Inspired by a 60 years old cyclist

I was on a ferry back to Singapore earlier this week and I was very lucky to get to know a very determined stranger on the ferry. Mr Jan van Susteren is a 60 year-old gentleman who is on a journey from New Zealand to the Netherlands, mainly on his bicycle.

The encounter with Jan immediately reminded me of the bicycle that I bought a couple of months back when I thought I was going to pick up cycling as a hobby. As the picture below clearly shows,

even on the day I collected my bicycle, I did not ride it home..

I even bought some lighting accessories from the internet thinking that I will be cycling often at night..

But guess what? In the past six months, I only managed to really cycle about two times..Can you imagine how I must have felt when I met a 60 year-old man going around about half of the world on his bicycle alone?

Anyway, after this chanced encounter with Jan, I am greatly inspired by how far a human can go on pedal power. While I am not planning to see the world on my bicycle yet, I will take Jan's advice to start off on a more regular basis..and I will follow Jan's Blog and Facebook updates as a form of support for him on his cycling journey. I hope you can do the same as well.

The other guy in the above picture is a Singaporean by the name Bob. I had requested for him to email me a few other photos we took with Jan. If I receive them, I will update the photos here.

Cheers!

Paddling in the Cityscape

I attended the event "Paddling in the Cityscape" this morning. I had just recovered from a round of muscle aches and wonder if I will get another round in the coming days. I have not paddled this hard since more than a decade ago and I definitely must admit I must be getting on in age. I am particularly impressed with the fact that they have arranged for an ambulance with 2 medics on standby for the event(I only have a pic of one of them here).

The reason why I signed up for this event is partly because it is a good opportunity for me to see the city from a different angle..usually I am on the shore looking into the water, today I was in the water looking at the shore! It was also good exercise for me..something was wrong with my canoe(or was it just me?)..it kept going zig-zag and there was no way I could make it go straight such that it'll be more energy efficient for me..


Why I am hapering over this fact is because I was a Sea-Pro' canoeist before and I am totally ashamed for my canoe behaving like that of a beginner. I dare not to tell anyone there I ever learnt how to paddle before. Of course, as expected, I was the last few to come back(I should be glad that I could make it back!).


Anyway, I chucked all my belongings in a waterproof bag and do not have much pictures to show. I was told I could go find Kallang CC YEC Facebook page to see the photos when they are uploaded.


What I have are some photos before the commercement of the paddling which is the Kallang CC YEC Biannual GM 2011 which is graced by the GOH Grassroots Adviser Mr Edwin Tong,who is also the MP for M-K GRC. He thanked the outgoing YEC and pledged full support for the incoming YEC(which I think more or less are the same few people). 

I did not know that the YEC election is part of the event and it was quite interesting for me to witness the whole process altough the election was a walkover. Before that, I was wondering why the YEC were already wearing the YEC shirts before the election..the walkover was the reason. They took the PAYM pledge to be sworn into duty.

See the full gallery on Posterous

F1 Singapore Night Race 25th-27th Sep 2009

My apologies for taking so much time to update my blog. I had wanted to strive to update my blog at least once a month and guess what? Today is the last day of the month..and updating my blog is not on my 'to-do' list!

If its not on my 'to-do' list and I do it,i'll consider it as 'fire-fighting'. Anyway,I have been busy being in direct participation in the recent F1 events and I would like to share with my readers what I saw behind the scenes. This,I believe even people who paid $5k for the sky suites tickets may not even get to see ;)

1st,the Pit Straight,one of the best locations especially if you want to look at the teams in the pit lanes. Being straight would also means the highest speeds is likely to be here(so is the start & end of the race)..one bad thing though..they were really so fast till you almost cannot see the cars when they zoom right past you. Here's a view of the Pit Straight from the Corporate suites.


Night view of the Pit Straight from the Sky Terrace..

Since this a night race,a lot of lighting are employed to illuminate the tracks..much more than last year. This is to ensure that its brighter to the video cameras(which is different to the human eye) covering the events for the world audiences. The following view is from Pit Entrance Grandstand.

In fact,the lights are so bright that they seemed to illuminate the whole town too..

