Hanging out in Hamburg

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Kristen

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If the truth be told, if it was not for our plans to meet up with the Van Den Booms in Grapel we would most likely not have travelled to Hamburg this year. However, Hamburg is not far north of where our friends Helga and Jean-Pierre live in Germany and it was a quick and easy start point to our entry into Deutschland from Switzerland.

We flew into Hamburg and were met on arrival by Jean-Pierre with a big sign reading Welcome Kristen and Damien, complete with a large red kangaroo. I have not seen Jean-Pierre for well over a decade now so it was lovely to see him again.

However, for our initial foray into Germany we were not in fact going straight to Grapel with JP. Helga and Jean-Pierre had arranged for us to stay with other friends, Christian and Christine and their boys in their home in Hamburg.

Christian and Christine had stayed with my family about two decades ago when they were honeymooning in Australia.

Christian arrived at Hamburg airport not too long after us and we went with JP to Christian’s home. We were given the royal treatment on arrival as Christine had arranged a lavish spread out on their back deck. So we went about chatting and getting to know each other. Once we all relaxed a little the conversation flowed and we enjoyed an easy afternoon. Christian kindly offered to take Damien and I on an orientation drive around Hamburg so that we could get a feel for the city and where we might like to go sightseeing the next day.

It was a great early evening tour and Christian made sure he pointed out all the most relevant tourist locations. We stopped for a brief walk down to a section of the canals and he pointed out the fancy home of Joop! Complete with young models doing a fashion shoot in the front yard! That night was to be the Germany vs Denmark soccer game in Euro 2012 so there was a lot of locals getting ready to view the match in various locations around the city. As we drove along the harbour there was a large group of young things getting amongst it with loud dance music and booze – it looked like it could be a long night for them!

Hamburg harbour is quite an imposing sight with all the industry going about its business. We drove alongside the ships, containers and other industrial structures that seemed to dwarf us in the car. Then, as if out of nowhere, sailed the impressive monolith of the Cunard Queen Elizabeth cruise liner. Christian did some very swift driving to race the liner and we pulled up just in time to quickly walk down to the harbour to wave at the cruising passengers as they floated on by.

Once back at Christian and Christine’s home we settled in to watch the game. Germany were the victors. It was definitely the right result for our location at the time!

The next day we set off for our sightseeing tour of Hamburg. Our first stop was to be the Miniature Wonderland. A friend of mine sent me an email before our world tour of the Miniature Wonderland in Hamburg and I was amazed at the level of detail and the size and scope of this tiny world of moving parts and realistic scenes. I was sold on the idea of seeing this fantasy land – for big and little kids alike. The thought of visiting this place helped to cement the idea of staying in the city in our minds. I remember being rather chuffed at the time we made that call as how often have I looked at some sort of amazing this or that in a forwarded on email and had the ability to say, yes, next year I think I shall go and visit that city in that country and see that amazing thing? Probably never!

And the Miniature Wonderland did not disappoint! It was completely enthralling. There were several floors of rooms filled with miniature versions of countries and cities around the world. One of my most favourite parts was the Hamburg airport, complete with planes that flew in and out of the airport. One of my other most enjoyable moments was watching the 20 000 strong miniature revellers at the DJ Bobo concert. The scene itself was impressive, especially as night fell in the Wonderland and all the music lovers switched on their cigarette lighters and the stage flashed neon lights and sound into the crowd. It looked just like a real concert. However, the reason for me loving this scene particularly was the fact it was a DJ Bobo concert. My mate Rob back home simply loves DJ Bobo! I had secretly thought with amusement that he must be their only fan, as prior to Rob, I had never heard of this DJ Bobo, with its silly sounding name! Chris, his wife and I used to joke about Bobo on our long drives around NSW when we worked together as Assessors. With much enjoyment and mirth I sent a postcard to Rob and Chris of the DJ Bobo concert to show Rob that he had fellow fans in Deutschland! Rob was impressed and said that perhaps he should move to Germany where he could be with his kind ha ha!

