Luang Prabang lantern festival

It was back in October that we headed up to Luang Prabang for an impromptu long weekend. It was the boat racing festival here in Laos and the streets around our apartment in Vientiane were becoming congested. Street stalls were popping up, there was loud music, and a really festive atmosphere.

Joff was speaking with friends who had decided to skip the 'craziness' of Vientiane and head to Luang Prabang instead. He came home stating that there was also a festival in Luang Prabang but that this was a lantern festival and according to friends who had lived in Luang Prabang it had been their favourite festival there.

After hearing all of that we decided to go for it. We booked flights and accommodation and were gone 2 days later.

As it turned out we were not the only ones. It seemed that every expat family that we know had decided to escape the chaos as well and we found ourselves out for dinner in Luang Prabang with 10 adults and just as many kids all sitting around as if we were in Vientiane. It was a lot of fun, and a different kind of chaos. The town itself was not congested or busy. There was no raging parties, or crazy drunken behaviour.

In fact, the first night we were there, it was magical. All the temples (Wats) were lit up with hundreds and thousands of paper lanterns. Monks were taking photos of their hard work, tourists were quietly and peacefully walking through the grounds. I don't think i will ever forget it. The second night this all happened again but in addition there was a parade of paper lantern boats through the main streets. Beatrix and the other kids loved it. Bea has only been to Luang Prabang twice- the first time she watched a parade of elephants, this time it was lanterns! After the parade we headed down to the banks of the Mekong and let our own paper lanterns up into the sky while we watched Lao families send offerings down the river.

It was all beautiful and brilliant and more than we had anticipated. Words don't really do it justice. Here are a few photos to share instead.

Where did 2 months go?

Hi everyone,

First up I want to apologise for the lack of "activity". In some ways I'm not sure where the time went, and in other ways I know exactly where it went! Anyway, I have high hopes for more regular updates now that life is settling somewhat into a bit of Laotian normality.

Is that enough? Probably not. I can't imagine that an apology will satisfy your enquiring minds as to what exactly we have been up to over the past 2 months. So let me fill you in on few things.

In my last post (August 16th FYI) I was feeling good. Back from holidays in Phuket, refreshed from time with my sister showing her around, enjoying work after a needed break.

Enter morning sickness. Yep that's right. For those of you who don't already know via another means, I'm pregnant. Currently 18 weeks and counting. And about one week after my last post the dreaded ALL day sickness kicked in. To be more specific it was 4am sickness that carried on into the day, abated for a few hours and then kicked back in again at around 5pm. Anyway, its over now, lets not dwell. I only want to say that nausea is not helped when you leave your apartment and walk outside to the smells of BBQ chicken and squid at 8am!

Thankfully after a quiet couple of months of work and couch time I am back on my feet and can tolerate most of the smells that only an Asian country can throw at you! (Anyone who has been to Asia knows exactly what I am talking about)

The other weird thing about my position at the moment is antenatal care. I'm not entirely sure what the right word for it is but it seems somewhat hypocritical/ ironic that I spend my days teaching newborn care, and am actively involved in the newborn health action plan for Laos while at the same time I fly to Bangkok for my antenatal care. Yep. At least twice in this pregnancy I will fly to Bangkok to be seen and have my tests/ultrasounds that cannot be provided anywhere in Laos to a reasonable quality for Australian standards. Should I be just getting what everyone else here gets? Why am I any different? We are all people of the same world and as lucky and privileged as I feel, I also feel saddened that I have some kind of "golden ticket" when everyone else I work with misses out.

So I will continue to work hard over the next few months to do as much as I can for this country of incredibly kind and caring people. People who try to take my bag off me on ward rounds, offer me a seat everywhere we are at work, and have started bringing snacks like ice-cream and iced ovaltine to afternoon work meetings that they "couldn't possibly finish by themselves!"

And when I am back in Melbourne with my Western health care and state of the art delivery suite I will be thinking of my experiences here and counting myself lucky. In so many ways. Because U will also feel lucky for my experience here and the people I have met.

Melinda xx

My thoughts on: Green spaces

I'm not entirely sure why, but for some reason our holiday to Phuket has got me thinking about green spaces, or more specifically, the lack of green spaces in Vientiane. Its strange, because we didn't visit any parks in Phuket, or get a larger dose of "green". The only connection I can find in my head is that we spent time at the beach, and being outdoors in nature. Maybe that is what it is: I miss nature.

Anyway, since I starting thinking about it, I can't stop.

