Two Riverfront Parks-Nongkhai and Vientiane

July 15, 2013 / montanaron

Both Nongkhai, Thailand, and Vientiane, Laos, have nice riverfront parks along the Mekong. Whereas Nongkhai’s park is more of a walkway, Vientiane’s is a large park and walkway, and is frenetic with activities, in contrast to the sedateness of Nongkhai.

I like the quiet of Nongkhai. It’s a small town that shuts down about 11 p.m., except for a handful of mostly expat bars near the river. I’m sure there are other venues that Thai people frequent later at night, but I’ve never been to any of them, except for a hotel karaoke now and then. The river walk reflects that quiet. Here’s a shot I took of it a few years back, to give you some perspective.

Nap Time

New to this walkway and off to the right are some added items of whimsy that I found amusing–lawn ornaments. Here are a few of the new denizens of Nongkhai’s river walk. There are several more, but I don’t want to spoil your fun should you ever get there.

River Walk Whimsy

River Park Whimsy

River Park Whimsy

River Park Whimsy

Here’s a fella I found who was caught between a rock and a hard place, between two dragons. Hey, guy, are you another lawn ornament?

Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place

In contrast to the Nongkhai walk, the Vientiane River Park is busy, busy with activity during the evenings. Here’s a short video showing a small slice of the action along the Mekong–aerobics classes, the night market, kids doing tricks on bikes and skateboards, and families out for a stroll. For once, it wasn’t raining.

Vientiane, Laos, Mekong River Park from Ron Anderson on Vimeo.

Whichever city you visit, be sure to take some time to amble along the Mekong. I’m sure you’ll enjoy yourself.

A Temple Visit

July 10, 2013 / montanaron

I’m back in warm, humid Yeosu, working (hardly working, actually–we don’t have that many classes right at the moment). Kind of dull, so let’s continue with my recent vacation in Thailand and Laos.

On one of my final days in Vientiane, Nai needed to visit Wat Si Muang, a Buddhist temple, where he wanted to pray with a monk. One of his brothers is going through a rough time, and Nai wanted to seek the help of Buddha. Nai went into the main temple building, and I waited around outside for him. I took these photos while waiting. (I also have another post about this wat from 2010.)

I don’t know why this great-looking car was parked in front of the temple. Was it for a blessing? Did someone get married and leave the car outside while they went inside for a blessing? It seems a bit incongruous, the old and the new together.

Car at Temple

Here are a couple of shots of the details on one of the outside walls of the temple. It’s interesting to wander around any Buddhist temple and discover all the intricate little things that you might not notice at first glance.

Temple Wall

Temple Wall Detail

And the statuary is also fascinating. I believe these are mainly supposed to protect the temple from evil spirits. Here’s one of them.

Temple Statue

Next to the main temple, I spotted this building, which might be an administration building or the living quarters of the monks. I didn’t dare go inside; there weren’t any signs forbidding entry, but it looked like more of a private place than one open to the public.

Adjunct Building

Our trip to the temple finished, we went to one of our favorite eateries, an outdoor restaurant near the river. I can never remember the name of the place, so I should write it down next time I’m there. It’s the something something Beer Garden, if memory serves me correctly. The lady and her family who run the place are all very friendly, and the food is pretty decent, too. Just outside the restaurant is this jackfruit tree. One of the large fruits had fallen off, and the owner had cut out the fruit. She gave us a generous dish, on the house. I didn’t take a photo of the fruit, but below the first shot is what it looks like. (I “borrowed” the photo from the internet, where it appears on several other websites.) And, no, I’ve never seen any birds in the cage hanging from the tree.

Jackfruit Tree

Jackfruit

Hey, what are you smiling at, buddy?

A Smiling Nai

After leaving Vientiane the next morning, we went to Nongkhai to spend a few days before heading down to Bangkok. I’ll have a few photos from Nongkhai in my next post. More later.

At Nai’s Home

June 28, 2013 / montanaron

Well, it’s off to Nai’s home outside of Vientiane, but first, an obligatory shot of the sun going down over the Mekong. This one’s from Nongkhai looking into Laos.

Sunset Over the Mekong

New Household Members

Nothing much new at Nai’s except for these new additions to the household. They’re quite a handful, as you might expect. They don’t have names yet, so I’m calling them Puppy 1 and Puppy 2.

Puppy One

Puppy Two

Puppies One and Two

Cute, aren’t they. All the kids, of course, love them. Here, a young niece and a nephew have fun with the pups.

