4000 Islands, our last bit of Laos

We spent four amazing days in the quiet, rustic backpacker haven of Don Det, Four Thousand Islands.   The Four Thousand Islands are, as the name suggests, thousands of little islands along the Mekong river located at the very tip of Laos,  Hugging the Cambodian border.  

It is very quite here and is the perfect spot to call a nice bamboo bungalow your home for a week or so,  and swing away for an hour on your balconies hammock as you over look the river. 

We explored all of Don Det ( in about an hour ) before we ventured off to its neighbor Don Kong ( where we biked for about 6 hours though villages, riversides and stopped for lunch. )  

There is no power on the Islands, only generators from 5-10 ( at the latest ) and at the end of the night you are left to your bungalow to again sit in your hammock with friends, beers and candles! 

We really enjoyed our short stay, as it is a total different place than anything we had seen anywhere.  The island does have tourists visit however, it/ its people still have maintained its original ways of life.   There are still dusty dirt roads, cooking every meal over the fire, as there is no power,  and growing their own food in their fields.  The people just live as simple as they can, we find it so neat to see a place that to us, would have been a place to travel 20 yrs ago. 

Here are some of our pictures from our stay on Don Det:

When we arrived at Don Det we were warmly welcomed by this guy.. 

Here you can see our FAVORITE past time! mmm mm 

In this picture Shaun is about to eat some rice pudding and a pumpkin burger 

The Mekong

Swinging away

Restaurant 

our bike ride though a village

one kid just climbed up onto Shaun's bike and wanted to go for a ride

getting some laundry done

The Local Market 

The half circle tree, our view from our bungalow. 

Thats about it, we hope we will write again very soon.  We sill have lots to catch you all up on, but we are having too much fun for the internet!  

Love,  Melissa & Shaun 

So This Is Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

We are writing today to wish you all a merry Christmas! We are sad that we could not be there to spend it with you but we want you to know you are all in our hearts.

This was a very different but exciting Christmas for us, although it was not the same without our friends and family and traditions, we still got into the holiday spirit and enjoyed our WARM christmas! 

We already had the chance to talk to both our families on Christmas day and share with them our Christmas morning and dinner details.. we do have pictures we would like you all to see but they are on our NEW camera  ( Santa must have found us all the way over here! ) and we have not uploaded them just yet. 

So, we thought we would just add to the festivities and show you some of our Christmas decoration South East Asia Style! 

Ho! Ho! Ho! 

Love, 

         Shaun & Melissa xo

Swinging away in Vang Vieng

We arrived in Vang Vieng very excited as we knew it was a great place to unwind and relax, while still having some good night life.  Vang Vieng is situated along the Nam Song river, which, along with the limestone karst terrain, provide for a breathe taking view.  The town thrives around the river and using it for any way possible: fishing, viewing, transport, bathing, water supply and even a tubing course.

Our first fews days in Vang Vieng we spent exploring caves/town by day and relaxing with a tasty fruit shake swinging away on a hammock watching the sun go down.  What a great time. Every single night we were blessed with postcard sunsets.  Along the river edge they have built many bamboo huts and beds which all have hammocks, it was just so relaxing lazing around by the river.  

After the sunsets we would head to one of the restaurants and get some good food and sit back and watch "friends" yes the TV series "friends" it seems that the Lao people in Vang Vieng have some weird fetish with the series as all the restaurants are showing re-runs.  After supper we would head back to our bungalow and change then head out for a evening which consisted of Beer Laos and buckets that were pretty tasty!  We would dance the night away the great music that caught me off guard, like Knigs of Leon, LCD soundsystem daft punk, MGMT and many more. 

We ran into this boy outside of a cave.  He caught that snake with a sling-shot

Missie playing Takara with a local boy

One night when we were going out for the night we decided not to take our camera, cause we were planning on having some drinks and did not want to miss place it.  However, the next morning our camera was gone, we remember putting it in one spot and it the morning it was gone.  Funny thing is that the night before one of the guest house workers was in our room fixing the shower and he saw the camera.  We believe that they went into our room at night when we were out and took it as when we returned our door was still locked.  We brought the Guest House owner down to the Tourist Police, but he denied it and nothing came out of it.  I mean it can happen to anyone, anywhere.....

So the rest of the time we never had a camera so NO PICTURES!  But we still had a great time.  One big attraction that Vang Vieng has is its tubing  Basically you rent a tube (inner tube of a tire) catch a tuk-tuk up the road then float down the river stopping at many bars which have zip-lines, rope swings and all sorts of device made out of old bamboo.  Its great!  We met up with a bunch of people and had a great day floating from bar to bar drinking and dancing away.  It is a really good time.  I went off many rope swings that are like 50 feet up made out of old bamboo, doesn't look to safe but it is.  I even thought that I was in a circus act as I started to swing upside down by my legs!  One of the bars had a slide made out of concert that was very very high and it was straight down until the end of the slide where it would make a v-shape and shoot you in the air to fall in the water.  This was really fun and Missie gave it a try and had a good time aswell.  Another fun thing was to sit back have a beer and just watch some people as they clearly did not have the coordination of brains to attempt some of the ropes and slides.  From huge belly flops to failed back flips it all made for a good laugh for everyone, including the victims.

Vang Vieng was a great place and we made some good friends their.  It was sad to move one but it was time.

We are now in Vientiane, the capital city of Laos. 

Take care everyone.

Happy Birthday Missie!

