Shanghai Freshers Weeks

We arrived in Shanghai and needless to say the British Council had given us the wrong address, fortunately a few other people had also been sent to the wrong place and we collectively found our way to the digs. The digs were really new and clean with air-con, a relief after dirty Thailand. The back street next to the accomodation was down at heel and higgledy-piggledy but interesting.

The next 2 weeks were jam-packed with orientation classes, Chinese lessons & teaching practice followed by cheap back-alley noodles and off into Shanghai centre for booze and disco boogie. The parallels with the first weeks of university were undeniable, but most of the 80 or so Language Assistants entered into the spirit of things and by the end of two weeks it felt a little sad that we we're all going to be scattered across China.

Oh yeah, and we had a football tournament in 40 C heat, jeepers creepers, i've never sweated so much. It was funny to see how the initial games were played in fun but how, by the final, it had got really competitive. Enough from me, have a wee lookie at the photographs.

N.B Shanghai was not the amazing city I was expecting, the nighlife was dull, like out of season, and it felt culturally and socially nascent. Huge sweeping judgements there, my apologies for that, It just seems too new and impersonal for me, Pudong, next door to Shanghai was really lively and interesting mind.

I don't know, but I am glad to be leaving for Nanjing, a city known for it's history, culture and greenery.

Race to Bangkok

After our treck we had very little time in Laos we travelled pretty uncomfortably by bus down to Louang Prabang, which looked a bit seedy and package touristy at night. It is supposed to be beatuful though. We left by bus the next morning for Vientienne, the capital, which was uninspiring, about the same size as Oldham or Luton or Wolverhampton and seemingly less interesting.

We left pretty quickly and got on the train to Bangkok. The train was a nightmare, it broke down and we were stuck for 3 hours without any news before being shunted off very slowly. Me and Vicky took turns getting some kip on the floor on some newspaper, along with the local Thais and a few Brits. It was a crappy day and night but everyone was in the same boat, eventually, 8 hours late, we arrived in Bangkok, Thank f**k. We were so glad to be in Bangkok the day before a flight, we spent the day getting stuff together and getting some deserved sleep in a comfty bed.

Oh, the pictures are of the amazing countryside between Louang Prabang and Vientienne. Laos is like a scrunched up piece of paper that has been iron out with the palm of ones hand, it is covered with small mountains, the landscape is impossible, impassible, unsurpassable blah blah blah.

Off to Shanghai next for 2 weeks teaching practice next with 80 Brits, which should be a good laugh, and then on to Nanjing where the train terminates for 9 months and where i'll be teaching Zhonggou ren (chinese people). A different kind of journey...a cultural and linguistic journey...eey I talk some crap sometimes!

Jungle Trippin' in Laos

We arrived in Louang Namtha, a small town in Northern Laos, and straight away booked ourselves on a 2 day eco-tourism treck in the 'jungle' and including a stay in a Launtern (ethnic name) village. We set-off on our adventures the next day and fate again dealt us a spade edged diamond.

The first day started off pretty gentely but the small trail gradually got slippier, steeper and windier. Our local guides, Kip and Gan used their machettes to hewn some walking poles from bamboo, which prooved to be indispensible when we had to fight off a pack of hyenas... only kidding of course.

We plodded along the thin trails through streams and under thick canopies. To our horror when we sat down to eat we noticed that we had little leaches all over our trousers and shoes trying to get their little teeth into our juicy skin. As we tried to pick them off they attached themsleves to our fingers like an unwanted bogie and we soon learned, as with bogies, the swift finger flick motion works best.

After around 7 hours we arrived at the Launtern village and were friendly received by the local kids washing themselves in a leach free fresh water stream. We dropped off our bags in our shared sleeping hut and jumped in the stream. Later on our excellent guides prooved to also be excellent cooks. We had several really tasty dishes served on banana leaves.

Later on one of the Launtern fellas and his 15/16 year old son joined us and whipped out the Laos Laos rice wine. We all tried it and then had another glass and it soon became clear that the our host was intent on finishing the bottle with us. After finishing the last licourice drop of Laos Laos came the Laos beer and by 10 a'clock we were filthy drunk and toasting each other until in different languages the last drop of alc was gone.

