Week 15 - Depart China and Enter Laos!

Our day out round Lake Erhai started early. Sylvia, Russ, Sandra, Keith, Denis and myself piled into a minivan with our non English speaking driver. Our first stop was at an old house in Xizhon where we sampled three teas and watched some lacklustre dancing.



Dancers in teahouse - their heart wasn't really in it

 From there we went to a very busy market where people were preparing for the night’s festival. It was all rather gory with chickens being killed and de-feathered. As usual I walked past with my eyes averted.

Decorations for festitivies

Then it was on to cormorant fishing which proved to be a highlight of the day. The boatman was a real showman and despite the fact that he “salted” the water with a fish which was duly caught, it was a wonderful spectacle.  All the cormorants were thrown into the water and they followed the boat as the skipper beat the water. As the cormorants were diving for fish, he was singing a haunting song which continued as he held the cormorant together with the fish up high in a net. . Eventually after the dead fish was retrieved from the cormorant and another dead fish retrieved from the cormorant’s gullet, we rowed over near the cormorant boat and various people had their photos taken with a cormorant on the head and one on each arm. I declined the privilege.

Cormorant help high with its prize

Removing fish from cormorant's gullet

Next to cormorants - you could reach out and touch them

After we went to Batik workshop where we saw how the work was done. The one nice top was too small so saved my money!

Batik making

Our minivan took us up to the top of a village where there was a coach stuck on gravel so we got out and walked to the Monastery where there were old men playing Mah Jong and inside the temple were interesting figures of Buddha.

In Monastery

Again there were preparations for that night’s festival and we walked down alleyways through another market where a lot of people were wearing Bai costume.

Preparations for Festival

Family in Monastery town in Bai costume

We then went to shipping village where nets of very small fish were drying.  We walked through the back of the village past the 500 year old Banyan tree and then back in van to another vantage spot where we could see a temple on an island.  There is a legend attached to the island about Buddha dropping rock in the sea.  We declined a visit to a final temple and got back to hotel at 6.00ish in time for a quick shower before dinner.

Delicious looking food

Drying fish in nets on pavements - they also dried them
on the roads causing motorists to only use one lane

Old man under a Banyan tree

Went with Sylvia and Russ and Dennis to GoGo Bar for dinner where we had a good assortment of noodles, vegetables, rice, chicken and peanuts. Then it was back to our street for festivities which involved lots of very noisy firecrackers and lighting of wooden poles with flags on them.

Firecrackers in Street

Next day we headed off to Kumming.  Road was pretty good and we arrived at 2.30. Town was very big and did not look very interesting and hotel was basic with no airconditioning and dirty carpets. Everyone headed out for lunch but I went for a walk. There was nothing of great interest to see although there was a quite nice market behind the hotel but it was only selling the same things as before. Found a bakery and had a delicious egg custard. Back to hotel to blog or at least write up blog and early night.

On the road to Kumming

Up at 5.00 for a 6.00 start. It was still dark when we headed off to Jinghong The scenery changed again with it becoming more tropical and rice was replaced by tea. At one stage we saw signs for wild elephants but did not see any. After noodle stop for lunch, it was a short run into town which looked rather nice. Unfortunately we weren't near the parks or riverside restaurants and it was very hot so did not feel like walking. Our final Chinese meal was on a pavement near the hotel. The dishes kept coming and were mostly good but I think I am ready for a change of cuisine now.  It would be our last evening with George.

Pavement eating

George - the legend!

New day and a new country was our destination. We were all sorry to say goodbye to George who has been such a help and a great friend to us in China.


Rubber tapping



Steve with his little brother, our George

On our way to the border we passed more beautiful China and discovered that the plantations of trees we had been seeing were in fact rubber trees with taps on them. There were also banana plantations. Leaving China proved to be very easy and efficient, entering Laos was a bit of a muddle as we ended up being charged for two extra visas which involved the young man having to recount all the money and visas. It didn’t really hold us up as Calypso was also proving problematic.

Eventually we were in and immediately the scenery changed again with little villages with straw and wooden huts. We reached the village of Luang Nam Tha easily along winding road and our room was small but comfortable. I cleared everything out of the truck and packed all non-essentials into one bag with the intention of shipping stuff back to Australia. After a wander through town, we met for drinks on the breezy balcony and then went for a wonderful Indian meal.

First photo of Laos

The Thoulasith Guest House was a very relaxing place to be and I was up early and sitting on the balcony in the relative cool writing my diary and posting photos to Facebook. Melissa and I hired bikes and after a rather wobbly start we went round market and headed off down main road with the Boat Landing Restaurant as our destination. Unfortunately our little map was not the best and we never found it so had to wait for breakfast until we got back to the town at lunchtime! It was lovely cycling along past the paddy fields even though the road was a little busy. After a good lunch of green papaya salad (spicy), aubergine salad (still on the quest for the perfect aubergine recipe – this was not the one) and Lao iced coffee (delicious), we headed back to market and bought some fruit. We were both rather sunburnt so a quiet afternoon before heading out to the Minority Restaurant for dinner where I had a wonderful soup of banana flowers, pork, lemon grass, chilli and other things which was light and delicious.

On bike ride

On the third day in Luang Nam Tha I hired a bike again and rode up to the Stupa which was a bit of an effort as bike did not have gears and there was a long pebbly road that I had to push it up but it was worth the effort. The main temple was very grand and round the back there was another little temple. I then cycled along the back road past the paddy fields with rice at different stages of development. I was feeling more confident on the bike and really enjoying cycling through the countryside. The Lao people are very polite and even a man driving an enormous front end loader stopped backing up to let me cycle past. Children called out as I rode past and it wasn’t too hot which made it all the most pleasant. Having hit the main road, I found the Boat Landing Restaurant down an unmade track. It was a lovely chilled place on the banks of the Mekong and I had a delicious banana milkshake. The fruit shakes here are just wonderful and mango has become a firm favourite. The Restaurant has little cabins which looked lovely – maybe one day I will be back.

Outside Monastery



View from the Stupa



Boys who stopped to say hello



Me at Boat Landing Restaurant



Little Boys playing in the Mekong River

Cabin at Boat Landing Restaurant

Denis and young man from Thoulasith Guest House

Back in town, off to the market again where I bought sausage and bread for tomorrow’s packed lunch. Dinner was in the night market – roast duck with papaya salad which was so hot it nearly blew my head off!

Laos is going to be a great country to visit if the first few days are anything to go by.  This trip continues to amaze and delight me and I feel so fortunate to have been able to spend six months travelling like this.