My Last Week

My last week in Luang Prabang is here. The 19th of December I will rise before dawn to catch my flight to Bangkok. That leaves me with six days to spend in Luang Prabang. There is still one thing I need to do here, namely visit the Royal National Museum. This is a must when visiting Luang Prabang, but I have still not taken the time to go. Hopefully tomorrow. Except for the museum however, I have done everything that I really want to do here in Luang Prabang. To not get super bored this week though, I have created a schedule to follow:

13/12: National Museum, check with Tiger Trail for Kayaking tours. Maybe go chanting.
14-15/12: Maybe go kayaking, depends if TT have tours. Temple day, by bike visit all the wats mentioned in the guide book. Go chanting.
16/12: Chill, maybe massage again? Last of the christmas shopping.
17/12: Dinner with american friend.
18/12: Last day in Luang Prabang, and my host's birthday. No specific plans so far.
19/12: Bangkok!

We'll see how strictly I will follow the schedule, but at least it is some guidelines to go after.

Just a Regular Monday

Had another session of foot massage today. When an hour massage costs less than a meal from (Swedish) McDonalds it would be idiotic not to go as often as one can.


Yes, you are allowed to be jealous.

Chanting and Lunar Eclipse

Every day around 5 in the afternoon the monks of the wats gather in the main temple, or "sim" or "vihan" for a 30 minutes session of chanting. Yesterday when I was talking to a group of monks I was invited to join for the chanting, and of course I said yes. Sing, whom I speak to has been at the monastery for eight years, and this April he is leaving his brothers to go to school in Vientiane.

This sim is quite small, with no more than 12 monks and novices taking part of the chanting. I sit in the bank, on my knees, and it gives me a view of the monks and I can copy what they do. After about ten minutes this position is already uncomfortable and I change position. I have noticed that the younger novices sit on their butt, and I do the same. I also notice that Sing leads the chanting, which is probably because he have been at the wat for such a long time. They chant, and I try to copy the chant in my mind, and sometime we bow. The last five minutes everyone changes to knee position and the chant increase in strength. Finally we bow several times, I am not sure how many, and the chant is over. After Sing tells me that I am welcome to join whenever I want and I tell him that I will come by next week.

One might think that the chant is very strict, but its not. The simple fact that anyone is allowed to join, buddhist or not. One or two novices drop in after the chant has started. At one time, Sing leaves the chanting since he is needed outside, but soon returns. I believe that this is what separates Buddhism from other religions, like Christianity, that it is open and forgiving and not built on a thousand strict rules on how to behave. It is not judging of people of other religions, and seems overall to be a very laid-back philosophy.


I was super excited for the total lunar eclipse which was to happen yesterday, but of course it was too cloudy and I couldn't see a thing.

Welcome To the Jungle

Quite Literally.

The last two months have not been my most active ones I confess. Sloth and Gluttony have been my partners in crime. I have slept until noon more often than not, and I have indulged in everything good food-wise I have encountered. However, Tuesday everything changed. I had signed up for a two day trek into the Lao jungle, with somethings what's called a "homestay". Which is that you spend the night a small village, and live like they do.

8.20 in the morning me and my group gathered at the meeting point in town from where we then head off in tuk-tuk together with several others going off to other adventures. After driving around in Luang Prabang for a while figuring out who is going where we finally left town and after about half an hour we got dropped off not far from the Elephant Village. After a boat takes us across the river we set off on our trek. We are a group of six; me, a German couple, a french couple and our guide. We wander through some amazing settings. Lao-style, tiny rice fields, jungle, and teak forests. Much of the walk involves climbing steep rocky paths, which of course make you pant like you just run a marathon. Our first stop is in a Khmu Village, one of Laos's ethnic tribes. We rest and drink some water before we explore the village. Here cows, pigs and chicken walk around freely and mingle with the kids and dogs. The children all wave to us and says hello, or "Sabaidee". After some more walking we eat lunch in another village, this one a Hmong village. Its a rather odd experience. Around the tables have the women already prepared some stalls hoping to sell their handicrafts to the tourists (us). We sit down to eat, surrounded by kids and animals and hopeful women, with a chanting shaman in the background. Our lunch is fried rice, prepared in Luang Prabang but packed in banana leafs, keeping it hot and fresh. Quite amazing.

After lunch we walk another 2.5 hour before we arrive to another Khmu village, our home for the night. THis village is the largest yet, with 75 families with an average of 7 children. They have a primary school for the small children, but the older kids have to walk an hour to theirs. The villages are truly basic. The houses are of wood or bamboo, the ground is hard dirt and animals run around freely. They have generators, apparently on or two families actually have TV. School is over for the day but outside the kids are playing football together with another couple of tourists. The kids have so much energy and I want to join, but having a broken toe and being exhausted from the day stopped me from it. The rest of the day is spent playing with the kids, eating sticky rice and hanging out around the campfire.

Having slept surprisingly good I wake up the day after, eat breakfast and we set off again. Compared to yesterday today's trek was a walk in the park. I compare our trek to Lord of the Rings, a bunch of random people walking through spectacular nature. I soon assume the role as both Merry and Pippin as I manage to hit my head in tree and then only 5 minutes later slip on a bamboo bridge and almost falling into the water.
The afternoon is spent relaxing at Tad Sae Waterfall, a perfect activity when one have walked all morning.

OckPopTok

This afternoon I visited a local weaving centre and textile gallery just outside Luang Prabang's city center. OckPopTok means "East meets West" and was started by a local Lao and an English photographer and is spread out through Laung Prabang with two shops in town and the Living Craft Centre by the Mekong. Here they show you how the weaving and dying works around in Laos. When you arrive you are given a guide who show you around, and explain the process of weaving. They also have a little shop, a guest house and a café.

They have their own tuk-tuk in which I believe visitors can use for free, but I went by bicycle. The ride there is no more than 10 minutes on the main road before turing right on a small dirt road. At the end of this road I found OckPopTok beautifully located by the Mekong, the buildings and workshops surrounded by a garden. I am given a guide who shows me around and tell me about the process. I learn that the weaving is a fully natural process, as the products are handmade and the dyes comes from natural sources like rose tree and lemon grass. My guide tells me that weaving is women's work, the knowledge passed down from mother to daughter. He showed me the silk worms and the finished cocoons. I also saw several silk moths in the middle of mating. We end the mini tour at the shop, I decide not to by anything but promise to drop by the shops in town.

I then bike back home, but before I get out in the main road I see the tiniest little kitty. Luang Prabang is filled with cats, big and small, but this one was the smallest so far. My heart breaks as I get on my bike, I cannot possibly take it with me even though every cell in my body just want to take it home and let it sleep in my warm, safe bed.

Luang Prabang Film Festival

The 3rd of December the 2nd Annual Luang Prabang Film Festival was launched. This film festival focuses on films from southeast Asia and ends the 7th of December. Luang Prabang has no movie theaters, but instead a large screen has been set up by the market where everyone can who wants can watch. Together with Niclas and my step-grandfather I was invited to the Opening Party which was held at the French Cultural Center in town. The evening was a mingle under the stars, with drinks and canapés from the local restaurants to nibble as we socialized with the other guests. The crowd was a mix of western expats, important people from Vientiane and possibly some Lao movie stars. The buzz of the night was the movie that had rolled after the public opening ceremony, which I did not see but I now wish I did. "On Safer Grounds" it is called and is a documentary about a Lao football team traveling to Sweden to compete in Gothia Cup, the world's largest youth football cup. Its in English, but was shown with lao subtitles. I talked to the director and asked if it's possible to see the film somewhere else, and he told me they will talk to Swedish television about it. Maybe sometimes next year. So keep an eye out!

Backpackers tip

Another tip for backpackers in Luang Prabang. To keep your daily budget at a minimum, eat most of your meals from the markets. Hmong markets sandwiches and fruit shakes, works for both breakfast and lunch.  Morning market where you can buy fruits and veggies, great, cheap snack! Then of course the street food market which opens around 5pm for dinner. First day enjoy a buffet of fried and steamed noodles in all shapes and kinds, the second day maybe grilled Mekong fish? Super delicious.

End of November

Last of November and NaNoWriMo is over. I finished in time, 50 000 words in 30 days. I still have to finish the draft, and then there is a lot of editing. So maybe, maybe I'll be done somewhat done in January. 

As I have been talking about earlier, Luang Prabang have a lot of Wats, or Temples where the monks live. Four o'clock every afternoon the monks gather by the wat's drum and perform a ceremony by playing the drums and cymbals in a rhythm I really can't explain. The drums you find at the buddhist wats are called "Ho-ko" or "Dharma Drum". They play only for a short time but every time I hear the ritual I feel exhilarated with spiritual energy. I guess it's because I'm a real fan of buddhism. What I have recently noticed is that they play the drums at 4 in the morning as well. Not as laud, and maybe not all wats, but when I went to bed last Saturday I could faintly hear the rhythm of the drum outside somewhere. 

Saturday

Yesterday evening was spent eating dinner at the restaurant called The House before we moved on to the bar Utopia. Me and Niclas had some beers, he played volley ball and I started talking with a group of Germans. A fun night, and I am a little tired today.

