Author: chyde

  

As we awoke from our slumber the Temples were stoked to start fresh in a new country; however, spirits were slightly dimmed at the realisation we had to leave Laos and Joy. As we made our way to the airport in our beloved mini vans we saw the locals starting their day to day routine and the thriving culture through the temples and markets. Beyond that there was a significant view of ginormous mountains in the distance. After waiting a while at the mini airport we walked on to a cute little aeroplane that had propellers. While we were seated on the plane we looked out of the windows to say our final goodbyes to Laos. Whilst taking off we found it interesting to note that from the window mostly you could see large forests, mountains and small villages. Some of the mountains had a weave design. As the clouds rolled by we started to notice how there weren’t many big cities or towns but only small hill villages. 

When we landed the second time from being on a plane in Siem Reap, we were delighted to hear our hotel had a nice refreshing pool that was waiting for us to dive in. After getting our luggage we were greeted by our new tour guide Youssa. He is very funny and loud. He taught us a few things about Cambodia and how to speak some of the language, Khmer (pronounced Khe-my). 

Suosday – Hello
Akun jann – Thank you very much 

Learning how to say these few words can really help with us being friendly towards the locals and embrace ourselves fully with the country and their culture. 

As we arrived at the hotel Soma Devi, everyone was eager to jump in the pool fully clothed or bathers. We were briefed about the pool rule and as soon as we heard the words ‘you can now swim,’ everyone jumped in one after the other like little ducklings getting a wash after a long and bothered day. The pool is huge and some of us did laps while others just hung out near the steps. The students who sat poolside ordered refreshing drinks and some snacks. After more than an hour of being in the pool most people got out to dry off they before heading back up to their rooms to freshen up for our big night activity. 

Finally we went back down to the lobby to set off in our tuk tuks for our Cambodian night life experience. Once we set off we drove to a Cambodian style food market where they sold many different types of fruit and bugs. The first animal we ate was a snake. It was really boney and tasted just like chicken! Up next was grass hoppers, grubs, frogs and crickets. YUM! Only a few people tried them as the rest were hidden far away from it petrified it would come back to life some how and hurt them. The market was very busy with many motorcycles and tuk tuk’s running through the middle and it was on a road. After we had a taste of bugs we headed off to a real restaurant near a street called Pub Street where there were many night clubs and back packers. We enjoyed the music that was bouncing off the walls from the near-by night life. Our dinner consisted of rice, ribs, beef stew and yummy kebabs. After dinner we all headed down the street to have a look at what Cambodia is when the lights are off. Most of the kids were distracted by the fish that ate your dead skin off your hand as it felt weird and exhilarating at the same time. Once everyone was over that we headed back to the hotel to head off to bed.  

Tiana Abbott-Salmon, Harrison Lasky 

 
 
As the sun arose from the hills on the other side of the Mekong, Temples were very drowsy after a late night. The riveting news of the ‘yes’ vote came across to many people within the group, uplifting our spirits. We began our day with a leisurely bike ride along the corse, bumpy back streets of Laos. The wind brushed against our fresh faces for a short time releasing a rush of adrenaline. We arrived at the oldest temple is Luang Prabang, Wat Xiengthong, giving us an insight into the deep culture of Laos and the continuous and committed lives of Laos monks and nuns. We continued until we reached the local paper making community shop. We were taught the traditional ways of making paper using the bark of mulberry trees, soaked in water treated with ashes then creates a thin cotton like texture. 

Further into our day we returned to base camp (or the hotel) awaiting the announcement of the amazing race. As groups exceeded the boundaries of the hotel, we were set on our way around the beautiful city of Luang Prabang. Each group was handed instructions on how to correctly complete the race. Our success depended on how well we worked as a team. Each group began with a tuk tuk ride to the nearby Phousi market. Soon after navigating to the Phousi mountain, at which we had a treacherous flight of stars leading us up to the mountain peak. Continuing with the task, we found ourselves in a speculator location with the connection of the Mekong and the Nankong. Our race concluded to the announcement of the win for group 2 (Ryan, Ashley, Jack, Emma, Liam and Angelique P). 