I've been thinking a lot of the bigger picture of Asia and development and urban planning. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) website says that cities in Asia have grown faster than any other urban area in the world. By 2022 there will be more people living in cities than in the countryside in Asia. ADB conducted interviews of people in Vietnam about what they wanted to see in their cities and the response were following:

Green
Clean
Fresh
In harmony with nature
More trees
More small parks
More spaces for children

Exactly what i would want from a city!

Unfortunately, this is far from the reality in a lot of Asia cities, Vientiane included. Everywhere I look there is construction happening. At the end of our street there is a canal. When we got to Vientiane if you looked past the canal you would see open scrub and the river. Since then, in 5 months, this scrub has been demolished and a huge new shopping centre is being constructed. The rate of construction is incredible!

The World Health Organisation recommends that cities provide 9 square metres of unpaved open space for every inhabitant. I don't have a figure on Vientiane but Bangkok had 3.3sm. This is in stark contrast to my home town of Melbourne which has a whopping 17.8% of the city as green space.

As I look around Vientiane and how much it is changing I know that it will rapidly be a different city.  I will come back in 5-10 years time and there will be parts of the city that I won't recognise. I just hope that it learns from previous Asian cities to consider open areas with trees and parks. We know that they reduce pollution, improve air quality and reduce temperatures.

Vientiane does have some green. There is quite a large park along the river very close to us. The road between the park and the river is closed to traffic in the evening and it seems that everyone in Vientiane is down there to enjoy the fresh air and a bit of badminton/aerobics/soccer/roller blading. We are lucky to have this area so close. The park is also home to Vientiane's only public playground (that we know of).

Anyway, I don't really have any exciting conclusions or grand ideas from these thoughts. If I was an urban planner maybe I would. But it has been interesting to research and to actually find research that confirms that the residents of green cities are actually happier. I, for one,  have been trying to spend more time outdoors walking along the river and getting out of the city on the weekends and into green spaces. A few weekends ago we headed to an eco resort with a little stream and rock pools. It was lovely to get away from the concrete and back to nature.

The only playground in Vientiane 

 A bit of green at Patuxay 

Aerobics by the river every evening

True of false part 2

I might have been too quick to hit publish on my post the other day about Bea's reality.

I have been thinking about it some more and realised I neglected to mention all the things that Bea would NOT be surprised about.

Things like the following:

- some children don't have any toys

- some people don't have any shoes

- there are some foods you just cannot get, and some people only get to eat rice

- there is another country called Thailand on the other side of that river (a totally foreign concept for most children from Australia or New Zealand)

- some children are looked after by their parents but also by their maeban (nanny).

- shoes should never be worn inside

- when you go to the park everyone will stop and say hello a bit like you are a movie star


When i look at the list from today and the list from the other day it generates a mix of emotions. I am proud of my little girl and how much she has learnt and adjusted to over the past 5 months. I feel pleased that i have been able to expose her to different ways of living and different walks of life. I smile when i think of some of the things that have come out of her mouth in response to new experiences. But i also feel a little bit sad for her. Sad that there isn't five parks in a 2 block radius anymore. Sad that she can't dip her toes in the ocean. Sad that we can't go to the park and feed the ducks. 

The reality is that life in Vientiane has many bonuses but also quite a few negatives. There is a lot of stimulation for us here, but sometimes i wonder about how much there is for small children? Everyone sends their preschoolers to school because they need to to entertain them. There is a once a week playgroup but other than that you are on your own with your toddler. No library music class, soccer, gym, story time. On one had I know that kids don't need all of those scheduled activities to be happy. They are just as likely to be happy with a cardboard box. But on the other hand, i know that if we weren't here we would be doing those things and with Bea, and she would be enjoying them. 

Anyway, i don't know why i decided to be so thoughtful on a Friday night when my brain feels slightly fried from the week at work. Perhaps its time for bed.

Melinda x

True or false?

I am home alone with Bea this evening.

While i was washing the dishes she was getting a bit frustrated and i thought i would test theory 101 about having a 2 1/2 year old.

So i said "whatever you do, don't put your teddy in that bucket or he will get wet."

What did she do? She put it in the bucket! Theory proven. I love it.

But it got me thinking about all the new things I have had to teach her here in Laos. All the "don't do this" and "do this". And then i thought, if i told her any one of the following statements she wouldn't believe me. She would tell me that i am being a "trickster." Her answer to any of the following would be false. False, false, false .

