There's a Gecko in my Fruitbowl

There's a gecko in my fruitbowl, a scorpion in the dining room, a snake on the patio and a huntsman in the bathroom.

There's a gecko in my fruit bowl.....

Coming from Australia, these daily encounters with wildlife don't ordinarily upset me, in Australia I know everything is dangerous and to stay the hell clear.  Regular encounters with Cockroaches are simply a matter of course - squish it and flush it down the toilet (I even recall holding them by the antenna half alive as a child, this courage has since left me). Which is why I can keep a level head as I squeal with fright as that green little snake slithers quickly inside the house as we try to shoo it away.....

Isn't he a beauty......(and yes, that's him climbing our wall...)

......luckily, all the general knowledge that comes with being Australia came into full action, and so, after convincing Gavin that he could not play crocodile hunter and capture the beasty, we simply shooed it out of the house and walked loudly behind it as it slithered onto the property of the abandoned house next door. 

Later, while talking to a Canadian mate who has lived many years in Lao we enquire as to the venemous nature of the snake: "Yes, they are venemous".

This is the point where I realise that my Australian sense of "venemous" is directly linked with "life-threatening", and after continuing the discussion I come to realise that venemous simply means "the bite hurts like hell".  I sigh with relief and smile, content that this snake has nothing on our nasties back home.

The scorpion on the other hand, I am a little bit more freaked out by.  But, just like the huntsman spider, with a trusty tupperware and piece of card it can be caught and released to the vacant lot down the road in no time.  Gavin is becoming quite skilled at the task. Once again, after talking to locals, we should consider simply killing the scorpions outright....but I'm still getting used to the idea.  I definitely prefer relocation of any animal, especially the huntsmen, as they are harmless really, but just frighten the bejebus out of me when they run around in the shower while I'm naked.

Our beloved scorpion friend....

But, seriously, the geckos.  They are everywhere. You don't realise how precious we are in our daily western lives until you you set your first rat trap and clean the gecko poo off the kitchen bench each day. I know we have to deal with them in Brisbane (and at least here there is some biodiversity among them!), but not to the same degree.  In reality, I don't mind them - they keep the insects down (I hope), and in many ways, it's quite nice that rather than swatting at insects the geckos simply leave you with a nutritious packet of insect remains that can be easily swiped away without the need to engage in an aerobic session as you swat them!

Keeping the fruit flies down no doubt....thanks Little Fella!

Six months in Lao

So it has almost been six months since Gavin and I first arrived in Vientiane, Laos, and 5 and a half months since we arrived in Pakse, in the southern province of Champasak. So I thought it was time to write a quick blog and let you know how we are faring here....especially seeing I have been so slack (this blog has actually been edited from one written and not published about four months ago - whoops!)

Pakse Family
So many times when you travel, your friends become family.  Jess, the AVID volunteer who was already in Pakse when I arrived, put Gavin and I in touch with all the right people and instigated the formation of "The Pakse Crew" - a close knit group of expats, some volunteers (or vollies as Jess would say), current and retired NGO workers, English teachers and travellers to boot.

We have regular get-togethers, often at a favourite grilled duck restaurant "Poptavanh's", overlooking the Mekong on a Friday evening. Any event is a good event for dinner or lunch together though, and we have been known for gathering when someone is going away for a couple of months, a week for work training, or even just going away for a night or weekend (Pakse is very exciting, as you can see). Watch this space for updates of the up and coming "Gin and Tonic and Tutu Party"....

Myself and fellow AVID volunteer Jess

Renting a house
Gavin and I were homeless in Pakse for quite some time. A rental in this town has been very difficult to find and the volunteer who was already based here, Jess, set a high standard in the lovely home she snagged when she arrived. In total we have viewed 7 properties, ranging in price from $75 to $600, from unfurnished studios to a six bedroom furnished home. Furniture is expensive, so while the rental cost is definitely cheaper, we're pretty sure it won't be worth the effort unless it's an amazing home. Eventually, Gavin bartered down the $600 6 bed house down to $450 and we have a German housemate, Maria, who is helping to share the costs - more on the house in another post!

