Reminiscence #2: Volunteering in Laos May 2015

 This trip was one of my main reasons for wanting to start this blog. It is so easy to forget many of the finer details of travel. Yes there are certain things that truly stick out in my mind that I will never forget, but it would be nice to have a permanent account of small hidden memories that also deserve to be remembered...

This trip was a big deal for me. I had seen the ads for VESA my first year of university and really wanted to do it. Unfortunately in my first year, I did not have that kind of money. Luckily I was able to acquire a really great summer job and work during the school year. So by the end of second year I had enough in cash left over from tuition to purchase my trip!

So what is VESA? It stands for Volunteer Eco Students Abroad. There are four different places you can travel to; Ecuador, South Africa, Fiji, and Laos. While I equally wanted to do all of these adventures, the deciding factor for me was that Laos had the earliest departure. If I wanted to keep my summer job, it would be best if I left and came back as early as possible (always thinking about my finances). And thus my first adventure was chosen: Laos Elephants Encountered. 

For all of the VESA adventures the set up is the same; one week of volunteer work and one week of exploring the country and getting to know more of its culture. In Laos we stayed at the Elephant Conservation Centre in Sayaboury. But before our arrival there we stayed a night in the capital city: Vientiane and I got to stay in my very first hostel. We met up with the volunteer leaders and introduced ourselves to our fellow volunteers. The majority of us were from Canada. 

The journey to Sayaboury was a long one but very scenic. We took a bus through a mountain road that was quite narrow. Looking out the window, I sometimes could not even see the road and looked nearly straight down into the valley below. Scary at times, for sure. 

The elephant conservation was absolutely incredible and beautiful. Mountain views in the background, A man-made lake where we could swim, and lush forests where the elephants roamed about. There was a main hut open to air where we would convene in the mornings and eat our meals. It was also the one location with plugs to charge cameras/phones (run by solar power). The huts we slept in were also solar powered with a ceiling light. They also contained nets around the beds to keep the mosquitos out. The staff also had containers of water for us to drink that would be safe from bacteria. They told us it was best to drink lukewarm water to hydrate as the body would not have to expend energy warming the water up. 

For volunteering there were three areas that we rotated around to. One; staying at the conservation and working with the elephants. This was when we really got to learn a lot about the conservation centre itself and the elephants. The centre was created to save elephants from the logging industry and from tourism. Riding elephants is a big tourist attraction but does nothing for the animals themselves. While our group did ride the elephants bareback we all voted that the experience did nothing to enhance the experience and this aspect of the trip was removed from future groups.

Two, also on conservation but indirectly with the elephants. We worked on making elephant stairs. There is a dirt hill that the elephants often used but during the rainy season the mud made it nearly impossible for them to climb. We were the first group of volunteers so we made the first couple steps! We also used a machete to clear away brush to make way for crops. It was really fun to use a machete for the first time!

And three, we would take a boat from the conservation centre and arrive at a local school. There we would help teach the children english and also worked to refurbish the school. My group was responsible for giving the walls a fresh painting. It was really neat to interact with the children. They really seemed to enjoy having us there. They would give us string bracelets and necklaces strawn with flowers. As someone who hopes to one day teach English in another country I was excited to have this experience. 

After our days of volunteering we met up for supper at the main hut and would often play games around the table. One night we had a game of fear factor and I had to eat tree worms. I was blind folded and had no idea what I was getting myself into. From the feel I thought they may be maggot like, so I guess tree worm was a better end result! I also was given an elephant sticker. Some of the other items I remember were small lizards and chicken egg embryos or after a quick google I think the term is: Balut.

The nights on the conservation were incredible. No unnatural light for miles so there were amazing views of the night sky. The only time I think I have seen so many stars is when I stayed at Kejimkujik in Nova Scotia (the dark sky preserve). 

The bathrooms also seemed to have little lizards on the walls. They were actually kind of cute and much more welcome than bugs or spiders. 

