Bayon Temple of Siem Reap

Siam Defeated

I've been changing my mind a lot (not new for some of you) regarding my travels, and I've decided to make things simple by just spending my last week over here in Siem Reap and Angkor, Cambodia, to explore the center of the magnificent, ancient Khmer civilization.

Visas, Visas

I'm chilling for a few extra days in Vientiane before I begin my travels to Vietnam and Cambodia, squaring away loose ends with work and picking the brains of friends who have traveled to both places.

Getting my tourist visas has been easy. I got my Vietnam visa last week simply by popping into the Vietnam Embassy in Vientiane (no line), paying US $45 cash, and coming back two days later to pick up the sticker.

Just now, I placed my online order for a Cambodia e-visa for US $25 ($20 for visa + $5 processing). Granted, the photo I uploaded is horrid, but how memorable will it be to print out and staple that visa into my passport!

The post-it note pictured above amounts to a local visa that I had to get when I spent the week at Pee's house for Hmong New Year. Foreigners cannot stay in a Lao home without permission from the government, so Pee's father brought my passport in to get my "visa" written out by the village chief and stamped by the local authority board.

Happy New Year, Hmong Style!

Hmong New Year lasts for a month or more since villages celebrate at different times, perhaps having to do with timing of the harvest season. This week is the grand festival at Kilometer 52, a conglomerate of Lao and Hmong villages around the 52nd kilometer marker on Route 13 north of Vientiane Capital.

For the week, I was one more daughter in Pee's parents' household -- usually a large family of 15 , but expanded to about 30 or 40 (or more?) during the course of the week. The doors were wide open, ensuring new faces and new friends to be made each day.

The week kicked off ceremoniously with a family group ceremony to usher in good and rid the bad spirits on the day Pee and I arrived. The next day was the cow slaughter that was very much an all-day family affair. The two eldest sons bought the cow (about $175) for the family as an offering for the mother's health (she had had surgery earlier in the year) and for the health and safety of several traveling family members from the U.S.

Cow and Family

I'm not from a large family, so the idea of activity and noise all the time and no privacy at any time was new to me. But everyone was so welcoming, social, and talkative. Maybe that's part of the territory of a large family. Even though we couldn't speak the same linguistic language, some forms of communication are universal -- like laughter and babies.

Family Life

A Few Hmong New Year Traditions

The Kilometer 52 Hmong New Year festival host rotates each year to one of the nearby villages. This year, the hosting village was right across the street, so it was a short walk from the house, ensuring about 2-3 visits to the fair every day!

The kids of course were interested in rides and games, but the most important tradition, followed by both young and old, is the pov pob, the courtship game played between men and women, boys and girls, by throwing a ball to one another while singing love songs.

Traditional Hmong Dress and Pov Pob at the Festival

(I got to wear three different costumes!)

The young folks don't really sing songs these days, but there were some fine specimens among the older folks. The language used is poetic and figurative, so even the young Hmong can't understand the songs. But from what I could tell, when a man and woman were interested in one another, the songs were woven into a kind of discourse to learn about each others' families and backgrounds.

Pov Pob Song (with me playing wingman!)

Bull fighting is another popular event during Hmong New Year, mostly with the men. I can see the thrill of it...kind of like a potential running of the bulls in a dried out rice paddy.

Some Running with the Bulls

(Don't worry, I was safely on a hill behind a barbed wire fence!)

A Bit of Bull Fighting

I spent a lot of time with the kids of the family, and I took a particular liking to Ten (age 10) and Yer (age 12). Ten and I got good at the bumper cars together (the funnest dollar I've ever spent), and I helped Yer take care of the guppies every day.

This morning when Pee and I were packing to head back to Vientiane, he reminded me to not leave anything behind. And he said,

Pee: Don't forget your hat.

Me: That's not my hat (pointing to one near my bag).

Pee: Don't forget your HAT.

Me: (Confused)

Pee: Don't forget your HAT (with his hand on his chest).

Me: Oh, my HEART!