After we reached saturation point at the Miniature Wonderland we left to eat our sandwiches on a ledge with a view of what remains of St Nikolai Kirche. During WWII, Hamburg was one of the fire  storm cities as it was almost entirely destroyed by the Allies. St Nikolai has been left as it was after the extensive bombing of the city in the 1940’s . It serves as a memorial to those who lost their lives in the city as well as for the Jewish people who lost their lives under Hitler. Although just a small portion of this Cathedral remains, it is still an amazing sight. It is sad that such a beautiful building was ruined as it would have been magnificent in its day.

We were keen to go on a tour of the Alster Lakes and canals so wandered in that direction via the medieval and ornate Rathaus. We made our booking for the next available canal tour and then sipped on coffee at a café with a prime location overlooking the Binnealster Lake. Fortunately for us the somewhat inclement weather of the beginning of the day evaporated as we boarded our cruise and we enjoyed a blue sky view of the city by boat. Hamburg is very grand and it was a pleasant way to take in the city from another perspective that cannot be afforded if one simply drives through the streets.

The endless hours of day light that abound in Northern Europe at this time of year meant that we still had plenty more time to fit in even more of Hamburg into our day. Next we went for a stroll through the Planten und Blomen which Christine had recommended we check out. We had envisaged finding a nice place to stop and read our books for a while but the wind picked up so we contented ourselves with a walk instead. It was a fantastic garden, with many plants in bloom. It is a very well thought out and designed park in that there were several interactive sights where kids (and adults!) could play games with water cannons or step across large man made ponds on strategically positioned stepping stones. There was one section that had been created as a series of levels of ponds with neatly manicured collections of water lillies that had me wondering whether it had been designed this way as a salute to Monet.

As we were walking through the Japanese garden section we chanced to spot a little squirrel which was a nice treat. It was feeling a little cold so continued our walk towards the Reeperbahn in St Pauli for some nice warming Goulash for dinner. No visit to Hamburg is apparently complete without a visit to Europe’s biggest red light district. Even though it was a Monday night the place was buzzing with people. We weren’t sure if this was the norm or if it had more to do with the fact that there was another Soccer game on that night. Nonetheless, it provided an excellent swathe of humanity for us to kick back and watch pass by from our position outside one of the bars. When we had met some Hamburgers in Laos they had said that this was a great people watching area, and they weren’t wrong. Damien commented on how he loves how Europeans arrange the seating in the cafes and bars so that all seats face the footpath. Europeans it seems understand and accommodate the human pleasure of “people watching”.

However, you don’t just come to St Pauli for the people watching, it is also lined with strip joints and sex shops and apparently a notorious brothel street. So feeling the, “When in the Reeperbahn…” vibe we decided to sneek a peek at one of the sex shops. Let’s just say that the mind boggled at the things we saw in there!

Anyway, our unexpected night out on the Reeperbahn ended up being the entertaining and fitting full stop on our epic tour of Hamburg. As it turns out, I am so glad that we ended up visiting this city as it is truly worth it. Hamburg is a beautiful city that does grandeur with style, with a little bit of grittiness and naughtiness thrown in for good measure. I for one would happily come back to visit again.

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Dazzled by Zurich

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Kristen

 

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After three odd months dossing around Asia, I have to admit I was a teensy bit reluctant to leave my comfort zone. Asia is intoxicating to me because it is often ramshackle, sometimes hectic, and at others so chilled it’s ridiculous and all the time vibrant because it is a world a little less surface-perfect than the country I hail from.

Was I really leaving my beloved Asia behind? As Damien and I ascended the escalator to Phaya Thai station to catch the train to Bangkok airport I remarked, “you know, in a few days all of our time in Asia is going to feel like so long ago”. I think we both sighed a little at this thought as we knew it to be true. As we travelled around Asia we had several times remarked that our three weeks in Northern Europe at the beginning of the year felt like so long ago.

And as I sit at our little table outside our trusty caravan at Camp Smlednik, in Slovenia, it is indeed true. A little over three weeks in Europe and I already find it hard to imagine that less than a month ago we were in Asia! All that life we left behind is still going on as usual in the heat and the humidity, and here we are in Slovenia, smack bang in the middle of this big continent we call Europe.

We were both wondering whether we would suffer from culture shock making the transition from Bangkok to Zurich. A well founded pondering as it turned out: you can’t come across two more disparate cities if you tried! Bangkok is a massive, sprawling mish-mash of buildings and humanity that laughs at order and tranquility. Zurich on the other hand is all about efficiency, order, old world charm and stunning natural beauty all set to the beat of a contented heart.