- In some parts of the world everyone has to wear seat belts
(FYI Bea has a car seat but she is a minority)

- In some parts of the world kids are not allowed to ride on motorbikes
 (don't worry Bea is also not allowed to ride on a motorbike)

- In New Zealand you can drink water straight out of the tap

- There are people in Melbourne wearing coats and jumpers and hats right now!

- In some places you can do all your food shopping in one location (ie. a supermarket)

- Some countries have bus stops where people wait for their bus and if they aren't at the bus stop the bus won't let them on!

- In some countries you don't get taught in 3 languages at preschool

- In some cities there is more than one playground to visit

That, my friends, is a toddler adapting! Stage one is here, stage two is returning and trying to reverse some Lao realities. I can totally see her telling her friends in Auckland that they can't drink the water out of the tap as it isn't drinking water!

Melinda

Foodies Q&A

Since starting the blog I have had quite a few questions about the food.

I have been putting it off up until now, partly because i am trying to collect a few photos, but also because it is a really hard thing to talk about. It is hard to know where to start.

Food in Lao is a spectrum. There is some amazing food, and there is some very average food. There are amazing restaurants, and also local roadside food stalls. It pays to be adventurous (but maybe not really adventurous?!)

Here are the answers to some of the questions that i have had.

1. Where to we food shop?

There is no one place to get everything. We shop at a combination of places. We go to the western supermarket (small) to get cheese, and smoked salmon and meat. We go to the local market to get our fruit, vegetables and fresh fish, and we go to the Asia supermarket for everything in between.

2. Is food expensive?

It varies. Western things are about the same price as at home. The only things i have found that are more expensive are cheese and chocolate (large sigh inserted here). Meat can also be expensive. We haven't been brave enough to buy meat at the local market yet so we buy it from the supermarket, usually frozen, and this is not cheap. For example, we haven't bought any lamb since we got here.

The food at the market is cheap though. And getting cheaper. Interestingly it seems Joff gets charged more than i do at the market which is not a reflection on language skills or anything else. I think it is a gender thing.

3. Do we eat out or cook at home?

Again a combination. Because we have a toddler we eat home more than most of the other expats who live here. A lot of the people without children eat out most nights. In some ways, for an individual it is cheaper than getting all the ingredients to cook at home.

That said, we eat out at least one or two times a week, and there is no shortage of good meals to be found in Vientiane. Almost every cuisine is represented including French, Italian, Thai, Middle eastern, Indian, Japanese, Russian, Korean etc.

We also often head out for breakfast on the weekends. There are a couple of popular choices- Kungs (a cheap and delicious little alleyway restaurant that is a favourite), or a French bakery for croissants and coffee.

4. What do locals eat?

Most people seem to eat noodle soup (pho) for breakfast (and often lunch) and sticky rice with bbq chicken or rice for dinner. We also enjoy all of these things. Most of the other dishes in Lao are made with lots of chilli and lots of fermented fish sauce. I'm thinking papaya salad, fish stew/soup, laab. Don't get me wrong, i like chilli, but sometimes it can be a bit full on.

Street side papaya salad

Lao people are also renowned for eating the whole animal. They think falang are crazy for not eating the fish bones,  cow udder,  chicken legs,  pig intestines and blood tofu. Each to their own i guess.

Oh, and absolutely every meal is washed down with a Beer Lao (with ice cubes).

5. What food do we miss from home?

Melinda: Chocolate
Bea: Fresh blueberries
Joff: Chocolate and meat (steak, lamb chops and roasts)

6. Does Bea eat Lao food?

The short answer is yes (if it isn't too spicy). I dare anyone to find a child who doesn't like sticky rice. Most children, falang and Lao alike, are obsessed with the stuff. She likes BBQ chicken and fish. She has had some laab if it isn't too chill packed, she will eat noodle soup (sometimes). Usually there is enough around to keep her happy and she will pick though the meal for the goodies- the meat and the nuts (her favourite). She also eats all manner of fruit. Some of her favourites are mango and rambutan.

I will note that she still has a lot of western food- porridge for breakfast, often a peanut butter or vegemite sandwich, and her fair share of dairy (which is missing from Lao food).


I hope that answered your questions. What else do you want to know?