When I was picking up the last of my things, I understood what he meant. I had printed out photos off my camera for the family using a photo printer the American uncle had brought. I gave the one of of me and the boys at the festival to Ten, and he had already put it up on the cabinet next to the photo of their sister.

The Giving Tree

A couple and a tree by Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi, Vietnam

Official Business 2.0

CDC/CARE Vietnam invited me to go talk about my work in Laos as they prepare for their own health seeking behavior assessment. It was a great meeting and definitely a two-way exchange. Not only did they get a solid start to their assessment, but I also went away with a few ideas to improve our own project in Laos.

I went a few days early to look around the city, and here are about 70 photos of my sightseeing in Hanoi. David was meeting his roommate Jessica coming over for a visit, so it was perfect timing for all of us. Photos include sights of Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum, the Temple of Literature, the Water Puppet Theater, Hoan Kiem Lake, and lots of food!!

A number of people warned that I might not like Hanoi or Vietnam, but on the contrary, I found it quite refreshing. In comparison with Laos, Vietnam is a lot rougher around the edges, but the bustle of the city is fresh, and the Old Quarter is a throwback to the old days.

Official Business 1.0

Tomorrow I am traveling to Hanoi, Vietnam for my second official trip. I will provide consultation to CDC/CARE Vietnam as they plan to do a similar health seeking behavior assessment.

Below are photos from my first official trip out to our field site in Sayabouli Province, northern Laos, to gather village information for the protocol and questionnaire. Sorry no captions yet. It’s taking multitudes longer than my trip out there to upload these photos online.

Day 1: My flight from Vientiane Capital to Sayabouli Town, the site of our CARE project office and just getting situated before our travel into the mountain villages. We had to bring all of our own food into the villages since they suffer food shortages for six months out of the year.

Day 2: Travel to the field site office in Doikao Village, a 3-hour 60km drive out from Saya Town. These are just the 63 best photos. ;o) Note the poor road conditions. Thank you, donors, for funding those 4-wheel-drive trucks. Money well spent! We got into Doikao before sunset so were able to get a tour of the village from the office guard.

Day 3: The one hour trek to get to Housaylot Village. My translator and I were accompanying the mobile health clinic (team 2) staffed by district public health nurses. Here is preparation of the pharmacy and vaccines for the haul and some lovely images of the hike over the mountain.

Additional photos forthcoming of the mobile health clinic, Day 4 with team 1, and our feast.

Vang Vieng

I decided to spend my last, completely free weekend in Laos in Vang Vieng, Laos' backpacker and adventure sports destination, a 4-hour 150km bus-ride north of Vientiane. The bus schedule isn't all too clear, as there are local buses, VIP buses, mini-buses, and pick-ups with different schedules and pickup locations. To maximize my time out there, I took the earliest 7am local bus out of the Talat Sao bus station.

The guard recommended that I take my bike with me for an extra 20,000 kip because it'd be cheaper than renting a bike there. So they strapped my bike to the top of the bus (though I'd question the judgment later), and we were off.

I got into Vang Vieng right before noon and rode my bike 4km north to Phoudindaeng Village to check into my room at the Organic Mulberry Farm. The farm is right on the banks of the Nam Song and is also the starting point for the famous Vang Vieng tubing, hence all the songthaews passing me up along the way carrying loads of half-naked, half-baked falang and big black tubes.

The farm's restaurant has a modest, but nice menu of organic, vegetarian dishes. Above is lunch of Harvest Curry with tofu, accompanied by iced mulberry green tea. Afterwards, I rode my bike back into town to figure out something to do for the afternoon.

When I randomly stepped into Riverside Tours, the very genki man at the desk practically jumped out of his seat with, "Let's go kayaking now! I'll take you myself!" They had just delivered a large group upriver, and we could still catch up with them. Hey, why not? So Phanh brought me upriver...back to the farm where the tubing begins.

And I thought I was getting away from the falang debauchery by staying north of Vang Vieng at the farm. Was I ever wrong! The farm keeps a mojito bar right at the launch site, granted to raise money for children, but the music would never stop blasting!