Spa Garden and Tamarind Cooking School

This week I have had to activities of notice. Tuesday I spent on Spa Garden and had a 2,5 hour spa treatment. Body Scrub, sauna, oil massage. Everything for about 40 dollars, or 300 kr. Totally worth it.
The other activity I just came back form, Tamarind Cooking School. 8.45 this morning nine of us gathered at the restaurant Tamarind, a place that specialize in Lao cuisine. We spent the first hour visiting the Phousy Market, where we tried Buffalo tongue and heart. Really delicious actually. Then the Tu-Tuk driver drove us out to Tamarind's pavilion bout 20 minutes outside of Luang Prabang where we were taught the secret to Lao food. These are:
Basil
Coriander
Dill
Tamarind
Chili

Basil, coriander, chili and dill we used in almost all our four main dishes. We made a chili paste to dip our sticky rice in, fish boiled in banana leaf, chicken fried in lemon grass and a traditional Lao stew. Everything really tasty, even though the stew was maybe a little boring. To wrap everything up we made the sticky rise desert, which you prepare in purple sticky rice and coconut milk and top it with fresh fruits. I am so full my stomach might explode. I can't even write a decent blog post.

Filippa's Guide to Luang Prabang: Backpacker Edition - Day 2 and 3

Day 2
When in Luang Prabang there is another thing that must be experienced except for the waterfalls, namely the elephants. Half an hour outside town is the Elephant Village located. One can sign up for many different activities, most of the one day experiences start at 9 am and ends between 3-4 pm. An excellent choice for a day excursion, and lunch and transportation is included in the price. Then, enjoy the afternoon drinking coffee, visit temples (or wats as they are called), and visit the night market on Main Street which start at five in the evening. Then, eat dinner at main street, maybe Coconut Garden or go back to the street food market if you're in the mood. Enjoy a beer at Utopia or Lao Lao Garden or if you're more into wine, visit one of the many wine bars. Go to bed early, tomorrow you'll will rise with the sun.

Day 3
Around six in the morning the monks leave the temple to collect alms from the villages. The monks walk in a long line dressed in the saffron robes and collect food from the villages who sitting by the street. This is a religious act, which centers about giving and not receiving. Avoid main street as its crammed with tourist and instead walk down a side alley where you'll be alone with the villagers and the monks. After the almsgiving, enjoy a long breakfast at the cafés in town, you have all the time in the world. Take a seat at Scandinavian Bakery's veranda and see how Luang Prabang slowly wake up and becomes busier by the second.
Your third day can be spent on more day trips. Through Tiger-Trail Adventure you can book several adventure packages. Kayak up the Mekong River to enjoy beautiful scenery, visit Pak Ou Cave, or Buddha Cave, and villages by the river. Go trekking in the mountain to visit the Hill Tribes. Or if you're into extremes there's mountain biking as well. If you rather take it slowly, stroll down the streets or take a walk around the peninsula, eat lunch at Art House Café, visit Wat Xieng Thong and just soak in the beauty of Luang Prabang,
For dinner, enjoy some Laap, the traditional meal of Laos, from any restaurant on main street. Wrap it up  with a crêpe which they sell from the street stall, complete with nutella, chocolate syrup or banana.

Filippa's three day guide to Luang Prabang: Backpacker Edition - Day 1

Earlier I have written a little guide to the cafés in Luang Prabang I have tried so far. Today I wanted to take it a bit further, by giving some advice on how to spend only three days in Luang Prabang without missing to much, but also without stressing. As Elizabeth Gilbert wrote in her novel Eat, Pray, Love every city have their own word. Rome might have sex and Stockholm's word might be conform, but Luang Prabang word is relax.


As a backpacker you probably arrive in Luang Prabang by bus in the evening. The first thing you do is to ask the tuk-tuk to drop you off close to JoMa Bakery. Just by the bakery is a little side street with a lot of budget Guesthouses, offering both dorms and private rooms. Since I haven't stayed at any of them, I don't knwo which to recommend, but I assume all of them are good enough. So, you check in, dump you bag and go out to experience Luang Prabang. After a long bus ride you will be in the mood for some food and  luckily the best street food places are just around the corner from your Guesthouse. On main street, at the end of the Night Market (or the beginning if you come from JoMa) is another little side street. Here are tables full with foods and a plate of the buffet is only 10 000 Kip, jut above a dollar. You can also buy roasted fish or chicken on stick for a small price as well. You may then take a turn on the Night Market, but are probably tired after the bus ride and might head home to sleep.

Day 1
Since most cheap guesthouses don't offer breakfast, you will have to find a bakery somewhere in town. JoMa is one, Ancient Old Café and Guesthouse just by the Night Market/Food stalls is another. A third is Scandinavian Bakery. When in Luang Prabang you must visit one of the waterfalls, I prefer the Kuang Si. Either rent a scooter or go by tuk-tuk, the latter are the cheaper alternative as you can plit the cost with other travelers. Before you go, get yourself a sandwich and some water to take with you, the waterfalls are the perfect picnic place but they don't sell excellent food. Leave Luang Prabang around 9-10 in the morning, the drive to the waterfall is almost an hour long and if you arrive before lunchtime you will have it almost for yourselves. Enjoy the view of the big fall and then a dip into the very refreshing pools and go back to Luang Prabang when you're satisfied, your tuk-tuk driver will be waiting for you outside.
Back in Luang Prabang, enjoy an afternoon coffee at any of the riverside cafés, maybe Art House café by the Nam Khan. For dinner, if you're not in a mood for more street food there are plenty of restaurants on Main Street that are suited for the backpacker budget, like The Pizza Luang Prabang or basically all restaurants where you can get Lao food. On the other side of Mount Phousi is Utopia, a restaurant and bar popular among backpackers, and is another option for dinner, if not, a fun place to hang out and have a beer after your meal.
Luang Prabang is not big in the party scene, and most things closes before midnight. If you want to be out for a little longer there's Dao Fa, one of the few night clubs or the bowling alley, both a little bit outside of town.


Tomorrow: Filippa's three day guide to Luang Prabang: Backpacker Edition - Day 2 and 3

Mahout

A mahout is the Elephant's keeper or trainer, and every elephant have their own personal mahout.

The pick-up van drives by the hotel just after 8.30 and I hop on, and are joined by C from Australia, the couple H and R, also from Australia, and F from England. The drive to the Elephant Village is 30 minutes and we leave the city of Luang Prabang and drives up towards the mountains and the river Nam Khan. The five of us have booked the "2 day mahout experience" in which we are to ride the elephants and sleep one night at the Elephant Lodge. The first thing we do when we arrive is check the place out and a a cup of tea or coffee, whatever you prefer. The Elephant Village is a beautiful place with a little feeding station, a pool, a couple of bungalows, a restaurant and an elephant hospital. And a breathtaking scenery. We sit around for a bit, introducing ourselves to our new group. After a while, we are to practice to sit up on the elephant, which is not easy when you're 165 cm tall. I manage to climb up and go a lap around the camp, sitting on the elephant's neck. When F climbs up we are all impressed how gracious she is, while we all have good laugh when R (shorter than me) tries to sit up on the elephant's neck. After the little elephant sneak peek, we check in at the elephant lodge, a house a couple of minutes up the river with very nice rooms and an amazing view from the terrace.

Back at the camp we are to do our first real tour on the elephant, and we sit in chairs strapped to their backs. The elephant take us around the camp, out into the river and then through the jungle and a little village. In the river, me and F's mahout climbs off to take some pictures and our elephants decides to walk around the little river island on her own. They are exceptionally well trained however, and she don't walk far from her mahout but mainly strolls around on her own. After we ride, we wait just a little bit before we are to take the elephants to where they sleep, out in the jungle. Again we sit up, me even less graceful than the first time. We ride though the jungle, sitting on their necks and just go with it. I don't know how much the mahout behind me controls the elephant, but I think she also knows the way back. I think the name of my elephant is Mae Uak, but I am not sure. The last hours of the afternoon is spent at Tad Sae Waterfall, not as beautiful as Kuang Si, but still, the fall is simply amazing. It's so idyllic it almost feels manmade and fake.

We then have dinner and return to our lodge under a sky full of stars.

Next morning the alarm clock goes off at 6.30. am. 7.00 the group is once again gathered and this time we are to collect the elephants from the jungle to led them back to the camp. This ride is a little scarier, as most of the way is downhill. It feels like your are going to fall down in front of the elephant and that she will step on you, but we get down safely. The mahout is also ready to catch you if you fall. When we get down to the river its bathing time and the best moment of the experience, possibly the best moment of my trip so far. The elephants are dirty after their sleep and really need a wash. me and my co-mahout arm ourselves with brushes and buckets and Mae Uak walks into the river to have her morning bath. I cannot possibly explain how wonderful and incredibly fun it was, but let me just say that when I jumped off Mae Uak I was just as soaked as she was.

Hopefully I will be able to return to and do the mahout experience one more time before I go back to Sweden.

Role Models

When homesick, read a book written in your language, set in your country and possible in your hometown. If they novel have been made into a film, watch the film. A couple of days ago I started to re-read Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy. His books was a huge breakthrough and success, not only in Sweden but internationally as well. I have read them before, but many years ago and since I am not the same person as I was years ago, my experience from reading the novels would be another.