For meals, we often had eggs and baguettes. (The French colonized Laos for a time, so yes, there were quite a few French pastries around). For Lunch and supper we had rice, rice, and more rice, with the occasional noodles. As a picky eater, I was more than happy with rice and noodles! I remember one day we were going to take potato salad sandwiches with us but they had ran out of mayo, so it was just egg and bread. I was so relieved because I can not stand the taste of mayo at all! On our initial bus ride to Sayaboury, we had premade subs, but I could not eat all of mine despite being very hungry because of the mayo. 

One thing we learned that was really interesting was about mahouts. They care for and train elephants. As a boy they are given an elephant to look after and they become one of the only humans the elephant will fully trust. On one of our days we were able to see a mom and her baby but we had to stay very far away. The only human able to get anywhere near the mom and baby was the mothers mahout. 

I think this is already well known, but elephants are really quite intelligent. On one of our days with the elephants we hid a treat inside a tire and in other various locations. From afar we watched as the elephants found the treats with efficiency and ease and were able to lift the tire and shake the treat out. They really are amazing animals!

After a week of volunteering we set off for our adventure week. First stop: Luang Prabang. Here we visited local markets, museums, and temples. And I believe this is where we visited a local mountain cave, but my memory is a bit fuzzy! It was amazing to explore the city. It is so different to anything back home in Canada. The architecture is completely different. A lot of people also seem to have motorcycles here. I often saw multiple people on one bike and even spotted a man carrying a ladder on one!

On another day we visited a rice farm. It is incredible the amount of work that goes into growing rice. It is a much more complicated process than one would think. I got to meet Suzuki the water buffalo and spent some time with him up to my knees in mud. By remembering his name I won a little crane made out of straw. We also got to try some sugar cane juice, and saw the process on how they squeeze the juice out of the stalk. Lastly we were treated to a buffet of an assortment of foods made all out of rice. All of which were delicious.

Next we visited the Kuang Si Falls. Probably the most beautiful waterfalls I have ever seen. It looked like something out of a fantasy show. I had never seen water such a crystalline blue. Add in the exquisite greenery around it, and it leaves me with one of my favourite travel locations to date for pure beauty.

Also near the falls was a bear sanctuary. I believe the bears were sun bears and we got to see them play with each other. Which was quite adorable. Much more cute than the black bears we have back in Nova Scotia!

Next day was more of an active adventure day. We cycled for 10km… I think, or something like that, through the Laos countryside. I was a bit nervous at first because I had not ridden a bike in years. But it went okay, the road did not have too many inclines, and the scenery was beautiful. After the cycling we kayaked down a river. I made sure to bring lots of sunscreen with me on the kayak. The water was consistently washing off and with my red hair I knew I would get quite the burn if I did not apply sunscreen constantly. Despite my effort I did get a slight burn, but nothing major.

Our next major stop was Vang Vieng. The city where I tried nutella for the first time. Yes, my first time trying nutella was in SouthEast Asia. Not where one would think you would have nutella. But like I mentioned before, Laos was colonized by the French for a time and thus had the occasional French pastries around. A street vendor was selling crepes and a flavour we could get was nutella. So I had a nutella crepe, and thus my obsession with nutella was born.

Blue lagoon was a really neat spot. Beautiful clear blue water. There was a tree that we could go up on and jump from the top. I remember how I felt from the top. I felt nervous and was getting those butterfly feelings. But I told myself that if I could not even do this how did I ever expect to go skydiving. So right after I jumped I climbed back up the tree and jumped again! Up the hill from the blue lagoon was where we could go zip-lining. This was really fun especially with the views of the forest and mountains. 

Another first I got to do in Laos was go up in a hot air balloon. I think it only cost $80usd, so not expensive either. I really loved this. I had never been in an hot air balloon before and it was amazing to see the city from a bird's eye view. And again, the mountains in the background made for the best backdrop!

