Things you only see in Laos...

Fridges for our apartment arriving by tuktuk


A restuarant called Miss Ning Nong!


Tuktuk drivers who don't hassle you for a ride!


Paint jobs as good as this are a common sight in Vientiane!


Anyone for some of meal # 140?

Jungle adventure

On Christmas day, Anny, Anja and I hired some motorbikes and headed east of Vientiane somewhere in search of
jungle.

We camped here for a night and relaxed, went for a walk and heard some big animals shaking trees. Siamese tigers were in there they reckon, and we even stepped in some big yellow shit, so probably good we didn't see whatever was moving, otherwise we'd be stepping in our own

After 200k's of smooth driving, a rut lay hiding behind a blind corner. Hitting the brakes too hard, the bike slid out from under us on the gravel. No injuries, we got up to warn Annicka coming up behind us of the rut. She got the shock of her life seeing us that she threw her bike on the ground and crashed too 50 metres before the rut.

New Years

Merry Xmas and Happy New Year!

Hope everyone is having a great time. Things here in Laos are great. After a top Chrissy in the Laos Jungle with Anja and the Sis, the sis departed off to the new years beach party in Thailand, while we enjoyed a mellow New Years Vientiane style. It's an exciting event in Laos and done in a very Laos way…dodgy band, fireworks that started 6 minutes too early, and balloons dropped from a building which blew off course and completely missed the crowd. But in Laos, whilst nothing really seems to work as planned, no one really cares much at all, and people are just really content with what goes on.

Before the party our New Years eve feed was spent at a fresh seafood restaurant with a German, Greek-Aussie, Lao, Iraqi and a Palestinian from Gaza strip. Definitely an interesting bunch of people to be sharing a lobster with.

So whilst the Palestinian is here to try and find a way to get somewhere else, he is renting a room here for a few weeks in our flat. With bombs being dropped on Gaza as we chowed down the lobster, the conversation didn’t go there, as his wife and six kids are back there still. He said that the Gaza strip has 2 million people living on a piece of land that is 15km by 8km. Intense. No wonder he loves it here in peaceful Laos.

The guy next to him is Safaa, a guy we are getting to know pretty well. He was fighting in a war against Iran at the age of 14 and fought in an uprising against Saddam Hussein during the 1991 gulf war, before somehow ending up in prisoner of war camp, and then refugee camp in Saudi Arabia for 6 years. He was then accepted as a refugee in Norway. Since receiving citizenship of Norway after 9 years, he is now equally as free as you or me to go where ever he pleases on this earth. So in search of a relaxed place (Norwegians worked till they get stressed), he stumbled across Laos 2 years ago and now calls it his home. He teaches martial arts, speaks Lao fluently and is a mellow. This is despite his cousins being killed by a car bomb 2 years ago in Bagdhad. No wonder he loves it here in peaceful Laos!

We like it here too. From the minute we set foot in Laos, we were hit with a feeling of ease. Vientiane is a very easy city to live in. Mekong sunsets, massages that'll cost you bugger all, and the cheap, tasty food from all over the world. And the people here are so bloody relaxed. They say that Lao PDR stands for Lao People Do't Rush. Content is the other word that comes to mind when describing them. The language gives you an idea of the people who live here. Everywhere you go one hears the slow spoken “Sabaidee”, which is hello, but the literal translation is ‘feeling good’. A conversation can easily begin like this…

Person A: Saabaidee (feeling good)
Person B: Sabaidee (feeling good)
Person A: Sabaidee baw (feeling good aye?)
Person B: Sabaidee (feeling good!)

The second most oft thing you’ll hear is ‘bor pen nyang’, meaning no worries. Everything here is bo pen nyang.

After four weeks of a language course, you realise what another world is opened up through learning a language. Suddenly you have something in common with everyone you see. Anja and I were driving home from the course the other day in the back of a ute–cum-bus when a lady corrected how I was saying “I” (Khoi). Apparently I was saying Khoey, which means dick. She didn’t tell me this by whispering it in my ear, she slapped my leg then pointed at my crutch, bursting out over and again with ‘YOUR DICK YOUR DICK’!!! I thought she was pullin me leg, so after double checking with a few monks sitting next to us, all them where saying it too! Pretty funny.

Being a tonal language, you can really easily fuck up. The are six different ways to say each syllable. The other day I was trying to say to the lady I was working with that I was not yet married ‘khoi nyam pen sot’, but by saying one word ‘sot’ with a slightly different tone, it turned into, ‘I’m still a fresh virgin’. I'm sure if you said Khoi wrtong too, it could easily be 'my dick is still a fresh virgin'. As we were on our way to work in some villages for 2 days, pretty much the whole of two villages heard that one.

As for what anja and I are actually doing here, everything is working out to be sweet.