There are some part of his writing that bothers me, the diction is not varied and the language cannot be described as excellent. At the same time the plot gets me on the hook and I read on, barely without stopping. Because I can.

However, his female protagonist, Lisbeth Salander is a well written character. She is the opposite of the Mary-Sue. Yes, we all knew Salander is a socially challenged and has way of thinking that's not fitted to the society. And a tendency to use violence when she feels threatened. Nevertheless, she has a moral code that I actually admire and has inspired my own opinion. In that way she is some kind of the role model. Her ethics mixed together with a chunk of Hermione Granger is probably my own personal role model, and something that I from now on will try to adopt.

Tomorrow I will go the the Elephant Village for a two day mahout experience. Will report back on Wednesday how it was.

7 weeks

Today was 7 weeks since I left Stockholm and set out for Laos. One might think that I covered Luang Prabang and has nothing left to do now, which is only partly true. I compare myself with other travelers and I conclude that we have completely different tempos. It is not like ones who visit Luang Prabang are stressful, but we are still on different levels. They have very often 3-4 days to cover Luang Prabang and do everything they want to do, which means they often stuff their days with some kind of activities like visit the waterfalls, going elephant riding or go trekking among the hill tribes. Therefor they probably wake up early, eat breakfast, do their thing, get back and eat dinner. But most of the times they have a plan what to do. When you, like me, live somewhere one can´t stuff the days full. Or, you just don't, because you know you have so much time to do things you want to do, and end up doing a lot of noting most days of the week. I try to spend some of my "doing nothing" days writing on my NaNo, but so far I have failed miserably. It might not be a bad thing however, we sometimes need a period when we can do just that, nothing. The problem is that when you are by yourself it is hard to find the motivation to get up and actually do something. These days, I get out of bed around 11-12, mostly because I have no real reason to get up. Because I lack the motivation. That is way I have been doing a lot of things when Peter the Dane and Hildur from Iceland were in Luang Prabang but almost nothing while Im by my own. Also, if I had the tempo as the travelers have, I would have covered all of Luang Prabang before the first week was over. Now I have still some exciting things to do and see. I would also have been completely broke. And exhausted. Sorry for the rambling.

Elder Scrolls

All I want for christmas is a silly little video game. But its bigger on the inside! I still haven't done any real shopping in Luang Prabang yet. I fear that when I start, I might not be able to control myself and I'll be everything you can find at the nightmarket. This includes silk scarves, commercial T-shirts and snakes in glass bottles. Instead I spend all my money on food and if I don't stop I'll come home 15 kilos heavier.

Vacation Land

Most of us in western society are more than familiar with the term "Vacation". We have the summer vacation, when you go abroad or spend weeks at the summer house somewhere in the archipelago, or the winter vacation when the entire family with friend go either up north to the Swedish mountains or south down to the alps. What all vacations have in common however is that when we go, we enter some kind of a Vacation Land state and we behave in a fashion we would never do at home. Vacation often go hand in hand with traveling, and the change is especially clear when we are away from the security of home. The most prominent example is how you speak to strangers in different way. At home, we tend to stick to our own private group of friends and not very often we expand that group. On vacation however, you start talking with someone random during a bur ride and you end up spending the following days with each other. You also tend to forget your own dress code while you're away. Good bye white button downs, black suits, tight jeans, high heals or whatever you prefer, and hello tacky BeerLao T-shirts and In the Tubing-tanks. Hello fluffy harem 2-dollars pants looking as if you just stepped out of a Hippies Conference. Hello flip-flops and trekking-sandals. And, I am starting to do it as well. Last week I bought a pair of shorts from the Night Market which looked like Aladdin's yellow pants. The Pre-Prince Aladdin. But mine are reddish brown instead. I am also seriously considering buying a white BeerLao T-shirt.

Vikings Unite

After Peter the Dane left Luang Prabang I have been by myself a couple of days. Yesterday however, a girl from Hildur contacted me through Couchsurfing and asked if I wanted to hang out. During the day I had a Lao Massage and in the evening I had a dinner with Hildur who us from Iceland. It turned out in we had the same taste in literature, both being big nerds and huge fans of Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Mr Darc.. Ehm I mean Pride and Prejudice. We then had a beer at the new popular hangout place in Luang Prabang called Utopia, a very relaxed bar who's customers are mainly backpackers. We also spent Tuesday together. By bike we went to the Phousy Market, a big market outside the center. This is were many of the Laotians go to do their shopping. You find anything from non-refrigerated meat to veggies to shoes to alive fish in large buckets. As we walked around in the meat area we tried to guess that actually were for sale. We found several piles of pig feet, bags with blood, plates with what we believed was liver and buckets of intestines. Yum. After biking around for a while and looking in bookstores we had a lunch at a Korean-BBQ inspired little place by the Nam Khan River, where we saw the cutest and smallest puppies I've seen since I got to Luang Prabang. They couldn't have been more than a couple of days old. Right by the street, by themselves. I seriously considered adopting them. Sadly they disappeared while we weren't looking, and so did the box they were next to. Very mysterious indeed. And heartbreaking at the same time.

Possible Drop-down

When my family and I were to move to a New York suburb in 2008 my mom and her husband they took course in Intercultural Training. They spoke about the different stages you go though when you move into a new culture. First is the Honeymoon-stage in which everything is perfect and beautiful. Then, after 1-2 months you start to go into a drop down, which can lead to tiredness and sometimes even depression. After having spent more than a month in Laos, I have realized that I am entering my drop-down and it takes its shape of an huge ball of homesickness. Even though I'm living in a charmingly beautiful little town and I just got back from an amazing adventure on the road, I miss Home, Stockholm, Sweden. I miss my friends, and miss my family and I miss a decent internet connection. Being the only non-lao nineteen-year-old in a town is quite lonely. Even though all the guys from the hotel are very nice, I don't really hang out with them. Especially since they're working during the days and I am not. Most of the Laotian girls have an almost non-existant English or are very shy, so its hard to connect with them. As the café is still not finished I have a lot of free time which is quite hard to spend when you don't have anyone to spend it with. Luckily I can always do some writing on my NaNo. But when nothing really happens during your day you don't get really inspired. To get out of this rot I have decided do something fun next week, I just have to figure out what. Possibly Elephant-riding. Or cruising on the mekong. Or kayaking. Or trekking the the mountains. The choices are really so many, one might wonder why I complain I got nothing to do.

Kuang Si

Kuang Si Falls is one out of two waterfall outside Luang Prabang, and among the most popular attraction among tourists. Since neither my new friend Peter nor I had been there we decided that the waterfall would be our destination for the day. The Kuang Si waterfall is about 35 km away which might not seem as much in the western world but by Lao road it is much longer. We rent a scooter and bring some sandwiches for lunch and start our journey. The first part of the trip the road is paved but after a couple of kilometers the road consist mostly of hard dirt. The road is beautiful however. We are surrounded by green forests and hills and fields. Sometimes we pass through a little village were the locals are sitting in the shade and smile at us when we pass by. After almost an hour we arrive to the waterfall where we park our scooter and enter the area. First we pass an exhibit with Lao bears. We agree that even if they're adorably cute we feel bad for them as they don't have very much space. Finally we get to the waterfall. Kuang Si is one big fall at the top which then go into several small pools where one can take a swim. We walk our way up to the mighty major fall and then visit several of the pools and their blue, clear, cold water. We have a perfect time, arriving an hour before the rush hour start and have the falls for ourselves for while, only sharing it with some few others. After 2-3 hours we decide that we're done for the day and start to head back. After been driving for only 5-10 minutes the gas runs out. Luckily we just passed one of those small villages and we walk back, asking if any one sells gas. Every village has a little stash with bottles of gas which you can buy for just couple of dollars. We fill her up (because our scooter is definitely a she) and return back to Luang Prabang. One of the best moments of our trip was when we turned off the engine and just rolled down a hill, just absorbing a stunning setting without the noise from the scooter ruining it.

Hanoi Part 3: The Bus Ride

I get picked up just after 5 pm by one of Hanoi's infamous motorcycle taxis. He drives me to another Hotel where a bunch of other people are waiting for the pick up. There he leaves me and I start a conversation with a woman who says she was dumped here as well, which probably means that a larger vehicle is coming here to pick us up. This is very understandable as I cannot see a bus or minivan drive around in Hanoi's Old Quarter picking up people from their hotel without it taking a couple of hours. We wait and after much longer time than we would have wanted a bus finally stops in front us and we are allowed to enter. I sit down next to a boy my age and we soon realize we are both heading for the same destination, namely Luang Prabang. The van drives out to the Bus Station and when we get off we see a Vietnamese man waving his hands saying "Laos! Luang Prabang, Vientiane!" and we follow him through the bus station and he gives us our tickets. He then points us in the right direction. We find our bus, but now we starting to feel that something isn't as it supposed to be. My new travel partner Peter says that this is not the kind of bus he traveled with on his way to Hanoi. We are also not allowed to enter the bus, even though we see that a there is a lot of passengers on it already. Another odd thing we realize is that all other passengers are Vietnamese, not a single tourist except us. After about 20 minutes we are finally allowed to enter the bus, and as soon we enter the door closes behind us and the bus starts to move. We see now that there is no seats for us, but one of the workers are building seats in the aisle. We tell them that we cannot possibly sit one those seats for 24 hours and he then moves on two other passengers and gives us their seats. We feel little bad about it, but are glad we have somewhere to sit. Lastly, we realize that these are no normal locals going on a bus ride, but a group of old war veterans. One of them stands in the aisle speaking while everyone else are listening carefully and they then applaud him before he return to his seat. We assume that they're sharing old war stories. Sadly, no one speaks a single word of English and we spend the first hour of our bus ride listening to probably amazing stories told in Vietnamese. Then it goes pretty smoothly for a while. I manage to sleep for several hours and don't wake up until we arrive at the border. Also this goes without any problems and when we continue to drive I manage fall asleep again. By noon we arrive to Phonsavanh, the city where you find the Plain of Jars. We believe this is just a lunch stop, but starts again to worry when we realize the old Vietnamese soldiers take their bags with them when they leave the bus. However, the driver says somethings that sounds like "Lunch Stop" and we go to grab some food, always keeping an eye on the bus. We then ask the driver if he will continue to Luang Prabang and he positively nods. The other who works at the bus starts to laugh and say "only two" and we figure out that yes, the bus will continue but we will be the only passengers. Suddenly very delighted with our situation we claim the best seats in the bus and the last ten hours are surprisingly pleasant.

