Laos: Bikes, Lagoons and Fruit Shakes

The monks of Luang Prabang collecting alms

You all know that the real reason that I live in China all year is so that I can enjoy a five week holiday in January and February.  This year I went to Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.  These three countries have been top of my list to visit for the past few years.  I will do a post on each of the countries, but I think they will end up being more summary and photos than details.  I know you all just skim over my writing to get to the good stuff anyway!

*Note*All credit for quality photos goes to Chris.  If you think the photo is nice, it is probably because I did not take it.  I am one of the worst photographers I know.  The only person who I know is worse than me is my dad, and he is pretty terrible.  No offence Dad - it just isn't in our skill set.*

Feeding an elephant (one of my favourite activities in life)

The famous waterfall area

The view of Luang Prabang

Waterfalls fit for swimming in

All three of the countries we visited were developing countries, which had experienced war, poverty, famine, or even genocide in their recent history.  Despite this, their tourism industry is well developed and it was quite easy to travel from place to place.  We spent one week in Laos, three weeks in Vietnam, and one week in Cambodia.  Of the three I liked the sights in Vietnam the best, the atmosphere of Cambodia, and the weather of Laos.

One of the caves that we explored in Vang Vien

Taking a dip, just down from the waterfall

Our first stop was Laos.  We travelled to three cities: Vientiene, Vang Vien, and Luang Prabang.  Vientiene was very sleepy and quiet.  None of the sights were particularily interesting, but we did spend a day biking through the city.  If you go to Laos, I would recommend just skipping this city.  We only spent a day and a half, but half of one day was used swimming in the town pool instead of sight-seeing because we had run out of things to see.

If you look closely, I am jumping off the tree

Checking out the temples

After a few hours on a windy mountain road, we arrived in Vang Vien.  This town is most famous for tubing down the river, but the activity has recently dwindled in popularity because too many people were drowning after a day of drinking while tubing and then jumping onto unseen rocks.  The bars along the side are now closed.  We spent our first day biking to a beautiful lagoon and cave.  I really enjoyed the swimming, but Chris was in too much pain after our very bumpy bike ride!  We definitely should have rented the mountain bikes, as it was an 8km ride on a rocky path!  The next day we did a kayaking trip.  Most of the day was spent leisurely paddling down the river.  The river was clean and refreshing, and the kayaking was relaxing and fun.  I really enjoyed the outdoor activities in Vang Vien.  The town itself was very strange (most of the shops are run by hippy expats), but the scenery makes it a worthwhile stop.

Their version of the Arc de Triomphe

The last stop was Luang Prabang, a world heritage town.  I think we should have only spent 3 days here, but our flight to Vietnam was later than we thought - so our time there was 4 days.  During that time we explored the museum, saw a few temples, wandered throughout the town, spent a day at the waterfalls, went on a river boat trip and rode elephants.  The town is relaxed, clean and friendly.  It is packed with monks, and every morning they walk through the town to collect alms.  We woke very early on our last day to see hundreds of them file past to receive their morning meals.

My short lived mahout career

I would recommend travelling to Laos, but, unless you are going into the countryside, one week is sufficient to see the country.  They seem to be eager to increase tourism, and many expats are attracted by their simple life style.  I loved the waterfalls, caves and the other outdoor activities - but the temples and museums are still sparse and unimpressive.  At the end of our week in Laos we felt relaxed, but ready to move on.

We took a day trip down the river to check out some caves (although the water looks muddy, the scenery was beautiful!)

Our main source of sustenance - fruit smoothies!

New Year's in Beijing and the End of Another Semester

Chinese sugar treats in Beijing.  It is a piggy!

Although this is late (as seems to be usual this year), I did take a quick New Year's trip to Beijing this year.  This year I had a four day weekend for the holiday, and so on Saturday night Sara and I took the overnight train to the capital.  We had to work on Saturday, so it delayed our departure a bit.  By work I mean that we had to attend a mandatory New Year's gala filled with outrageous performances and elaborate costume changes.  Filled with the joy of having listened to Chinese opera for two hours straight, we loaded our train exhausted and ready for sleep!

The ruins that we accidentally ended up at.

A great shot of my A block boys.

Exhaustion really was the theme of the weekend.  Both of us were totally burned out from a busy semester and a jam-packed Christmas season.  We just wanted to relax before the hectic nature of end of semester, exams and report cards.

This is my E block....smiling at how much they love English class.

On Sunday we spent the day shopping and exploring the art district, and then we went out to our fav Western restaurant.  On Monday we tried to be good tourists, but we got the wrong directions for the subway and ended up in a park instead of a palace.  We explored for as long as the cold weather would let us, and then headed back to our hostel and had a delicious meal of Peking duck.  I will admit that we didn't even last until midnight on New Year's Eve!  We were quite happy to be curled into our beds, reading, nice and early!
*I took a total of about 6 pictures this whole trip.  Ooops.*

We had to say goodbye to Will this semester, as he decided to go back to Canada.  Bye Will!

We returned home on Tuesday afternoon, relaxed and ready to prep our kids for exams.  The semester passed by so quickly - simply because I felt I was so busy the entire time.  We worked more Saturday's than had ever been scheduled before, and the semester flew past in a blur.  I loved teaching IR, enjoyed my group of English students, and was in a good routine of how to manage my free time so that I wasn't too swamped in marking or prepping all the time.  I have included a few classroom shots of my boys for you to get a peek of my daily sights.

The ladies I spend most of my time with!  Like my awesome hat?  I know you are jealous.