Day 6, Friday – Vientiane

Rainy season has arrived! Actually, we’ve been told it’s been pretty rainy the last few weeks but today was the first that we got hit by it. We’re actually hoping that it stays because it’s a little cooler with the rain. This morning we went to visit National University of Laos. Maurice gave us a quick tour of the campus and let us greet a few classes of older English majors. Shiyu was envious of a grading distribution that we spotted where an 80 was the cut off for an A. In the afternoon we went to see the elementary school that we’ll be working with, NongBouaThongTai Primary School. During our visit Maurice and Mr. Khamphath sat in with us as we discussed our opportunities with the Director of Primary Education and the principal of the school. Our plan has settled on being to go into the school on Monday and Thursday from 8:30 – 4 with a lunch break from 11:30 – 1:30. We’ll be working with the fourth grade. This wasn’t our initial plan when we got here, but something a few people have told us since arriving is that to survive in the culture here, you must be patient and flexible. After making our arrangements we got to see a few of the rooms in the school and we met some of the students. We were surprised to see a few of them playing English educational games on their computers. It will be interesting to see what they’ve been able to learn from their teachers and the computer games. Overall we were impressed with what we saw at both the University and the primary school.

Important notice - Saturday MOrning

We're currently having difficulties posting. We've lost internet service in our hotel and are not sure when it will return. We're posting this message from a bakery down the street but are having computer problems and can not post a full entry about the details of yesterday. We'll plan to update the blog as soon as we find an efficeint way. Thanks for waiting!

Day 5, Thursday - Vientiane

This morning we ate breakfast in our hotel again but opted for the “French breakfast” which consisted of fruit, bread and an optional omelet. After, we went sightseeing. It was challenging at first due to the sun. The heat seemed extra strong this morning and it was so bright that it was difficult to look up at the monuments for too long. Nevertheless, we bought some drinks and Shiyu purchased a hat from a vendor so we could enjoy the experience. The first place we went was to the Pha That Laung, or the sacred temple. Upon arriving, we were approached by a woman selling birds in cages. The custom is to buy the birds so that you can set them free in front of the temple in order to bring good luck. Jessie bought a pair in hopes that fortune would follow. Pha That Laung is a cultural symbol of Laos. It is a gold temple surrounded by a corridor that contained different Buddhist artifacts. Walking up to the temple from the corridor, you could see several different Buddha statues where offerings were being placed. To both the North and the South were other temples, called wats. We ventured into the Wat That Luang Tai, the temple to the south, and were able to observe the beautiful architecture. Upon entering, we removed our shoes and instantly our sight was drawn upward to the paintings on the ceiling. The artwork covered the entire space and told the story of the Buddha. Shiyu commented that the appearance of everything made it seem newly constructed. Another thing we found interesting while walking around were the animals that roamed through the grounds. We spotted some chickens and stray kittens. We also heard some very loud frogs but could not see them. Once we were done at the Pha That Luang, we went to the Patuxia. The Patuxia is reminiscent of the arches in France but is constructed with four rather than two. It is often referred to as “the vertical runway” because its funding came from a donation that was intended to be used for the airport. We were able to walk up to the highest level of Patuxia which gave us an incredible view of the city. As you traveled up, there were rooms filled with vendors. Our last stop was to the Wat Si Muang which is one of the most widely used temples. As we went through the temple, we passed many people making offerings to different Buddha statues. The whole place seemed filled with flowers, fruit and incense. We also were able to watch women practicing a form of fortune telling in Wat Si Muang. It was interesting because in western culture we do not accept fortune telling as a proper practice within the confines of religion and alms giving. In a way though, it made sense here because it is perceived that an image of Buddha found in the temple has the ability to grant wishes.

Day 4, Wednesday - Vientiane

This morning, we ate breakfast in our hotel, the Family Hotel’s restaurant. They served us rice soup which tasted fine, but was an unfamiliar choice for breakfast. Afterwards, we went to the “Morning Market” which was comprised of winding alleys full of vendors selling numerous things including appliances, clothing, art, souveniours and food. Shiyu and Dr. Andrianoff spotted bottles of alcohol with snakes inside them, a sight that was less than comforting to Jessie. She purchased a set of key chains for 40000 kip. The price sounds expensive but converts to $5 in US money. Dr. Andrianoff bought rambutan fruit, a favorite of his, and had Jessie and Shiyu try some. Its appearance is exotic but its flavor is subtle. Shiyu noted that the market was similar to those in China. On our trip to and from the market we noticed that a lot of travel throughout the city is done by tuk tuk. We were consistently offered rides but chose to walk.
Following our return to the hotel from the market, we went across the street to another hotel’s restaurant to meet Maurice Babcock for lunch. Maurice coordinates the ELIC program in Laos and teaches as a professor. He has aided us in setting up our plans to teach in the primary schools next week. Maurice has lived in Laos for nearly 12 years so he was able to share some stories with us and communicate with the restaurant staff. This far, everywhere we have gone during our trip has been very accommodating to people who speak English. However, conversations have been kept fairly short and formal due to the language barrier. It seems that many of the people we’ve interacted with have been eager to speak with us in English but it was nice to have Maurice speak to them in their native language. The meal itself was good. We were amused because Maurice was the only one that opted for a western dish, a cheeseburger. The rest of us ordered different Asian foods. Jessie’s eye was caught by the tuna spaghetti but she chose to order a different noodle dish instead.
After lunch, we went to meet with Mr. Khamphath Pheltlasy, Director of International Cooperation Division within the Ministry of Education. Mr. Khamphath impressed us with his English and invited us to stay with his Grandmother the next time we visited. We discussed with him potential plans for our stay here and set up a trip to the primary schools on Friday. After seeing the two schools that he has selected for us to teach in, we will decide if we want to go into both or only one. We learned that the fifth graders are currently preparing for their final exams so it seems that we will be teaching either in the second or third grade. Our plan is to provide the classes with information about our lifestyle in New York and we hope that visiting the schools will allow us to figure out more specifically how our lessons should be structured. We’re also hopeful that we may get to sit in on a university class this week.
We ended the night by eating dinner at KuaLao Restaurant which served traditional dishes. The meal was served family style, meaning that each food is placed in the center of the table to be shared. It seemed that each dish had a similar flavoring but it was difficult to identify. Jessie explained it as being similar to black licorice because it is a taste that does not match any of the main four: sweet, spicy, salty and sour. The flavor is closest to sweet but the dishes themselves are certainly spicy. During dinner a band of older men played traditional music while a dance duet performed. The songs were entertaining and Shiyu recognized one tune as being Chinese. It was easy to see that the movement of hands was crucial to the dance style.
Before going to the restaurant we had taken a walk to the Mekhong River. There was a lot of construction being done near the waterfront so we had to walk through sand past bulldozers. Across the river was a view of Thailand. Originally, we had planned to cross the border between Thailand and Laos by train to get to Vientiane but complications within Bangkok prevented us.

