B-L-D 1-2-3
Trip Start
Jan 22, 2008
1
18
25
Trip End
Apr 16, 2008
Bangkok,
Thailand
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Well, 'B' was our number '1' meal of the day - breakfast in Luang Prabang, Laos;
'L' was our number '2' meal of the day - lunch in Bangkok, Thailand; and
'D' is for our number '3' meal of the day - dinner, which we will have up in northern Thailand in Chiang Mai.
Long story short, but we woke up in Laos, had breakfast, took a tuk-tuk to the airport, jumped on a plane, stopped in Bangkok to purchase our airline tickets for Bhutan (which will be going to on March 16th), had a quick lunch, took a taxi back to the airport, and then will get back on another plane to head up to Chinag Mai area for the week. Sounds crazy, perhaps, but a very important ticket needed to be purchased and picked up. If you recall, we were unable to pay for our Bhutan flight in January as their airline didn't book flights that far in advance. Or if we didn't mention it, we are now. Yes, seems like a waste of time and money, but not to us as we are soon flying to Bhutan to visit with our dear friend, Tharchean and his family. Once again, we feel very priviledged to have the opportunity to visit Tharchean's beautiful country as it is only a dream to many of the people that we have met on route as everyone who knows about Bhutan wants to go there. Anyone who has spoken to us about it agrees that we are lucky to have a friend there. Needless to say, we are looking forward to that part of our trip.
As for our final days in Laos - before our flights into and up to the northern part of Thailand - was interesting.
A Face with a Great Deal of History
Norm went and got a haircut, we had a quick walk-about through the morning market to buy some breakfast with our two sons, and then we visited the local village. Our 2 new sons, 'Charlie and Jerry', took us to see Charlie's dorm room. Both of them attend the small university in the village and are studying English as well as taking a teacher training course. Charlie is 22 (like our real son, James) and Jerry is now our eldest child - he's 24 years old. They are both of the Mong hilltribe people and both worked at the Villa Champa Guesthouse (where we stayed). They quickly adopted Norm and I as their 'Canadian' parents as we were spending time with them in the reception area trying to teach them a few new words in English along with helping them with their pronounciation. They were wonderful and a real delight to have come into our lives and, consequently, the lives of our family. Hope James and Jill don't mind a few extra members in the family! Of course, the boys won't be coming home with us, however have encouraged us to come back and stay for a long time the next time around. They thought that their brother and sister were very attractive (they saw their photos) and seemed happy to have new siblings to add to their 'real' family list of 7 other brothers and sisters, which would make 10 kids in all for those of you counting!The boys drove us on the back of their mottos - which we didn't realize until later that they could've gotten into trouble for - and took us to the village (sorry, but I cannot recall the name of it right now). In any case, it was an adventure as Charlie and I took the lead and Norm and Jerry followed.
Ban Chan - The Pottery Village
As was done once before with the 'friendly giant' on the back of someone else's motto, Norm and Jerry needed to stop for air as the back tire just couldn't handle the big fella. Then, when we thought everything was good to go, Jerry ran out of gas. Charlie and I came to the rescue and we were able to move onward.I mentioned that they could've gotten into trouble as they are not licensed to take tourists on their mottos. I guess this is something that is rather specific in this part of the world as they were very cautious to drive us on the 'back roads' and away from any possible run-ins with the authorities. Had they mentioned this first, we never would have accepted their offer. We were lucky...this time.
Any way, back to the village....we saw the dorm, which was basically a long concrete block building with about dozen or so rooms. Norm said they reminded him of a storage locker. They were pretty small - about 8x8. Pretty bare - a clothing rack, family photo, calendar, very small bookshelf, a one-top cooktop burner to make food, and a bed roll to sleep on at night. Two people shared the space - Charlie and his other friend. Jerry is currently living with one of his sisters somewhere else, which we did not get to see.
I said it was an interesting visit to the village as we were very fortunate to have come at a time when 2 pigs were being burned and slaughtered to repay the Shaman for 'healing' one of the members of the village who had taken quite ill.
Big Man - Little "Guide"
It was a real experience to have witnessed the ceremony of the slaughter, the drumming, and then the chanting of the Shaman. It was certainly an education that I had only read about in the past, but now got to see with my own two eyes. Pretty awesome, indeed.We spent a bit of time with a group of women and children, and even a few older fellas who were out smoking their pipe. This pipe is only smoked by the men as it is seen to be too masculine an affair for the women (or at least this is what I recall people had said to us in Vietnam as it was the same sort of pipe there too). After that we just headed back to the guesthouse.
The following morning Norm and I took a little boat ride down river to visit the Ban Chan village, which is where they produce pottery for the local area. They make all sorts of things - big and small - to use for food, planters, etc. Unfortunately for us, we did not get to see anything being made as all items recently made were in the kiln - which was a fair size dug-out in the ground with a ramp that went down to the entrance. We could see the chimney, which was a hole in the gound about 20 or so feet away - a good indication of just how large the man-made kiln was for firing their works.
What we did get to see was what the locals did in their down time - play cards. The men, women, and children were all busy playing some kind of card game with a bit of gambling involved. We didn't recognize the game, but did recognize the fact that there was money on the table to be won. I suppose, this was what people do when they wait for their pottery to get fired. We were told that the pottery would be coming out the next day so we weren't able to see it.
Not much beyond that happened, however I did forget to mention one very important thing about this visit to Ban Chan...our tour guide - if you want to call him that - was about 5 years old. His dad drove the boat and sent his little son to take us up the bank of the Mekong River, down the path and past the water buffalo, and into the village. So when you see the photo, please don't mistaken it for another 'big man - little man' shot as it is not. The little guy was just our 'guide'.
We'll connect soon when we have more to say about our time spent in Chiang Mai. Until then, enjoy life, stay healthy, and keep smiling!
Love you all!
Sharon and Norm
Comments
Haircut
It looks like Norm got scalped! I guess there was not much of a question and answer period with your small guide. Looks like its warmer where you are now. Enjoy. LD