We were both totally unprepared for just how stunning Zurich is as a city! But more about that in a bit. When we hit Switzerland it was early in the morning and we needed to catch the train and the bus to find the home of Santosh, an Indian ex-pat who has been living and working in Zurich for about a decade now. I met Santosh through the Globalfreeloaders site (which we have had other great successes with in Norway) and he kindly said we could stay at his home for the two nights we had planned in Zurich before heading off to Hamburg in Germany.

Santosh lives a little out of Zurich in a village called Sellenburen. On our way there we immediately noticed how quiet and calm the city felt as people road their bikes, or walked through the streets to get to work. The bus ride out to Sellenburen was so pretty. We wound our way through the leafy suburbs and gawped at how beautiful everything looked. As we drove through one particular area I commented on how nice the homes looked and we both grinned as Damien said that maybe Santosh had a very nice home too!

Santosh was waiting for us as we arrived in Sellenburen. His unit was set up on a little hill just opposite when we alighted from the bus. He waved down to us from his balcony and in my very best German I yelled out a happy, “guten morgan!”. After a brief chat and introductions, Santosh gave us a quick rundown on all we should need to know to get us through the day in his home, and he was off to work. He left late that day, just so he could wait to let us in. The kindness of strangers!

We were both jet lagged and I was still sick with a cold I had acquired at the end of our time in Bangers, so we elected to stay indoors and watch Game of Thrones on Santosh’s mega flat screen. By 6 pm we were both struggling to keep our eyes open so we left a note for Santosh and apologised for going to bed without seeing him. We must have been tired as it does not get dark until about 11 pm at night and the sun is up again in the wee hours of the morning, and we slept right through.

Although it was the weekend, Santosh had to work so after a good chat in the morning he set off again and we made our way into the city. We just loved Zurich! Damien has even made the bold statement a number of times that it rivals Paris in his heart as his favourite city. Apparently, Paris still comes up trumps but Zurich is up there!

We spent a lovely morning strolling the old town and enjoying the first good coffee I had had in a while. Unfortunately, Asia is a bit hit and miss in this department (more miss than hit, I might add)! We marvelled at the architecture of the Fraumunster, a 13th century cathedral with its unique stained glass windows. We had both finished reading Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth when we were in Asia and it has peaked an interest in both of us for cathedral architecture and construction. The Fraumunster was our first experience of this on our trip and we were suitably impressed!

It is fair to say that part of what made Zurich so charming is the buildings and streets of the old town, with the canal that runs through it. But the city’s setting is breathtaking. Lake Zurich is magnificent with the Alps in the background. We went on a boat tour and drank in the sights as they floated on by. It was a gorgeous hot and sunny day and all the locals were out making the most of it. Along the banks of the lake were numerous public bathing areas, and people we swimming and relaxing by the water. The homes along the banks were also grand and elevated Zurich to a city dripping in style and panache.

Unfortunately for us we were flying out to Hamburg the next day. We would have dearly loved to have stayed much longer in Zurich and see what else Switzerland has to offer. We were both convinced that we would simply adore the rest of Switzerland if Zurich is anything to go by! Sadly, we had to depart. Happily though, Sanotsh asked us to come and visit again. We eagerly accepted and said that we would return before our flight out of Zurich to America to spend some more time in Switzerland. Santosh said he would hopefully not be working and would like to take us around to some sights. Thank you Santosh! We cannot wait!

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Bangkok

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Damien

Bangkok was always going to be a transition point. When we began to plan our epic journey all those months ago, the backbone of it was a Round The World (RTW) ticket with stops in Asia, Europe, New York and South America. It turned out that we could get a great deal on a RTW ticket that saw us arrive into Asia at Singapore and exit from Bangkok, taking three months to wander between the two. That fitted our plans perfectly, and avoided any unnecessary and costly backtracking, so we jumped at this option.