Our house in Ban Tahai, Pakse

Guesthouse
During our initial stay we settled into the Nang Noi guesthouse quite nicely, despite the lack of airconditioning and limited living space. The owners are amazing - we now think of them as family! They even helped us to look for more permanent accommodation :)  and have one of the best value breakfasts in town - 20,000 LAK for two bread rolls, a massive omelet, fruit and coffee or tea. Gav and I split it between us and we're plenty satisfied - we still go back for the breakfast!

Food
It has not been difficult to convince Gavin to eat out on a regular basis, but I have certainly missed having my own kitchen and have been making the most of the one in our new home. It is definitely cheaper to cook for yourself!

- Restaurants -
In terms of restaurants, most of which are located along the main highway 13, we have regular haunts at two Indian restaurants, Nazim's and Jasmine, a Viet-Lao Pakse institution called Daolin (awesome value fruit shakes) and Delta coffee for dinner. Delta has some of the best western food in town (awesome chicken diane, pasta and pork schnitzel), although it's hard to go past the freshly made burger at Xuan Mai (you can actually watch them mince the meat and cut up the potatoes to order! Every meal at Xuan Mai seems to be freshly made, one of the reasons it tastes so good, but be warned, when they're busy things can go haywire). Initially we were eating a lot of western food here and were spending about $10-$15 a day (although we're cutting that down now we have a kitchen).

- Street food -
The street food here is good, hasn't caused anyone I know here grief, and is the cheap option. Cheapest quick meal for me is 5000 LAK (less than $1) - which is a bread roll filled with a pate of some sort (I don't think about it too much), a bit of veg and sauce (with or without chilli powder). I often grab these when I'm running late to work in the morning, but it could do for a small meal any time of day.A couple of grilled chicken skewers and sticky rice will set you back around 8-10,000 LAK ($1.20-$1.50). Fresh rice paper spring rolls are about 4 for 6000 LAK on the street, 10,000 at the market, and 20,000 for a bag full of fixings and rice paper so that you can roll away at home (makes about 8 to 10). There is a lot of really good deep fried street food out there - including something Gavin likes to call "Lao KFC" - if we don't watch ourselves we could end up a little fatter (but certainly happy) than we intend!

Forgive me father, for I have sinhed.....

In Lao, the textiles industry is thriving, in part because the locals still wear traditional dress almost daily.

The "sinh" is a traditional Lao skirt made from a single panel of fabric which folds back on itself to be closed. You can pretty much judge a person by their sinh - natural or synthetic fibers, cotton or silk, the amount of needlework (some extend for the entire length of the sinh, very expensive).

My work sinhs - my fancy work sinh on the left is the most expensive, with them
dropping in cost from left to right

So when in Lao, do as the Lao do, and so I have bought myself a few sinhs....one dress sinh for formal occasions (silk, of course, and 1,500,000 LAK (~$200) cost before tailoring), and extra formal sinh (~$100 cost) and a number of work sinhs (~$100 for six sinhs, one of which is a slightly more formal work sinh- generally though it seems I have expensive taste!). Cost of tailoring in Vientiane is 100,000 LAK (they often start at 120,000 or 150,000, but you can barter down AND there are places there that do cheaper if you can find them. In Pakse, it costs around 50,000 LAK per sinh, no frills, I just got mine done for ~80,000 LAK each after she revised up from her original 50,000 for lining etc (I may have been taken for a ride, but I didn't really care at the time, I just wanted them done and she is known for doing good work).

So all in all I've spent about $500 on sinhs...whoops!

My formal sinh - I bought the whole outfit

straight off the mannequin!

Formal sinhs, at the top especially. Torneat tailors,
across from Lao Kitchen.
They specialise in using natural fibres and dyes.

The best thing is that I don't have to think too much about what to wear to work and the Lao people really take to you when you wear their national dress. They also are made just about perfectly to sit on a moto with modesty. And if you're after something uniquely Lao for a gift or souvenir, a sinh is perfect. You could definitely get them made into a gorgeous pencil skirt or the like, I can already see myself missing them when I finally leave in 17 months time!

