COPE museum in Vientiane

It was a heartening, sad and moving visit to the COPE museum that is part of the rehabilitation centre for those injured by UXOs. We met a young man called Peter Kim, a resident of the centre who has UXO injuries. Joel has spoken about him a few times. He was very happy to talk with us. He is blind and has no hands. He uses a cane held between his upper arm and his body. He recommended we look him up on Youtube and here is one of the clips

Shona's email of 23 December 2012

Merry Xmas to you all.

Have a wonderful Xmas day. here's a few highlights from our ride which was awesome beyond expectation!! and the boys and the teenagers rose to the challenge!

We are just back from our bike ride, which was just everthing i had hoped it could be. Incredible. Eight Days, 5 riding, averaging 80kms a day - 2 days on boats and one rest day where we visite a small village up river.

The reception as we rode through towns was uproarous - is that a word - the sounds that the Laos make when they see something exciting and want to alert the entire village are very distinctly laos! Very singsong. I hope I have a good sound file on this as it was incredible, if the kids weren't on the bikes - as they would sometimes ride in the support vehicle with Calm - actually Kham :-) - our driver - when the boys were in the van we would be greeted with excited sabadee's but with the boys on the bikes, it turned into something else altogetehr!

As we rode through villages we saw woman working on handlooms under their stilted houses- many houses are made entirely from woven bamboo for the walls and grass for the roof. We saw men splitting bamboo and weaving baskets. villagers harvesting riverweed, as well as locals laying it out to dry in the finished product - a wonderful tasting 'nori' - Every aspect of village life was able to be seen clearly and frequently from the speed of a bicycle.
 
The boys were 'entertained' - and when we were riding through countryside we played spotto with different crops. Pineapples, papayas, corn, teak, rubber, rice, fishponds (when I asked Emile if he thought there were big fish or small fish in a pond he replied "Dead fish for the BBQ's"). And with the same idea Joel said "When I am big I am going to come back to Laos and buy a sling shot and catch myself a roasted bird. They are both sounding a bit Laos when it comes to what to eat...anything...

By chance it was Hmong new Year as we rode through and the traditional dress that is wore by the young woman is beautifully colourful, with a round beaded 'lampshade' looking head piece. On new year the young people of courting age play a game where they all line up, girls on one side boys on the other and they throw soft cloth balls between one and another, we saw this game being played by beautiful girls and boys in many villages, we didn't see farang's for days at a time.

'Falang noi' was a call we heard regularly too - little farang, small foreigner. the boys were great with the sabadees. we said this - hello-  literally hundreds - thousands?? - of times each day. Emile would patiently say - "so many sa ba dees".

The roads were excellent, it seems that the Chinese make great roads to facilitate investment. the kids loved looking for 'the big 5' - actually the little 5 - pigs, chickens, buffalo, goats and cows. And there was no hills!! Well undulating and very managable. only one day when we had a 103 km day and the first 13kms was uphill did we get in the van and start from the top of the hill, other than that 4kms uphill was the longest and we had whole days riding along beside rivers.

We rode to fairly close to the border with China and Vietnam and then caught a small boat back down the river. This was a little hairy. It was fine and comfortable at first but the driver obviously decided it was a little too comfortable - not enough tickets sold for him - so he let all us 'falangs' out at some tiny riverside village and we had to hop into another completely overloaded boat. a large number of woman and small children(were they all sick and heading to a clinic down river was my thought as I listened to the coughs and saw the crusty sores on some of them - mind you Emile was sharing food with one of them before the day was out) , produce and one large pig. When we falangs all got in water started to come in. But fortunately the bilge pump was working well. We spent six hours coming down this river through many rapids!!! - at times i just put my head down and focused on eating my bananas :-)

Love to all

and a wonderful Xmas xxxxxxxxx

xxxShona and the crew

Some of Asha's photos

The bridge that we walked across the day before!!!

Emile, a boat, a sunset

Joel's email to KSO

Dear Mrs Oscroft and KSO and my family and friends!

We are living in a little alley. There are no cars. 

 

 

We live with Ma Ma and Pa Pa and their three daughters, Haeny, Pone and Tong. 

 

 

 

In the morning Ma Ma and Pa Pa put on their good clothes and go to the temple. At night Pone plays badmington in the alley with a boy. 

 

 

 

No one in Laos has blond hair, everyone has dark hair.

Every morning I go buy breakfast, sometimes with my brother and sometimes not with my brother. I buy yoghurt and sticky rice on a stick dipped in egg and cooked over ashes. I found out you don't need fire to cook something, just coals.