Our evening ended with an inclusive blessing from some local Lao village elders. All six elders blessed us with the pleasure of a successful future and safe travels. As the elders sang to us everybody was willing to join in and pay our respects to their culture. We were given bracelets to remind us of privileged lives. We had a number of dances performed to the group by Lao teenagers. The movements were free flowing as their hands moved in sync to the music, produced by a traditional instrument similar to a xylophone. We were captivated by their intriguing dances so everybody wanted to indulge in the pleasure of dancing with the onstage performers. Temples were extraordinarily adventurous as everybody was enjoying carving up the dance floor. As our last full day in Laos has concluded the pleasure of being immersed in their culture has also come to an end. 

Thomas. C. & Ashla. C 

 

For our first full day in Laos, we enjoyed the luxury of sleeping in until 8:30, when we rose to a sky full of sun and a cacophony of chickens, motorcycles and car horns. Our first adventure was visiting the glittering Laos Royal Palace. Although incredibly hot and bustling with tourists from all corners of the globe, the palace was beautiful, featuring glass mosaics depicting the lives of Lao people, many impressive glinting gold swords and a delicately embroidered throne. After taking a couple of group photos on the gleaming white steps of the palace, we boarded our buses once again and headed countryside to visit some very special creatures. 

With cameras in hand, we trod through grass and sand to feed and bathe ten ginormous, wrinkly and adorable elephants who lived in peace and splendour at the Elephant Camp. Although protected from being ridden all day by tourists, the elephants had special keepers who spent the day caring for their needs and occasionally boarding their wrinkly grey backs to lead them across the vast fields. Once we reached the banks of the Mekong, the elephants trod heavily through the powdery sand into the murky depths of the river, quickly disappearing underwater only to emerge soaking wet and very happy. With an affectionate nudge, the keepers lead the elephants uphill to their shady white-roofed stable where they received a generous handful of banana leaves. 

After our enchanting encounter with the elephants we set off on another journey to a cascading waterfall for a picnic lunch and then an exploration of the sprawling pools and lush jungles. The waterfalls were a mesmerising blue, seeming almost unreal in their crashing splendour they were cool and filled with mangroves that crawled their way along the sandy banks. Once we had finished marvelling at the aquamarine pools, we trekked down narrow paths to a sanctuary for the preservation and care of abused and illegally trafficked bears. Although faced with many challenges such as a sun bear missing one of it’s front paws and others with mental issues leaving them fearful of humans, the bears were happy in their jungle environment with plenty of puzzles and mates to play with. As a collective group we decided to donate some of our fundraised money to the sanctuary in an effort to help provide the best possible facilities for mistreated bears. 

As the sun began to set we embarked on our final activity to find dinner and shop and barter the wide and wondrous night market streets of Luang Prabang. Left to our own devices we split apart into groups and adventured north, east, south and west on a mission to find delicious and cheap food and many gifts and tokens for us and our far-away friends.  

 
Sophie and Genevieve

 

At the halfway point of our trip we arose to the rolling fog moving through the hills towering above the Mekong river. This peaceful picture was deeply contrasted by the our “unique” accomodation- for many of us it certainly was an eye opening experience. We soon made our way past the Main street of Pak Beng and let the simplicity of small town life wash over us. As we boarded the long boats once again, an air of excitement captured us all. We said our last farewell as we sailed away and heard a definite response from the town goats. 

After around three hours of scenic cruising along the Mekong we arrived at a small Laotian village where we learned about and had a glimpse of daily life for the local people. It was a visit of mixed emotion as the people showed us warmth and kindness but unfortunately suffered from poverty. Some of us had the opportunity to enter a home of a local villager. We were reminded of how fortunate we are to have our quality of life. This experience reminded us of our work in Maejon village- helping us think about more than just the individual and showcasing, once again, that happiness is not based in our material possessions. 

We continued onwards down the Mekong towards the Pak Oui caves. Our guide, Joy, explained to us that the caves are a deeply religious place for Buddhists in the region and discussed the practice of placing Buddha’s within its mist coated walls. We disembarked our boat on a makeshift walkway barely centimetres from the river lapping below. Once inside we explored the caves and Joy told some of us our fortunes.  

