Sunday, January 10, 2010

New Year's Eve

New Year's eve we had a nice dinner overlooking the Nam Song River, before getting to bed quite early and sleeping surprisingly well, despite Vang Vieng's reputation as a party town -- we managed to be far enough away from the loudest parts, at least.


At dinner, the kids had fun adding to a new story, which we will memorialize here:

There once was a woman who flew Air Asia, as fast as can be, as quick as lightning to Ventiane. She then got on a mini-VIP bus to go to "Vang Vieng" (say it very quickly). When she looking into a pool of water when she saw a frog, and leaned over for a better look. Her glasses fell into the water. As she was stooping over to look for her glasses, GI Joe, in an attempt to save the world, came flying out of a tree, and pushed the lady into the water. As it was a short fall, and she was very nimble, she landed on her feet.

The lady then got the lasso of truth and whipped it around a branch, flipping up out of the pond with a loud Tarzan scream, "Ooohh, Eaaaah -- Oooooh," and kicking GI Joe in the chest with a big thud, causing GI Joe to fall to the ground.

"That's not a nice thing to do. That's not a nice thing to do," said the woman, shaking her finger back and forth.

GI Joe got up and laughed, the deep belly laugh that reminds you of the jolly man of Christmas.

Offended by the laugh, the woman again said, "That's not a nice thing to do. That's not a nice thing to do."

GI Joe, still laughing heartily pulled out a cream pie from behind his back and flung it at the woman.

Again using the lasso of truth, the woman caught hold of the pie and managed it flip it back towards its origin, with cream flying all over GI Joe's face.

As GI Joe, wiped the cream from his face, he laughed and said, "This clearly has been a big misunderstanding, for we are two heroes trying to save the world, and I only accidentally knocked you in the pond. Let's go to the Sleeping Wall and practice our training together."

After the two had left for the Sleeping Wall, a nondescript secret agent snuck into the pool. Using his feet, he discovered the glasses at the bottom of the muck. With his magical powers, he turned the spectacles into a clam, and then set off with the ultra-powerful secret weapon into the urban jungle of Vang Vieng.

We then returned to our hilarious digs at one of the few guest houses that had availability for New Year's Eve. We were grateful for a room. At the beginning of each year, we have a family tradition of making New Year's Predictions -- who will win major sporting news, what will happen in the world in the course of the coming year, and what will happen within the Woodward family.

One of the categories is where everyone will be the following New Year's Eve. Let's just say that "the Nana Guest house in Vang Vieng, Laos" was not anyone's guess a year ago!

Friday, January 8, 2010

Fun in Laos

There are plenty of fun things to do in Laos-- here is a short video showing some of the rope swings and fun in the rivers.

Vang Vieng Climbing

We had a fun day climbing and swimming around Vang Vieng.

Thanks to Brent's research and expertise, we were able to scope out some of the nice climbing spots around Vang Vieng -- after a short tuk-tuk ride, we walked down to the river, and then called a boat to take us across the river to a site called The Sleeping Wall. (Click for great .pdf file worth printing if you want to explore the area).

It was a great site with all-day shade and a huge variety of climbing options. It was great for our kids, who have great climbs with lots of holds and solid rock. It also has some quite challenging climbs which Brent enjoyed -- and some insane overhang climbs that I can only imagine how an expert would attempt that. Wow!
It was a fun day climbing, and right at the edge of the river, the kids had a place to play -- with a spectacular view of the river -- and quite a swing over the river.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Arrival in Vang Vieng

After a slow, long, circuitous ride on the windy roads through the mountains of Laos, we arrived in Vang Vieng.
It was nice to arrive after about 7 hours in the van. We made our way to the river and found a nice restaurant to enjoy a sunset meal on the edge the river.

Wow! What a waterfall!

We visited one of the more spectacular waterfalls I've seen. The color of the water was absolutely spectacular. We took a swim in the chilly water -- and had fun hiking around and seeing the many different levels of waterfalls.



At the upper level, the series of waterfalls were absolutely stunning. Below, there were some nice deep pools for swimming and exploring.