KIds and Puppies

Puppy Love

Lao Snacks

Snacking throughout the day is a normal activity, but, oh, what snacks. Here, Nai is frying up a batch of crickets. Most Lao folks eat these like popcorn, dipping them in a spicy sauce for added flavor. I think I’ll pass this time.

Cookin’ Up Crickets

Fried Crickets

Run out of crickets, you say? No problem. How about some nice juicy grasshoppers. Nai, nephew Kim, and sister Nui cull some grasshoppers caught by one of Nai’s brothers.

Picking Out the Juicy Ones

Here they are, getting the fried-in-oil treatment. Again, I’m not really that hungry, thanks.

Fried Grasshoppers

All is not lost in the snack department. Nui thinly slices a Thai vegetable (or fruit?). I don’t know the name, but it’s slightly sweet. Fried in oil (what else?) and salted, it resembles potato chips.

Slicing Time

Here are the grasshoppers and pseudo potato chips with a few sauces and some cucumber for your enhanced snacking pleasure. Dig in!

Lao Snacks

Finally, a glance out the window shows that the sun is actually out for a change. Writing in hindsight, I know that there is plenty of rain to come, though. Much more, in fact, later.

Nai’s Backyard

Return to Vang Vieng?

May 31, 2013May 31, 2013 / montanaron

I really love the fantastic scenery of Vang Vieng, Laos. The last time I was there was in June of 2009, and, as I posted then, I was quite loathe to return, due to the extreme frat/high school drunk-party atmosphere of the town. The backpacker crowd had taken over, completely lacking any respect for the local culture, running around half naked, noisy, and totally out of control. The laid-back vibe of Vang Vieng had disappeared, perhaps never to return.

Salvation has come, though, in a report posted on a Travefish blog. It seems that last August, the Lao authorities stepped in and closed the bars lining the area of the Nam Song River where most of the party crowd began their day by kayaking or tubing. They also shut down the all-night party spots, and most of the bars now close around midnight. The blog reports that

Vang Vieng is returning to its roots as a place where people came to chill out, have a couple of beers and take in the natural beauty of the surrounding area. If you were tossing up over whether to come or not because of Vang Vieng’s reputation, don’t deliberate any longer. Vang Vieng is now back on the map as a top spot for those seeking to experience the natural beauty of Laos and interact with the local people. But for those seeking a serious party — the party is over.

From my point of view, all I can say is Hallelujah!

My Lao traveling companion and good friend, Nai, has been having some family troubles lately. We had been planning to go to Phuket, Thailand, but with the troubles, he may, perhaps, want to travel somewhere that’s closer to his family. If that’s the case, perhaps we’ll head north to Vang Vieng rather than to Phuket. I don’t know yet if our plans will change, but I’d be quite happy to return to Vang Vieng.

Yeosu Expo 2012-Joint Group Pavilions

July 16, 2012 / montanaron / 2 Comments

Well, finally, I’m getting back to posting. I’m really sorry about the length of time between posts; I was under the weather for a few days, the new teaching session started recently, and . . . ummmm, well, I’m afraid I get a bit lazy sometimes. Hopefully, I’ll be adding entries to the blog much more frequently.

Expo attendance has really been picking up recently, and the two main reasons are that school is out, so families are taking vacations, and daily ticket prices have been reduced, which I mentioned in the previous post.

For the first time since I’ve been back from Thailand and Laos, I ventured out to the site this past Saturday. Typically for Yeosu in the summer, it was raining cats and dogs. That didn’t stop people from attending, so the place was packed. And where do people go when it’s raining? Inside, of course. It seemed like everyone was under cover at the International Pavilion. There were very long lines at most of the national pavilions.

However, four pavilions didn’t have long lines, and they never do. These four very interesting areas are the joint group pavilions. Many smaller countries just can’t afford to foot the bill for the floor space that countries like France and Russia, for example, are paying. So, many of them share a pavilion, setting up in spaces that are, more or less, the size of small street stalls or vendors. There might be as many as 20 countries sharing a pavilion, and most of these small areas are very well done, with beautiful designs, cultural assets, gift shops, and friendly native-country folks who are very eager, usually, to talk to English-speaking visitors.

The four joint group pavilions are the Pacific Joint Group, the Indian Ocean, and two joint group pavilions devoted to the Atlantic Ocean, East and West. You can spend a lot of time in each of these pavilions (recommended) or zoom right through them in several minutes. The Atlantic Pavilion (East and West) have performance areas, as does the Pacific Ocean (outside the pavilion), so you can catch some artists in short concerts. These pavilions are a great place to hang out and make some new friends if the major pavillions are too busy. Since there are so many countries packed into such a small area, I’ll sprinkle photos and comments about them throughout my future Expo posts.

