Some more shots from around Vientiane to keep you amused …
TL – Some neighbourhood boys making the best of the driving rain!
TC – Darren (my Vientiane flatmate) and I at a recent “bling” party.
TR - Some wayward cows on an excursion to the city streets – quite unperturbed!
BL – Up and close and personal with what they tell me is Laos’ hottest musical act
BR – Anna, Bok and me … Anna is another Aussie volunteer who arrived with me and Pok is my official markets shopping assistant!
So I have decided to start a regular posting of amusing local press articles. The first one assures all those who were wondering, that umbrellas and raincoats are now in! It reads as follows (typed as is) …
MONSOON MAKEUP
Here are some tips to keep you pretty when it is raining cats and dogs.
(1) Wash and cleanse the face thoroughly and rub an ice cube on your face for 5 to 10 minutes to lower the sweating rate, so that the makeup stays put for a longer period of time.
(2) Keep your hairstyles simple and easy. Elaborate hair styles are more difficult to manage and redo and limp damp hair do not look good with them. You may use bangs and layered hairstyles instead.
(3) During this time, keep your eyebrows in shape with threading and hair gel for you cannot use eyebrow pencil during a downpour.
(4) Denims are not for monsoons; wear light cotton fabrics, capri pants and three fourths.
(5) Umbrellas and raincoats are also in fashion. Buy some in cheerful, happy colours.
So all you girls who were thinking of visiting me over here … make sure you get onto this beauty regime if you want to appear stylish and “with it” in Laos!
One of my first social gatherings in Laos … Ling’s (my language teacher) daughter’s – Nia’s first birthday party. Clearly not camera shy …
Anii maen Yay le Ling (This is Yay and Ling). Ling is my lovely language teacher and Yay works at Vientiane College and also runs his own Karoake bar where we are going to sing in Laos (should be interesting!!!) this weekend! They promise me this will help my wow par sa Laos (speaking of Laos)!! Yay also taught me how to ride a motorbike!
Some very creative and artistic street signage … I would say 99% of people choose to ignore however!!
This is where I am staying for a few weeks while in Vientiane … the second floor up where the Vientiane Buffalos (local rugby team) sign is ours. Pretty fancy huh!! I particularly like the wires that buzz right outside my window that you can see … however these ones actually look quite tidy, safe and organised in comparison to many others!
Aaargh … the computer just lost everything I wrote!! So this will be brief …
Well you’ll be pleased to know that I survived my first weekend of torrential wet season rain in Laos! It only takes about 30 minutes of crazy rain before the whole city looks completely flooded. Very hard to negotiate dark, unsigned streets on a bike or motorbike I might say! Everything is completely beautiful and green though with all the rain around.
A couple of days back I visited a town called Ban Kheun (sp??) where there is another Aussie voluneer (Bianca) doing a similar sort of thing to what I’ll be doing. It is perhaps more regional than where I’ll be … even though it is only one hour from Vientiane, it has no internet, no other foreigners and no restaurants at all (aside from noodle shops). Bianca had just finished up a week of teacher workshops so we shared with lunch with all the teachers at a local noodle shop. She is doing a pretty amazing job out there and it got me quite excited and impatient for heading north! Still waiting on visas to be sorted … but it is good to be able to do a whole lot of language training to ensure I don’t continue to make too many of those dinner time faupes (sp?) like I seem to do on a daily basis … although I imagine this will continue for some time!
I had a look through the small selection of resources and 3 readers caught my attention in particular … Babe, Frankenstein and BAYWATCH! It’s comforting to know this is the impression these lovely Ban Kheun people are creating in their heads of Western culture …. hmmm … So … if anyone is wanting to donate any books … you know where to send them!
On Friday night I had dinner etc with a big group of other volunteer type people in town. We ended up heading to the only late night destination open (aside from the bowling alley!) where there was a fairly inexcusable blend of bad music playing!! Let’s just say that when I realised I was dancing to Mariah Carey mixed with some Thai techno beats … I decided it was time to take my leave!
So I’ve been here for a few days now and love it even more every day. There is a pretty big expat scene in this town (being a capital city) and every night there is a social event on! Everyone is extremely friendly and I think I have more mobile phone numbers and social invites than I did in Australia!!
Being here is definitely challenging my thinking on a number of issues … I think it will be different up north, but being in the capital city brings with it a number of interesting subcultures … Guess I won’t write too much online but I will probably email my thoughts to some of you sometime.