As we’d both been to Bangkok previously (separately) we didn’t intend to do much sightseeing this time around, and in fact were prepared to stay just one night if required to maximise our time elsewhere. Like much of the detailed planning for our travels, we were happy to leave the decision about exactly how many days Bangkok deserved until we were closer to the time. In the end we settled on three nights in Bangkok, as that would give us enough time to do two vital things before leaving Asia. In some ways both of those activities were the result of the randomness of travel: One had come from our impromptu Big Day Out in Penang weeks earlier, the other from a chance reading of a magazine in a hospital waiting room!

Meeting CJ in Penang was a great day for many reasons, as we’ve blogged about previously. He lives in Bangkok and we’d made a firm promise to catch up with him when we got there in mid-June. Fitting in with his work commitments required a little juggling, and we settled on a Tuesday night dinner at an Italian restaurant run by a mate of his in the sprawling Sukhumvit nightlife zone. It was great to catch up with him in person, instead of via regular facebook updates, and again he regaled us with some hilarious stories that are too racy to be recorded on the internet! Amongst many things he also updated us on the progress of the Pakistani movie he co-produced, Seedlings, which I’m pleased to say was selected for the NY Film Festival just a couple of weeks after our dinner.

As the night wore on and the conversation flowed, we were all sorely tempted to head out afterwards for some post-dinner drinks and more merriness. But our host, CJ’s mate, brought out a free round of home-made (very delicious and very alcoholic) limoncello. Followed by another one not too long after, then another…. I think? At the end of this another hour had passed, and since CJ had to work and I was nursing a cold we decided to be sensible and call it a night. A great night, might I add, and one I’m keen to repeat when next we hit Bangers 😀

The other “must-do” we planned for Bangkok had its genesis while we were sitting in a hospital waiting room. But not just any waiting room: the one at the Skin and Cosmetic Centre at Phuket’s Bangkok Hospital more closely resembles the foyer of a five-star hotel rather than a hospital, as you can see from the pic above. With smart wooden tables and armchairs, flowers everywhere and staff scuttling softly about it was a world away from the grim, utilitarian ambiance of the average Australian hospital experience.

While waiting to see a doctor, we were perusing the luxury-minded magazine Thailand Tatler (how appropriate for the surroundings) and came across a restaurant review that immediately captured our interest. We’d been musing for several weeks about having one last fine dining experience in Bangkok, because once we hit Europe such extravagances were going to be almost entirely off the menu. The restaurant in this review, Gaggan, hit all our buttons and we knew immediately that we’d found “The One” for Bangkok. It was newish and aimed high by offering the unique fusion of molecular gastronomy and Indian cuisine. We are both fans of the “molecular” cooking style – when done with restraint – which uses various powders, gels, liquid nitrogen and other strange options to play with the texture and presentation of dishes. Some of the most memorable meals we’ve shared have cleverly incorporated these techniques (Royal Mail Hotel in Victoria and Iggy’s in Singapore), and we are greatly looking forward to our pilgrimage to the high temple of this style of food: The Fat Duck in London on August 29th. The restaurant’s chef-owner, Anand Gaggan, had honed his skills with Ferran Adria at the legendary El Bulli in Spain, and like most of the planet we love Indian food. How could we not try this place out?

Though we both thought the meal was very good I enjoyed it more than Kristen, who had some reservations about the overall value and memorable-ness of its 12 courses. The obvious use of molecular techniques was wisely limited to just a couple of dishes, with chef Gaggan letting the sublime flavours of each dish shine most of the time. We both agreed the tranquil and spacious setting of our table – facing as it did out through the window into the plant-filled courtyard – was  lovely, and a nice touch was that Gaggan himself visited our table twice during the meal to see how we were enjoying it.

We also had a very friendly and camp waiter, an older Thai man who was very playful throughout the meal. He took a particular fancy to the makeshift camera case that I use for my pocket camera (a woven pink, blue and grey glove that fits my camera well… like a glove!), at one stage borrowing it to drape over his shoulder and parade around the room. He then proceeded to greet newly arriving guests, not remembering until halfway through that he was still wearing the glove!