Hanoi Part 2: Couchsurfing

I spent one night at a guesthouse in Hanoi's Old Quarter and I then again packed my bags. Through Couchsurfing I have gotten into contact with a girl who lives a 10 minutes drive from my guesthouse. I am to stay at her place for 3 nights in Hanoi before I catch the bus back to Luang Prabang. 10 am I stand waiting outside a French bakery and when Kelly get there she recognizes me easily, since a 19 years old blonde girl with a large backpack and lost look on her face pretty much stands out from the rest of the surrounding. We have som coffee before we return to her house where I leave my things, we then drive around town a little and grab some lunch before she is off to work and I cover all the tourist attraction in Hanoi. Sadly Uncle Ho's Mausoleum is closed for repair and I could only see the outside. However, I checked off the Ho Chi Min Museum, the Mausoleum, the One Pillar Pagoda and the Temple of Literature off the to do-list. In the evening I met up with Kelly and her work mates for dinner at Hanoi Social Club, an expat haven I would think and had an excellent dinner and a Dr Who conversation who actually have seen the old ones but totally approve of the new. We both agreed that David Tenant is the greatest thing that ever happened to the show. The second day was filled with rain from the beginning to end. I walked around in the french quarters and looked in some bookstores, grabbed a hot chocolate at Highlander Coffee and had sushi in the neighborhood I stayed. Over all a good day. Day three was great. I spent the entire day rereading Eat, Pray Love, and at night me and Kelly set out to celebrate Halloween. First a local bar where we met a lot of people and I had a beer that was not BeerLao. From there we moved on to a house party that was filled to the edge of expats. I even met a Swedish guy there. From the houseparty we went to the only after-midnight open club in Hanoi, a pretty sketchy place with a Eastern Europe feeling over it. Over all a pretty awesome night.

Hanoi Part 1

Hanoi: - The is no system in the traffic at all - If you cross the street, walk in a pretty slowly steady pace. The scooters will just drive around you, it is not until you stop or run accidents happen - I could not possibly live here - I miss Luang Prabang Well, to go back in time a bit, I'll tell you about this joke of a coincidence that happened today. The Englishman I met in Vang Vieng went to Vientiane one day earlier than me, but we decide to have dinner the night I arrive and I meet him and his friends outside their guesthouse and we eat dinner and have an over all good time. We discover that me and the Englishman are going to catch the same flight to Hanoi the next day and we loosely decide to meet up and go together. Sadly, we fail to meet up the following morning but when I am on my way to meet up with my cab I run into him by accident when he his leaving a café. Its a small world. The trip to Hanoi goes very smoothly. The flight goes well. Our bags arrive as they should. The pick-up driver from my hotel are waiting for us when we get out. My room is prepared when I get to the hotel and me and Ian (the Englishman) enjoy some traditional Vietnamese beef noodles for dinner. Then, overwhelmed by the massiveness of Hanoi there is nothing we can do but to go to bed. We conclude that we would not have wanted to have gone through the trouble of finding a cab and then find a guesthouse, and that we re very happy that I already had taken care of it before I left home.

Viantiane Again

Is once again in Vientiane but this time by myself, and this time to catch a flight to Hanoi. Yesterday was spent by getting a massage and then havng dinner with some British people I met in Vang Vieng. I thought that traveling by myself would be lonely, but it is not. So far I have never had dinner by myself but always managed to meet up with someone to eat with. Of course you can't trust every random person that comes up to you but 99% of the people you meet are exactly like you, someone who's traveling and is just want to have a good time.

Vang Vieng

Vang Vieng is mostly famous as a backpacker haven, a real party town and the Asian version of Ibiza. This is my first stop on my short trip through Laos and Vietnam. After having spent the evening on the day we arrive mostly relaxing at a restaurant drinking BeerLao, me and my German neighbor decide to try out the infamous tubing. We eat breakfast at a hotel by the riverside enjoying a spectacular view of the Vang Vieng scenery of rocky tall tall mountains. We split up, he to do some research and I to do some shopping. I buy a waterproof bag in which I can have my money and camera during the day. At 12.30 we meet up at the tubing-center, where we rent a tube, basically a floating tractor wheel, and then we tourists are packed into a tuk-tuk that drives us up the river. In the tuk-tuk we meet two other Germans and we decide to stick together during the day. The the tubing begins. Not by nicely going down the river, but first we spend some time at a bar. When tubing you float down the river an by the riverside there are several bars located where the staff throw ropes to you and get you "safely" to the bar. Well, the first bar we go to we actually visit before we go into the water. There we are welcomed by a shot of local Lao whiskey. Later we meet two other Germans and we become a German group+a swede. I will not go into detail about the afternoon, but after hours of jumping into the water, playing football with the locals, swings, water slides and beer we safely arrive back to the tubing-center where we return our tubes. Apparently it is not rare that people hurt themselves during this activity. sometimes people even die. So far I have heard different death-numbers, from 10-40 people this year. The next day I decide to skip the tubing and find something more relaxed to do. I realize once is enough. After breakfast I go by tuk-tuk to the "Blue Lagoon" at the foot of one of the mountains surrounding Vang Vieng. The trip is about half an hour and one the way we pass though several villages filled with playing children and cows roaming the road. The "lagoon" is beautiful, the water is perfect and the weather is just hot enough. I meet a lot of people there who had been tubing yesterday as well and we all agree that this is the perfect hangover-activity getaway.

A little update

I haven't been able to update for a while, it being several reasons. The internet (especially my internet) is incredibly slow and I haven't been able to load the writing page on my computer. The last week have been very fun actually. I have met up with two fellow couchsurfers, one traveling through and one who lives in Luang Prabang. The first one I met was Gary, an American traveling around southeast Asia and we had a drink at Scandinavian Bakery (note! drink means in this case iced tea/coffee). The other person I met was Melannie, another American who has spent the last 5 months in Luang Prabang working for a non-profit organization who focuses on building schools in rural Laos. We had dinner at her favorite restaurant and then took a walk through Luang Prabang, first checking out the night market and then strolling by the riverside. We really hit it off, I think both of us appreciated some new faces. Especially me since I don't know many people in my age in LP. And, she is a girl which is great since I only hang out with guys here. I also got two hugs! Yeah!! I am actually going to met up with her again next week. Awesome. Well. at the moment I am on a completely different adventure. I am going to take a trip through Laos and Vietnam these coming ten days. This morning I went by mini-van down to Vang Vieng. Vang Vieng is a little bit further than halfway down to Vientiane. It is famous as a party city and it's legendary tubing on the river which I will tell you more about tomorrow when I've tried it. On Tuesday I am taking the bus down to Vientiane to catch a plane on Wednesday to Hanoi. From Hanoi I plan to take the bus back to Luang Prabang. I see what I do about that. Let me just say that the trip today in the mini van was a about thousands time better than the last Vientiane visit. It was not only shorter but much more comfortable. And I saw a monkey at a Laotian farm. Which was both good and bad as it was super cute but also looked really sad. Vang Vieng is very very small. Twice I have run into Gary who I met in Luang Prabang for a coffee. Twice a group of Portuguese girls I met on the tuk-tuk. At the moment I am hanging out with two awesome Germans I met in the van, hopefully we're going tubing tomorrow together. No real partying today though. Leaving that for tomorrow. Tonight just going to relax in my queen size bed watching some TV before the workers on our neighboring construction site wake me up tomorrow at eight o'clock .

Vientiane 2

I am now back in Luang Prabang after taking a trip down to Vientiane. Saturday at 7 am I met my travel partner at Scandinavian Bakery to buy breakfast to take with us before we took a tuk-tuk down to the bus station. The trip down to Vientiane was pretty routine I would think, except for an extra vomit-stop. To the vomiters' defense the first couple of hours are in the mountains, with many many curves and turns on the road. The scenery is beautiful though. 11 hours later, we arrived in Vientiane. The second guest house we looked at was good, so we checked in and went out and grabbed some dinner. Apparently, there was a birth party going on at the hotel so when we got back from dinner we were invited to have a beer. We said one beer. I had to stop them from filling it up more than once, and then we went to bed.