The guy I am staying with is right into Rugby so he dragged me along to Rugby training on Tuesday night and I had a run with the boys! They were very decent for allowing a girl to enter their zone!! Good fun!! Apparently I am being trained up for the position of touch judge! I have found a couple of other fellow muso’s in town as well and am going to an open mic night tonight to have a bit of a jam!!! Had a game of pool last night at a local place and discovered I am seriously out of practice so definitely need to whip that into gear before I head up to Luang Nam Tha where this will be one of my main social occupations I think!
This arvo I go for motobike lessons!!! It is fairly much the major mode of transport up here and dirt bike riding I think will be another one of my social occupations up in Luang Nam Tha according to sources!! I don’t necessarily back myself too highly on sporting activities that involve electronic/mechanical equipment … so we will see. Hopefully we will head to the back roads!
Loving life anyway and it is great being able to devote a whole lot of time to language study. Feels like I am back at Uni for a bit which is nice. My language teacher is lovely … Ling … and we are very flexible with language lessons ie Learn about a topic in the classroom and then head to the relevant area … eg go for lunch and practice ordering, go to the markets and purchase items … go for a field trip and direct the tuk tuk drivers etc etc I am going to her daughter’s first birthday party on Saturday!
So I’ve finally made it to Laos! It’s still as crazy, hot, fascinating, beautiful and stimulating as I remember … so it feels really good to be back. I am in Vientiane for the next 4 weeks doing language training … then I spend a couple of weeks up in Luang Prabang with some other people who are doing similar work … then head up to Luang Nam Tha (where it is cooler!) I am staying for the next 4 weeks with another Aussie guy … volunteer whose official title is Rugby Development Officer … so it’s good I found room for my touch shoes! He’s a good bloke and we spent the day cruising around on the back of his bike … bit of a walk down memory lane! Fitted in a two hour massage which I think I slept through most of!!! and just had dinner with a couple of Laos girls that he works with. I tried out a bit of my Laos … it became very apparent to me that I really do need to get on top of the tonal pronunciations because a couple of phrases I used … well … let’s just say that the alternate meanings (when using different tones) is perhaps not appropriate for dinner conversation!! Anyway they were all very forgiving which was nice! If you’re interested … ask me in an email !!! Not appropriate for general blogging!
So the last 24 hours I fitted in a quick fly in visit to the Gold Coast to visit the two main men in my life … quite frankly I wasn’t coping without them by my side overseas … it was very difficult for me and I constantly had to pick my bottom lip up. Soldier on I did … but I had a couple of hours free and I had to fit some QT in with them … xoxoxo Unfortunately they are not available for anyone else at this stage …
Introducing Charlie and the Hunt … my two main men in my life … equally as cute, handsome and scintillating in their dinner conversation
Still cuddling …Originally uploaded by katiedecarteret.
So Amsterdam is crazy … everything is legal and everyone takes good advantage! Actually having said that I think that maybe it is just the swarms of 18yr old travellers that are doing that … Wasn’t run over by any traffic here but nearly was by the hundreds of cyclists cruising the city … great outdoor and healthy lifestyle that they all live.
The weekend I was there was a big Gay Pride festival (apparently one of the biggest in Europe) … so when I went to check into some hostel the guy just laughed when I told him i hadn’t booked! I asked him to point me in the direction of another one and he laughed even harder when I told him I was sure I could find a room somewhere!!! At this point I must have looked just a little lost because the guy offered me a couch in the foyer area for 15 euro. So I took it because I wasn’t about to waste the afternoon looking for hostel rooms that didn’t exist. Anyway I got myself out there and decided I’d better make a long night of it because the couch was situated in a bar and I figured there wouldn’t be a whole lot of sleeping going on. When I rolled in during the early hours though, it became clear that this hostel manager was a very shrewd business man and had sold this couch for 15 euro to about 30 other people as well! So … I found myself a spot on the floor … spotted a rat in a corner so felt just a little uncomfortable … got up onto a hard bench and snuggled in for the night. Some nice little guy asleep behind the bar felt sorry for me after a bit I think and found me a little corner with some sheets and a blanket so all was good. I actually ended up sleeping very well surprisingly!
I hung out with 3 Spanish girls for a while in Amsterdam and when they found out I was from Australia they wanted me to confirm for them if it was really true that there are men with guns on the beaches shooting the sharks so that the swimmers are safe in the water???!!!! I have to admit I did exaggerate a story a little bit when they asked me if I had even seen a shark while surfing … but their response was too entertaining!!