The sommelier recommended an excellent wine match, Discovery Point sauvignon blanc from NZ, and for the record here is the menu with some comments noted in blue:

Degustation menu, Gaggan, 13th June 2012

Yoghurt – our signature, we can’t take it off the menu

Served in a spoon, this is the size and shape of an egg yolk but white. Texture on the tongue is exactly like a soft-cooked egg yolk, until the warmth of your tongue melts the surface and an explosion of yoghurt flavour ensues. Gimmicky but good, we both really enjoyed it

Non-Fried Samosa, and Papadams two ways – reconstructed chutney chips with potato filling and fresh fennel seeds; spiced glass of carrot crisps air-dried, and homemade rice crackers

Tasty, but didn’t quite work as well as the other dishes

Liar Liar – an artificial Bellini with fresh royal farm peach and cheap chardonnay carbonated together

Truffle air – pressurised truffle espuma with green chilli oil

the truffle flavour was very strong and the green chilli offering a spicy accent. The “espuma” was foam, which didn’t stay foamy long before melting into a watery truffle soup. One of the top dishes for both of us

Goose liver – foie gras with spiced red onion chutney on a naan bread

Eggs and greens – 62 degrees slow 2-hour cooked eggs with funny tasting greens and moilee curry

One of Kristen’s favourite dishes, the “funny tasting greens” somehow having the flavour of oysters!

Matar Paneer – Indian cottage cheese tortellini in a curried green peas sauce

Delicate, tasty and very carefully spiced. No fancy technique here, just great flavours

Back to Indian – minced chicken sheesh kebab with green chutney foam

The presentation of this dish left something to be desired (see pic above), but Kristen especially loved the samphire on the side. It was like “saltwater explosions in your mouth”

Go Goa!! – choice of fresh Spanish alaj or prawn and crab meat in spiced vindaloo curry

We both went with the prawn and crab option, this dish was very hot but balanced. Served with a superb naan bread

Lamb grilled with whiskey smoke – optional, cost approx. $10 extra p.p.

A worthy addition, this dish consisted of New Zealand lamb cutlets perfectly grilled and served with garlic cream and garlic chutney. A theatrical flourish was provided by it being served underneath a large glass bell filled with the smoke of burnt shavings from a Jack Daniels whiskey barrel. It added a definite (and delicious) whiskey flavour – our favourite dish of the night

Garden of Eden – Iranian pistachio 50-second cake with pacotized pistachio ice cream and edible flowers

Kristen loved this, I thought it good but not as great as the next dessert

I Love Chocolate – chocolate crisps, milk chocolate water mousse and cold chocolate powder

This had a wonderful golden “Crunchie” bar flavour, light with white chocolate foam underneath

—

We didn’t do any sightseeing at all over these three days in Bangkok, as the rest of our time was spent preparing for the next phase and simply relaxing around our excellent hotel, the Royal View Resort. We had masses of laundry to wash, blog posts to write and photos to upload, plus some shopping to be done. And we were both in various stages of dealing with colds, so there was plenty of down time too. We did everything we could to ensure that we entered our next phase as ready as possible: bring on Europe!!

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Home away from home

Posted on June 24, 2012 by Damien

We love Phnom Penh. There’s something about the energy of this city, its vibrant alive-ness that somehow walks both sides of the line between relaxed/carefree and anything goes/buzzing, that keeps us coming back. Even though our planned journey through Asia was severely interrupted, we still ensured we would have at least a couple of days in our home away from home to enjoy its charms before heading onwards to Europe.

Like everyone else, on our first trip to Phnom Penh we did the obligatory (and very moving) visits to S-21 and The Killing Fields, went to the Russian Market and walked along the waterfront. It was on the second visit that we delved a little deeper into the less-touristed (but still very western) parts of town and discovered the joys of 240 Street and 278 Street. This time around, with only two days and nights to fill, we knew exactly what we wanted to do.

First up: accommodation. A tuk-tuk driver had introduced us to the Phnom Penh City Hotel last time, and its convenient location on 278 Street coupled with decent rooms at a great price made it a winner. This time around it’s even better, offering the same low price ($15 a night) and now with added wifi.

Second up: Red Apron on 240 Street. What a purler of a wine bar/restaurant this is! Offering an excellent range of fine wines at very low prices by world standards, coupled with superb food and service in a flashy modern setting, dinner here was one of the main things we were looking forward to in Phnom Penh. Okay, who am I kidding… it was THE main thing we were looking forward here, and the mere idea of it kept us focussed during the long weeks before arrival! The wine list is strong on French wines, including a good number of top shelf choices at prices less than half what you’d pay at a comparable place in Australia or Europe. Last time we went a little nuts on some of the finer choices, this time we set a lower (but still generous) limit and our first night’s meal was a winner. A glass each of Planeta chardonnay followed by a bottle of Chateau d’Issan 2004 from Bordeaux went brilliantly with the succession of small plates of food chosen from the extensive menu. We even met a Frenchwoman who might let us rent her Paris apartment when we visit there in September. Un nuit par excellance!