Like I mentioned in another post, my friend Nai from Laos came to visit for about a week, and, despite the trauma of getting through Incheon airport immigration, he really enjoyed the Expo and was quite, uhhhh, impressed with German beer, a beverage he’d never enjoyed before.

His first day here, I took him to the Laos booth, which is located in the Pacific Ocean Joint Group Pavilion. Go figure; Laos doesn’t border an ocean. Neither does Mongolia, which is also in the same pavilion. Still, it’s nice to see that they made the effort to be here, unlike oil-rich Saudi Arabia, which reneged on their obligation to be a presence at the Expo (read post that debacle here).

After he talked with his fellow countryman for about 20 minutes, we walked a few paces over to the Mongolian Pavilion. Here, he’s posing with a couple of Mongolian reindeer. Oh, by the way, the reindeer have been stuffed. I could say the same about Nai, what with the German beer and German food, which he also loved. But, no, I won’t say that.

My friend Nai posing with Mongolian reindeer

Nai and reindeer friends

The Mongolian Gift Shop

Mongolia Gift Shop

At the risk of extreme embarrassment and ridicule, here’s a shot of me in the Laos Pavilion. No, I hadn’t been drinking and going around wearing a lampshade on my head–that’s traditional Laos head wear.

One too many, MontanaRon?

After you finish laughing, you can check out these other photos of some of the countries at the Pacific Ocean Joint Group Pavilion.

First, Papua New Guinea.

Papua New Guinea Pavilion

Tuvalu

Tuvalu Pavilion

Vanuatu. Hmmm, where have I seen that design before?

Vanuatu Pavilion

Some beautiful cultural assets from Vanuatu.

Vanuatu Pavilion Wood Carvings

Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands Pavilion

Solomon Islands Pavilion Cultural Assets

Last, but certainly not least, Palau.

Palau Pavilion

I’ll have more of these as we go to the end of the Expo. Cripes! That’s less than a month away! It seems like it just began. Oh, well, stay tuned for more later.

Expo 2012 Map

June 13, 2012 / montanaron / 3 Comments

Hi, readers. One of you (thanks, Austin) suggested that I take a photo of the Expo map and post it here. I don’t know why I didn’t think of doing that, but here it is.

Sorry about the delay with the map, though, but I’ve been experiencing a perfect trifecta of events here in Yeosu. First, we’ve been having end-of-the-semester exams–grading, paperwork, etc.; that’s been keeping me pretty busy. Second, I’ve been preparing for my upcoming vacation to Thailand and Laos, cleaning the house and packing. Finally, and this kind of relates to the first item, I’ve been fighting a fierce cold, really bad. I picked it up from a student who coughed right in my face last week during final interview (speaking) exams. I knew it at the time that I was gonna get something; I could just feel that some kind of sickness was on its way. Sure enough, for the last week I’ve been coughing my lungs out and been experiencing fevers and chills and just generally been run down. I leave tomorrow night, Thursday, on the 11 p.m. bus to Incheon Airport, and then fly out of Incheon for Bangkok around 11 a.m. Friday. Geez, it’s gonna be a long day, and I sure as hell hope I’m feeling a bit better soon. It’s quite depressing, of course, to start a vacation feeling like this.

Anyway, here’s the map. The front side shows the Expo site and the back side gives some more useful information. The photo file sizes are quite large (around 900 Kb) in order to keep the resolution high enough to read the fine print. Click on the photo a couple of times to get the full view. They’re not my best effort, but I hope they help.

This will probably be my final post before I leave tomorrow, and I’ll be gone for a couple of weeks. Don’t expect anything before then, please. Once I return to Yeosu with my good friend Nai, we’ll be touring the Expo and probably be spending a few days up in Seoul. I’ll try to get a post or two up while we’re here, but no promises. Once I return for good from vacation, around July 8th, I’ll get going full time again. Please be patient for more later and have a great early summer.

Front of the Expo Map

Back of the Expo Map

Yeosu Expo 2012-A Few Short Pavilion Reviews

June 5, 2012June 5, 2012 / montanaron / 5 Comments

Sorry, readers, that I haven’t posted anything in the past few days. I’ve been very busy with final exams and paperwork at the university, and with doing some badly neglected cleaning of my apartment. My friend Nai, from Laos, is coming to visit in late June-early July, so I’ve got to try to get my small abode spruced up.

I went to the Expo last weekend, of course, and tomorrow, June 6th, is a holiday, South Korea’s Memorial Day, so I’ll go there again. I’ve taken tons of photos, but I just haven’t had time to process them. If you’re looking for some quick reviews, here are a few.