You’ll all be pleased to know that I decided against buying clogs …
Rome is one of the most stunning places I have ever visited … history, architecture, monuments, history, buildings, history, art, history etc etc Unfortunately I was on a serious time limit as it wasn’t initially scheduled in so I have complied some words of advice based on my crazy, exciting, tiring but very exhilirating 24 hours!
(1) Don’t try and see all the historical sights in one day … do allow at least 4 days!
(2) Don’t walk the entire city in a pair of thongs … do wear some cushioned shoes!
(3) Don’t use any guides because quite frankly you won’t have time … and anyway all the important stuff is written on signs and you can read a book about it.
(4) Do remember (for all you Aussies out there) that the traffic drives on the right hand side of the road as you walk around looking up in the air at all the amazing monuments, sculptures and buildings!
(5) Do survive your day by drinking loads of lemon granitas … they are amazing.
(6) Don’t start the day with a hole in your skirt (or shorts) … because you will do so much walking that it will be a major gaping hole by the end of the day.
(7) Do bring a spare shirt with you if you intend on walking the whole thing in the middle of a heat wave in Italy … luckily photos don’t have any smell sensors!
(8) Don’t bother booking into a hostel … you won’t have time to sleep … and anyway that is valuable money to be spent on gelati and granitas … lockers are very well priced!
(9) Do wear a shirt with sleeves to the Vatican City … don’t attempt to fashion a shirt out of a plastic bag.
(10) And finally … DO come to Rome … most beautiful city in the world that I have visited by far.
Some of you lucky kids will receive a postcard with a special pope blessed stamp on it! It cost me an extra 20 euro cents per stamp I think so treasure it if you get one of those!
Anyway I now have 24 hours of Amsterdam to do … all the hostels are full so I just had to pay 15 euro (30 dollars!!!!) to sleep on a couch in the foyer of a hostel!! Oh well as I said before … there is no time for sleeping anyway!
This photo shows where the stage used to lie and the underneath which is a labyrinth of corridors etc where they kept the animals etc
Originally uploaded by katiedecarteret.
Now this may look like an ordinary rock but there used to be in fact BLOOD spattered from wild animals on this behind me in the Colosseum!! The colour I’m wearing was not a mistake. Please excuse the poor photography of whatever poor little guy I got to take this photo!!
Originally uploaded by katiedecarteret.
St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City … impossible to get a photo without thousands of other people there! Everyone around was in a fairly passionate mood … any time a priest or nun walked by they would get a massive cheer and round of applause!
Originally uploaded by katiedecarteret.
This is on some famous Spanish stairs or something … but basically gives a representation of how I spent half my day in Rome … just so you can feel like you were with me!!
Originally uploaded by katiedecarteret.
Another Colosseum shot … fairly impossible to get a good photo without a decent camera but I did my best you arty people out there … !
Originally uploaded by katiedecarteret.
A beautiful sunset shot from Sorrento … not Rome!
Originally uploaded by katiedecarteret.
I am now camping over on the island of Ischia … just north of Naples (at the northern end of the Amalfi coastline). Equally as beautiful and amazing as the rest of the Amalfi coast. Now this is definitely the first and last time you will ever hear me utter these words … but I need to get OUT of the sun!! It is so hot over here!! The major problem lies in the fact that Italians worship the sun more than Aussies do! I know I know! Let me explain … So I was responsible and went to buy sunscreen but the highest SPF factor I could find was 8!! Under about the two bottles of that on the shelf there are rows and rows of shelves dedicated to bronzing oils!! And can I say that it was the most expensive sunscreen I have ever purchased in my life!! (But I’d like you all to know that I gave up some gelati that day to afford so sun conscious and responsible am I!) Anyway I am actually beyond brown … in fact I just look like I need a good bath! But this is not my fault … it is sunny for about 16 hours of the day and it is so hot that you do need to be permanently submerged in water … so I can’t help it!
Today I had a very decadent day … found this thermal spring place off this little track from one from of the beaches. Anyway up the top of the track (of a thousand stairs I’d say) they had this kind of massage place where they would put special volcanic mud all over your body (or so they sad … prob a tourist scam that I too was sucked into) which apparently cleanses your body and then massage you down!! Was fairly amazing and I felt ultra relaxed and CLEANSED!
I also found myself in a nude sunbaking area today … when I got there the place was empty … I thought I’d finally found a private little rocky beach to myself. Anyway I fell asleep in the sun and when I woke up I was surrounded by nudity!!!! Didn’t tempt me to join them though … so my Australian conservative ways are!! Europeans are much freer I must tell you!
