Laos but somebody recommended trekking the northern hills. Its far out and not many tourists can be bothered to go there. This sounded perfect for me.
This time I'm making no appologies for the length of this post.
Here is the story of that trek....

We go to the shop to buy some food for the trip. Ive already brought some coconut biscuits the day before but Claire and Jane need to pick up some supplies as they only arrived into Phongsaly last night. They're from Australia, early 30s and up for the three day trek as well. I arrived the day before to sort everything out. We met in Oudoxmai and decided that as we were planning on doing the same trip that we'd team up. Its early morning and Seng our guide is at the market spending our money on lunch for the day. As we wait the first casualty is my imported Chinese Meng-Bo backpack, purchased especially for the trip. The first zippers blown and I seriously doubt if its going to make it through the days ahead. Seng returns, we grab our sacks and hit the dirt road out north of the town excited for the difficult days ahead.

The sun is powerful up here in the hills and the temperature soon hits 30 degrees. The first village we pass is only about an hour out of town so is hardly different. We dont stop except for the local brewer of the rice whiskey. Its 9.30 and a breakfast of banana and batter hardly seems enough to help stomach the lao-lao this early. We take a shot and wait for the burn. This is strong stuff. Were offered another but i have to refuse to hold back the bilious feeling not needed with 7 hours of walking ahead of you.

The dirt continues ahead but we bare left down into the bush. Seng fashions us some walking poles from bamboo with his ever handy knife and we continue out of town. These come in useful, were a few hours in and the the bush is growing thicker. The difficulty is not the inclines but watching your feet while avoiding being thwacked in the eye by stray branches. Seng described this first days walking as moderate-difficult. He was right about that but the added heat is firmly shifting the balance towards the difficult end. I was right about something as well, my bags not going to make it. The left strap is broken and is now being held together by various knots of various sizes.

The views of the northern Laos hills are stunning despite the wears of obvious deforestation and we try to take it all in, much like the leeches with our blood. They're annoying creatures more than anything but we try our best to fend them off. Jane is not so lucky and by the time we stop for lunch theres one full to bursting point on her ankle. Seng snatches it off, tosses it in the fire and watches that sucker burn.Lunch is served on a table of banana leaves and we tuck into the dishes with the communal sticky rice, hands for bowls, fingers for forks.

Its after lunch and now we have our second casualty. This afternoon is hard and Jane is beginning to regret signing up for 3 days. Shes had gastro the past few days and that mixed in with the steep climb and dehydration from the intense midday heat is proving a troublesome cocktail. We take regular breaks but have to move forward. We keep going, hoping that the village is round the next corner or through the next clearing and when it does we are finally revealed. From afar it fits perfectly aloft the hillside, guarding the valley below, but as we venture closer something feels... different. We are not greeted by a warm handshake or gentle smile, but the raging growl of the local dogs. Sticks at the ready we ease in closer. My mind races back to my appointment at the nurses office pre-trip where I politefully declined the 200 pound rabies jabs, maybe im going to regret that. Not that they'd be much help, the nearest hospital is a days walk away and there ain't no air ambulance here.

The trails in these parts are not well worn and they maybe get a few trekkers every few months, but the looks we receive are as if they've never seen white people before. Its not a look of concern or inquisitiveness, more a glare of shock and worry. It feels like we've strolled into the village naked brandishing shotguns.
We weave through the 27 houses, avoiding the animals littering the streets extremely unsure to the chiefs house where we'll be spending the night. Hes introduced to us simply as "The Chief". Hes a scrawny man, fragile in appearance and lacking all of the elements of grandeur that my imagination had previously concocted. Were introduced to chiefs wife and chiefs eldest daughter, who appear to be doing all of the work. The chief pours the local tea.

We head outside in an attempt to try and engage local kids. International symbols of friendship do not appear to be working though, the wave, the smile, the saying of "Sabai Dee" all seem fruitless. The sweets we bought help a little but not to the extent that we'd hoped. One of the teenage boys poses for a photo, hes clearly dressed up for the occasion, but everyone else is off limits for now. Its an animist society and I dont want to be accused of stealing anyones soul, my canon DSLR sure looks like it could. We're invited to one of the teenagers houses for tea but are soon called back for dinner. Seng, Chief, myself and the two honorary males sit but a few inches off the floor on woven seats. The house, like all of the others in the village doesn't have a floor as such, more of a continuation of the dirt outside. The roof is made of bamboo and all the walls are woven. A fire sits off centre puffing away for every hour of the day and night, and theres a female change area where chiefs daughter visits every now and then. Theres one room cordoned off from the main space, i suspect this is for the chief.

We eat the freshly cooked meal between shots of the chiefs own lao lao. Dinner soon passes and its dark outside. Seng says hes going to sleep and we decide to join him on the wide wooden raised bed. Were not sure who else will be joining us up here tonight but we hope its not the chief. I call shotgun on big spoon just in case. I fear i already know the answer but ask the question to Seng just to be sure. "Wheres the toilet?". I get the answer I was expecting accompanied by a smile "anywhere".

