We went in search of Keith’s girlfriend. It will give you an idea of the size of the town, to report that we found Claire after less then 10 minutes. We ate a great dinner and had a few Beer Lao’s before struggling wearily back to the Guesthouse.
Luang Prabang is a beautiful town with a great market and full of friendly tuk-tuk drivers who will make sure you never run out of marijuana. After an excellent breakfast of pancakes and omelets we headed out to Kouang Si waterfall. The waterfall is huge and fast flowing and there is ample opportunity for swimming in pools that spread out along the river below it. We spent a few hours swimming and jumping off swinging ropes. I managed to nearly take my hand off on one of the rope knots on the first go…me finger is still sore. Nearby there is a Tiger enclosure with an impressive creature who was saved from poachers, unfortunately the rest of her family where not so lucky. Beside this another enclosure has small black bears that were busily foraging for food as we walked past.
Later we ate at The Lao Lao bar and drank an assortment of cocktails. We met a few lads who were on the way up to do the Gibbon experience and bombarded them with stories of our heroic adventures; I told the Acid story over a cocktail called ‘Phorn Star’. At one stage singing of ‘It’s Long way to Tipperary’ was muted, but I interjected that it was a British Army marching song and that we didn’t have much call for singing it at home. We went back to talking about Gibbons.
Next day I headed off early to Vang Vieng on the VIP bus. VIP in Laos means that you don’t have to push start the bus…it starts all on its own! For the next six hours I was thrown back and forward on my seat as the driver maneuvered through roads similar to the ‘Glen of Aherlow’. The stops were at huts on the side of the road…the toilets the nearest bush. I had a call of nature so I stepped up to a bush too. When in Rome.
After I arrived in Vang Vieng I hired a Tuk-Tuk and went straight out to the Organic farm to get started with the volunteering. I got a free glass of Mulberry juice and Bob (a Laos native) explained the set-up. It was all a bit confusing but I would take the advanced English class for 2 days while another long term volunteer, Gee, was on a visa run. We taught in schools for 1.5 hours in the morning and then in the evening there were 2 hour long lessons; one for young kids; the second for adults.
I spent the rest of the day settling in and trying to prepare a Lesson Plan. I found it hard as I was out of practice. I slept well but woke the following morning slightly nervous…my usual reaction to vagueness. I meet two other volunteers, a couple; Benoit and Nicole from France and South Africa respectively. They filled me in on how things worked and more on what to expect. Neither had been a teacher before but Benoit, I discovered during my time there had a great aptitude for it, or more accurately a great way with people.
The first class was with students from 8-16 years old with varied levels of English. I got through my lesson plan in 40 minutes (word opposites and adj/noun structure) and struggled to fill the rest of the class. I repeated games and reviewed words until the end. At least I knew the level of the class for tomorrow...and what a class. We covered the concept of time. From time of the day, to days of the week, to yesterday/today/tomorrow, unto last year/this year/next year, on to past/present/future tenses of 'to go'. I told them the sad story of when my dog got knocked down by a jeep, last year; a fabrication, but they found it rather funny. The Laose tend to laugh at most things. They all shook my hand after the lesson and thanked me. I was delighted with mesell.
The next day Gee was back so I would be teaching the younger ones...3 to 8. I did body parts and, inside/outside and sang head-shoulders-knees and toes. The class was more like teaching on Koh Phangan and I left the class drenched in sweat...you have to be a lot more energetic in order to keep their attention.
Each evening Benoit (in Gees absence) gave a class to the adults. This weeks topic was a discussion on going out to dinner. All the other volunteers sat among the students and helped explain words and corrected pronounciation. The students were really eager and it was challenging to explain some words but nice to be teaching people who really wanted to learn.
On Saturday I decided to go Tubing on the river because that is what one does in Vang Vieng. It was a pleasant enough experience despite the fact that I fell in and ruined my mobile phone. I was befriended by a barman who worked in a riverside bar and spent 20 minutes practicing conversational English with him. On the river I meet two girls from Vientiane who quizzed me repeatedly on why I was tubing alone. In the end I told them that the others hadn't shown up.
Later I headed down to the Smile bar with Matt to meet the rest of the volunteers. The bar is on a island on the river and has hammocks and loungers...we spend a grand olde evening talking about family, books and the second world war (2 of the volunteers were German girls). Did you know that in France 'The A-Team' is called 'L'agents Du Riske!' and that BA is called Ba-ra-cu-da? I charmingly laughed coffee through my nose when told this.
I had decided to leave the following morning and bumped into Matt at brekkie (a Mulberry pancake to die for!). Matt is an editor and a recovering alcoholic. He is writing a book in the form of a blog, hoping to publish it when he finishes travelling http://aroundtheworldin80aas.blogspot.com/. I must admit I thought he was a very stoic personality when I met him first but as he talked about his experiences and view on life I couldn't help but admire him. I'll buy his book when it is published.
I got the VIP bus to Vientiane early that afternoon. They had to push start the bus! And that's where I am now...laid up with a cold and trying to get my Vietnam visa and flight to Hanoi sorted. Vientiane is not a terribly exciting place but does have a great array of international restaurants and bookshops.
My mate Jon is having a ball in Cambodia...pity I won't get there this trip.
M.
People are broad-minded. They'll accept the fact that a person can be an alcoholic, a dope fiend, a wife beater and even a newspaperman, but if a man doesn't drive, there's something wrong with him. Art Buchwald,