Our day in Vientiane was spent like this: Since Niclas, my travel partner, needed to cross the border to stamp in his new B2 Visa, I went as well, mainly to see how everything worked but also to get a new visa and 30 more days in Laos. We took a cab to the Thai border, crossed and came back with our new visas. The rest of the day was spent walking around touristing and checking out the city. My conclusion is that if you don't need to go to Vientiane, skip it. The city is not really anything to see. If you still want to go there, don't spend more than a night, maximum two.

The bus-trip back was interesting though. When we got to the second half of our way back, we entered the hilly parts if the country. It was raining. And the sun had set. I thought we were going to crash and it was one second I really thought I was going to die. Also, the bus driver was driving insanely fast. We changed the tires right after lunch which was lucky, I don't know what have happened if we were driving with the old ones.

Once I think the new tires started to smell burnt,
And once I think the engine started to smell like smoke,

But after 12.5 hour we finally got to Luang Prabang's bus station. We left Vientiane at 8 am that morning and 9.30 pm I got home, stepping inside my door with my brain feeling like mush.

Vientiane

At the moment I am in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. I write more tomorrow when Im back in Luang Prabang.

The bus ride from Luang Prabang was 11 hours. Which means another 11 hours tomorrow when we are going home. Yay!

Light Festival

On the the 13th of October we celebrated "Bun Awk Phansa" in Luang Prabang, also called the Festival of Light. This is the end of Buddhist Lent, and are very celebrated in the city. The citizens decorate their houses and streets with lanterns and candles and the monks build big bamboo boats that carry candles. On the evening there is Parade with every temple parading with their boat down main street, then passing through Vat Xiet Thong to release the boats into the Mekong. All around the city you can buy candles on banana leaves which you also let out onto the Mekong River and flying lanterns that you let go into the sky.

During the evening I strolled down Main Street watching the parade with the monks and their boats and all the lights and candles and the firecrackers thrown by the surroundings. I then went to the Mekong River where I bought I floating candle from my favorite lady around the corner from where I live and then joined the crowd to put it into the water. The Hotel had prepared a boat cruise where we could observe the festival from the river, but before I jumped on I lit some flying lanterns. Yes, like in Tangled, the movie. Well, the cruise was beautiful even though some men in the back had a little too much too drink. I then ended the evening together with the guys from the hotel at a night club, and also this night turned out to be much more fun than I though it would be.

The Hug

In Sweden we often talk about personal space and that we have this comfort zone made up of a private bubble. Still, there exists a lot of physical contact between people when communicating, that not exist in for example Laos. When introducing ourself we shake hands. The Laotians however put their palms together and bow/nod. No touching. This is the normal ritual for saying hello as well, or Sabaidee as they say. In Sweden we have different degree of physical contact when greeting each other, all depending on the people’s relationship. Now of course, I am only talking of my own generation.

When you run into someone in the city by accident or meet someone at a party, someone who’s only an acquaintance and not in the category of “Friend” you do the awkward “lets not touch each other too much”-hug. The hug when you only use your arms. Then there is the “real friend hug”, an actual hug that is not only using limbs as communication, but also expresses some emotion and warmth. We then have the baby hug. Example being me hugging my smaller siblings, mostly my soon 4 year old brother but also my 8-year old sister and my kinda new-born baby brother. I hug and kiss and snuggle them like teddybears even if they want to or not. And I do it a lot. Lastly we have the love-hug. Not only the hug between two lovers, but between two people who deeply cares about each other, being a parent and a child or two very close friends. The hug that lasts a little longer than normal, and is much more charged with emotion than any of the other hugs.

Well, let me tell you. Since I arrived more than two weeks ago the only hug I had was the “family-I haven’t seen you in a while-hug” which is somewhere in the middle-to-top of the hug-emotion-scale I just made up. Of the things I miss since I left home, I truly miss the physical contact Swedes have when communicating (and I’m not talking about sex now you dirty-minded bastards). Just shaking hands. Some personal contact that tells me we’re human beings and not robots or plague-infected corpses. This means I am saying hello to every other kid I see, often stopping to talk to them. I am also on the verge to adopting one of the adorable kittens that are running around town, being so skinny my heart breaks every time I see one.

Do not be lead to believe that I’m not having a good time in Luang Prabang. I really love it here and the Laotian people are just so kind and are genuinely interested in talking to you. I will tomorrow go and borrow the boy who lives on our street so I can hug him. I’ll bribe him with strawberry yogurt.

Flipper's Guide through the Cafés in Luang Prabang

I have now been in Luang Prabang for two weeks and I have tried a lot of the cafés in town. I thought therefor I should share some of my thoughts. There is one major difference between Stockholm and Luang Prabang and that is the tempo. I am not saying Stockholm is hectic but Luang Prabang is very laid back. Very laid back. Ordering a coffee in Stockholm takes you a minute, and your latte is finished and ready to be served. In Luang Prabang it takes the same amount of time to order a can of soda as it takes in Stockholm to order a grilled sandwich. Luckily, most people who go to cafés and restaurants are tourists and have all the time in the world.

Scandinavian Bakery: This café you find on Main Street and serves everything from Coffee to fruit shakes to pizzas. As the terrace is a meter above the street level it gives a nice view over the street. They serve Scandinavian-style cookies which is a real treat when being homesick.

Ancient Bon Café: Ancient Bon Cafés has both a guesthouse and a café, the guesthouse you find in the center of town across the street from the Hmong Market and the Café is out on the peninsula, just a block from where I live. They have a wide variety of coffee shakes and drinks, but also teas and smoothies. Their Frappes can compare to Starbucks's Frappucinos. Maybe even better since they're much cheaper and the drinks are topped with an Oreo Cookie. I tend to go here alot because of their coffee and free wifi. However, the small café is better than the guesthouse as the service is mush better and has a more personal touch.

JoMa Café and Bakery: Just a block away from Ancient Bon Café and Guesthouse. This café is very west-inspired, and has a Starbucks/Espresso House-feel over it. Drinks are good, especially their fresh passion fruit juice. The Iced Latte was a little too strong for me. They also have a lot of sandwiches, non which I've tested though. They should take it easier with the AC, last time I was there it was freezing. It's OK, but if you're only in Luang Prabang for couple of days you can skip it. I also heard the owners are religious fanatics, forcing their staff to read the bible. JoMa=Josef and Mary/Maria

Saffron: This café you find on the riverside by the Mekong. They have an excellent location, having an outside seating just by the river. Nice atmosphere and they always play good music. This is the most expensive option, but their sandwiches looks really good, and their coffee is great. Also free wifi.

Well, I am not a professional reviewer so this is what you get really. When in Luang Prabang, I recommend having lunch at Saffron or another restaurant by the Mekong, and maybe have a fruit shake in the afternoon at the Scandinavian Bakery. Then take a stroll at the Night Market which start at five in the evening before going to one of the restaurants on Main Street trying some delicious Lao food, maybe the set menu at Coconut Garden. Finish your evening at one of the vine bars in town.

A Regular Day That Didn't Turn Out to be Very Regular

Today I had no special plans, but the afternoon ended up being much more interesting than I though. At lunch I had a conversation with the only female in the hotel reception for the first time. Laotians are very shy, especially girls and rarely speak to westerners. Today, though, we managed to break the ice and spoke about the usual, age, birthdays, siblings. Then as I went to have my afternoon coffee another rare thing happened. I wore my 1982-Rose Bowl shirt today and as I sat slurping on my Iced Latte a voice said to me: "You are too young to have been to the 1982 Rose Bowl!"
The voice belonged to an older gentleman, he in turn belonged to a large group of men and women all in their 60s. As I explained the shirt's origin, he commented on me not even being from the US, and I defended myself by saying that I actually used to live in New York and therefor have the right to wear the shirt. And I also comment on the story of how this 100% American shirt managed to end up in a second-hand store in Sweden must be fascinating. The gentleman and his ladyfriend left the café together with the rest of a group with a smile and I returned to my coffee.

I then stumble upon my Step-grandfather having an afternoon beer at a local café and with nothing better to do I join him. A while later we split up, he going one way on the bike and me going the other to visit a local shop. On my way home as I walk down Main Street I meet the group from the café and the ladyfriend recognizes me.

"You are the Swedish girl from the café!"

I stop and we talk for about ten minutes, discussing how she is from California but is of Swedish heritage and have been to Stockholm several times and how her daughter spent a high-school year in Stockholm. I tell again the story of how I ended up in Luang Prabang and what I'm doing here. We then go our separate ways, wishing each other good luck and an enjoyable stay in Luang Prabang.

Brake

After a rather uneventful week I am back writing again. This is of course mainly my fault, as I have adopted a very bad routine. These past days I have slept until noon, then after lunch visited a café I know has wifi and spend my afternoon in front of the computer. In my defense, the computer time have not been a waste of time as I am preparing for November and NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, a writing project that have been introduced to me by some friends.