One of the best places to watch the race from in hot weather Singapore is from the air-conditioned Club or Sky suites.From here,you have the option to go out thru a glass door onto the private outdoor grandstand should you wish to...

...if not,you can still enjoy your free-flow wines and champagne inside..you cannot bring any glasses out of the glass door for safety reasons..

Anyway,the original cost for a sky suite ticket was sgd$7500,but nearer the event,they did dropped the price to $5000. This makes the corporate suites very restricted in access due to the free-flow F&B.



The most restricted areas in this event is actually across the track on the opposite side: - The Paddock area.In this area, authorized people are issued a paddock pass and they will not care who you are,they will only recognize the pass. Security is especially tight in this area as the racing teams and their cars are located in the pits here.


The Paddock building at night..

Right beside the Paddock building behind the race offices,I came across 2 interesting areas. I always thought that they must have a gasoline station to supply fuel for the race cars,but I could not be more wrong. All these cars use very special fuel which is some what different from what our ordinary cars uses. They come in "200kg" steel oil drums and are stored inside air-conditioned containers..these rows of containers make up the Fuel Store.

Can anyone make a guess which is my favourite team?? :)


Next to the Fuel Store is this area known as the Gas Compound. Each team have their cylinders of gas ready.Nitrogen,Helium,Hydrogen..can you guess what they are used for?

When I heard that the cars arrived,I was so excited as I have never seen them for real so up close before..so I made a trip to the pits..

When I got there, my excitement was a bit dampened because the race cars are not unpacked yet :P


Anyway, the F1 night races in Singapore has been so far so good. The Singapore GP learned a lot from their maiden event last year and made improvements to this year's race.


I am very sure that the patrons to Singapore Night Race enjoyed themselves very much. Next year's F1 in Singapore could be the last time they will be using the Marina Bay Street circuit..I would like to invite you to come and soak up the atmosphere to get the full experience.
I am very glad to have the opportunity this year to go behind the scenes for the event; It makes me understand more how everything came together to make up this international event rather than just sit at home or at the grandstand to watch the race.

Business trip to Shunde/Foshan, Guangzhou, China.

It is unusual for me to wake up early when I go on trips. Due to the long day ahead and the fact that we are taking the public transport to Foshan(佛山)in Guangzhou today, I woke earlier than usual.

1st,we take a public bus..

I noticed that every time the bus pulls into the last station,there will be cleaners cleaning up the exterior of the bus. Therefore even the air is more polluted,the bus still look cleaner as compared to Singapore..I wonder how often are our SBS buses given a wash..
The interior of the bus is clean and quite comfortable. No matter how far your destination,as long as you are on this route,you pay 2RMB..This is what I call "public" transport..

The bus interchange is at the famous Guangzhou Railway Station..I have never seen so many people walking about all together at the same time before I came here!

We had to take the inter-province' bus at the Provincial Bus Station nearby..

and arrived at Foshan Bus station..

and switched to take a taxi to get to Shunde..

In Shunde district is this approximately 10km(no,I did not type wrongly) stretch selling furniture..the Shunde Furniture Wholesale Market.

It looks something like this..many of them 3 to 5 times the size of Ikea Tampines stretching as far as the eye could see..

In fact, the interior of the furniture super-mall looks very posh and it was really out of my world to know that they are all selling furniture.

..and they classify each section by using the word "World"..not an over statement to me..

After ordering our furniture and confirming the delivery arrangements, we decided to make our way back using a different form of public transport: The Subway!

The thing that impresses me about the subway train service here is the free umbrella rental service. Riders who need an umbrella can rent it by placing a 20RMB deposit and can return it at any subway stations..seems like both bus and subway service is at least a notch above Singapore's "world class" transportation system..(note in the photo below inside the office the Chinese Characters "Service from the Heart"..can someone please teach SMRT these 4 words please?)


Anyway, this trip was finally concluded when all our orders were received and loaded into our waiting container at Nantian to ship back to Singapore..

A night of simple entertainment..

It was the eve of Vesak Day and I have been informed by friends in the drinking circle to 'fall-in' for a night of drinking at Good Cheers Pub.

