My Article for Newsletter at Lynch Fluid Controls, Canada

Laos PDR

(Please Don't Rush)

For last couple years my life has brought me around the world. I have visited 33 countries. Yet my favourite ones are Canada, Switzerland and Laos. In this article I am going to share some things I have learned about Laos. I grabbed the opportunity to go to Laos as soon as it presented itself to me, because as I like to say “it is not about being lucky but being ready for the opportunities that come your way”. It also helps knowing what you are after, but that is another story ;)

I went to Luang Prabang, Laos as an Assistant of the Leader of a tailored trip by a Swiss company Indago for Hong Kong International School.

It didn't take long and Laos become one of my most favourite countries that i've traveled to. It's amazing how peaceful and chilled the streets are. It’s not a unusual to see buddhist monks walking around this little town during the daily alms giving ceremony and as we instructed our group “Please do not touch monks of monkeys!” One can easily cross the street in without being too brave (in India this took me 10 minutes). The town of Luang Prabang is very green thanks to all the trees, has welcoming temperature and at night its slow paced life is topped with romantic lights of the night market street.

Laos fascinates me with its Laos PDR “Please don't rush” attitude. In fact this is what makes this place so laid back and special. However this can easily become a pain in the neck when traveling with a big group like we did. Especially when the bus which is meant to pick up your group from the airport doesn’t turn up with barely 10 out of 32 confirmed seat belts.

My second day in Luang Prabang started off with a 6am morning run. Yes! Finally back on my running routine. Run around Mt Phousi, a hill in the middle of the town with a budhist temple, and then to the confluence of the Nam Khan river into Mekong River that flow though the town. Seeing the town waking up reminded me that’s one of the reasons why I love my morning runs.

Part of our one week trip with the group was a 3 days service work project in a remote village, 3 hour drive from Luang Phabang and hour hike in. At this point of time we didn't know what an adventure lies ahead of us. It’s usually my job to entertain kids while hiking however this time the entertainment was provided. The narrow trail meandering through the surrounding mountains, rainforest and from time to time overlooking rice paddies was filled with blood sucking creatures (understand leaches). So you can imagine what a fun it was to watch the  female part of our group freaking out and screaming. I had to knock off several leaches that had attached themselves on my shoes, however had to brave not to show my fears and enforce this craziness.

The village was very welcoming. It was home to about 10 families from 3 different ethnic groups and their dozen ducks, chicken, pigs, puppies, water buffalos. The families lived in houses on stilts and cooked in a big pot over the fire. Their squat down toilets and bathing in a 0.5m deep river in sarons were out of comfort zone for some members of our group (note: these kids come from quite wealthy families). However the biggest challenge for me personally was seeing a our dinner being killed in front of my eyes. Ex.: a rooster choked and hanging with his eye balls rolled up right next to the door to our “bathroom”. Couldn't touch any of the meat that came out as our dinner and claimed myself a temporary vegetarian. So instead I filled my stomach with bowls of sticky rice which quickly became the only food I touched for the rest of our stay in the village. Thinking of which, every morning I could see kids leaving for school nibbling of a big ball of sticky rice which the main food for all the poor families. So I guess I wasn't that special after all.

In the rural areas of Laos people live very simple life. One night I watched a 4 year old boy play with a cockroach. He found it quite cool to make this poor bug into a little car and drove it through the dirt ground under the table. The daily schedule in the village was easy. You get up with the first rooster crows (at 4:30am you wish someone had eaten that one for dinner) and you lie down to sleep with sunset. The walls of the houses on the stilts are made out of dry leaves so any sound can be heard through the village.

Main focus of our service project was to build a community centre for the villagers. We carried hundred of buckets of sand, pebbles, water from the river and mixed molter for the brick layers on the ground. Apart from the building site we spent a day harvesting wild rice on the hills near by accompanied by the locals. The hills didn't seem too steep to me but the kids came back swearing they almost died there (LOL). We also became specialists on planting mango trees around the local school and played with the kids after work. All but one villager didn't speak English so we did our best to learn basic words in Laotian.

Sabadi - Hello

Kapchai - Thank you

Lakon - Goodbye

Non lap fandi - Good Night

Sabadi tansa - Good Morning

Dilaj/ Namlaj - That's Nice

Coming back the the civilised world with toilets, showers, comfy beds and wifi made  us appreciate all the things we take for granted in our daily lives. In the last 2 days of our stay we visited a Moon Bears Rescue Centre (www.freethebears.org.au) and swam at the Kuang Si waterfalls near by.

Traveling to countries this different to your own really makes you think. Think and appreciate what you have, who you are and where you were born. In a way seeing the poorest people in the rural areas makes me feel guilty for having my stomach full with good food and eating as much as I feel like. Because majority of the people in Laos and actually in the world can't. But the local people seem happy. Happy for the little they have. Maybe we should all come to see the life here to realise this. Because it's not having a big house, shiny car or design cloths you rarely wear that matter. It’s living your life and sharing the important moments with people who you love and who matter to you. It’s making the best out of who you are and what this world holds for you.