To finish off our time in Vang Vieng we tubed down the Song river, which I believe is a tourist/backpacker favourite. I knew if I went tubing for hours I was going to get a serious sunburn. So I ended up wearing my long pants and long shirt that were also sun resistant. Did I look stupid, probably yes. But did I get a sunburn, no! So it worked. I can’t help that my red hair makes me burn within minutes. We were able to buy little pouches to place cameras, passports, and money in so they wouldn’t get wet. I saw they had one with doraemon on it which I thought was cute. Though I have never watched doraemon. I still have that little pouch today and it has come in handy on a number of occasions, especially hikes where I think it may rain. Perfect for small electronics and paper! I remember at another little shop I spotted a t-shirt of the k-pop group Exo. It even had my favourite’s name on the back: Baekhyun. So I of course had to buy it! 

We also stopped a few markets along the way. They were really neat to walk through. The sellers would set up shop along the ground and there were rows upon rows of them. 

It was sad to say goodbye to everyone and to this beautiful country. Two weeks was not enough time. But I did enjoy every minute of it. 

But my adventure did not end there. On my way home I ended up with a 22 hour layover in Bangkok, Thailand. My mom works at a hospital and it just so happend that she knew of a doctor that was temporarily living in Bangkok! She was kind enough to let me stay at her apartment for the night and took me around the city. I got to go on a motorcycle in a way of “taxi” and travel on a boat in the city as well. She took me to Wat Pho, a giant lying buddha, and to another buddist temple that the name eludes me of. Both were magnificent to see. Similar to some of the ones I also saw in Laos. One thing I did find was that Laos was a lot less crowded! Bangkok had so many tourists! We also went to the Terminal 21 mall that had different countries as themes for each level. The mall was gigantic! But of course it does not take much to out do the malls in Nova Scotia.

Another interesting memory I have of this adventure is when I was on my way to Laos. I had another long layover in Bangkok. My mom had mentioned “sleeping pods”. I had no idea where these would be. Once off my plane I had asked someone but they did not seem to know what I was talking about. Walking around the airport I did spot a sign that said “airport hotel”. I followed it. It led me down this really long and wide tunnel that honestly seemed a bit sketchy. Not many people were walking down it. I went anyways and it did end up leading me to this really fancy looking hotel. The lobby was all open concept and the ceiling must have been about seven stories high surrounded by glass walls. I ended up staying in a room for maybe six hours. Had a shower in one of the nicest showers with the best water pressure I had ever experienced. Though this luxury experience nearly gave me a heart attack. I must have slept through my alarm and only had two hours until my plane left. I got up and dressed so quickly. I think I must have paid an ungodly amount for this not even 12 hour stay but I didn’t want to know so I never looked into how much I actually paid. I speed walked back down the tunnel and all through the airport . Though my rushing seemed to be for nothing. This Thai airport was extremely efficient and I got through customs and security in what must have been a half hour or even less. I actually got to meet up with some travel mates at the boarding gate to Laos.

And for one last airport story. On the way home, I ended up buying a Pikachu plushie from the Thai airport. I carried it back through Chicago, Toronto and home to Halifax. I remember in the Toronto airport as I was going through customs with a Pikachu in my arms, a security person said “pika pika”. I remember thinking “only in Canada”. Usually airport staff are so stuffy!

Another thing I should mention. Airlines outside of North America are so much better! On Etihad flying out of Abu Dhabi (A crazy beautiful airport by the way), I was given two meals, a blanket, and a sleep mask. Air Thai also provided a full chicken meal and our plane was only in the air for barely an hour. Basically we ascended, got a meal, and descended. Come on AirCanada, do better!

All in all, this was a fantastic experience. I wish I could have gone on more VESA trips. I would recommend VESA to any student looking for adventure and an opportunity to volunteer abroad. Just please do not use your student loan to travel. There were some of my fellow travelers who were doing this and I was appalled. To each their own, I suppose it doesn't affect me at all. 

This may be one of my most chaotic posts. I just wrote what came to me while looking through the itinerary and my photos. I just wanted to get my thoughts and memories written down before I forget anything else!