Third up: Bliss Boutique. After extensive field trials, this massage and spa boutique on 240 Street comes up trumps as one of the best places to get a laying of the hands in Asia. Of course the massages are excellent – especially the extravagant four-hand number, where two masseuses work in unison – but the whole experience is enhanced by its location in a luxuriously restored and tranquil French villa. We had wanted to save this pleasure for the day we left, but as they are closed on Mondays we settled for a Sunday treat instead. Yep, sometimes you’ve just gotta take the knocks and keep smiling…

The rest of our two days was filled with smaller tasks that we knew could be completed here. Kristen has obtained her supply of sunglasses here annually for the past two years, so we knew exactly where to go to get some more. Getting our tuk-tuk driver – who was on retainer for several hours on our last day of rushing around – to stop near the FCC, we walked slowly to the corner knowing that within seconds a sunglasses seller would approach with a tray full of goodies to choose from. Sure enough, said seller did indeed approach and within minutes Kristen had two new pairs complete with extra carry case, all for $10. A year’s supply? Perhaps not, but it’s a start!

To round out our lightning visit we revisited Japanese-Cambodian restaurant Happa for lunch (on 278 Street, still good), tried to go to the Pool Bar on 278 Street only to find it closed for renovations, and made a late night journey to Equinox bar (again on 278 Street) for post-dinner drinks. No visit to Equinox is complete without a completely random meeting with a wacky stranger, and we hit the jackpot with a 52-year-old Korean man called Song. His greying hair, pulled back with a headband, and open face made him look very Japanese, and we made the early faux pas of asking him if he was indeed from Japan. He replied no but very good-naturedly, explained his origins and within seconds had somehow segued into how he is a drummer and that his Dad beat him so hard for being a drummer when he was a teenager that his arm was permanently damaged. Complete with a demonstration of how his arm doesn’t bend properly anymore. He was proud of his perseverance as a drummer in the face of such opposition (it was apparently an hour-long beating); clearly South Korea in the 1960s and 1970s was a very strict place to grow up!

Song then talked a lot about his favourite drummers in between asking us about our travels, and he was depressingly insightful about the conditions of the average working person in Cambodia today. He’s involved in the production and export of fashion garments and has lived in Phnom Penh for several years, so his comments had the weight of truth about them. Suddenly more than an hour had gone by, and Song was up and off with a smile.

We would have loved to have spent longer in Phnom Penh, but we left happy in the knowledge that we’d done everything we wanted to this time around. More than enough, actually: did I mention that we made a second dinner visit to Red Apron because it’s so bloody good?!?

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Love letter to Lao

Posted on June 24, 2012 by Kristen

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I am a firm believer that there is not a country on this earth in which I couldn’t find something to fascinate me, or even just some small part that would endear itself to me. We live on an amazing planet and I for one am endlessly delighted by the people, places, birds and animals I come across.

There are however, from time to time, places that just capture my imagination and steal my heart. Lao is one of those places. It was not very far into our journey through this beautiful land that I knew that this place was special, and that it would take residence in my heart as one of the truly enchanting corners of the world.

When the first taste you get of a new land is the capital city, it can be a somewhat confusing indication of what the rest of the country is like. Cities by their nature are usually large and often bustling metropolises that jam into their interiors the most flashy, grand, and exhibitionist aspects of what their culture has to offer. Cities are of course always a reflection of the culture at large but not always the culture of the small. By that I mean, one needs to sometimes get off the road most travelled and into the countryside to the places where people live out their lives away from the tourist lens. Then you may have the chance to really breathe in what a country is all about.