Anja has landed the coolest work in the mountains of North Laos, working with a German ecotourism professor. top bloke. The scenery is amazing up there!! She is setting up adventure and ecotourism in a number of villages see the photos at http://www.die-bambooschule.de/. It’s volunteer work, but the guy is giving her a lot of initiative and is very happy to have her contribute her own ideas. He covers all her costs plus she gets a bit of pocket money, and a free pushy to get around town. I’m jealous of her

As for my more mundane work, my boss is back in Oz, so its up to me to train up the people who will work with me, and if things all go to plan we will then embark in february on a 3-4 month mission to collect data from 1000 household in 70 villages. I’ve got the job of making sure the cruisey Lao folk actually do interviews properly and in good time. I can’t complain about getting paid to travel through nearly all of Laos and meet so many friendly people, but it will be constant work always on the go, picking ways through a stubborn bureaucracy, and walking the line between friend and boss.

OK that’s enough writing for now,

Take it easy and let us know how you are

Sok di pi mai (good luck in the new year!!!!)

Chris (and Anja says hi)

Welcome to Laos.

Well G’day folks,

I’d thought I’d start a bit of a blog of our life here in Laos in case any of you are interested. Seems like there will be plenty of things to write about as we see more of this changing country.
After catching a night train up from Bangkok and spending 2 hours at the border crossing we finally made it to Vientiane, our home at least until Christmas, and the capital of this country which we will call home for the coming 4-6 months. Driving in to the city in the back of a tuk-tuk, you’d hardly know you were in a city – this place could easily lay claim to being the sleepiest capital in the world! Immediately the lazy, cruisy vibe comes through – unlike Thailand, no-one hassles us for tuk-tuks, taxis or ping pong shooting sex shows! As we sit down overlooking the Mighty Mekong river and savour a glass of Beerlao, a filthy rag-clothed mother with snotty nosed baby in her arm comes into the restaurant and begs for some dollars, you are further reminded that this ain’t the developed Thailand on the opposite bank of the river.

But things here are quite different from 2 years ago when we cruised through here on our travels. Shops, small businesses, advertisements, restaurants, bars, cafes, are everywhere being built. This country is booming!! The free market here is loud and clear. As we sat down at a newly opened cocktail bar on the footpath, an Aussie Expat next to us (called Hercules!) told us that businesses like this one were opening everyday! And this town is chocabloc full of Aussies, most of them engineers working for companies hoping to take advantage of new mining opportunities. The natural resources here present massive business opportunities - this truly is one of the least exploited countries left on earth ( I think 75% is still forested), but things will change very quickly over the next ten years as it all gets ripped down and dug up!

With all this growth going on it’s hard to believe that they still call this communism! But subtle reminders of the regime are still clearly evident. Direct on arrival when paying for a visa a sign clearly states that holders of Chinese, Vietnamese and Cuban passports all pay half price for their visa. Hercules also informed us that big brother China had the construction rights to every major development project on Lao soil for the next forty years! Not a bad deal! We also met matty, the Aussie who edits the only English speaking newspaper in the country. He’s got the job of presenting news as balanced as possible without treading on the government’s toes. After sinking another Beerlao in a pub with live music, we were told to drink up and get out - the 11.30pm government curfew was being enforced! The owner, clearly apologetic for breaking up the dance and karaoke party, obviously wants no grief from the military clad authority occasionally spotted on the street - the ones we’ve seen looked like small teenagers and each had automatic weapons slung over the shoulder!!

But all in all after two days here, it seems like a sweet place to live and work. All the aid and company workers who live here means that all the things we like from the west are nicely mixed in with the best stuff the locals have to offer, such as cheap cheap tasty Lao food and cheap cheap Lao massages! If boredom ever hits we have the only bowling alley, swimming pool, cinema and shopping centre in the country right here in Vientiane! We have the Scandinavian bakery, the Swedish Woodfire Pizza and bread shop. Around the corner is the only fitness centre in Laos – a day pass is $6 which includes a 1hr massage! Insane!

And it seems slotting in to the networks here is pretty easy! Hash house harriers run here twice a week! We’re starting a Lao language course on Monday, private tutor, two weeks intensive so chatting to the locals should be a bit easier soon. After meeting with our new mate Herc on Sunday, we decided to rent an apartment in his building. Prices here are pretty steep for rental accomadation, particularly considering we could only be in this city till Christmas. But we have a pretty sweet pad, and think it’s a good deal, we move in on Wednesday. We’ll be living with Herc, and Matty, the journo. Now gotta find myself a cheap guitar to fill our new house with sound! See ya later and hope all is well with everyone! I will begin my work on Wednesday as my boss arrives, and Anja currently is searching for a job or volunteer thing somehere in the country. She won’t find it too had I don’t think, as this country is overflowing with Ngo’s who could use a helping hand.

luvya's all

Chris and Anja