Welcome to Laos

Wednesday, October 31

Ahhhhhhhh...peace. I fell in love with Laos before we even landed. There are hills here, and trees, and it's not nearly so hot as it has been everywhere else so far. Even better, no horns honking continuously! In Cambodia and Vietnam, honking a horn seems to say, "I'm coming up behind you..." so, as you could imagine, people are pretty much on their horns the entire time they are driving.

Here, silence. As my friend Craig would say, silence good. And yes, Craig, it's been blissful to be three weeks without a phone, I have to admit.

Before going into Laos and its beauty, let me say that I had the best airline food I've ever had, a full meal, on a Vietnam Airlines flight here. This is even more astounding given the fact that the flight was only 1 1/2 hours! US-run airlines could take a lesson; of course, you might say it's due to the fact that it's government-subsidized, but with all the bailouts that have happened, so are most US airlines these days (think about it).

Anyway, thanks to Cipro and a couple days of eating almost nothing, I am back to good health and enjoying food again. We found a hotel with a clean-enough room, A/C, and free breakfast for $20 per night. Can't beat that. Two storefronts down is a Lao restaurant that filled up so fast after 7 pm that people were waiting for tables. The food was great, especially some deep-fried ribs (yeah, I know, doesn't sound all that healthy, but right now anything that doesn't make me sick is great!). Them I slept from 10 pm til 10 am this morning. Missed my free breakfast, but oh well. After stopping into a pharmacy and picking up some more Cipro just in case I need it again ($1.50 for ten pills, probably 2% of what it would cost in the states), we met up with a family wandering about who happened to be Laotian, but now live in Redwood City. Great people, and good advice. The mom kept telling me not to eat any raw vegetables or any papaya at all; I found it interesting that she is more careful about the food here than even I have been, but I bet she knows. She said that in 1998, before there was readily-available bottled water, she came here to visit her family and got sick for 6 months. Yikes.

Val, of course, eats everything with no caution whatsoever and never flinches. Perhaps I am just a wimp...

Anyway, so far the city seems wonderful, it's drizzly and about 75 degrees, and I am going to pop into a tourism office here sometime this afternoon to see if there's a bus tour that will take me for a day to a national preserve about an hour from here, where there are still elephants roaming free. Sounds like good photo opps.

Also nearby is a cooperative for women's crafts and weaving, promoting local crafts and supporting local women, mostly widows. They offer a one-day class in weaving, where you get to take home the fruits of your labor. For an extra dollar, they'll even come and collect me from my hotel. Good deal. I'll probably, in a day, make something like a potholder, but it'll be fun.

I have noticed that the women here are much more formally dressed than in other places so far. The teen aged girls are in jeans and tops, but the women almost exclusively are in these gorgeous sarongs with silk blouses. Rumor has it that, if you even attempt to go into a government office without being "properly dressed," you will be denied access.

So, I am off to see more of this small city. Five days here, so there is plenty of time to do very little - lots of relaxing ahead of me.

Police here have AK47s in hand - would be intimidating, expect for the fatc that every one of them has a huge smile so far. In fact, people keep walking by me on the street, saying, "Sa bai dee!" (hello) with a huge grin.

And now, a quick comment for my wonderful sociologically-curious daughter. Even in this small (250,000) city, there is a huge mall, lots of cell phone shops, etc. But I also see lots of families going out together, from grandparents down to babies. So, yes, the Western world has invaded somewhat, but the family unit seems to so far be intact, as does a sense of formality.

Kohb chai for reading. --Janine

Bacteria

Well, it had to happen eventually...I realized this morning (when I looked at food and suddenly wanted to hurl) that my stomach issues have progressed well into the realm of something worse than usual. So, I spent the day in the hotel with a bottle of 7-up and some Cipro tablets.

I did venture out for a few minutes to check out some stuff I was thinking of buying before taking off tomorrow for Laos. While out, I saw my "funniest sight of the day" - a local girl wearing a t-shirt that had a huge shamrock on it and said, "Kiss Me - I'm Irish!"

Anyway, I am feeling much more human tonight, ready to fly out tomorrow afternoon. Yay for modern medicine!!

When it Rains.....

Wow. So, today we went on a trip up the Mekong Delta, through some little villages, and I was overjoyed to see just how those sheets of rice paper are made that I use to make spring rolls. Sounds silly, but as I watched them grind rice, mash it into a liquidy starch, then make thin rice "pancakes" and set them out to dry, I said, "Oh, wow! They're making spring roll wraps!" Yeppers, that's what it was. All that labor...I'll appreciate my spring rolls even more when I get home.

While out trekking around the Mekong, it rained. Well, rain is an understatement. Monsoon is almost an understatement, I'm lucky, because this is the first real rain I've seen in two weeks. Within about 10 minutes, paths were muddy rivers, everything was drenched, all of us were soaked, and the locals just went about their business as though nothing was happening. This isn't the kind of rain we get in California; I've even been in huge downpours in Dallas and they were nothing like this.