Germany Pavilion–I haven’t been through the pavilion, but there is a separate restaurant right next to the main pavilion, and, in my opinion, it’s one of the best restaurants at the Expo, with delicious German sausages and great German beer. It’s a little pricey, but well worth a visit. Say hello to Sven, one of the waiters. The pavilion itself has long lines during many hours of the day and night, and the restaurant can get crowded, too.

Romania–This is a beautiful two-floor pavilion, with small lines, and a nice, but small, snack bar. There’s a limited selection of Romanian food, but my friends tell me that it’s delicious. There’s seating just outside the restaurant, so it’s a great area to enjoy a meal and do some people watching.

Cambodia–a very interesting pavilion with lots of cultural assets and one of the best gift shops. Full of fabrics, silk, and other goodies. Not too many long lines, but it can get a bit crowded inside. Outside, there are a couple of Cambodian cultural performances at various times during the day. Thumbs up to this one.

Spain–very beautiful inside the dark interior with lit, multicolored, candle-like glass tubes. Culturally, the pavilion features early Spanish exploration of the seas. The highlight is the tapas bar, which you can enter without going through the pavilion. It’s a short walk through, and I’ve noticed long lines at only a few times during the day, though the bar tends to get crowded. It serves food from 11 a.m.-4 p.m., and again from 6-9 p.m., but I’m pretty sure you can order drinks during the off time (4-6).

Lithuania–Think amber-LOTS of amber. That’s what this pavilion is all about, along with gems. The pavilion’s color is, what else, amber, and you can view lots of ancient amber with insects and vegetation locked inside. There is also a small snack bar that sells Lithuanian cheese, mead(!), and beer, alongside a pretty decent souvenir shop. Say hello to Justas at the bar. I haven’t seen any long lines here, but even a bit of a wait would be worth it.

Cultural Performances–There are always cultural performances going on somewhere around the site. Most recently, I’ve taken in an hour-long Angola set, featuring traditional drummers and dancers, along with more modern entertainment. Last weekend, I watched a traditional Turkish dance (think of whirling dervishes, though I’m sure they wouldn’t characterize themselves as that) with a great 9-piece band performing on traditional instruments. This was one of the best performances I’ve seen, with the long, flowing white robes on the dancers billowing out like sails as they spun in circles. Other great performances included a Cote d’Ivoire drum-and-dance grooup in the Atlantic Joint Group Pavilion, an Argentinian fusion band in a fantastic show at the Big O, and a Cambodian percussion group outside their pavilion. If the pavilions have anything special going on, they’ll have it posted on signboards outside the pavilion. There are really many things to take in. So, if some of the lines are too long, just take a look around elsewhere–I’m sure you’ll find something interesting.

Sorry about the lack of photos in this post, but I’ll try to get some of them up before I take off on vacation next week to go pick up Nai in Laos. Stay tuned, then, for more later.

Happy Holidays

December 24, 2011December 24, 2011 / montanaron / 1 Comment

To all my readers, friends, colleagues and family–may you have a very enjoyable holiday season and a prosperous and happy New Year.

I’m in Nongkhai, Thailand at the moment and I’ll be heading over the border into Laos tomorrow, Christmas Day. Even though Thailand and Laos are Buddhist countries, many of their people celebrate Christmas as a holiday, not a religious event. Nai and I went to Tesco-Lotus (a department store/mall) today and the place was packed with shoppers. Of course, it’s Saturday, but it still seemed like a lot more people were out today than on a normal weekend. Perhaps the Spirit of Christmas is not recognized here, but the Spirit of Consumerism is alive and well.

Like I said, I’m going into Laos tomorrow and I’ll spend several days with Nai and his family, celebrating the holidays. Folks there will be eating and drinking and entertaining friends. We’ll be chowing down on those large Mekong fish that are so delicious and I’m sure the Beer Lao will be flowing all over the country.

The weather has been great, with daytime temperatures in the high seventies (25 C.) and cool nights, around 55 or so (13 C.), I would guess, and plenty of sunshine. I’m not looking forward to going back to chilly, windy Yeosu in a few weeks.

I’ve got some photos to post, but I want to edit them first and, unfortunately, I don’t have any photo editing software on this particular computer. I’ll try to get some of them up before returning to Yeosu, but if I don’t, I’ll get them up as soon as I do return.

Again, Happy Holidays to all.

Vacation Time

December 14, 2011October 17, 2022 / montanaron

It’s the end of the fall semester, so, as usual, I’ve been busy with final assessments, grading, paperwork, meetings and other duties. But soon, however, I’ll be vacationing in Laos (mainly) to visit with my friend Nai and his family. Korea’s weather is starting to turn wintry cold, so spending some time in a more tropical clime is very appealing, of course.