Under normal circumstances,I would be very happy to oblige.. but I was still recovering from my illness and my body was loaded with a few kinds of medication, so I painfully declined the invitation.

Thus, my Friday evening started with a movie "the Ramen Girl"..it kind of tickled my funny bone such that my friend Alfred thought I was crazy. Straight after the movie, there was a very strong urge for me to eat ramen(you know,the other time alfred & myself saw a stingray swam past the screen,we had a strong urge to eat BBQ stingray too..and we did!), so me & my friend visited a Japanese Restaurant off Upp Thomson Road..Have not visited this place for a very long time, apparently, we over-ordered because we barely made it to 'last order'(..the group that came in after us was send back hungry..) and the irony was that we could not finish our 'ramen'.

After the 10pm dinner,we racked our brains thinking of any location(s) that we could go next without touching any alcohol. Seems to me like there are actually very limited night life in Singapore except drinking places. To cut it short, we ended up in Arab Street vicinity with the intention to smoke the shisha', carefully chose a Reis Turkish Cafe and was seated on a carpet inside.

Along came a 6yr old boy by the name Javier, still in his kindergarten uniform,sat himself down beside me and suggested playing a card came. Boy..his card game' is super boring & meaningless, but Alfred & myself took turns to entertain him while he kept telling us what is going to happen next in the movie on show(think he watched them many times over).My main concern was why Javier was hanging at a place like this since his schooling hours and why he was not tucked in bed yet(he sat with us till we left at almost 3am)? We later learned that his mum is the owner/operator/partner(something like that) of the cafe.

Javier is like a mascot of Reis Turkish Cafe, everybody seems to know him.When I saw Javier, I insisted Alfred to use his phone to snap a picture of Javier with me. He is a very nice kid, well behaved and well mannered..this some how brings out the 'fatherly nature' in me. It makes me feel like its about time for me to be a father! :P Well..I am still a few steps away..must find someone that I can marry 1st.

Maybe I should just make a trip down today to try the Turkish food..but hopefully i'll see Javier again.

Of Trains and Stations

The train is often my least frequent mode of transport back home in Singapore(unless you are referring to the subway) and I do enjoy my time on a train. Time on a train is about the journey,it is not as fast as flying, it is noisy, and sometimes,the loo stinks..We could have flown back to Bangkok via Vientiane,but I planned for this train journey and got my friend in Bangkok to purchase the 1st class sleeper tickets way before the actual journey as they are usually sold out.

Hanging around the train station for half a day is really pointless,that I did not plan in advance.However,we observe some things that we normally would not think of..the train is a good cargo transporter judging by the amount of goods unloaded at this out of the way station.

My most distant memories of my 1st train ride were with my parents when i was still a kid.The journey must be to Malaysia..I mean where else can you 'train' to from Singapore?I think back then,the train must have looked like the below picture..non-air-con cabin.

One of my favourite part of the train..they always have a canteen' area where they serve food and drinks.I can barely remember eating an egg back then on the journey with my parents while watching the vegetation and the villages zoom you by.
Nice memories..but since now,since its about the journey,I am glad we were very comfortable in our sleeper cabin.

pardon my socks..I think my sister has got nicer ones.. :P

Nongkhai to Bangkok by train.

After a good night's rest..I was woken up by the sounds of drum beats and trumpets. The music came from a building a few blocks away,I assumed it must be a school band.

As I made my way down to scout around for a breakfast place,I noticed traffic was stopped at the small lanes and the music is drawing nearer..

It was actually some kind of celebration for a bank down the road and the band marched all the way across the town.
I decided to focus on the breakfast I mentioned earlier and came across what I deemed to be a suitable menu for breakfast that day: The Danish Baker.


This kind of reminds me of the Scandinavian Bakery the day before,only that this place is not as cool in weather and here,they offer 2 warm buns!

I also added to my order a chicken pie,since I have not had one for a long while.When the Chicken Pie came up after my 1st set..never did i expect it to be a set too! I thought it would just be a pie.

I took the brown gravy and poured it onto the pie.

The pie was pretty good..but maybe i was too full to really enjoy it.
12pm was the time to check out of our guest house,but our train schedule was at 6.30pm,and with our big bags and boxes of the the famous Vietnamese food,we decided to go super early to the train station and wait till our train is ready to move.