Within sight was the first "stop" of the tubing/kayaking journey down the river: a giant swing river plunge contraption, replete with an island bar, thumping music, and tons and tons of falang. There are about five such bars along the route down the river, with the first ones being the loudest and crowdiest.

Ugh, this isn't what Laos is supposed to be about! Phanh brought me to a more bearable one with fewer people while we waited for the rest of the group to catch up with us. Phanh got some Beer Lao and jumped from the big swing. I didn't have much faith in any of these operations, but after watching enough turns, it seemed fine enough, so I took a go with the slide. Plus, Phanh was watching out for me to make sure all conditions were safe.

Below: Phanh flying; me getting ready to go; my splash (Phanh wasn't fast enough!)

Continuing along the Nam Song by kayak. So glad I wasn't tubing... All those people stuck without a current after 3 hours. What a bore! I'm sure it's somewhat enjoyable with friends...

The next morning I decided to get away from it all by visiting the famous limestone karsts and caves on the other side of the Nam Song. Tham Phu Kham 6km out is hugely popular because of the blue lagoon. At this point, I really wished I had rented a motorbike. The rocky, dusty roads and high noon sun wore on my bicycle or body, but at least I got a lot of exercise and a tan!

(More photos to come)

I eventually found the blue lagoon after about an hour of weaving around rocks, but the only people there were two French guys smoking some questionable herbs. It wasn't till after they'd left and I was able to look around a bit that I was convinced that it was the right place. Just as I was told...the blue water, little fish, rope jump. I'm pretty sure the cave itself was another kilometer's ride farther up the road, but I was content at that point to just have the blue lagoon all to myself. Strange that no one else was there on a sunny Sunday afternoon...

(More photos to come...internet is sloooow!!)

Afternoon in Thailand

I spent Lao National Day...in Thailand. The protests in Bangkok are hardly affecting life (from what I could tell) up north in Udonthani, the major shopping destination for Vientiane locals 40 minutes across the border. But it wasn't no holiday trip.

Vieng and the embassy car picked me up around 11am for a trip to Aek Udon International Hospital, a snazzy private hospital, to get my...um, stomach problems...checked out. Sure, I had my Cipro and Flagyl, but I could potentially have lots of stuff since I've been everywhere these last two weeks -- from stomping around remote mountainsides to doggy-paddling up waterfalls to sharing my table with a certainly worm-ridden newborn kitten.

Here are I am looking pretty chipper (although 1 kilo lighter) getting my blood pressure taken. After taking my history, the Thai doctor diagnosed me with a simple bacterial GI infection and prescribed for me:

• Levofloxacin (antibiotic) [sorry, Cipro]
• Hyoscine (for abdominal pain)
• Motilium-M (for distension, aka bloating)
• Smecta powder (like glue)
• Imodium
• Oral rehydration salts (orange flavor, yummier than the stuff from CDC)

All for 31 USD. Expensive by Lao standards, but the Lao who make more money will come here for health care because of better service. Here we are picking up freshcut coconut water at roadside stands and in the market to ease the tummy.

The King of Thailand says, "Now y'all come back now!"

Overdue, but alas, keep waiting

Hey hey! Sooo much has been happening the last 1.5 weeks that it'll take quite a while to recount it all here. I'll do my best in fitting photographic glory! Meanwhile, here's a quick summary in reverse chronological order:

1. This week - Big deadline to complete protocol/questionnaires for technical review
2. Last weekend - Detour through Luang Prabang
3. Last week - Work visit to mountainous project site in northwest Laos to observe mobile health clinic in ethnic minority villages and collect info for protocol
4. Last Monday - Le sigh, motorbike accident...but I'm fine!!!

Here are a few photos from my site visit to keep your eyes happy. :-)

Mountain road and foot access to the villages

Modest homes in Prai ethnic villages

Villagers waiting outside the mobile health clinic set up at the school

Sneaking a peek at the AI awareness video with the children