I also discovered coconut caramel candy, which we watched being made as well. It's delicious, addictive, and probably very dangerous, since I seem to have purchased a large quantity of it. Perhaps a few pieces will make it back to the states (perhaps not).

Another first yesterday: the power went out at around 8:30 pm. And stayed out til almost 8 am this morning. Now, that doesn't sound too bad, but in a place where the LOW temp is often hovering around 80, with seriously high humidity, A/C is a necessity for us wimpy Americans. It was a long, sweltering night. Made me miss San Francisco.

I am off to spend my last day in HCMC - tomorrow, I'm off to Vientiane, Laos, where the population is about 2% of what it is here.

I hope all of you are doing well. See you soon. --Janine

Yakkety Yak

Saturday, October 27

Deciding to NOT go on a trip to the Cu Chi tunnels (I was tired, and also not thrilled with going into underground tunnels that are MUCH shorter than I am!), I spent a day just wandering around HCMC and relaxing. I got a haircut (yeah, yeah, my friends all said I'd break down and cut it, and the heat and humidity got to me!) for the equivalent of $3.50 US (including shampoo, blow dry the works), and also a manicure, pedicure, and facial.

Brian Johnson, stop laughing.

I decided to spent some quiet time sitting a park a couple blocks away - there are incredibly beautiful flowers here the likes of which I have never seen, and also tons of bouganvilla, which grows into trees here. But, to my surprise, there was not a lot of quiet time to be had. About 3 minutes after I sat on a bench, two young men approached me very politely and asked if they could talk to me. They are students at the international university here, and wanted to interview me for a school project on tourism. Sure, I said. They talked to me for about 15 minutes (recorded it, so they could go back to parts they may not have completely understood), took my picture, and went on their way. Within another couple minutes, a bunch of kids came up and talked to me for a bit. Nobody was asking for anything; they just thought it interesting to see me in their park, doing nothing. Anyway, to make a long story short, after a number of conversations and an hour of elapsed time, I wandered back to the block near my hotel to do some shopping.

It was good to spend a day doing nothing in particular.

One interesting thing: people here want to know my feelings and thoughts about their country, but ask them and they clam right up. I asked a couple people what their impression was about how easy or difficult it was for a Vietnamese national to get a visa to exit the country, and the response was always the same: "I don't know about that, I have never tried it before. Maybe you could ask a government official." Hmmmm. I have to wonder whether they all were truly ignorant on the subject, or if they just don't talk about leaving at all. On the other hand, people here continue to be better-fed, happier, and much more healthy looking than the people in Cambodia. One more bit of evidence that the country is in better shape: I've seen people here with prosthetic limbs, whereas in Cambodia all of the mine victime I saw simply were missing limbs, even in the largest city.

This country was among the 20 poorest nations in the world about 20 years ago, and still has a way to go, but they are definitely making strides.

Massage Envy

Friday night, October 26

Just a quick addendum, since Sara seems to be keeping track....just had another great massage. Does that make 7 now, or 8? :-)

Filial Piety

So, as we were waiting at the Laotian Consulate today for our Laos visas (heck, already here, why not see yet another country?), I was reading the Viet Nam News (there's an English version), and it fit in so well with yesterday's blog that I thought I'd share it.

Apparently, the Vietnamese government is afraid that, with all the western influences going on, their children will also absorb the western "selfish" attitude of kids. I have to say I think it's a valid fear. I adore my kids and I think they are wonderful, but in general I think American kids are selfish, snotty brats who have no idea what hard work is like and who expect to be waited on and entertained every waking second. Baseball teams, karate lessons, piano, dancing, girl scouts, mom take me here, dad pay for this. It's ridiculous.

Anyway, this article was focusing on one particular Viet girl who has retained her "filial piety" even in the face of westernization. She is 15 years old, gets up at 3:30 am every day to help her mother make soup, sells the soup on her way to school, then goes to school all day, comes home and does housework, helps her younger sister with her homework, and still maintains a near-perfect grade average. She and a host of other teens were being honored by the government for still holding their families in high regard and being good kids; in fact, they were being given scholarships. This girl only goes to a good school because she earns this scholarship year after year.

What a concept! Give kids money for schooling only if they do well in school AND honor their parents and extended families.

In other news, I've learned that metered cabs are NOT the way to go. I caught a guy today going way out of the way because he would make more money on his meter. It's the one time I have gotten perturbed, and I let him know it. He tried to tell me that every street was one way, so he had to turn left, go 3/4 of a mile in the wrong direction, and do the same over and over in order to get me to the Lao embassy, which was about five blocks from the hotel. I showed him the map, and our route, which I had been religiously following from the back seat, and he caved. No more meters.

We spent the afternoon being ridden around in cyclos, which are like bicycle rickshaws. We took the drivers to lunch, which I think shocked the living daylights out of them. I had GREAT pho bac (which is a beef noodle soup kind of thing). Yum city.