Melinda xx

Ancient Fish- Makphet Reastaurant. AMAZING

Breakfast at Kungs- a meatball soup with baked egg and coriander

Fish with lemongrass and ginger and chilli and peanuts

BBQ chicken everywhere you go

Some kind of deep fried curry pork goodness

Out of this world lychees

And mangosteens, so good

Dora the explorer- Beatrix explores the ruins

                             Confession 1: Beatrix has quite a thing for Dora

                             Confession 2: So do I

Its true, i like Dora the Explorer. I am no expert, i haven't seen any animated Dora, just read some of the books but at this point I like her. She is cute, she speaks Spanish, her best friend is a Monkey and she loves exploring- what's not to like?! I also like that she knows how to read a map, has very good manners, and never seems afraid.

There are times when travel with a 2 year old can be tough. It is those times that we have Dora up our sleeve. Sometimes it is in the form of a tiny travel sized Dora book to take a minute out and be whisked away on an adventure. And other times we use her to explain to Bea that we are about to do something really cool like Dora would do. Whenever we say this Bea lights up with a big smile and looks quite excited that she is an adventurer like Dora. Thanks Dora and co.

Last weekend while we were in Champasack we visited Wat Phu, a very Dora-esque location. There were no monkeys but there could have been. Wat Phu is a UNESCO listed site of Khmer architecture, not dissimilar to Angkor Wat (to my eye). It sits at the base of a sacred mountain and extends up the slope of the hill somewhat in shade which makes it a lot cooler to explore. We had a brilliant time exploring the ruins, climbing up huge steps, looking over beautiful vistas and generally being awed by how well preserved it was.

Ruins and temples are a fantastic place to take toddlers. Old enough to walk around themselves, but young enough to get excited by the climbing. Bea won't remember visiting amazing places like Wat Phu but it is still important. It is important because she has spent another day loving adventure.

Trip Review: Champasack

Last weekend we took advantage of some cheap flights and discounted accommodation to head to Southern Laos. It was an area of the country that i had really wanted to get to but was unsure whether we would find the time to explore it properly.

We flew down to Pakse, a reasonably sized hub for Laos, and headed out to Champasack town, approx 40 minutes away by tuk tuk.

It was a lucky weekend and we are incredibly grateful to have been able to enjoy it.
Everything seemed to go right and it was extremely relaxing!

When we got off the flight it was early in the morning so we headed to a cafe in Pakse to get some breakfast and also try to make some inquiries about tours in the region for the following day. We were sitting there, having just ordered our food when a tuk tuk driver approached us and told us he would wait for us to finish our food and then we could head to Wat Phu (khmer ruins/ temple) We were a bit perplexed, we hadn't booked a tuk tuk. We tried explaining that we didn't want to go, we had only just arrived, and that maybe it was someone else that had booked him?? Let's just say it didn't go well. The tuk tuk driver got more and more annoyed that we didn't want to go to Wat Phu until finally he stormed off.

About 10 minutes later a Swiss guy approached us asking if we had seen a tuk tuk. Oops. I guess all foreigners look alike. Especially when they are travelling with a wife and small falang daughter.But in actual fact every cloud has a silver lining and it could not have worked out better.  For the next 2 days we shared transport and tours with this couple who are travelling around the world with their 4 year old for a year. What fun we had.

We only had time for a very small part of southern Laos but we would love to go back. It is a beautiful part of the country and has so much to offer that a lot of people don't get the time to see.

Happy (and slightly sweaty after some serious ruin exploring)

Beautiful Mekong

Living not blogging

Sorry for the lack of activity. I can assure you that all is well.
We have simply been busy living. Just the way it should be.

There has been lots of fun and challenging things going on- a couple of full week training courses, one of which took me away from Vientiane for the week. I have been training local doctors and nurses on newborn health, in particular how to look after babies in their first few hours of life. It has been a roller coaster of emotion. One moment you are worried that you mustn't be teaching it properly and the next you see something that makes you realise that it has all come together. Teachers- i have always had a lot of respect for your job, but the last few weeks have multiplied this by 100!

Poor Joff was solo dad for 5 days- a challenging week for him as well, although in a completely different way. Although, now that i think about it, perhaps we both were practicing how patient we could be. Bea continues to be a joy, albeit an exhausting one.

I have lots of posts i want to be writing but for now i am just going to leave you with some photos of my travels to Phak Lay (about 4 hours from Vientiane by minibus)

Stay tunes for updates on choosing a preschool for Bea, a weekend away in Southern Laos, and how to survive the heat…

Mekong river

The view across the street from my guesthouse

The power went out the first night we arrived so it was dinner by candlelight!