After this intriguing venture we re-embarked the boat and enjoyed a meal of predominantly fried food and the gorgeous green mountains surrounding us as we sailed by. For the next hour we relaxed and wrote post cards to our loved ones. However, it’s best not to get your hopes up – as it’s not likely that they will reach you before we do!
Finally it came time to part with our vessel and join the hustle and bustle of Luang Prabang. After a much needed stop to the laundromat, we enjoyed dinner on the banks of the Mekong. We then sojourned to splash some cash or kip at the night market and looked at all the fresh produce for sale, such as mangoes. Surrounded by the clatter of business and nightlife, we ended our day on a happy note. 

Ashley P. Josh B. 

We woke to our last sunrise in Thailand, the beautiful country that we had all come to love. The thought of leaving such a surreal environment left us all stunned. Thailand was a place where we were pulled out of our comfort zones and forced to develop new friendships and try new foods, activities, and explore new cultures. Being able to experience all of of these new opportunities allowed us to become greater people as we were able to see exactly how much we take for granted. Things such as fresh clothing, air condoning, security, housing, and even the bare necessities are thought of as rights but we now know they are privileges. Muay Thai boxing, rafting, and the house build were among the favourite activities. We think that it is fair to say that we all struggled with trying new foods, sleeping in new environments and communicating with the locals as many of them could not speak English. 

Sanee and Chai were the tour guides that practically became our best friends, they knew exactly what we would ask for at the dinner table, and they were always there for a good laugh. Saying goodbye to them was almost as hard as saying goodbye to our family as that was what they had become. As we said goodbye whilst travelling through customs we still had a smile on our face because we were beginning the next chapter of our TLC – 2017 Temples adventure. We soon boarded a bus that took us over the boarder (the Mekong River) and allowed us to see one side with Thailand and one side with Laos. We were greeted by our new tour guide, Joy, who is a local. We hopped onto songthews that took us to our new home for the next 7 hours. 5 minutes into the boat trip and practically everyone was playing some form of card game whether it was spit, uno, go fish, cheat, or spoons. The scenery was stunning as every direction had something different whether it was wildlife, plants, mountains, locals, or village huts. The sight of muddy brown water never got old as it provided all of us with the realisation that we were in such a wonderful place. With so much history, culture and colour. The Mekong river was filled with various types of things such as locals swimming, water buffalo, other tourist boats and even local food transportation. We were greeted by Joy on the boat with some interesting facts that would broaden our knowledge of the country that we were in. These included…

The population of Laos is just over 6 million.

There are 3 ethnic groups and 49 tribes.

The most common export is beer, coffee and handicrafts. 

Vientiane is the capital of Laos and has a population of half a million

They import a lot of rice

They receive roughly 200,000 tourists each year with most of them being from China and South Korea.

Education is free all the way up to 18.
We then arrived in Pak Beng where we saw our hotel the Phetsoksay. Once settled in we then traveled down the one and only street where we saw a variety of food and clothing stores. We were taken to a market where they had bagged live frogs that were croaking! We then retuned to the hotel for a nice dinner filled with rice, chicken and sweet and sour pork. We are all looking forward to a nice sleep and continuing our boat trip to Luang Prabang tomorrow.
Lily Scott and Angelique Fry

The Mekong river winds and meanders through six countries and our current view from the hotel can see two of those. We are 25 minutes from the border crossing between Thailand and Laos. This is our last night on the Thai side and we will miss it along with three of our trip guides that we must farewell. Chai, Sunny and Nam have helped make our Thailand trip full of adventure, good food and lots of laughs and we wish them all the best.

Today we acknowledged all those who have fought and died in wars before us. We read poems, shared stories and had a minute’s silence for Remembrance Day. Some of us have been to places like Gallipoli and Flanders Fields, and some of us have relatives who fought in different wars. We are thankful that we now live in peacetime because of them.

We also learned about the golden triangle and the opium wars. The golden triangle refers to an area that covers parts of three countries, Thailand, Laos and Myanmar, and is a kind of no-man’s land where large volumes of opium used to be produced. The opium museum was very educational and the eerie displays and music represented the dark nature that this drug has had on many societies in this region for hundreds of years. Named one of the best museums in Thailand, the Hall of Opium had multimedia exhibits on the history of opium, the wars fought between the Chinese and the British, the Thai government’s role, and the harmful effects on the body. A very informative afternoon.

Tonight we have prepared for our border crossing tomorrow and we are looking forward to exploring a new country – Laos.