Sandalwood City

Arrived early afternoon in Vientiane, capital of Laos since the country became a French protectorate in the late 19th century.   Vientiane, pronounced Wieng-chan, wieng meaning 'place within the walls', translates as Sandwood City.   We'd taken a short and very comfortable 45-minute flight across mountainous terrain, courtesy of Lao Airlines.  Our plane was a small-ish propeller jobbie (probably has a more technical term than that), but, thankfully, nothing like the hair-raising, bone-shaking, seemingly Mafia-piloted propeller jobbie which Aeroflot used to lay on for the flight between Kiev and the Crimean peninsular that I and my colleagues Jane and Elena used fairly frequently to take when we were working there during the late 1990s.

When we arrived at our hotel - sadly, after Thong Bay bungalows, more of a boring Travelodge-style place - there was a lovely big basket of exotic fruits, complete with huge blue and gold bow, waiting for us.   This was a wonderful welcome present from our friend Jo, daughter of our great friend Cynthia, whom some of you will remember from the time she lived in The Quadrangle, before she deserted us for Dorset, and who we shall be spending Christmas with in Vietnam.  After we'd checked in, we had enough time to have a brief chat with Jo, over some gorgeous chilled drinks - iced coffee and banana shake for Andy, and orange-juice with lashings of mint for me and Jo.   Then it was off for an 'orientation walk' with our guide, which included a visit to the Independence Arch (a kind of pound-shop version of the Arch de Triomphe), marking Laos' freedom from French colonisation.   Apparently locals call it the 'vertical runway';  this is because, at the time of independence, France had donated money for huge supplies of concrete to build a runway for the airport, which the Laos government chose instead to use for this celebratory project.

After a trip to see the sun set over the Mekong, we set off with the group for a meal in the Makphet restaurant - a wonderful training centre established and supported by Friends International, as well as the Intrepid Foundation, to give the street-children of Vientiane the chance to develop their potential and find work.   The food was wonderful, perhaps the best we've had so far in Laos, which is saying something, and the young students were fastidious and courteous in serving us correctly, overseen and assessed the whole time by their scrupulous teachers.   A lovely occasion.

On our second day here (Friday, I think), we took a trip out to see Jo's house, about 4k out of the centre of town.   Andy and I were in a tuk-tuk, with Jo on her motor-bike, travelling behind, beside and occasionally in front of us.  There were a few slightly surreal moments, with Jo doing her 'tour-guide' bit, pointing out places of interest - or traffic manoeuvres of interest! - along the way.   Jo's house has a HUGE open-plan living/dining area, and a garden all around with mango, papaya, custard-apple, banana and other wonderful things growing in it.   We were welcomed there by Jo's three dogs - one called Littl'Un, a small 'handbag dog' of the kind which Sandra would love, a middle-sized one called Maya, and a large, boisterous golden labrador called Pumpkin - as well as by her mairbaan (cleaning lady) called Kam, meaning 'gold'.   With a house and garden that size to look after, we should think that anyone doing the housework would be regarded as gold!   Indeed, Kam and Jo took Andy and I back into town on the backs of their motorbikes - the first time in about 4 decades that I've been on the back of a motorbike.   Great fun.

We had lunch together in the centre of the city - yes, John, Jo did introduce us to Lap, apparently your favourite Lao dish.   The lap we had was minced pork, though it can be other meat or fish, with some not very hot spices, but with almost as much mint as minced meat - delicious.   Then off to a second place for some of the best Lao-grown coffee we've had, before Jo went off to work for the afternoon, and Andy and I went off for a full-body Lao massage - wonderful!.   We met Jo again for a meal in the evening.   On our way to our rendezvous location - the Spirit House restaurant and cocktail bar overlooking the Mekong - we noticed hundreds of stalls setting up along the river-bank, many with brightly-coloured lightbulb-shaped balloons stacked in box-like shelving at the back of the stall.   For 1,000 Kip each (a few pence), Andy and I were each given three darts to throw at these balloons.   We were both successful in bursting three balloons each, and won a couple of bottles of brightly-coloured orange squash for our efforts.   We learned later from Jo that all these stalls - food stalls, game stalls, handicraft stalls - were being set up in preparation for a major water festival this weeend - though we'll have left Vientiane before it gets under way.   Anyway, during our evening with Jo, we met lots of her friends and acquaintances (in fact, we started to wonder if Jo actually knows EVERYONE here in Vientiane, so numerous were the people - Lao, English, Australian, French, Kiwi - who were greeting her and exchanging news and gossip).   We met a fascinating New Zealander, Jean, an environmental scientist working with a huge Chinese-sponsored hydro-electric dam project in the north of Laos.   Her job is to undertake an environmental and social impact analysis for the mainly Hmong peoples whose lands and livelihoods will be impacted by this huge project.  

Well, it's now time to leave Vientiane and head by bus into the hill-tribe areas to the north-east of Laos, towards theVietnam border.   Tonight we'll be sleeping at a home-stay with the head of one of these hill-tribes, in what we've been warned will be some fairly primitive conditions.   Watch this space!

The 'Propellor-Jobbie'

The 'Vertical Runway'

Sunset Over The Mekong

Restaurant Run by Former Street Kids

180!

Jo, Between Her Two Favourite Houses