Well, today the I managed to break the curse and got out of bed before 9.30 am. Today we drove up to the Elephant Village, an elephant camp where you can go elephant riding and go through Mahout Training, a Mahout in short being the elephant's personal trainer. From there we went up the Nam Kahn River to the Tad Sae Waterfall by boat. We didn't go elephant riding or took a swim in the waterfall, as we (or, well, they) only had a short amount of so the time was mostly spent watching everything. However, now I know what I really need to do before I leave Luang Prabang, I have to take my time and do it.

A Book Thief and A Nanny

A have read two novels parallel to each other this last week, one being The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and the other The Nanny by Melissa Nathan. These two are very different from each other, one focusing on a little German girl in Nazigermany, the other on how being a nanny in a posh suburb of London. While the chicklit was an easy read, very inside the comfort zone the Novel by Markus Zusak goes much deeper.

The Book Thief could be described as poetic, with an unusual narrator and a unusual story. This is not on how it was to be Jewish in Hitler's Germany but about the normal people, the ones going either with the flow or against the current. I won't tell you more about the book, but more about the my reaction at the end.

Even if you are told how the story will end, it always comes as a shock. It happens in The Book Thief, but for me it is often the same throughout literature and even movies. Well, I also have to add that I am very sensible when it comes to these artforms. I open up my heart to let characters in and then they are suddenly taken from me by cruel writers (get the hint JK). Also, it doesn't matter if I am already aware what's going to happen or if I read or seen it before. I cry and I cry and I cry. Every time Uncle Ben is killed after he and Peter had a fight. Every time Mufasa is betrayed by Scar and falls to his death. And of course when Snape kills Dumbledore, even though I by now know it was a necessity. It's especially easy when I'm alone and no one's there to judge. That is probably why I managed not to cry waterfalls when we saw the Deathly Hollows but only a few tears. Next time tough. Expect oceans.

To get to the point, yes I cried to the end of "The Book Thief". Most people won't though but it doesn't mean the novel won't leave a mark.

Birth Party

When a child is born in Laos, the celebration is not held until a couple of months after the birth. In Enhlish it called a Birth Party, but I don’t know what its called in Lao. To one of these celebrations was I invited to today through my step-grandfather. It says on the invitation that it starts at 10 in the morning and then having lunch. We arrive 10.45 and are the first ones to be there. Not until 11.30-12.00 more people start to drop in. I could write a lot about this occasion, but I will focus on the dance. When most people where at the end of their meal, the host couple/parents to the child start off the dance, dancing the traditional Lao Dance but are soon joined by others. Mostly women in their fifties and above. The dance is simple, just swing to the music and moving your hands in a wave-like fashion as you walk around the dance floor. Despite the dance’s simplicity I am somehow fascinated by it. My belief is that what makes it such an enchanting sight is the older women. While they dance they give a sense of elegance and pride. I also think it is because of the seriousness in what they’re doing. In Sweden people would have laughed and might have danced as if they were joking, but these people danced just to enjoy the dance in itself.

Mount Phousi and Midnight Noodles

Having again slept until noon I spend the day finishing what I had started the day before. I return to Dala Market to do my shopping and I had my afternoon reading time at JoMa Café, slurping on passion fruit juice. I then decide to do the climb up Mount Phousi. The way up to the top is actually a little challenging, 350 steps i definitely more than it sounds. The reward however makes the climb absolutely worth it. The view is stunning with Luang Prabang down below, surrounded by green soft mountains with their peaks hidden in the clouds and Mekong River making its way down south. After standing on the peak of the mountain for a while absorbing the view I make my way down on the opposite side of the mountain from which I came. Here the path is steeper and it is less crowded. It is also surrounded by statues of Buddha and I pass some Laotier praying while I secretly vomit on the tourist taking a picture of their sacred moment. When I’m almost at the end of the climb down, I meet a group of tourists going up exhausted by their climb so far, I want to tell them that they still have a long long long way to go.

The rest of the evening took a rather unexpected turn. My relative and host gives me a call earlier in the day and tells me that the boys at the hotel is going out clubbing tonight and that I am welcome to join. Of course I can’t say no and at 10.00 pm that night I find myself at a local bar, Star Pub, where I and another Swedish newcomer are the only westerners and they only play Lao or Thai music, first on the stereo but later live. The alcohol for sale is BeerLao and Carlsberg, which just recently just bought Beerlao. We hang out for a while and then move on to a nightclub which actually plays music I recognize. We go by car with a sober driver, but the rest of Luang Prabang go by vespas or motorbikes and when we exit the nightclub we have a sea of auto-bikes in front of us. I do not need to tell you that most accidents on the road happen on a Friday or Saturday night.

We end the evening by introducing “fyllekäk”, or drunk-food, to our new Laotian friends but since there is no McDonalds in Luang Prabang (Thank God) we end up a the night open noodle place wolfing down Yellow Chicken Noodle Soup. Everything closes early in Luang Prabang and by 1 o'clock in the morning I am back home after a surprisingly fun night.

Big Brother Mouse

Today I have two main things to tell. The first thing is about my morning activity, the second on what happened to me this afternoon. Not a big deal, but enough to change my plans for today.

After two sleep ins in a row it was time to try to get up before 9 am in the morning. Especially since I had made plans. One of the two youth centers I visited yesterday organizes every day a meeting where Laotians can meet native or fluent english speakers to practice their English. Of course I had to be there, even though my English isn't perfect I think it is good enough. The meeting is between 9 and 11 in the morning and when I finally managed to drag myself out of bed I walked my ten minutes walk over there. When I got there some people had already started conversing and I found a free chair. The first one I spoke to was still in the very beginning of his learning process and we mostly spend on time looking at pictures and discussing it, and reading some texts connected to the picture. After a while people start talking to each other and I am introduced to a number Laotian boys/men aged around 20, all of them on a different level concerning their skills in the English language, ethnicity and background. The one I talk the most to is Phanh (pronounced Pan). He is from the more northern part of Laos but has come Luang Prabang to work and study. I am told he is of the Khamu or Khmu tribe, one of the hilltribes of Luang Prabang and the largest ethnic group in Laos. He then continues to telling me about the other tribes and ethnic groups that exists in Laos and what differs them from each other. I am also told that he works at a restaurant in town. Before we leave we exchange phone numbers and I just made my first friend in Luang Prabang.

After lunch a take a quick nap and then take my now traditional reading time somewhere in town, trying out what Luang Prabang has to offer. I ended up at the Scandinavian Bakery again, this time having a lemonade which is most delicious drink and I again wonder why we don't drink this in Sweden. My plan was to then swiftly drop by Dala Market to shop for some trekk sandals before going up Mount Phousi, one of the more popular tourist sites in Luang Prabang. I am however trapped in the market by the pouring rain that only exists in Asia, but after ten minutes the rain is OK to walk through.
"Lucky me!" I though "Managed to avoid the rain" The next thing I do is to almost slip on the wet sidewalk in my extremely slippery flipfliops, and after two minutes manage to slip and, as the English says, fell right on my arse. 100 meter later I step into a pool of water which splashes up and manage to soak the before-dry side of my body. After this I decide to skip Mount Phousi and its 350 steps to the amazing view I heard about since I would probably manage to slip and fall down at the bottom again once I reach the top.

Also, when I returned home from dinner today who don't I see if not Phanh standing outside the restaurant where he works. We exchange formalities in the traditional shy Laotian way, well not me of course, and I promise him to eat at his restaurant in a near future.

Also, here is a taste of what Luang prabang looks like.

Bicycle Race

Today I had the courage to throw myself out into the Luang Prabang traffic. I can't really say the traffic is dangerous, but you have to get used to it. Compared to Bangkok it is probably a piece of cake. The hotel I will work for have bikes for the guests to borrowsince the town is easily discovered by bike. This is because of the flat terrain and lack of cars on the roads. But what the city lack in cars it makes up for in motorbikes and vespas. They are everywhere. And only about 20-30% wears a helmet. And out of those per cent only about half has it fastened correctly on its head. Also, some people bike with an umbrella protecting them from the sun, which I understand because it is hot but they are also in the way (and they don't go very fast either, the umbrella bikers). But as soon as you figured out the system biking in Luang Prabang is easy. And lovely.

I went down the street on the Nam khan side of the town and after a couple of minutes I realize that it is a one way street. And I am not going the same way as the others do. The Swedish blood in me tells me of course to stop and start walking on the sidewalk until I figure out where else to go, until someone passes me on a motorbike in the same wrong direction. I conclude again that the same rules in Sweden do not really apply in Asia. The day is spent riding around town, getting a little lost and finding my way again, drinking Lao Iced Tea at cafés while reading and also visiting two similar but different youth centers not far from the hotel. I have to say that I am not a big fan of the Iced Tea, but maybe its a learning process.

I also got myself a phone sim card and keys to my stepgrandad's house in which I'm staying. I feel a little more at home for every day that passes.

Day 2

As the café is not open yet, I am free to do whatever I like during the day. But, since I am new in Luang Prabang, I have been given the mission to get to know the town. Since the café is going to be connected to the hotel, a should be able to answer any questions the guests might ask. Things to see, places to go. Therefor I am now educating myself for the future.

After two days on the road (technically more in the air) it seems that I needed a good night sleep. I woke up at 7 am for a mysterious reason, returned to my pillow and didn’t open my eyes again until noon. Which meant I probably slept for more than 13 hours.