Its 11pm and I'm starting to stir. It seems chief is still awake and having a party with a few of his mates, passing round the bamboo bong just a few feet away clearly not bothered by the level of noise. I try to sleep again but am awoken by another noise a few feet away. This time a cow has a grievance with something outside and wants to make it vocalised. Its not long before the sleepless night is over and the cockerels make sure we know its morning. Jane and Claire have had the same kind of night.

Today is going to be interesting, especially for me. Its my 23rd birthday and is already classed as one that im not going to forget. Jane is unnerved by something this morning. Apparently pigs like to eat shit.... Pigs eat shit, we eat pigs, and so the circle of life continues.
We bit our farewells with offerings of soap and shampoo for chiefs daughter and join the morning commute to the rice fields. After fending off more leeches than yesterday we climb the first big hill of the day. This is hot, humid, and very hard going. We reach the top soaked in sweat from the 40 degree heat. Claire joins us 30 seconds later and we have our 3rd casualty. "Im going back to the village, you guys keep going, i can care for myself!" We all stay quiet not wanting to antagonise the situation any further. Me and Jane don't say a word but share a look that we both know means 'that's really not an option'. We let the dust settle and take an extra 5 minutes.
We continue up the hill, Claire included.

Lunch comes and I'm offered the majority of the mango dubbed, ' the birthday mango'. Seng has changed his ring tone as well, every time it buzzes the tune of happy birthday delights the air, and they all sing along.Were having a water panic now, the climb really took it out of our supplies and were afraid of running out. Our methods of saving water however are not needed. We think theres a few more hours left but are releaved to find out its only just over one. We arrive at another village for a break knowing this is going to be better than the last from the off. There are still the same barking dogs as before but this time they are reduced to a wimper by stones, pelted at them by the kids who have come to see us.

Were at Sengs fiends house for some much needed tea. Like the previous village its pure bamboo with no mod cons, except for two 2010/11 poster decorating the wall of the Chelsea and Liverpool teams (although i notice Roy Hodgson is still the manager). We strike conversation with the kids again with the aid of the sweets, but im more interested in teaching Sengs friend how to pronounce the names of all the players.
Time moves on and so do we, we don't want to be walking through the dark along these paths though its not long before we reach or final destination for the day.

This village is a special place and we feel a good vibe. We settle in with some more of the local brew and head outside to take it all in. We sit there raised on a bamboo platform watching the village life roll by. An old lady comes by, shes mother of the chief, grandmother of the kids around us and at 72 is carrying one of them on her back. Shes quick to compare boob size with Jane and Claire and cracks us all up when she gets them out, flapping them about to make sure we know what shes talking about. There is no doubt. This isnt a social problem here, the mothers regularly are uncovered as to be so whilst breastfeeding is bad for the spirits. I sit here thinking about the surrielty of my birthday but soon its feeding time. Not for us but for the pigs. We watch the family below personify teamwork, the boy flailing a stick keen on its use to fend off the other pigs from the runts special extra food. Two horses charge through the chaos and one ends up in the house. Not a single eyelash bat everyone continues. We wonder around the village up to a little hill. The inquisitvness is too much for the kids here and we spend some time showing them photos, although most of them are of me taken by them and have fun with the camera. We spend alot of time here, its an amazing place to be. Im definitely in love with the lifestyle, nothings stressful, life is simple, everythings bliss. Sure theres arguments sometimes but overall this is great.





The sun is threatening to vanish from view so we head back to chiefs house for some food. I forgot that there was a horse in the porch. We sit in the dark with the food, Seng waiting for his friend to return from fishing, and when he does we make a toast to our food with shots of lao lao. We toast my birthday and eat well.

To bed we head once again lying aside each other in parallel lines doest in bug spray. I stir around 11 and feel something on my leg. The mother is of course still up, being the last one to sleep and the first one awake. Shes noticed me move and we both realise something at the same time. There is a child using my leg as a pillow. My lao has been improving but i dont need to know a word to understand what she said. "SON Get away from that white man!". The boy wakes and lets out a 'wergh' noise before scurrying away to the far end of the bed, where he spends the rest of the night.

Day three is upon us and its the final stint, my bag has finally given up and theres no zips, mearly the most bodgiest of knots keeping it together. Only a few hours walking today we set off early after giving the same offerings of soap and shampoo, up the dirt track accompanied by one of the village woman elders who is coming with us back to town. Were walking strongly and shes keeping up, but all of us are surprised when we stop at a stream to drench our heads to find her whipping out a bong from beneath her dress. She quickly lights up and makes the most of this rest stop before we continue on our way. Were nearly finished and take in the last of the northern hills, a beautiful place. Finally we descend to the valley floor where we're greeted by the Nam Ou River,carving its way trough the landscape. Were used to our stench now but we take a dip while we wait for the boat which takes us down the river to the town of Hatsa where our journey ends. We bid farewell to Seng and thank him for his guidance, and reflect on what has been an amazing adventure, over copious amounts of the beer Lao. We don't say goodbye to each other but spend the next two days heading down the river where we finally part, smelling slightly better than before, but forever sharing an awesome experience i'm never going to forget.