Luang Prabang: Caves



We had a nice morning in Luang Prabang heading North on the Mekong River to some caves about 1 1/2 hours upstream. It was fun to have a nice leisurely time on the river. The caves weren't overly spectacular - somehow a bunch of statues in a cave near a river isn't so exciting.

Along the way, we stopped at a little village where they had some beautiful crafts. The women were busy on their looms doing some intricate weavings. Rania put on a mini-fashion show.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Luang Prabang: A Day of Exploring

We had a fun first day in Luang Prabang exploring some temples before returning for afternoon naps.

Despite seeing a World Heritage Site, enjoying walking along the banks of the Mekong River, and seeing some ancient temples, one of the HUGE highlights for our kids was taking a short ride on Mr. Fullerton's motorcycle that he rented for the day.

Luang Prabang


It was nice to arrive in Laos, and find a much calmer way of going about things -- nice and relaxing with some great food.

Our first evening had some fun exploring of the night market (wow!) and a nice taste of local food. The very simple 2 airplane (a bit more) airport in Ventiane reminded me of some of the low-key airports in Africa -- or in lesser cities in Peru -- nice and relaxed -- we easily made our way a few dozen meters from the international terminal to the domestic terminal for a 40 minute flight to Luang Prabang.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Christmas

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2009

Christmas morning! Santa had arrived, the stockings were full. We had a nice Christmas breakfast, compliments of Tracy's great cooking.

For Christmas dinner, we had the Fullertons and the Inskeeps over for an amazing "it's a small world" moment -- when Brent and Brian realized they knew each other from a teacher program at NAU. Wild!

Christmas Eve, Climbing & Batu Caves

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2009


On Christmas Eve, girls were doing some big cooking, so Brent, Doug & 4 kids set off in search of the Damai Cliffs -- where some climbing was reputably available.

We though it was within walking distance of the Batu Caves, but were mistaken -- so we took in the Batu Caves, including a fun photo-op with Gabi & Lala, and a snake! The kids had fun exploring the caves, and did great at climbing the 262 some steps to the top of the area. Funny how close we are to the Batu Caves, but how infrequently we make it -- much like not taking in the tourist places of where we live.



We then hired a taxi to show us the way to the cliffs -- which are on the back side of the Batu Caves -- a short drive away. After Brent set the route, the kids got a chance to climb -- nice shaded cliff in the afternoon.


Hong Kong in a Day

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2009

After two wonderful days in Disneyland, we had one day to see Hong Kong -- which with little kids wasn't such a bad thing. Our hotel gave us vouchers to go up the Ngong Ping cable car -- which was quite a spectacular 25 minute ride with a view of the Hong Kong Airport and the surrounding mountains. At the top of the mountain, we walked up 200+ steps to see a giant buddha statue.

At the top of the cable car was a little village that had a cable car exhibit of different cable cars from around the world (hmmm. . ), nice little shops, including the ever-exciting put your face in the window and look like Chinese royalty, and of course -- a STARBUCKS -- much to Tracy's happiness.

We then took the subway into town, and wandered around downtown a bit -- quickly realizing the elevated walkways were better ways to navigate than trying to cross busy streets.

We then took the kids on the Star Ferry to get to Kowloon -- where we enjoyed walking along the promenade and getting some pictures as the sun was going down. Hard to argue with the Hong Kong skyline not being among the top skylines of the world!

A second day of Disneyland

MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2009
On the second day at Disneyland, we were thrilled to be joined by the Fullertons! We had a fun day together with them -- and Disneyland is certainly a place that can burn film!
We showed the Fullertons some of our favorite places, and also got too see some new things - the Golden Mickeys presentation was a big hit -- and good seats for the parade made for a fun experience for our kids. We also went on the Jungle River Cruise-- and between the hippos that jumped at us, the fire in the caves, and the threat of water being spit at us, we had a fun tour of the Disneyland Jungle.



As evening fell, we decided not to hold out for the fireworks, but we had fun seeing the lights, and getting more of a feel of main street in the snowy night -- appropriate for a winter wonderland.

The castle is also a great place for fun photos in the evening!




When we got back to the Disneyland Hotel, it was fun to see Goofy there in a Santa suit. Surprisingly the kids were not too eager to get pictures with the many Disney characters scattered around the park, but this was one fun chance to catch a picture.