There were not many people there when we arrived..its like we have the whole station to ourselves..With so much time to wait out,we just go around taking pictures..



I did came across a staff napping on the stuffy cabin in the hot sun..


Thinking back..we must have been very bored spending so much time in waiting..

Crossing into Nongkhai, Thailand.

After crossing the border into Thai soil across the Friendship Bridge,my feeling back then was like finally returning to familiar grounds again.

Despite the tattered flag in the above photo,we were really glad to see it again. It signifies our completion of one part of the journey and coming back to a familiar part,altough none of us have ever been to Nongkhai before.

Of course,just like any parts of our journey before this on the trip,we did not manage to book any hotel here and thus,our 1st task in this border town is to look for a place to put up for the night.

Simple,clean air-con room with TV at only 400 baht a night..this place is known as Huan-Lai Apartment.

We only managed to find this place with the help of some very helpful tuk-tuk drivers that picked us up from the bus station. The tuk-tuks here are not like those from Bangkok,instead,they more influenced by the Laos type. Here's a photo of how it looks like..

After putting down our stuff at Huan Lai,we started to go around exploring the surrounding areas. A short walking distance away(about 8 minutes)there is a very huge market where you can find anything from clothing,toys,food and all other necessities.

Right beside this market,if you can find any pathways along the rows of shops or walk through any of the food shops that open up at the other side,you will actually come to a seemingly newly built walkway along the length of the river that overlook the other bank belonging to Laos.
We managed to take a rest right after the sun had set and soon,its time for dinner plans. Our plan back then was..we had no plans. We got a tuk-tuk(since they are so helpful and friendly) and asked him to bring us to the most famous restaurant in Nongkhai.We even asked for him to send us back after that because this restaurant is outside of the town.The price for the ride was 100 baht per trip,but there were really no regrets!
The food was really wonderful!I guess all of us enjoy Thai dishes more..
The 1st to come on the table..Tom Yum Gung..hot,spicy and full of ingredients..its better than what we had in Bangkok.

Then along came "Braised duck with mushroom"..

..and also our usual fried egg with minced pork(I still think this dish in Laos may taste better)..

Last but not least,deep fried shrimp cake..crispy on the outside,juicy and soft on the inside..the photo actually cannot do justice to this dish..

Everything about the dinner was right..the location,the cool weather,the hot food.I really wish to have dinner there again.

Travel to Vientiane, Laos PDR (Part 1)

After a short flight,

we finally arrived at Wattay International Airport, Vientiane, the capital of Laos.



Welcome to Vientiane !

Of course,as usual,we did not managed to book a hotel in advance,so at the taxi counter,we were at a loss what to say when asked about our destination. I recalled a hotel name and got us right into the heart of the city,unfortunately,it was fully taken up for the evening.

The best solution out of this was simply to ask the reception if they have any other places nearby that they could recommend? The staff was really helpful and we managed to find it in the next street after 2 corners.

After dumping our bags in the room,we rushed out to explore the city for food. We were really famished and this place is bigger than Luang Prabang and its our 1st time in this unfamiliar place.

After walking about 20 mins in the relatively warmer weather(about 26-28 degrees celcius),we came across a western/oriental/indian fusion kind of restaurant and the name is East meets West.

I ordered curry chicken rice to see if the curry is any different from Singapore.



It is not as spicy,but the aroma is more intense and I really cleaned up my plate.
As for my sister,she got herself a plate of Pasta..I think it tasted great too..and when you are hungry,everything seems to taste very good :)



Looks delicious isn't it?



My Thai friend got his fried rice with pork..



My Singapore friend ordered rice noodles with pork. At first I was wondering what that was on the menu,but when it arrived,I realised that was what I would call 'bee hoon' in Singapore.



Now, my dear readers..Which one do you think is the most delicious of them all? :)


After the wonderful lunch, we decided to visit 2 places of attractions on that day itself altough it is already close to 4pm (It means we do not have much time left for the day!)

