Pii Mai in Oz!

Pii Mai (Laos New year) and Easter just happen to take place around the same time of the year...this is a very good thing!

Pii Mai is full of festivities of throwing water (sometimes ice cold with blocks of ice in it) and cover people with menthol powder. As it is the hottest time of the year in Laos the cold water is most welcome....Something unique to laos though is the smearing of grease on ones face and clothes. Fortunatly this is confined to Luangprabung and tourist center for Laos. This April i choose to forgo these festivities and take a quick trip back to Oz for a surprise visit to my family followed by a quick trip from Brisbane to Sydney.

The surprise visit to my family was fantastic! David stood at the door and kept asking what i was doing in "here" ( i presumed that he was asking why i was in the kitchen), Jon just looked up and asked "what are you doing here" after a moment of blank expresion (next time i will have my camera ready!). And my neices gave me hugs! It was then off to Brisbane for a drive to Nambucca for a quick visit with my Grandma...who has made it all the way to the grand age of 80 only a week before (sorry i missed your party Grandma!). Then onto Sydney to catch up with friends ... not a moment to spare...why is it that time always goes by so quick when there is lots of fun being had! Oh well, will just have to go back for another visit!

What happens in Laos at 10.30pm

Just after climbing out of Elaines car I heard a crashing sound with a thoughts running through my mind..."i'd hate to be the owner of that car...i wonder what they hit"...i ventured down the alley way to go and look.

What i found was a young girl who had attempted to park her little red car on top of dodgy wooden slates that were covering a hole in the ground (there are lots of these around town). Her front right tyre was stuck in the hole...and with her car being front wheel drive (are most cars front wheel drive??) there was little chance of us being able to reverse the little red car out of the hole...

The hole that the car was in!

What do 3 females do in a case like this...of course they all try to lift the car out of the hole...it was after all only a little car...but when did little cars become so heavy!! the car didn't even budge..not even a small rock back and forth! Disappointed with our efforts we did the next female thing we could think of...find a knight in shining armour (ok, so they don't where armour over here...any male would do!)

It was Mook to the rescue...the local owner of an evening chill out cafe right opposite where the car had fallen into the hole. After a few attempts of trying to reverse out (just in case the reversing needed a guys touch) he went in search of a tow rope. I don't think they sell proper tow ropes here in Laos! But Mook did come back with the Laos solution...a white sheet...the answer to every towing problem apparently. Minutes later after getting hooked up...the little red car had all 4 wheels on solid ground and there was one very happy owner!

What else could one be doing at 10.30 at night than helping someone out...

Home Sweet Home

Kitchen, Lounge and dining, study...i was unpacking at the time

In my spare time since arriving in Laos I have been setting up "home". I have taken up residence in a small 1 bedroom apartment, right in the center of town. I have moved into the apartment thinking that it will do for a short term living space, until i get to know my way around as it sits just behind Joma Cafe...ahhh...regular breakfast and coffee readily available only a minute away from my front door...now thats location location!!

Well my apartment is on the 3rd floor which also happens to be the top floor, came fully furnished, with a small balconey from which i can see across Vientiane...my neighbor in the next plot of land in front of where i live is apparently currently building a guest which also happens to be 3 stories...so soon i will be sharing my view with tourists!

Finding things to buy here is a little harder than in Thailand or Cambodia. I still have fond memories of my trip to buy a dinner set ... i was walking along the street and happened to come a across a shop that sold some really nice plates, bowls, teapots etc from china and vietnam. I found the design that i liked...my only problem was that now i had to find 6 of each dinner plate, bowl, and side plate...i had thought that surely in a shop filled and overflowing with plates that this would be a fairly easy taks to complete. I faced only two barriers...(1) Language (2) disorganization. I started the search for the plates in the chosen design...about 30 mins later, and only 5 plates, i decided to change designs and go with one that perhaps they would be able to find a complete set. Their idea seemed to be that i needed to have a bit of this and a bit of that...so another design change was in order...an hour and a half later i hit the jackpot...a matching dinner set of 6...oh the joy!! All i had to do successfully was walk them home without the bags breaking...small thing to do after re-arranging a shop and staking up their plates in color and design...

Fresh Market Food

Was down in Khommouane province the other day and went for an early morning stroll at the market looking for some chickens....well instead of finding chickens fond some the markets fresh delights! The rats were selling like hot cakes...the frogs, well they didn't seem to be so much of a hit! I am thinking about becoming vegetarian!!