Gavin and I in traditional dress for our formal
dinner with the Australia ambassador
and AVID/AYAD host organisations

Eating our way through Vientiane

During our orientation in Vientiane we ate - a lot! I think we tried a good selection of restaurants, mostly westernised as we let our bodies adjust to the new food. ;Based on our eating experiences I can unequivocally recommend:

• Lao Kitchen
• La Terasse
• Noor Indian Restaurant -The halal Indian restaurant right down on the main road on the Mekong
• The Chinese dumpling place, also right down on the main road on the Mekong (although if you're sensitive to MSG maybe give it a miss - I'm not super sensitive and it affected me, but given how superb the food was I would almost consider it to be worth it!)
• Sticky fingers - especially if you need a dose of home-style food
• Joma cafe (there are two of these, I only know the one in town)
• Benoni cafe (pretty much next door to Joma, in town)
• Makphet
• Noy's fruit heaven - BEST fruit shakes! Across from Lao Kitchen. If you want to pay a bit more you can get just what you want in a shake (Gavin's fave was mango and passionfruit- YUM!)
• Amphone
• La provincial

Interesting choices at a local Korean restaurant.....

I almost forgot - for the best Pho in Vientiane - Pho Dung! On the same street as Lao Kitchen - it's the closest you'll get to fast food, big steaming wonderful bowls brought out in a matter of seconds!

Safe arrival in Vientiane

After a 36 hour travelling ordeal - consisting of a red-eye out of Perth followed by two international flights, $320 of excess baggage and forgetting a bag at the airport - Gav and I arrived in Vientiane with the rest of the AVID/AYAD crew (pictured above- James, me, Gav, Sean, Ash, Michele and Julie).

Might I suggest that if you need more than the 30kg (which is 10kg extra, ONLY if you ask) of baggage that an international airline will often allow you, that you call the airline or make sure that you get in touch with their local branch manager if you don't want to pay excess.  It was of course too late for us when we found this out at the airport, and I must say that I was seriously disappointed in the website and customer service provided via email by Thai airways in this regard. Don't get me wrong - Thai airways had great customer service in the airport (they gave us ~30% discount on the excess as it was) and on the flight (brilliant in fact) - but I would like to see them improve their online services.

Yesterday we managed to open a bank account (we are now millionaires- yay! In Kip of course...) and get ourselves sorted with Lao mobile numbers. While enough English is spoken to get around, when it comes to organising some of these more technical things we are more than grateful for our In-Country Management Team. Today, we continue our orientation into Lao life, language and culture - I can't wait to get a handle on the language beyond "Sa-bai-dee" (hello) and "Khap-jai" (thank-you)!

Pre-departure preparations

With only three days to go Gavin (my partner) and I are in the full swing of final preparations. Although we have had a great deal of information from current and past volunteers in Lao, we are still not entirely sure what to expect- we have packed our Australian standards motorcycle helmets, cotton sheets, shoes and decent shirts and are busy finding room for our "luxury" items such as boardgames and hiking gear. We are heartened by the support we have through the Australian Volunteers for International Development (AVID) program and Austraining, but we're not likely to really know what it's like until we experience it for ourselves. The AVID program is an Australian Government, AusAID initiative which deploys skilled volunteers to live and work in developing countries as part of the overseas aid program and I am very excited to be a part of it!

A mix of emotion is setting in - excitement and trepidation - with a certain sadness to leave friends and family behind for so long.  It will be amazing to see how people's lives have changed and families have grown while we're away - being in our 30s it seems everyone is "settling down" and "growing up" while we're setting off on a great adventure (maybe one great last adventure, but I'm loathe to say it!)

This blog will be my record of my life and times in Lao - designed to be about those things which I find most fascinating, both culturally and academically, and hopefully most useful to others considering a move to Lao. Lao still seems to be growing as a tourist, volunteer and work destination and I hope these blogs can be a source of information (and perhaps comfort) to those considering life in the country- especially those who are planning on being in a more rural location such as Pakse (Champasak province), where Gav and I are going.

Gavin and I all dolled up at our pre-departure orientation dinner in Melbourne. I met Gavin in Perth while I was studying my PhD and love him dearly. He works in accounting and is a great support to me in many ways - he's definitely better with languages and numbers than I am! We're really looking forward to our adventure in Lao.