The 2 locations are the famous That Luang Stupa and the Patuxai' and we definitely did not have the time to walk there.As we were walking on the street towards the direction that we wanted to go,we saw a row of tuk tuks..the local 3 wheel motorised transport and they wasted no time to get us in. In fact,they actually have with them a price list with colour photos..however,we still thought it was pretty steep because initially they tried charging us per pax per destination.

After a bit of negotiation and showmanship on our part,we managed to lower the price because the 2 destinations are actually quite near to each other. Spend money to save time or spend time to save money? We did not have much time then.

We arrived at the That' Luang Stupa 1st..They were constructing a major road right in front of the entrance,so we have to walk a bit.



The entrance to the stupa seems to be surrounded by a man made park and its quite uplifting to the spirits to see kids play on the carpet grass fields. They have nothing much to play with..no swings or merry-go-round..only friends. How I miss my friends..


Anyway,the entrance was as far as we got to..the place was already closed for the day. I noticed the entrance fees here seems so much cheaper than Luang Prabang..even for foreigners!


This place was built in 1566AD..but I really do not know how long ago was that!
Read the history from the following photo if you got good eyesight :)


I think the golden stupa reflecting rays of the setting sun looks beautiful..Allow me to break today's post here with the next picture :)

Travel to Luang Prabang, Laos PDR (Part 10)

Good gracious..Luang Prabang in 10 parts and not finished yet? Maybe I should not go into too much details or I'll never be able to finish and move on within the year :P

This episode, let me bring you to one of the most temple in Luang Prabang, so because it is perched on top of a hill(300 over steps up) that overlook the whole city.

The view that you get when you arrive to the top is pretty breath taking..partly because of the climb.I do not think it is worth the 20,000 kip entrance fee..but can you imagine going thousands of miles to reach that place and not pay it a visit? If I don't, I must be crazy.

On my way up,I came across two pots of flowers and the flower pot stands. Generous gifts from the USA during the Vietnam war era.





Besides the view,I climbed all the way up to see this.....


and this.....sun set!



It was really not easy for me to take that shot because there were a lot of tourist cramming to take the same shots and most of them were taller than me! See below:


The next morning,I woke up very early at about 6am for a must see event that I had missed out for the past 2 days. Really wonder how I managed to wake so early..
This ceremony is known locally as 'Tak Bak',the giving of alms to monks and it happens every morning because what the monks can eat are given by the local community. Monks make their rounds and have to be back at their temple by 8am and they are not supposed to eat after noon.



What attracts me is the feeling that the culture and the community bonding here is much stronger than in Thailand. I really hope they can preserve this beautiful tradition and not let progress weaken it.

After the rounds,I woke my sister and my friend and readied them for breakfast. Sticking to our rule of not eating at the same place,we discovered our best breakfast on this last morning in Luang Prabang.

This whole place practically looked like a farang town,so of course we must try the authentic farang breakfast!


I was so excited when I happen to stand on the door step of Scandinavian Bakery..I ever read about it on a forum,so I told my sister,"Let's do this breakfast here!"


I cannot use words in my vocabulary to explain my satisfaction. My only regret was: Why din I discover this place earlier?? If I did,would I have had breakfast there everyday then?


All kinds of bread that you would expect to find in a real bakery..

Add on some fresh vegetables from the river bank nearby..

And my favourite ham omelet..the eggs in Luang Prabang simply taste different!

With a bit of spare time left before heading for the airport,I went alone revisit the river that I could not bear to part with..

But confirm last day always got something special. No,this special arrangement was not by me..It was by God,who created everything and make it so beautiful for His sons to enjoy..He gave me music and songs to go with the scenery..


This guy was just sitting at the next table strumming his guitar and singing English,Thai & Laotian songs..His voice was normal,but in the environment,its one of the most touching tunes I have heard for the whole trip!

We chatted a little and he was quite surprised that a Singaporean can speak Thai and find his way around in Luang Prabang. Hey Singaporeans and all global citizens..dun always go Bangkok shopping only,you can also drop by Luang Prabang while it is still holding its present charms!

With a very heavy heart,I handed my boarding pass for my next destination to the officer at the airport. Hopefully I can revisit the place one day and still be mesmerized by the city's charms.