We also went to a bunch of museums, etc today, including the Museum of War Artifacts (formerly named the Museum of Chinese and American War Crimes, but renamed recently to avoid insulting tourists). They should have kept the original name - it was true. What we did in this country, from Agent Orange to napalm to nail bombs to god knows what else, was tragic. Yes, I know, war is always ugly, but it wasn't our dang business in the first place. We were trying to keep the country from becoming communist. SO we lose tens of thousands of good American soldiers and now what? The country is communist. We'll never learn...

All in all, though, these are the friendliest people so far. Even in exchanges with each other, there's constant laughter, much good-natured joking, and just a friendly attitude. If the city weren't dismally polluted (air-wise), I'd love to stay here for a long time. But, Laos awaits. Before leaving though, I am going to spend a day wandering around HCMC doing some shopping, and then a day up the Mekong for a cruise of sorts. I am going back on my original vow to buy nothing while here, and I am getting a thing or two for my munchkins. Perhaps, if they show some proper respect, they'll get the gifts when I get back to the states. :-)

OK, go call your parents, or grandparents, and tell them Janine told you to do it. HURRAH for filial piety!!!

--Janine

East Meets West

Thursday, October 25

Today was a day of travel, from Phnom Penh in Cambodia to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. I'm glad the trip was by bus, because it was great to see the Cambodian countryside - it was MUCH greener and more lush than the cities (including surrounding countryside) that we have been to already. Oddly, the bus driver was more apt to slow down for cows int he road than for people - go figure. There was a moment of interest at the border, when the Cambodian officials challenged the exit of a middle-aged, paunchy caucasian guy traveling with five young Cambodian girls (not too young, but probably 18 - 20). Who knows what that story was. Eventually, they were allowed to exit Cambodia and had no issues getting entry into Vietnam.

HCMC is huge - millions of people, and (I didn't think it was possible!) even more traffic than Phnom Penh had. The hotel here is iffy, only because the A/C only stays on for 3 minutes at a time. The front desk assured me that it will be fixed in an hour, and if it's not I'm leaving and finding another hotel - there are about a hundred within spitting distance, after all.

Now, on to the subject of the day...my lovely daughter is now making blog requests, and her latest is on the topic of westernization. Well, Sara, here's what I can tell you.

In Phnom Penh, almost EVERY sign (stored, restaurants, even street signs and government signs) were in Cambodian AND in English. The air pollution was in credible, due in large part to thousands of motorcycles all using tons of cheap, watered-down gas bought in Thailand (taxes are less there) and brought over the border to sell. Most places, even street vendors, take (and prefer!) American dollars to the local currency, which is riel. In fact, many menus list prices in dollars first. Most restaurants have taken to offering "western" or "English" food, although it's often an interesting variation. But, I still am totally hooked on pancakes with honey now! Almost all cars are Toyota Camrys or Lexus SUVs (with a few Honda CRVs and some Mercedes thrown in for good measure). Half of the Toyotas are from Brit-influenced Thailand, so are right-hand drive, and half are from French-influenced Vietnam, and are left-hand drive. Those right-hand drive cars make driving a truly frightening adventure, when a driver is trying to peer around a car to see if he can pass, but the driver is on the right-hand side to has to pull WAY out to just peek! We learned early on to get around, where possible, by tuk-tuk instead.

But by FAR the biggest evidence of Westernization is the cell phone. Everyone has one. I mean everyone. And every other shop seems to sell them. It gets truly interesting when your taxi driver is on his cell phone, whilst trying to peer around traffic from his right-hand driver's seat. This is the stuff that horror films are made of!

Most people speak some smattering of English, although the most commonly known words are "sir" and "madam."

Our initial experience in HCMC wasn't the best...and I already miss the lazier life of Cambodia. We got off the bus to the standard huge wave of taxi drivers assaulting us, and made a deal with one of them to be a driver for two solid days, for $40 total. We EACH asked him to repeat it, and clearly there was an understanding, However, while we were checking into the hotel, he called his boss, who apparently said it was too little. So, the boss said it was $40 per PERSON for the two days. Oh come on, as if anyone charges per person for taxi rides! Needless to say, we told him bye-bye. It turned out to be a good decision, since there are many attractions to see here that are all within a mile or so of the hotel, and I could use a good walk or two.

Sara, you can add 1 to my massage count (I got another one yesterday). I think I'll most likely not get one today, until we figure out where a good, clean place is. Oh, how sad - a day without a massage! :-)

I am much looking forward to having real Vietnamese food here - spring rolls, pho bac, you name it. But for now, I need to go check on the A/C and see if we can move our room if it's not working properly.

For anyone still reading my verbose musings, I'd like to request any positive thoughts, prayers, etc. Two days ago, my father had to be admitted to an ER and then moved to a convalescent hospital for up to a couple months, trying to get some sort of medication balance that will alleviate his anger enough to make him able to move to the residential care facility that my mother had picked out and signed him up for. This transition is going to be a rough haul for my mother. It's necessary, but still tragic. My mother is an incredibly woman, and I love her more than I could ever say. I pray for her to find peace in this time.

Thanks, and be happy. --Janine