9 to 10 apr 2008, voen kham (lao customs wants stamping money)

offered bbq frogs for snacks. this boy looks like little marcus. heheh...

bus from tadlo to the bus station

we left tadlo early in the morning to catch a bus down south to voen kham, the lao border, where we can cross over to cambodia. we changed to a big truck which was packed with people with no room for body and leg movement. one norwegian guy almost fainted. the 4 hours journey was full of yellow sand, dust and dirt. everyone on the truck were covered with yellow brown sand. we were asked to alight the truck and hop on to a motorbike which will send us to the border.

we arrived at the border at 2pm (which was still within the office hours) but the customs officer asked us for a usd 1 "stamp" fee. we refused to give, saying that we dont have to pay any money cos we dont need visa. the same applies if they come to singapore. the officers immediately put our passports aside and refused to stamp them. they asked us to go to the atm or bank to withdraw money. travelers passing thru both borders said that cambodian customs on the other side asked for the same amount of "stamp" fee too. they were too much, just want to rip travelers off. a french couple gave in after a while but sk and i decided to go back to pakse and think of what to do after that. we paid a van driver usd 20 to get us back.

when we arrived at pakse, we checked into a chinese guesthouse, took our dinner there and that was the only meal that we had for the day. the girl working there was from the same province (anhui) as my grandmother.

7 to 9 apr 2008, tadlo

toddlers watching their bigger brothers jump

kids having a good time jumping off this waterfall

kids pumping water from underground.

after a swim in the nearby mini waterfall, sk and i walked around tadlo to see the beauty of the place

arrived in tadlo - these kids had a good time playing outside our hut.

a small village market

trying hard to make a living by getting people to buy from them

these turkeys were tied up for sale in a village market

a common sight if you travel in the local buses in Laos - peddlars wait by the road side under the hot sun for buses to stop so that they can hop on and sell some food and drinks in exchange for a living.

jason (my bro's friend) recommended us to come to this place. indeed, this is a nice village with waterfalls. some small ones and a big one 10km away from the village. as we were running short of kips, we didnt get to the biggest waterfall. just walked around the village to swim in those small waterfalls with the local children. it was cool. food and accomodation is cheaper than town too. only sgd 3 for a guesthouse and sgd 1 for a plate of fried rice.

5 to 7 apr 2008, savannakhet

this was the only church we saw in savannakhet. looks like it has been there for some time.

in Vientiane, the river runs dry but over here, we still see a bit of water.

i accidentally chew on one of this small chilli fried together into my plate of rice and then i just cant stop my tears cos its too hot!

savannakhet is a quiet town but is a key transport hub to the Southern Laos, Pakse and 4,000 islands. there were only a few travelers at that time. we approached a belgian for some directions. he has moved there 2 years ago and has opened a restaurant and convenience store. the guesthouse that he recommended was a good catch, about 2 km walk from the bus station.

3 to 5 apr 2008, vientiane

see what we have done to mother nature... a dry Mekong.

a local school

after about 5km of walking under the hot sun, we finally arrived at That Luang, said to be the holiest stupa in Laos built in 1566.

locals having a good time chatting and drinking at the cafe right below the monument

Anousavari Monument - A triumphal arch built in 1962 for the people who died in wars defending the country.

Lao coffee

Vientiane, the capital city of Laos. it looked quite neat and easy to walk around. there is a huge morning market called Talat Sao. one can shop there the whole morning for anything that you want. i bought a water boiling tube for 10,000 kip (Sgd1.50) and some toiletries there.

the popular guest houses were mostly full by mid day so one has to spend some time scouting around. i noticed that most of the eating stalls charged a 3,000kip (sgd0.50) mark-up if you are not a local. there were also many chinese people who set up businesses in this capital city. u can find most of them in the chinatown street.

in Laos, one has to definitely try the Laos beer. sk and i loved it a lot. as for Lao coffee, it's quite strong and sweet but good enough for a morning starter.

31 mar to 3 apr 2008, Vang Vieng Organic Farm in Phoudindaeng

join the locals for a ride...

zzzz

"organic" piglets in the farm. wahaha...

organic vegetables

Namsong river - many people do tubing here whereby you sit on a rubber tyre and the river current will bring you to the town which is 3 km away

we eat this twice a day cos it's the main course on the menu.
organic fried rice - 12,000kip (= sgd 2)

frequent bus schedule onward to Vientiane. take a bus instead of a pick up cos it drops you 10km outside the town area.

so far, this is the place that i liked most in Laos. i really adore Mr Thi, the owner of this farm. he and his wife were very humble people. they work all day and if you dont ask, you will not know that they are the owners. they are very hands-on and looked like any of the workers hired there.

Mr Thi has the spirit that most people might not have. he does his best to fund the schools there so that children can learn english. they have a school bus contributed by the koreans to improve the school attendance.

while staying with them, one can easily get started with volunteering. you can help in building mud brick houses, teach english, feed the pigs and goats, farm and field work for the crops or help out in their fruit juice bar. there was one night we went to the english youth centre to assist the youths in learning english for one hour. they were so keen in learning that i have to say that i got confused with the use of some of the words myself until the main teacher corrected us. hehe...

on another afternoon, i dragged sk with me to do some weeding for the vegetables at the farm. although he had always prefered feeding and playing with the animals, i think he did enjoy the results after we finished weeding for the asparagus crop.

when asked about organic farming, Mr Thi said that it is not difficult to start organic farming and that it would be good if more people can practise that. to keep pests away, lizards, birds and toads will do the job. Mr Thi also grew some plants in between the crops which keep pests away.
he says that pests can never be eliminated totally. there will always be some damage done but so long as the harvest is enough for consumption, there is no need to worry too much about the damage.

i would highly recommend anyone who is interested in organic farming to come stay with them. it cost around 30,000 kip per night (SGD4) to stay in a dorm. they have single or double rooms too and it's just 3hours bus ride away from Vientiane.

30 to 31 mar 2008, Luang Prabang

an air con bus to Vang Vieng but the air con doesn't work.

daily night bazaar at L. Prabang

dead. a dog ate this up after the photo was taken...

walk into the village through this motorway. it's free

the "toll" station below charges 4,000 kip per person to use this crossing. my advise is: don't use this crossing cos there is another free way to enter.

fighter cock

dried chilli

arrived here in at 3am after a 15 hours bus journey round hills and mountains. our face were covered with dirt. haha...

the guy at the guest house was so nice to take us in with no charge for that night. so after a shower, we slept right away.

L. Prabang is a tourist place. we had a nice village walk just across the river. there were some local women there charging 4,000 kip per person for crossing into the village via a bridge. it was by chance that we found another bridge used mainly by cars into that village and it saved us the kip. hehe...

the daily night market sells some pretty handicrafts and good cotton T-shirts. we bought 2 at only 35,000 kip (= SGD 5). as compare to Chiang Mai, this one gets you bored easily as all the stalls sell almost the same thing but i really liked their handicrafts though.