The hotel together with my guide book recommend several spots in Luang Prabang and my plan is to visit them all (I call it preparing). After eating lunch at the hotel, I walked down main street and paid a visit to the Scandinavian Bakery and treated myself to the classic Lao fruit shake (basically a smoothie). The money in Laos is called Kip and a fruit shake for 10000 Kip might sound expensive, until I tell you that 10000 Kip is $1.25 or about 7 SEK.

I then visited the local “supermarket”, which is a little bigger hole in the wall store than those you find in China Town. I bought what was needed, and then walked straight across the street to visit another market where is bought flip flops. I was too lazy to haggle but I can tell you I didn’t really need to anyway.

Luang Prabang is half situated on a peninsula and the city is surrounded by two rivers, the Mekong River and the Nam Khan river, the last runs into the Mekong. The hotel, Mekong River View is situated just at the edge of the peninsula, with all the rooms having a view of the Mekong. This means that you can always find the hotel, just follow either ones of the rivers and you get there. Today I walked on the Nam Khan side where many of the towns guesthouses are placed, and many of these have verandas outside to get a good view of the river.

Luang Prabang

At nine in the morning the hotel drives me to the airport where I am to catch my last flight before I arrive to Luang Prabang. THsi time my travel comrades are not two older gentlemen, but a huge chinese family that fills all the seats of the car. Which do not sound very impressive, until you know that the car had 10 seats. Not counting the driver and the passenger seat in the front. I assume they're Chinese because of firstly: they spoke english with the driver, which meant they were not Thai, secondly: they were flying with China Air., and then thirdly: they just felt very Chinese.

However, I go though security, look into some shops at the airport and then find my gate. We travelers fill about half the seats in this little micro-plane that is going to take us to Lung Prabang. When we finally arrive the scenery has changed from the water-rice fields mixed with highways to big soft rolling green hills, small tiny villages and a mud-brown river going through it all. The river is of course the Mekong River, which runs through all of Laos. At the micro-airport I pass security in two minutes, wait for my bag in five and then exits the airport 10 minutes after we landed. There I am met by my stepdad's father, so basically my step-grandad and we drive into the small city of Luang Prabang.

Almost Bangkok

To get to Luang Prabang you have to transfer flights in Bangkok. The only flights to Luang Prabang leaves in the morning, but my plane from Stockholm, after a short stop in Copenhagen, arrives to the airport in Bangkok 2.30 in the afternoon. This means I have to spend a night in Bangkok and this we knew when we booked the ticket. But it leaves me with several possibilities. I can do the “Hangover” way, but I think most people prefer not to. Being a 19-year old girl, I figure it is not a good idea for me to run around in Bangkok by myself, especially since I have never been to this part of the world before. I choose to stay at a small hotel outside the city, just ten minutes from the airport because even though it is the least adventurous choice, it is the most convenient and absolutely the safest way. It is not like my three months stay here in Southeastern Asia is going to lack excitement.

The flight went nothing but smooth, no problem at all. I must admit I wanted to die a little when I first had to pass through the passport/immigration thingy wondering if I had filled out my form correctly, and secondly waiting for my bag to arrive which seemed to take an eternity. To be fair, mine was one of the last to appear

I then met up with the hotel staff who gave me and two other guests a ride to our hotel. These two other hotel guests were two older gentlemen in their mid-fifties from Bali on their way to Bangkok after spending some time in Laos (and here I of course pointed out that Laos was my next destination). I was told by my new friend Hendry from Bali that he had been to Laos four times, both Vientiane and Luang Prabang, spent some time studying in Switzerland, and also that the next time I go traveling Bali should be on my list.

We then arrived at the hotel and were shown to our rooms. I had my first thai massage ever and rediscovered that I am as flexible as an old oak table.

Venice

We arrived at Venice Mestre Train Station in the late afternoon/evening after been on the regional train from Verona for around 2,5 hours. After some confusion about bus tickets we manage to get on the correct bus, and with some help from fellow bus travelers we jump of at the right station. We knew before going that Venice would be our most expensive stay, but after surfing the internet we stumbled upon several cheap campsites 10-15 minutes outside Venice with the local bus. Our campsite is Campo Rialto, where you can either rent a tent with two beds, or space to put your private tent or your caravan trailer. We chose the "rent-a-tent" option and were given access to a 3 square meter tent with two beds. In the area there were restrooms, showers, a pizzeria, a Lidl just across the street and the bus to Venice that went right outside the camp site. It was the perfect solution. We thought.

Next morning after making lunch to bring into town we realize there are no buses. A bus strike. After 20 minutes we managed to get a cab which we shared with a pair of fellow interrailers and we finally arrived to Venice for real. At least the strike only went on for a day.

Three days we spent in Venice. The first day with visited most of the tourist attractions, had dinner at a small Italian restaurant and did not keep to our daily budget. The second day we spent sleeping at the beach on Lido, the perfect exercise after walking around and getting lost in Venice' small alleys the day before. The third day we visited the Peggy Guggenheim Collection and then hung out at Santa Lucia waiting for the train to take us to Budapest.

Verona - A non-love story

"Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life,
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Doth with their death bury their parents̓ strife.
The fearful passage of their death-marked love
And the continuance of their parents̓ rage,
Which but their children̓s end, naught could remove,
Is now the two-hours̓traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend."

We left Milan on the 21st, with Verona as our new target. Our plan was to spend a day in this romantic little town, and then take the train to Venice in the afternoon. It might seem odd to go a pair of friends to the most romantic cities in the world, but since my travel partner is the most cynical person in the world I think its OK.

Verona succumbed to our expectations. Juliet's balcony was crawling with tourists but the rest of the town was pretty nice, especially all the back-alleys.

Interrail

Me and my friend Ellen are at the moment in Milano, our first stop on our trip through Europe. Some observations of Italy is:

- Their traintickets look like ours. They probably look the same in most of Europe.
- They have babies on their water bottles
- They love huge stone buildings
- They love their Vespas
- They love pharmacies
- They hate supermarkets

HP&tDH - A Review

The Last Stand. The Final Battle. The End of an Era. Yesterday I was at the the Scandia Movie Theatre with my four nerd friends and saw the last installment of the Harry Potter series. Having read the book, of course I knew how it was going to end, but that didn't mean I haven't looked forward to this day for the major part of the past year. And what better place is there to end this amazing franchise at the beautiful theatre on Drottninggatan, a theater so classic the seats are missing cupholders.

*Warning. May contain spoilers*

The experience last night could be compared to the IB-exam. Something that we have had in our minds for a very long time, 2 years, freaking out about and having feelings that are a mixture between nervousness and excitement. However, when we finally arrived at the moment of truth, I/we kept calmed and sat through the entire thing with honor. No freakouts, no waterfalls of salty tears, no hulking. I admit, a few tears ran down my face yesterday, but seeing Fred, Tonks and REMUS freaking LUPIN'S dead bodies all at the same time was too much.

Over all, I think the movie kept a high standard. They captured Snape's memories really well, they included the most classic line in the series (said by Molly Weasley) and the in-the-novel-non-existent Neville-Luna relationship all the HP fans wished to happen was adorable. I am a little disappointed they didn't have a Teddy Lupin in the epilogue, but eh. It was definitely one of the better HP-movies.

All this happened, more or less

Since I am now a High School Graduate and no longer a student, life has taken a few new turns. I have left the safe environment called school in which I have spent the last 13 years of my life and now entered the world of adults for real. Well, not really since I still live at home, but almost. My parents already have plans for what to do with my room when I'm leaving, so I have almost moved out.

To celebrate my newly given freedom, me and a friend are going to spend 30 days traveling Europe, first by plane, then by train. We're leaving For Milan on the 19th from Stockholm Skavsta and then we'll see where we will end up.

Everyday we check something off the unwritten prepare list. Two days ago we booked an apartment in Berlin. Today I bought a nice, soft, pair of pants which I will wear during our long train rides. Small small steps that makes the trip feel closer.

Crossing off

First week of the IB exams are over. I can now cross both Math papers, both Psychology papers and one English essay off the list. Today I did my last Math Test ever, hopefully. It didn't go as well as I wanted to, but nothing I can do something about now. Good enough not to fail though. I think. And because I hate math more than anything else, the other tests will be a piece of cake, since the worst part already been dealt with. Next week awaits Swedish, English and History, and I think I am ready to take on the challenge.

Update

I am not writing much right now. But since I have no readers it doesn't really matter. Exams starts in less than a week. It will be interesting, terrifying and a little exciting. I will now go to bed, watch "Shakespeare in Love", sleep for 8 hour and rise and shine tomorrow morning to do math.

Countdown

Three weeks...

Panic.

Now the panic is starting for real though.

Panic?

When teachers ask if we had hit the point of panic yet, you suddenly start to think. Should I panic? Are there reasons for me to? The answer is: YES. I should panic, and sometimes when I am by myself the I am struck by terror and a bit of hysteria. However, the feeling has passed in a second and I am then back to normal. I do not know if this is good or bad. The expected behaviour of the IB-student at this time of the year is sitting locked inside the restroom crying one's eyes out. I really have some math to learn, and biology, so I will spend a lot of time in school these next coming weeks. Only five weeks until exams!