I’m not going for a long time–just a bit more than a few weeks. My Air China flight to Bangkok leaves next Monday around noon, and I’ll be back in Yeosu on January 5th. I got a pretty good price on the flight about a month and a half ago, but that price came with some long layover times in Beijing, five or so hours going and more than seven hours coming back. Going to Bangkok will be the worst leg of the trip. I’ll be leaving Yeosu on the 11 p.m. bus to Incheon Airport, which arrives around 4:30 in the morning. Since my flight doesn’t take off until around noon, I’ll have a long wait. Incheon, however, is one of the top rated airports in the world, so I don’t mind hanging around there for that amount of time. Then, I go to Beijing and have a wait of about 5 hours until I go to Bangkok. I don’t arrive in the “City of Angels” until around midnight. From there, I’ll take a taxi to my hotel, probably not getting to sleep until 2 a.m. A long day, indeed.

After goofing around in Bangkok for an all-too-short while, I’ll take the overnight train to Nongkhai on the evening of the 21st, arriving there the next day around 8:30 in the morning. I’ll spend a few days in Nongkhai with Nai, then we’ll cross the Friendship Bridge into Laos, and . . . hmmm, not really sure. We might head up to Vang Vieng or Luang Prabang, or we might decide to stay at his family residence for Christmas and New Year. Christmas in a Buddhist, Communist country–an interesting place to spend the holidays, to say the least.

Finally, after whatever adventures and strange situations that occur in Laos, I’ll take the train back to Bangkok and take a flight back to Incheon on the 4th of January, including another long layover in Beijing. Such is the cost of cheap airline tickets.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to keep you posted about the trip, so stay tuned for more later.

Two Sides of the Mekong

July 14, 2011August 24, 2011 / montanaron

I stayed a few short days in both Nong Khai, Thailand, and Vientiane, Laos. I mainly hung out along the Mekong River, and both cities have built up their respective riverbanks.

Nong Khai hasn’t changed all that much in the year since I’d last been there. It’s a pleasant walk along the river, where you can duck into one of the small shelters, out of the hot sun, and take a nap if you’d like.

There are also any number of small, open-air restaurants. Go in, sit by a fan and grab a snack or a meal. Here, Nai and I prepare to chow down. I’m the fella without glasses. Oh, sorry about that. You’ll just have to guess which one of the handsome guys is yours truly.

I forget what Nai ordered, but I got shrimp pad thai (first photo below) and spring rolls. Yummmmm.

You can also eat dinner ON the river by taking the dinner cruise boat, located at the end of the river walkway. It’s not too expensive and it’s worth it, in my opinion. Nong Khai is very colorful from the middle of the Mekong. One of my favorite sights is the Big Buddha that sits on top of one of the temples, contemplating the river and gazing into Laos.

This particular evening, the sun was close to setting and the golden light it cast really bought out the colors along the river bank.

Let’s take a look into Laos, shall we?

Not too much to see except temples and lots of vegetation. But, then again, it’s not Vientiane. You have to go about 20 kilometers upstream, as the river flows, to get to the capital city. In the past, the river was lined with small restaurants, merely chairs and grills set up to serve diners, but it was a nice spot to watch the sun go down over Thailand. Here’s a shot of one of our favorite spots from days gone by (actually, from December, 2009).

Here’s another one from the same time from the fourth floor location of the Bor Pen Nyang bar. However, this one shows some of the dramatic changes that would be made to the riverside. The image below it gives a broader look at the construction that was still ongoing in June of 2010.

The result of all that work is a very pleasant riverside park, one that Laotians can be very proud of. Gone from that area are all the old dining areas (they’ve moved farther down the river), but there’s a very nice walkway, play areas for the kids and lots of greenery. Here’s another view from almost exactly the same location from the Bor Pen Nyang. The park stretches nearly to the large, white Don Chan Palace hotel in the background, and I believe work is still being done on the section near there.

The two shots below were taken around 6 p.m. on a Saturday, so the place was fairly crowded with families, couples, singles and even a few monks, all out enjoying a stroll or riding their bicycles in the cooling evening breeze.

So, yeah, it’s a nice park and a welcome addition to Vientiane. I kinda miss the small eateries, but they can still be found if you look for them. Sitting on the river, sipping an ice-cold Beer Lao or another beverage of your choice and watching the sun go down over the Mekong is also still possible and a memorable experience.

That’s it for now. I’ll get some more photos up later of Bangkok and Phuket, so stay tuned.