Why are the poorest people, moneywise at least, always the most generous and welcoming?

The next day we, (that is the guides Kip and Gan, Me, Vicky, Maria from France and Alex and Melissa from Holland) were all feeling a bit stiff, tired and shakey from the Laos Laos and to make things worse we soon learned that it had rained all night and the local big river, the Nam ha, had flooded our route (as we learned later, also many homes and fields, including our guide's).

Kindley, our new Launtern friends equiped with football boots with studs offered to be our guides' guides to find an alternative route. After around 7 hours of hard trecking we arrived at the bridge over the river only to find that it the jeep from the eco-tourism project would not be able to pick us up as the road into town was also flooded.

We were nackered, soaking and stuck, fortunately after passing some Chinese rubber tappers running and skipping down a stream in their underpants, shouting "Ni Hao" we came across a group of Laos plantation workers who directed us to a mountain route through the rubber plantations. Darkness soon descended and we stopped caring about leaches, we were more concerned with not falling off the path down a steep slope or worse into a fast river. Our shitty yellow beamed torches were almost useless.

By hook and by crook, well, through the work of our excellent guides, we got back to the road at a point unaffected by the flooded river and were whisked back to our guest houses bruised and weathered but with a craking experience and a good story to tell...I hope. Enjoy the pics.

The Road to Hell 2

...We eventually filled every gap possible on the very local bus from Houxiay on the Thailand / Loas border and set off on our seemingly straight forward 7 hour 200 km bus trip to Louang Namtha. Soon after setting off along the red dusty road we stopped and continued to stop at every village en route it seemed. It was going to be a long day we thought. Little did we know.

A little while longer we headed off the bumpy road into what can only be described as the bottom of a quary. For the next 8 hours we continued along this road traversing cliffs and gullies, if this wasn't bad enough it was getting dark and there was a huge storm cloud looming ahead.

The darkness had soon enveloped us and the noisy bus became ominously quiet. Next we heard a flash of light and crack of thunder and the heavens opened. The driver heroically continued ahead manouvering between huge puddles, sludge and cliff edges with an orgy of strobe lightening and rian raging outside.

His efforts could not delay the inevitable for long and we became stuck fast in the mud, all the Laos locals on the bus began jumping up and down to give the bus extra traction, I readily joined in with all I was worth. This was all in vain however, the bus was stuck, we would have to get off in the thick red mud and push. So began a hilarous episode of stopping and pushing the bus until we found firmer ground.

By the time we got to the next village it was past midnight and we we're forced to say the night, so much for a straight forward 7 hour journey. As it happened the guest house was really nice and we had a laugh drinking beer and listening to music with the driver and some locals. The next day was much the same and when we eventually hit tarmac in the early evening everyone cheered and whooped with relief. We eventually arrived in Louang Namtha and alighted the bus like we'd been washed up on the shore after a great storm at sea.

Ah clean water and comfy bed, what a relief. One 'hell' of an experience, but worth it.

The Road to Hell

Once we crossed the border into Laos we realised with some apprehension that we were the only westerners going North East to Louang Namtha. We boarded the local bus and it quickly filled up, with people and every other kind of stuff you can imagine loaded onto the roof on seats and down the isles. This was only the start of things...

Off up North and into Laos

We left Ko Pan Nyan last week, it wasn't that difficult to leave in the end, it was becoming a bit samey. We headed up North to Bangkok on the sleeper train and spent a day in bangkok. Bangkok is great, its got such a buzz. Then we headed North to Thailand's 2nd city, Chiang Mai.

Chiang Mai looked like a cracking place to spend some time, we went to a wierd reggae bar with a small Thai guy with huge dreadlocks playing Bob Marley songs, hmm. There were a group of black people from England and the Thai's were obsessed by them, they all wanted to dance with them 'booty style', pretty cringey but funny.

Unfortunately we couldn't stay in Chiang Mai, we'd spent too long in lazying around on the Island beaches in the South. The next day we took an arduous bus trip to the Laos border and the following day crossed into Laos and entered the twighlight zone I think, one of the strangest weeks of my life.