Nonetheless, my first taste of Lao was the capital, Vientiane. Capital yes, city no. At least, not in my terms of a city. Vientiane has a languid and peaceful air about it that beguiles you as you wander the well kept riverside streets. I am aware that this is a capital undergoing rapid change and that it looks markedly different on the waterfront to what it did only but two years prior. But for now, it has a wonderful slow, relaxed and friendly atmosphere that is so much more fitting of a big country town than the capital of a nation. With attractive streets lined with inviting guesthouses and restaurants, I was charmed. I whiled away three lovely days dining on some of the best food I ate in Lao, sipping great coffee in cafes and sampling world class wines in a wine bar.

Vientiane was a capital that actually in many respects was a good indication of what the rest of the country was to be like… at least in terms of the relaxed and friendly approach people here have to life. Lao is not a wealthy country in an economic sense, but I did feel time and time again that in other ways they were indeed very wealthy. I was struck by how there was a real sense that people work when they need to work and rest when they don’t need to work. I doubt you would find many a Laotian dying from a heart attack brought on by endless hours slaving overtime at the office in the eternal pursuit of trying to keep the worries of the future at bay. In fact, I get the distinct impression that this is a culture that may have possibly mastered the art of living in the now. At least, better than I feel people in the West have. So many Westerners spend the majority of their time either ruminating about the past or fretting over the future. Aren’t we as humans supposed to spend our time in the present? I for one have really started to see for myself that as the days go by this year, my own personal capacity to live in the present and less in the worries of the past or the future has increased. If I am honest with myself, I think this is the first time in my life since I was a child, that I can recall, where I can really understand what it means to live in the present. Our fast paced lives in the West just don’t seem to allow a human to be a human in the way that our souls intended.

I do not want to sound like I have bathed my whole picture of Lao in some rose coloured hue and that I am blind to the challenges that exist for this country and its people, but this is my love letter and I want to focus on what I loved about Lao.

I loved that when you would go through a village you would see families sitting together on square wooden decks, sharing food, combing one another’s hair or just chilling out in the heat of the afternoon, content to lie and watch the sun slip down the sky. This relaxed approach to living seemed to permeate the whole country from people to animals. I would often see groups of cows huddled together, lying on the road and cars and buses would need to simply drive around them. Why should they move?! I think that was the thought of both parties – the cows and the drivers! Taking a snooze on the road was not just the domain of the bovines though! I am not lying when I say that I saw a person having a snooze by their motorbike on the road as our bus went cruising on past. And I do mean lying on the road.

I think if you go through life expecting to find horrible people, you will find horrible people as easily as if you approach life with the belief you will find nice people, nice people you shall find; the world over. But some countries seem to have more nice people than others! Lao is a country that I found nice people in abundance. Lao people are gentle, have a great sense of humour, are giving of their culture and eager for you to learn but similarly they are genuinely interested in you as a person and where you come from. I met a wonderful guy by the name of Hien when we were in Luang Prabang and he ended up spending two days with Damien and I when we were in that town. Hien was studying to become an English teacher and came from a village in the North of Lao. He was very happy to share his knowledge and thoughts about his country and enthusiastically invited us to come back next year to visit him in his home town.

Cities and towns and human made structures can be truly fascinating and I always appreciate visiting such places in my travels. I am a nature lover first though and Lao has an abundance of natural beauty. I was continually dazzled by the sights I saw. It seemed to me that every time I left one place I would enter yet another that made my jaw drop. The first place to set the standard for the awe inspiring countryside I would experience was Vang Vieng. Magnificent karst cliffs rise up from the flat ground below. Staying in the town you are treated with the additional eye catching scene of the Nam Song flowing past the sheer mountain backdrop. It was a sight that I could not tire of, and every time I chanced to look away and then glance back up at a later stage I was hit with the full force of its beauty.

But as I said, man made things can be beautiful too and the next town I went to, Luang Prabang, is a sterling example of this. I must add though that it is nestled in a valley between two rivers so it has a pretty special natural setting too! Luang Prabang is a monastic town that is like no other town I have been to in Asia. Unique is truly the right word to describe this place. It is such a pleasure just to stroll the streets, or sit in the cafes and restaurants and watch the world go by. But you would be doing yourself a massive disservice if you found yourself lured by the town and forgot to venture out into the countryside to the Kuang Si Falls. These are hands down the most breathtaking waterfalls I have ever seen. The falls are a series of impossibly aqua pools that tumble down several different levels, each lovely and different in its appearance. One particular level has a series of flat pools that look as if they are slices of a turquoise crystal complete with white crystal fringes. This is truly one of God’s masterpieces. Every plant, rock and crevice seems to have been placed in a way that maximises the wow factor. Its picture perfect quality leaves you feeling that something this good could almost have been designed this way by someone drawing their fantasy land.