Laos Traveling Journal

28/10
In the rural areas of Laos people live very simple life. Tonight it was a 4 year old boy playing with a cocroach. He found it quite cool to make this poor bug that makes most of female westerners run away screaming into what you call a little car driving it through the dirt ground under the table.
Laos fascinates me with its Laos PDR (please dont rush) & "no problem"s & "dont worry"s. In fact this is what makes this place so laid back and special. However this can easily become a pain in the ass when traveling with a big group like we did.
Today started off with a 6am morning run. Yes! Finally back on my running routine. Run along the river. The temperature was really pleasant in comparison to other south asian countries. Met a few other runners on the way.
Our 3 hour long drive to the start of our hike into the village was full of teenager based topics such a "how many celebrities have you met?" Hike in was quite adventurous thanks to the lovely blood sucking creatures (leaches). Had to be brave not to freak out as I had to knock off a few of them climbing omy shoes. Village & villagers were very welcoming. Squat down toilets and bathing in the river in our sarons became another challenge for us. However the biggest challenge for me personally was seeing a duck being killed for our dinner. Couldnt touch it when it came cooked on our table. So instead I filled my stomach with lots of sticky rice which quickly became the main food on my plate for most of the meals in the village. Spent the evening playing guitar a nd singing. It was nice to get some music going after so long.

Words to remember:
Sabadi - hello
Kapchai - thank you
Lakon - goodbye
Non lap fandi - good night
Sabadi tansa - good morning
Dilaj/ Namlaj - that's nice

29/10
The "rice" day. Spent the day harvesting rice on a steep hill as well as eating it for lunch&dinner. Played with the little village kids and bath in the river for the first time.

30/10
Today I became a specialist on planting mango trees and did a bit of art&crafts with the local school kids. Another bath in the river and finally  Baci ceremony connecting the spirits back to our bodies with its magic atmosphere.

1/11
Laos is slowly becoming the most favorite country that i've traveled to. It's amazing how peaceful and chilled the streets are. Welcoming temperature, slow pace of life topped with romantic lights of the night market street. I dont usually feel this safe and relaxed in a new country after spending only a week in it. But i guess this one is different.

9/11
Once again feeling very gratefull for being a daugther of my dad, the pilot of czech airlines. Not only he saved me 24h of traveling (Moscow-Geneva-Prague) and spending another night at the airport by organizing the tranfer of my bag which got checked in from bangkok all the way to geneva but thanks to him they placed me to the International VIP Lounge with free food, drinks & wifi for 5 hours. Couldnt wish for more. Great welcome back gift dad! Xxx To make it even better he is flying the plane home!!!!! I cant be more happy. Seriously, thank you thank you thank you whoever you are up there

Cambodia 10/10

Wondering if my car made it back home already. Today was based around temples. Visited the famous Angkor Wat, however my favorite was a smaller temple with huge smiling faces. It would be amazing to see this place with all its kings and people back in the old times.

Afternoon belonged to the Amazing Race with my team won! Counting from 1-10 in khmer, going to the moon photo, old market, eating fried bugs and frogs at a basket market, planting trees, learning a local Apsura dance and tangram puzzle were part of this challenge. But the best part was riding our tuktuks from one challenge to another using khmer to navigate our driver.

Dinner was a BBQ at a local restaurant. Challenged myself to eat weird things including shrimps that still had their heads or some kind of sea mushroom. Pretty tired after waking up at 5am to give alms to monks at one of the temples. Tomorrow waking up even earlier. 4:15. Last day of the trip here we come. 

Cambodia 8/10

Coming back from a lovely dinner at the Tara Boat my thoughts are all about how would it feel to live here your whole life. Cambodia is a place that really makes yu think. Think and appreciate what you have, who you are and where you were born. Seeing these families on floating houses makes me feel guilty for having my stomach filled with good food that i didnt really have to earn and eating as much as i wish. Because most of the people here cant. But the local people seem happy. Happy for the little they have. Maybe we should all come to see the life here to reslize this. Because it's not having a big house, shiny car or fancy cloths that you barely wear that matter.

I dont need to travel to countries that are same to my own. I want to visit places like Cambodia  that challenge my comfort zone and make me think and truelly connerct with myself. Do things that I've never done before. Not man made ones but things that local people here do everyday. 

Cambodia 7/10

Today we wen biking. Developed a better way of counting them (girls,boys,travel groups) and of getting them to be quite. Was quite happy that i was the mtb specialist when i was organizing the kids for biking. Didnt have enough tandem bikes so had to swop the kids in tuktuks around. A few of them werent feeling good and as we stoped for our first break i started to realize how much stress is to be a group leader. A boy started to vomit, sun was turning the heat on and i had hard time counting the kids. The fact that we stopped just next to a place were 3 pigs were being killed at the same time didnt make it any better. Hearing them screaming for life made me wanna cry. 

Second half of the biking went better, kids got better at riding though few fell in the water surronding the road they came out with big smiles.

Evening program was circus workshop and show. Workshop was really cool. Kids enjoyed it, and we all made it save back to the hotel while it was pouring down heavily. Discovered I got another week of work in November and got an email from school about my thesis. I wonder how i'll explain to my prof that i'm not working on my thesis very much.....