Vientiane...Here I come!

Happy Lunar New Year+Luang Prabang Architecure

Its just past midnight and I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my readers a very healthy and wealthy Lunar New Year.

Normally at this time, every year in the past more than a decade,I would be at Kwang Meng Mountain' templein Bishan to pray and subsequently to the Kwan Im temple at Waterloo St. I still remember how it all started when I first obtained my driving license in 1997,I drove my Dad's lorry around filled with my friends.

 It was fun back then as we were the young ones. Now when I see my younger cousins earlier during reunion dinner, my memories shifted back to the past and I decided to blog about it. My cousin got a driving license too,but I do not think he is as adventurous as I was.

Of couse,as the years past us by, my group of friends still carry on the tradition. However,of course some of them got married,have their family and so on..and I am kind of like a Christian now..but yet miss this tradition. I would have carry on, but today,this activity may not hold much meaning for me anymore..not without my friends.

I guess life is just like that, people come and go..or stay.It is not like me to feel melachonic on Lunar New Year's eve,but I do treasure my friends.

Ok,enough of the Lunar New Year..Let me show you more of Luang Prabang:

Today I am going to touch on the aspect of Luang Prabang that amazes me very much: its architecure. If I am not wrong,the Laos Government is also having a struggle of whether to allow the buildings to go higher to cater to the demand-which at the same time will cause them to lose the UNESCO World Heritage Site status of to still keep its charms and let the demand overflow.

I was very impressed by the buildings..many of them older than me..or even older than my dad!

Personally,I think the buildings..at a maximum height of 2 storeys max fits just right to give the city its rustic charms and I hope that they will keep it this way for the future generations to enjoy.

However if one day they can no longer keep the city like it is now..I am glad I have managed to 'freeze' this era with the follow photos for our future generations to refer to.

Now that you have seen the architecure, do you think this heritage should be preserved?

Travel to Luang Prabang, Laos PDR (Part 9)

The next morning, my sister was not going to wake up anytime soon and I decided to explore the city on foot with Aey. Getting sick of temples,we decided to open our eyes to other adventures..
How about going onto the uncompleted bridge? :)

Just Do It! Altough there was a guy wanting to bring us across by boat,we took the risk on the flimsy bamboo,uncompleted bridge.

We had always viewed the rows and rows of vegetable from across the river..but now I can finally touch them..It calls for a smoking celebration!


After crossing through the farm,we climbed up a very steep slope and discovered a paradise of sorts..It looked like some kind of resort under the shades of bamboo(I mean real bamboo plants) and part of it was still under construction..the bamboo huts etc..but this place is in the perfect setting,shaded and in cool weather,overlooking the other side of the bank(where we came from)..




Oh..so it is a restaurant! Name of it: Dyen Sabai..well,we were hungry..so time to order our breakfast/lunch.I order apple fruit shake, fresh vegetables,fried rice and my friend ordered his favourite fried egg with minced pork..but we were surprised the egg was below the rice.It was quite creative! See the pic below.


I went back and got my sister to the same place again..I guess she was really happy about this place too..It was already like 3pm..but guess what she ordered for her past-lunchtime' kind of lunch?


Well..life is always full of ironies..American breakfast and mango crepe'..while she is slowly taking her time to eat,my friend and myself being too full or too tired made ourselves feel at home..

On our way back,we managed to snap a few pictures of monks building the bridge and kids playing around it. Life here is simple,but they have their fun too!

Travel to Luang Prabang, Laos PDR (Part 8)

We arrived back to Luang Prabang City at the onset of nightfall and walked the night market as usual. At the other end of the night market,we found some sandwich stalls. Enticed by the wide variety of ingredients,we decided to try..half a sandwich each. Its like a generic version of Subway.Ingredients includes pork floss,ham,chicken and egg strips,lots of vegetables and mayonaise.

After that,we managed to get directions from a local to a back alley. To our surprise,the back alley sells all kinds of food at a not so inflated pricing. Our particular interest is the roast chicken. They have roast fish too,but I guess roast chicken should go better with beer.