Day 3, Tuesday - Kuala Lumpur to Vientiane

Tuesday morning, which would have been Monday night in New York, we had a buffet style breakfast in the Concorde Inn's restaurant. The breakfast was pleasantly surprising because it offered vast choices of American and Malaysian foods. It was shocking to have fried noodles for breakfast, but they tasted great and everyone agreed that the juices were superb. It seemed that the apple juice tasted different than in New York, and Jessie deemed it superior.
After eating breakfast, we took a shuttle to KLIA so that we could catch a bus to the city of Kuala Lumpur. We got off at KL central bus station and purchased sweet and sour plum candy. Dr. Andrianoff and Shiyu suggested it to Jessie because she likes sour foods. Unfortunately, the batch was not as sour as they had had in the past. After walking around the station, we went back to KLIA by bus and then took the shuttle back to the hotel to pack. After doing so, we used the shuttle one last time to return to KLIA in order to check in for our flight to Wattay, Vientiane airport. Our plane ended up opening boarding late but went as scheduled afterward. It lasted 2.5 hours and our arrival time in Vientiane was 5:25 pm. It was interesting because that time was only 1 hour later than it was at the time of take off due to the time zones since Laos is only 11 hours ahead of New York, making it one behind Malaysia.
Following our arrival at the airport, we applied for visas and were met by a hired driver that took us to the Family Hotel. From there, we walked to Joma, a western food style cafe to eat dinner. Shiyu ordered salmon and cream cheese on a bagel and a mint lemon freeze drink; both were less than delicious. However, Jessie's BLT was fantastic. Dr. Andrianoff had a Greek salad which was different because it barely had any lettuce. Once dinner was finished, we attempted to begin preparing lessons and writing the blog (this is why entries are not posted on their actual day of occurrence) but the hotel internet connection had complications so we retired to bed in our rooms.
Something notable about not only the rooms in the Family Hotel in Vientiane but also in the Concorde Inn in Kuala Lumpur is that each was equipped with electricity that could be accessed only by inserting the room's key card into a slot. We've noticed the promotion of energy conservation in each city. There were also wall murals in Vientiane supporting wildlife conservation.

Day 2, Monday - Dubai to Kuala Lumpur

Our arrival in Dubai for the layover was at 8:00 am. Because of the time difference, it would’ve still been Sunday in New York. The layover was so short that we basically went straight to the gate after landing to prepare for the next flight.
Our plane ride to Kuala Lumpur lasted seven hours. Even though the flight was shorter, Shiyu and Jessie agreed that the second flight left them feeling more depleted during it. Once we landed at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport and retrieved our luggage it was after 9:30 pm. The time difference is 12 hours ahead of New York. The stamp in our passport for visiting Malaysia was the first in Jessie’s new passport which was exciting. After arriving, we went to the hotel associated with KLIA, the Concorde Inn, by a shuttle that was provided. The hotel had a tranquil beautiful appearance. Each hallway of rooms was split into terminals so that they were not connected to the others. The walk between each was done on sidewalks which were placed conveniently throughout a garden type décor. The night ended by ordering room service which appealed to us because full meals of varying cultures were offered at low prices. Jessie and Dr. Andrianoff both ordered juices as well that were not from traditional fruits; they purchased star fruit juice and pink guava juice respectively.

Day 1, Sunday - NYC to Dubai

Our flight left from Kennedy Airport in New York City at 11:30 am. We were in the air for 12 hours until landing in Dubai for a one hour lay over. The airline we used was Emirates. Thankfully, the plane had television screens for each seat because it was a very long flight. Each person was able to select from watching live information and video about the flight, accessing communication utilities and viewing or listening to different forms of entertainment. Watching the flight information was fascinating because it tracked the route that the plane followed and provided a live feed from cameras attached to the outside of the plane. The entertainment included a vast amount of movies, television episodes and radio channels. Shiyu managed to watch close to ten films; Jessie watched several episodes from 5 different T.V shows. Dr. Andrianoff watched a few videos and listened to some music as well. The airline provided three meals, each had a selection of western foods and Arabic foods. The dishes were pleasantly uniquely flavored.