Trip Review: Luang Prabang

One of the benefits of having international visitors is getting out and seeing new things. For us, with my parents in town for 2 weeks, we were lucky enough to escape to Luang Prabang for 5 days over the Lao New Year (Pi Mai) festivities.

Luang Prabang is the tourist mecca of Laos. Surrounded by mountains, sitting on a peninsula between the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers it is in an ideal position. Couple that with the fact that it is a UNESCO protected site full of temples, the old Royal palace and it ticks all the boxes for many travellers.

We were no different. We had a wonderful 5 days staying in a lovely hotel with a pool. It is the hottest time of year in Laos and Luang Prabang was no exception. Combine the heat with a toddler and our daily routine involved an early morning expedition to a few of the must see sites followed by a lazy afternoon by the pool, and finished with a stroll through the beautiful frangipani lined, colonial streets of the old quarter.

It was one of those trips where we were pleased to be in a tourist town sampling amazing french and laos food, drinking lovely wine on the banks of the river, and enjoying some down time by the pool.

There is so much to see in the north we are hoping to get further afield later in the year but for the time being Luang Prabang was everything we were craving and more!

  Elephant parade for Lao New Year

So many beautiful images in the temples

Wat Xieng Thong

Sticky Rice offerings

Chilling in the shade on the cool steps

Why Laos?

Why Laos?

This is one of the more common questions that we get asked. I understand, it’s a fairly obscure place to choose to live. The answer is, that really it chose us.

Many of you know that I have always wanted to go and do some work overseas. Even before I went into medicine. Maybe this is because of my upbringing moving around and living in Indonesia. Maybe not. Regardless, it was definitely something high on my list of life priorities.

The difficulty was working out when the right time was. Initially after graduation I had thought that my first overseas experience would be with a large humanitarian organisation such as MSF, Medecins Sans Frontieres. However, it never really felt like the right time. At first I didn’t seem experienced or confident enough. Then I was getting married and doing my masters. Then I decided to sit my paediatric exams, and then I had a baby. The list goes on.

Finally it dawned on me. There never really is a perfect time. And if I didn’t do it now, the time may pass and I would literally be kicking myself that I hadn’t achieved one of my life priorities. It was around this time, as I scanned the web for inspiration (more on this another time) that this job popped up in my inbox. I remember getting a little flutter of excitement and thinking- this job is exactly what I am looking for. I’d even been to Laos before, albeit briefly, and thought it would be a great place to go and work.

And why was it exactly what I was looking for? Well, it ticked all of our boxes. These will be different for you than they are for me but this was our list: interesting work that could count towards my paediatric training, safe country (ie. Not a war zone), and family friendly. We didn't really even care what continent it was in. It was more about the job and it being safe to take little kids. 

The rest, as they say, is history. Here we are. I usually joke and tell people that all it took to win Joff over was to recount my 48 hours in Laos filled with Beer Lao, and chocolate croissants. However, on a more serious note we did have a good hard think about whether to do it or not after I had been offered the job Thankfully for me I have a very supportive husband who was willing to give it a go.

I’m curious, if you were going to go abroad, where would you go and live? What would be on your wish list? 

Trip review: Vang Vieng

The end of last week brought 2 unexpected developments:

1.     The Laos celebrate International Women’s Day and have made it a public holiday

2.     Apparently the public holiday was supposed to be on Monday 10^th, but the government changed it to Friday instead. Go figure!

Anyway, it seemed like too good of an opportunity to get out of town and explore Vang Vieng.

Many people have heard about Vang Vieng- the backpacker parties, the tubing and tubing “accidents and injuries”. That obviously wasn’t what we were going for with a 2 year old in tow. It was the other things that attracted us- limestone cliffs, kayaking, cave exploring, and some general relaxation. The added bonus was that by Laos standards it was close and the road was good. Only 160km away. 

It was a great trip; close, easy, varied. We came up with a new car game: spot the monk. I think Laos is one of the few countries where this game works!

We decided to give kayaking a go. We figured that Joff had enough experience that if I had to hold Bea onto the kayak while he paddled we would manage. We chose a company that had very small life jackets (that actually fit Bea) and set off for the 8km journey. Bea probably slept for half of it. The other half she spent trying to paddle, looking at the people swimming and diving for fish, and singing along. It was great.

The other activity was visiting 2 of the more popular caves. They were really incredible and Bea LOVED it. She loved that it was dark and slightly scary and spent some of her time in the second cave reciting “We’re going on a bear hunt.” Very cute.

I think we will be back.