A long long time ago in Laos the French lived here too. The old man across the road speaks french. He is 84 and used to be a chaeffeur for the French army. He was in a very famous battle in Vietnam. Everyday he speaks to me and my brother in Lao and laughs. he has bows and arrows. he has shown me. He can fix shoes too. 

 

 

I like to eat Nutella baguettes and mango crepes.

In another house there is an old lady in a wheelchair. She always tells me to come. The children squash her legs, up and down, up and down. I copied them, she said I could. That was funny. I only did that once.

This week there has been a film festival. Last night me and mum went to a movie called 'Chang' - I think that means elephant. It was a silent movie made in Laos in 1927. It was about a family living in the jungle and the funny bit was the people living in the jungle had a pet monkey. It was difficult living in the forest because there was tigers, panthers, bears, elephants and pythons. Their house was knocked down by an elephant stampede.I saw the traps they made to catch animals. They dig a hole and disguise it. The animals were very clever and it was funny when they chased the humans. Lao musicians played music.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Emile's chin cracked open. I did it accidentally. it was really sad. We went to hospital in a tuk tuk. He got 4 stiches and he is still alive.

 

 

I fed elephants. Their nose is big and picks up bananas. I was very scared that the nose would pick my finger off, so I dropped the banana and the nose had to find it. It's amazing how they pick it up with their nose. The noses are bigger than you think. 

 

I am going to get 2 very small birds in a tiny bamboo cage. They are sold with the temple flowers for people to release. We are going to climb the mountain and let the birdies go. Mum's letting us do this because Emile was very brave in hospital and he wants the birds everytime we see them.

 

 

love to everybody

xxxxJoel

Joel, it's NOT monk feeding

Email from Shona;

 

having a fabulous time!!! - in between the enormous challenges :-0

here you'll see the fabulous night markets where we usually eat,

 

 

also the morning market, where everything live is on display. 

 

The photo of emile sitting on the ground with the tiny cages..there are two tiny birds in each one of these. [image on its way] 

 

Later when we passed a hen and her chicks free ranging in the streets Emile said with love... 'they are so tiny..... I could eat it all down in one go'

 

 

 

dragon spotto at the temples is popular, as is feeding the fish at the tanks by the palace (as opposed to 'feeding the monks' as Joel calls the ceromonial procession of alms giving in the morning! We have only been once so far as joel will protest at 6am in bed with 'I don't want to feed the monks' )

 

 

tuk tuks are great fun and on the weekend the children in our street are home from school and can play.

 

 

Joel enthusiastically learns new phrases when he needs them. On our first day when he tried out 'sa ba dee' to a young girl walking down the street he burst with happiness when she replied. he beamed 'she answered me'.. so I didn't tell him that she had actually said 'something to buy?' 

 

 

love to all

xxxx

 

 

Buddha Caves of Luang Prabang

To eat or to throw in the Mekong,

that is the question

Joel's email:

Dear  Mia and Saschi and The Stacys and The Maples

It is very hot here also. Yesterday I went to some caves. We got there on a motorbike and then a boat. We walked up lots of stairs. There were 100's of buddhas in the cave.

We crossed a river on a bamboo bridge.  It had bamboo railings and made creaking sounds.

You should try the coconutties. They are very yummy and sweet. I might try and make them when I come home and share them with you.

This morning on the car ferrry a woman gave my brother a wasp larvae to eat. He gobbled it up. I threw mine in the Mekhong. Mummy tried it and said it tassted like creamy pineapple. The larvae were still in the nest!

I waswalking on the foreshore of the Mekhong. And I found 'a trophy' buried in the sand. Mum was scared and said it was a bomb. We all ran away. We are going to the information centre to learn more about UXO's - unexploded ordinances- and see if it was really one. Mum now thinks it probably wasn't.

Love to you all. I wish you were here.

xxxxxxxxxxJoel

 

Arrived!

Last Thursday Shona, Joel and Emile flew from Sydney to Singapore. On Friday they had a great day at the Waterpark inside Singapore Zoo, then they flew to Bangkok. On Saturday they flew to Luang Prabang. Here is Joel's first email back to Newport School;
Postcard from Laos

Dear KSO,

I will tell you the best part of my trip. My favourite part so far is eating a big big fish.The night market is busy and they cook the fish on a BBQ. Yesterday I went to the palace museum and saw the King's body guard swords. I saw the King's golden sword too. I liked feeding the palace fish. Today I went to the morning market and saw big crabs and a little bird stuck in a cage, and I saw toads. I like going on tuk tuks. We are living in a quiet alley and there are lots of children. My favourite game is throw the thong.

From Joel and my mum