It is not helping that all students in the non-IB program has the IB-floor as their new hang-out spot. They're talking, shouting and playing music/youtube videos and are over all extremely obnosxoius.

something strange

Something strange is happening.

Nowadays, I wake up every morning by myself just after 6 am. After more than 8 hours of sleep. This mysterious new sleeping patterns started slowly, but have now taken over completely. I am full of energy from 6.30 am to when I come home. Then I am exhausted, I just wanna sit around staring out in thin air. This might be because my days are stuffed with new things happening, new info to take in and just so much to think of. Things that go through my mind these days are: exams, math, graduation, summer, studying, moving, baby brother on its way, and other minor (sarcasm) stuff that affects a soon 19 to be year old.

I figured, if I stay out and not go home until later in the evening, I will keep up with the tempo and not become tired. So I will now spend my afternoons/evenings at the library, gym or the closest bar.

Cupcakes Again

As I have mentioned, we are in somekind of a cupcake phase right now. I have also mentioned that we will have a cupcake day. This cupcake day today evolved into a cupcake competition, with judges, rules and different categories. It is called the Cupcake Competition Super Mega Awesome Extravaganza. The categories are:
- Chocolate
- Elegant
- Wild and Crazy

You will get points for both apperance and taste. If you win, you will be crowned "Cupcake Master" (this I just made up, but I will suggest it tomorrow).

I AM GOING FOR THE WIN




Maybe you have realized that we take everything seriously, we can never do anything half-hearted. We always go crazy with most things.

Cupcakes

Some of my friends are right now in a Cupcake-phase. This means that they on their free time make cupcakes. And lots of them, many different types and flavours. And I am happy, since these cupcakes have to be eaten by someone and I am always willing to sacrifice myself. Sunday I invited meself to my Cupcake-friend and had a nice chat with tea and homemade cupcakes.
Today me and my friend spent the afternoon in the park, sitting in the sun eating these delicious treats.

We have also decided to have a "Cupcake-Day" when we will just spend the entire day makig cupcakes. It will probably not happen until this summer, but it will be awesome.

Lanterna

Lanterna Revision Courses is an organization who offers IB-students with effective courses in whatevery subject one feels in need to revise. For an smaller or larger sum, revision courses are offered in Stockholm in spring. My weak subject is math, so I therefor signed up for an intense 2-days course which will take place at Stockholm's School of Economics, or Handelshögskolan in Swedish. By doing some good revising now, and having the help of a proffesional during easter break, I hope that I'll get a passing grade and better in my exams.

Downton Abbey

I have recently found out about a British drama series called Downton Abbey, and I have to say it is wonderful. I love it. Period. It is set in pre-WWI society, circulating the lives of the inhabitants of Downton Abbey, both family and servants. After only seeing 5 episodes, I as the audience has already developed a relationship with almost all the characters. Some I love, some I despise, some I feel a deep sympathy for and some that are just ver charming. One of the actors also did the role as Edward Ferrars in BBC's version of Sense and Sensibility. Another famous person from the cast list is Maggie Smith. The lady more famous as Professor McGonagall for the younger generation. Thanks to variuos websites online I have seen up to episode 5, but now I have to stop myself from watching more, I really do not wish this series to end.

I therefor recommend everyone to sit down and watch it.

Juni B.

A couple of weeks ago, a new family member was introduced to our family. After several months of nigging, my sister finally convinced her dad/my stepdad to buy a dwarf hamster, so called a djungarian/winter white russian hamster/siberian hamster. I was against this from the beginning. First of all, I realized a year ago that I do not like animals. They're ok in small doses, but living with one? They're smelly, dirty and without someone taking care of them they'll die. Also, when we got an aquarium, the first three weeks the fishes died all the time. And the idea of our house smelling like pet food terrified me. But the major reason for me being against a pet was jealosy. If I had wanted a hamster when I was 7 years old the answer had been: NO. However, a cage and pet were obtained and the placed the cage outside mine and my brother's rooms.

Did you know tha a hamster run about 8 miles every night? That is 12 kilometers. Hamster have a high metabolism and have to exercice, for a wild hamster it is easy since they can run around freely, but the pet hamster runs in a wheel. And hamster are noctornal animals, which means they run in their wheel at night. This means that the sound of a squeeking wheel is heard every night.

However, against all odds, I have come to care about our new family member. Her name is Juni B, named after Barbara Park's fictional character Juni B. Jones. She is snow white and has big black eyes and adorable tiny feet. She is small and can fit in my palm. And since she is not "mine", I am not the one who have to clean the cage or feed her. So basically I have only gained the good parts of being a pet owner, since the bad parts are taken care of by others.

Biology

As I have mentioned before, I'm on break. Up until today, this break has been everything but efficient. I have slept, watched TV and been on the computer. Friday I was at the bar with some friends, and the Oscars of course, but that is it. Today, I changed. My mom woke me up at 7, and I got up at 7.25. I then showered, ate breakfast and took the bus into the city. There I bought myself some important school supplies and half an hour after the City Library has opened I was there with my biology book. I then had a lunchdate with my computer eating sushi and working on my english project. After lunch I went back to the library where I studied until 15.20. 5 hours biology and 40 minutes english!

I finished my day with a cappuccino and great company (more english dicussions though) and then home. A very active and efficient day.

Break

This week every student on Stockholm is on break. Many spend this week up north skiing, or down south sun-bathing. Not me however. Yesterday was spent on sleeping since I fell asleep at 7am after watching the Oscars. When I woke up, I thought the time was just after noon, but I realized it was close to 5 pm. After this realization I knew that my study-break was ruined, how would I be able to go back to a normal sleeping schedule after this? It appeared then that this was no problem. I fell asleep at midnight, not being awake more than 7 hours, and slept until nine the following morning.

The Academy Awards

Yesterday was the 83rd annual Academty Award. It is set in Los Angeles. I live in Sweden and that leaves a time difference on 9 hours. Red Carpet started at midnight then the awards started an 2.30 am and ended at 6. Me and my friends had been looking towards this night a long time, and at nine pm we met up, prepared ourselves wih anything we could want at 3 in the morning. This includes: Grilled chicken, garlic bread, brie and crackers, candy, chips, Ben & Jerry's and chocalate pudding. Nothing could stop us from having a great time toningt, we were prepared for anything. We thought.

What we did not see was Filip & Fredrik. These two are rather famous TV people who are pretty funny at times. Tonight, they were not funny. They were supposed to comment on the awards, but I think they missunderstood their task. They commented all the time. Not only during commercials, but during speeches and performances as well. They just kept talking. We could have tried to find a live channel online, but that would have left us with a small screen and bad sound which is not really preferable either. And you shouldn't need to watch it online when we have a channel airing the awards anyway. Maybe the awards was not a success, but I can honestly not say, since I couldn't hear what was going on.

The night was at last saved with the prize for Best Actor went to Colin Firth, since I loved the King's Speech and I love Colin Fitzwilliam Darcy Firth over all. His speech was great, and he is adorable.

Oscars

In less than a week it is time for the 83rd Annual Academy Award. Since movies have in the past years fought it's way up to be among my top 3 interests I am super-excited. So are my friends, especially one of them (you know who you are). We are counting down days until the 27th and we are really trying to find a way to watch it live. Since the time difference between Los Angeles and Stockholm are 9 hours, we can't really watch it at someone's house if they don't live alone. We are working on a solution.

I have never managed to see all of the nominees for Best Picture, and I wont manage this year either but hopefully I can come close. So far I've seen Toy Story 3, Inception, The Kids Are Allright and The King's Speech. The King's Speech was amazing, every second of every scene. Sadly, the most anticipated movie among my friends won't premiere until 14th of March. Yes, I am talking about Black Swan. We will try to see True Grit this week, and that leave me 5/10. Half of them. Me and my mom have decided to see Winter's Bone next week and I guess that is better than never.
I also love James Franco, which is another reason I will really try to see the awards since he is co-hosting it with Anne Hathaway. I also will try to see 127 Hours when I have time.

Of course, some could claim that if I really wanted to see the movies I could simply download them, but I have been told that at least some of these titles should be enjoyed in a cinema and I trust this judgement.

Melodifestivalen

Eurovision Song Contest is a concept known to most europeans, but the term stops to exist outside the European continent. ESC is a competition where countries send a song and other countries can vote on which one they liked best. Of course, the song the country are going to send have to be chosen.

In Sweden, we have Melodifestivalen. Or Song Contest, or Swedish Song Contest, or the Melody Festival. Choose the one sounding the least ugly. During the five weeks the Swedish champion will be chosen this topic is the only one covering the news. Or the only news people care to read. If you ask any teen on the street about a major news event this weekend, they will say:

"Well, Eric Saade are going to compete in the final round in SSC"

and not:

"Well, I think the political movement in the Middle East and North Africa is most interesting. It will be exciting the see what will happen i Libya in the future"

My family spent Saturday night like every other average family in Sweden did. We ate Tacos for dinner and then parked ourselves infront of the TV watching which song was the least bad. And anyone who knows my mom, knows that neither Tacos nor watching TV is a common thing in our house. But, with a 7-year old sister there was nothing else we could do. She had already early this week decided that every family member should stay home and watch "Melodifestivalen" together. It is obvious that Eric Saade is going to win all of it, but more on that later.