Eating it hot on a cold night should bring you long lasting memories :)
Unfortunately,our memories were eroded some what by the amount of beer we consumed in celebration of the destinations we visited earlier in the day.

We got pretty drunk..but my friend Aey managed to grab my camera and took the following shot..

Of course,the next day,he could not remember he took photo of this girl..luckily,my non-drinking sister was able to vouch for me :)
For me,I could not really remember how I could walk back to our guest house..If I did not remember wrongly,I bought some more beer at the guest house(because there were no TV!)..but I fell asleep before I could finish half of it.

Travel To Luang Prabang, Laos PDR (Part 7)

After the Pak Ou Caves, Weaving Village, and temple(s) visit,we barely have time to visit our last destination: Kouang Xi Waterfalls..Together with the Bear Rescue Centre along the way.

The water is cool and is of a greenish blue tone and provided us with many photo taking opportunities as we climb all the way up to the Highest(and strongest) waterfall at the end. The mists created was so strong that it got my camera lenses wet..

Enjoy the photos:

Travel to Luang Prabang, Laos PDR (Part 6)

Now we arrive at our next destination..The weaving village Bang Xanghai.

The 1st welcome we received upon arrival are rows and rows of home made Lao Whisky..hmm..i thought this is a weaving village??
The extraordinary point about these whisky is shown below..I was given a small cup to try..and then I saw what was it made of..

I decided that the whisky is not really my type(s)..so I declined to purchase and walked in..saw some chickens..

..of course against a backdrop of fine cloths that were freshly woven from silk and other materials. Of course,my sister also took the opportunity to show off her weaving skills..

but along came a native competitor... :P

We ended up buying some silver(instead of cloth) in a weaving village..were we drunk from that small tiny cup of whisky we tried earlier? Or because we met a formidable salesgirl(see her facial expression when we tried telling her we were not buying)??

Soon,its time we move on to the next destination..but that's not what I am going to talk about at the moment. I would like to point out that cars here are Left Hand Driven..

Most of the roads in Laos( I read about 70%) were unpaved..the 30% paved ones consists mainly of 2 lanes..one in each direction. I had observed that the seafarer's rule was practiced more as a rule of thumb. Look at the picture below..slow moving vehicles like the motorcycle will not move to the side to give way..they will still stubbornly in the middle of the lane and it will be the driver's prerogative to overtake. That means no one will ride/drive to the side for you to overtake..they will stick right in the middle of the lane..and you find your own opportunity to overtake at your own risk by cutting into the other lane.

We were on our way to the various famous temples in town..but I shall not touch too much on that. The next update shall be on our visit to a very beautiful waterfall..please stay tuned :)

Travel to Luang Prabang, Laos PDR (Part 5)

I woke up pretty early the next day, before 8am.

The weather is much colder than usual and I decided to have breakfast by the riverbank again.

As usual,I have to wait...and wait for my sister :)

After breakfast, the 1st attraction we chosen was to visit Pak Ou Caves. A normal journey would be about 1 hour plus journey by boat, but as it was the dry season, we could go by land to as near as possible and cross over by boat. We arrived at a village at the crossing point.

My sister and myself were fascinated by the farm animals that we saw..chicken(and chicks),ducks, piglets..Its like we had never seen them for real and we became excited like kids again!

The fact was apparent to us that we do appreciate the simple village life and everything moves around at a slower pace. People here virtually grow their own vegetables, rear their own meat..and enjoy what mother Nature got to offer them..let me add..catch their own fish too!

These fishes were just caught from the river and they were still alive. As we descend the sandy steps of the riverbank from the village, we have arrived at the crossing point.

Time to board the sampan boat and go search for the caves..

On our way to the upper cave,a bunch of kids tried to sell us various birds and rodent for us to set free..I bought a tiny bird in a bamboo cage from this kid..

The difference about the upper cave is that its totally dark inside and you will not realise what is one the wall until my camera flash bounced off the cave walls..Luckily this is only a stone dragon.. :P

The guard dog(puppy) at the entrance of the upper cave..so cute!

Before we knew it..its time for us to depart and move on to the next attraction : Ban Xang Hai weaving village. We subsequently carry on our journey on the minivan we arrived in and took some scenic photos along the way.