I would require many more pages than a blog post would allow to fully detail all the amazing sights I encountered during the three and a half weeks I had in Lao, so I am going to have to restrict myself to just a few more highlights.

One of the places I was very keen to see was the Plain of Jars. This area of Lao contains what is thought to be old burial jars that are apparently thousands of years old. We visited two of the numerous sites and it was more fascinating than I think either of us expected the experience to be. However, what was even more unexpected was how intriguing we found the town of Phonsavan and the province it is in, Xieng Khouang. I was aware that Lao had been extensively bombed by the Americans during the Vietnam War but visiting the town of Phonsavan and its surrounds really brought this home to me. The town is literally strewn with ordnance “memorabilia” (if I can be so crude as to call it that). Everywhere you go there is evidence of the carnage that was inflicted on the Lao people for all those years. Old bombs are used as structural supports for awnings, bullet casings for key rings, bombs are halved to use as fireplaces. But I got a sense that all these visual reminders of this dark time are more about the Lao people owning the situation they are in now and making the best use of the materials at hand.

However, the disastrous legacy this bombing has left was evident in the highly visible work that MAG (Mines Advisory Group) conduct in the fields around the town. We saw teams of locals working in the fields to clear the area of unexploded ordnance. As if to highlight the reality of the situation, whilst we were at the first Plain of Jars sight an extraordinary loud noise like massive thunder boomed into the air. It rumbled and reverberated for quite a long time and so we asked our guide what it was. He responded ever so casually (as you would I guess when you hear this all the time) that they were just detonating a bomb. Right. Yes, I think I will stick right between those markers (indicators on the ground of safe areas) for the duration of our time in the Plains, I thought.

This is a sad story to tell, I am aware, but I for one was glad to have first hand experience of what the Lao people had to endure (and still have to endure) because they were neighbours with a country America was at war with. I was also glad to have seen this part of Lao because the landscape was so different to anything we had hitherto experienced in the country. It was such a beautiful area with large, rolling hills covered in eucalypts and pine trees and it was so unnervingly like country NSW that at times I had to remind myself what country I was in! The echo of home was lovely!

One place Damien wanted me to see was Kong Lor Cave. He said that it was like nothing I would have ever experienced before. So off we set to Ban Na Hin, a village not far from the cave. An amazing cave I was anticipating, but not the gorgeous drive to Ban Na Hin! We drove through beautiful rainforest with plants of giant red flowers and heart shaped leaves. Rising out of the forest though was the most unusual rock formations! They were sheer walls that at their summit ended in extremely sharp looking jagged edges. I am sorry to say that I didn’t get any photos of them, but they are definitely another reason why I loved our trip to Kong Lor. Once you leave Ban Na Hin you then are treated to a further sensory delight. The drive to the National Park that the cave is in is via a gorgeous valley whose cliffs seem to meet at the apex where the Park commences.

But the cave! Wow! This cave is 7.5 kilometers long and goes straight through a mountain. You must go through on boat via the river that runs underneath the mountain. Inside, the cavern is enormous and the roof reaches a height up 100 meters at points. The river winds through the cave, past sandy underground beaches and stalactites and stalagmites. Lao had done it again! I was in awe of this latest amazing spectacle!

Last, but certainly not least was our final stop in Lao – Si Phan Don (4000 Islands). We rested on Don Khon (Khon Island) and had four mellow days cruising around on bikes, watching the Mekong swirl and bubble it’s way past out bungalow and just luxuriating in this amazing island gem. There were no waves like other island holidays I’ve had. Instead there was the large brown expanse of the Mekong, the heat, the palm trees, a lack of other tourists and just the villagers going about their life and I really felt that this was the quinetessential island experience. In fact, it was the perfect and fitting finale to what was one of the most chilled out and memorable countries of my trip so far.

Khop chai lai lai, Lao xoxo

Categories: Laos, travel | 2 Comments

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