Every birthday, for as long as I can remember has been shared with my family, my grandparents, and my close friends..in my home, surrounded by so much love. And every year on my birthday when everyone is celebrating me, I have felt so lucky and so blessed.  

And now, this year, a world away from home, away from any family and friends I am celebrating my birthday.  Although, I miss my family and wish to be with them, I wish to hug my parents and my sister and see my grandma smile as she talks about the day I was born.  

 

But still this year, like every other, I am so lucky and incredibly blessed. 

Because I am here; In Laos, living my dreams. 

I AM living a dream and with the person that I love.  I am here on my birthday, smiling, experiencing, learning, loving and laughing with the person that I love.  There is no greater gift than that.  

We decided for the 16th to do a Mahout elephant adventure/project.  Mahout means a person who trains elephants and they are able to communicate, control and care for elephants. 

The project pays to support the elephants and the level of care they receive and gives some proceeds to the Mahout and their families.  

Mahout

So, Shaun and I both became official Mahouts for the day and were given our very own elephant to learn to communicate with. We learnd to give commands such as: to stick their leg out so we could climb up onto their neck.  Then once on their neck we would move their ear with our feet and tell them to move to the right/left in the direction we wanted them to walk.  We fed them, pet them and played with them and the other Mahouts.  

In the afternoon we were able to bathe the elephants, which was our favorite part. We rode them into the river where they were very playful as they dunked us under and and blew water at us. We were slipping off the elephants back and swimming.  We laughed so hard the entire time, the elephant would grab Shaun's legs ( while Shaun was on his neck ) by its ears and go under taking Shaun with him! Shaun would scream and then be under water and then come up laughing.  What a great day! 

Later that night, Shaun surprised me with a romantic Indian dinner.  He had a table reserved, with a bottle of wine ready and some yummy dishes pre-picked.  The dinner was delicious and he even had a slice of cake with candles for dessert!  

Speaking of surprises,  the day BEFORE my birthday Shaun was acting funny.. He dragged me around town for 20 min trying to find a 'ticket' he insisted we needed.  Then we walked through a luxurious restaurant and into a spa where I was welcomed by a Lao man who was wishing me a happy birthday!  I was clueless!  I had to say goodbye to Shaun and he took me into the back for a 2 and 1/2 hour massage!!  Half of the massage was an oil relaxation and the second was a traditional aroma steam bath massage (where they use steam bath balls filled with herbs)  I loved both, they were both very relaxing.  I couldn't believe Shaun had all that planned, but then again it is Shaun and he always has something up his sleeve.  He really gave me a wonderful birthday, I am one lucky girl. Thank you again Shaun. xo 

   

Lovely Luang Prabang

Already, a month gone by.. 

already, an entire country explored and checked off of our list..

already, we are in LAOS! 

Our first stop in Laos has been the lovely Luang Prabang.  Surrounded by luscious mountains, set on the Mekong river and only a short distance from China, this northern city is refreshing in every way.  You feel relaxed, restored, rejuvenated ( and the list goes on..)  from the second you step off the plane.  Every traveler you meet agrees, their is no place like lazy Laos,  and Luang Prabang proves that to be true. 

View of the Mekong

Sleepy streets

Royal Palace Museum

A hike to a beautiful vista!

The town is dotted with many gleaming gold temples and radiantly ruby wats where at any time you can find monks coming or going.  Walking though town you are greeted by the smell of fresh fruit and coffee awaiting you in the local market.  Most road activity consists of only bicycles or few motorcycles and an 11 30 curfew make for a quiet lull, which is almost bliss coming from the big city of Hanoi.  

    

The culture and  history surrounding Luang Prabang has been well preserved,  giving travelers a sense of true Lao traditions.  We often woke up in the mornings to the monks playing a skin base drum after prayer.  And, one morning we were lucky to be up early enough to see the local people giving rice and other offerings hundreds of monks as they passed by . 

The two of us spent every single night in Luang Prabang market running around like two kids on Christmas morning. We would get so excited with all the tasty treats ( I think we must have tried EVERY single one, and there was almost never a dud. ) We would point at one and then run and smell another then ask to please try this then try that. 

 Our favorite eat was always the Mekong BBQ fish on a stick with sticky rice on the side.  Now when you see this picture, I know most of you will think: GROSS! 

But we can assure you it is sooo tasty! 

So, They BBQ the whole fish on the stick and season it with lemon grass ( which they put down its tiny thoat, so the taste can soak into the meat ) and bon appetit! 

Of course we tried many many others and of course there were also some we didn't.  Here is a short list of the two: 

Below are some coconut and rice balls that tasted just like rice pudding! ( a nightly snack )

 

The Sandwiches! mmm mmm!! 

       

We went to this lady everyday for her $1 sandwich 

 Oh my! And, the sweets! 

We think these are baby chickens?..

As any of you who have visited Asia know, this can be one of the saddest of sights.  

And on to the activities... 

We hired a tuk tuk and did a day trip to the Tad Sae waterfalls. These b-e-a-utiful waterfalls cascade into multi level limestone formations and these different levels form pools of water that is so unimaginably clear you would think you are staring at a picture.  We swam all afternoon in the falls with both locals and travelers then climbed the different levels to sit in the pools and afterwards enjoyed a fruit shake and some chips at the picnic tables before heading back to town.  

We also did the Mahout with Elephants during our time in Luang Prabang.  This was what we   wanted to do for my  Birthday so we are reserving the details of that event for the Birthday post, so make sure to keep reading! 

Thanks for keeping up with us. We love you all and miss you