I keep my blog as a personal record of what I'm up to, which might be seen as working towards "An elegant sufficiency, content, retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books, ease and alternate labour, useful life"

I'm certainly not there yet.  There is quite some way to go!

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Friday
Aug222008

Blue hands


After all, who did a dyeing workshop and came home with clean hands?

 

 

I've had a wonderful day at the Ock Pop Tok workshop, having the place all to myself and completely individual attention. What more could I ask?

A warm welcome this morning from Mr Morn, the interpreter and guide who greeted me with a mug of bael tea (delicious - hadn't had it before) and who introduced me to the programme for the day. After a bit of background information about sericulture he explained about the natural dyes used in Laos - illustrated by a walk around the garden where most were growing. The view from the workshop was breathtaking and the cool breeze from the river most welcome.

 

After an introduction to Mr Khum, master dyer, it was straight to work.

 

 

 

 

First task, chopping tumeric for the yellow colour. That had to be pounded to a pulp before boiling with sappan leaves to achieve the colour I wanted.

 

 

Whilst that was cooking, I chopped some fresh indigo leaves and soaked them in cold water for the green dye.

 

 

That was a new one for me - I've only ever done the hot fermented indigo dyeing before, so thought this would be something different.

 

I'd never heard of sappan wood before but clearly it's a useful one, for it can give pink, red or purple depending on the mordant used.

 

 

The sappan wood liquor had been fermenting for several days and was at a steady boil at my side ready to accept the skein of silk which I'd soaked with a huge alum crystal in the water to give the gorgeous rich purple colour.


Having squeezed and rinsed and totally admitted defeat in untangling those wet skeins, I handed them to Mr Khum who laughed as he shook them out into perfectly straight hanks to hang in the sun to dry. I guess he's had a fair bit of practice.

 

Later in the day, he came over bearing three beautifully presented skeins of silk for me - and a small plastic carrier bag.
 
 
What had I left behind in his dye kitchen? Nothing at all - it was his present of a few pieces of sappan wood, some tumeric root, indigo leaves and some annato seeds for me to take home.
 
 
Next on the programme was weaving - as absolute first for me. Far too much to report now though, so that will wait until tomorrow.
 
 
Our last night here in Laos, a beautiful country with the most gracious and delightfully friendly people. What we have seen has been unspoiled and so natural. We have loved every minute of our stay.

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday
Aug212008

Temples and Markets

A bit of culture today - there are so many temples here, we relied on Ming to take us to the most interesting. I think she did rather well in making sure we stopped whilst we were still enjoying them!
 
 

 
We liked the fact that the temples we saw were all old - and looked it. Those we've seen in Bangkok have been gilded and polished so highly, all personality and spirit of place is sometimes lost. Not so here.


The roof lines were lovely and I took many photographs of them. I also enjoyed the stencilled interiors, so detailed and each one different. Every interior wall was decorate with such stencils or with small pieces of mirror stuck into the wet plaster before it dried.

 

Stacks of buddhas lined the sides of the temples, here creating a fascinating little group with one peering over the shoulder of another as if to ask "what are they up to over there?"


After a short nap and some p & q we took a ride in a tuk tuk back into town where we enjoyed a little independent exploring. We've booked dinner here tomorrow night whilst we were passing by - it's Friday so we can join in the special barbecue meal which sounds good fun.

 

 

Luang Prabang is a really attractive place and deserves its World Heritage status. We feel privileged to have been able to spend time here.
 
As darkness fell, we could see the lights of the night market at the other end of the street and headed in that direction like moths to a flame. Oh my goodness...so many silks, pieces of embroidery (reverse applique bedcovers a plenty) bags, slippers, paper lampshades, scarves, silver - almost everything was attractive and interesting and there was so little "tourist tat" that we took time to browse down both sides of the path.

 

What's more, it's on again tomorrow. Better go to an ATM I think.

Wednesday
Aug202008

Learning to drive, Lao style

 

It's a day in the school holidays and your Mum's gone to the market. What else is there to do but to help Dad drive the boat upstream with a couple of tourists? If you sit quietly and obediently by his side and watch carefully

and help out with some of the hard work when you arrive at the caves

 

then maybe on the way back, Dad will let you have a hand on the wheel

 

and when the rain starts and he has to see to the plastic sheeting which protects the cloth seats, he might let you have a go yourself, whilst staying close to make sure you're ok

 


Finally, if you make a good job of it, he'll leave you to it, all alone...in control.

And those tourists could well give you a tip as well ;-)

Wednesday
Aug202008

Fun on the river

Before we left, a couple of people asked if our trip was likely to be affected by the flooding which beset this area the weekend before last. To be truthful, we had no idea, even when we reached Vietnam and had access to local news and papers.
 
 

Today, a trip upriver to the Pak Ou caves was our first encounter with the aftermath of what looks to have been one of the highest waters in many years. The riverbank bore clear marks of the recent flood and the mud was still there to be cleared from many places including the steps where we boarded our boat. It was very loosely packed and rather slippery - don't ask me how I know (or why I wore very pale grey trousers for the trip...but it does wash out!)


The cave is situated high on the bank of the river, in limestone rocks and is reached by steps from a small landing stage. It's full of buddhas, large and small and is a quite remarkable place.


 

As we returned to our boat down the steps, we could see the high water marks - the highest white line there is the famous 1966 flood, recalled by our guide Ming as a devastating event in her childhood. The two lower marks are both 2008 - not quite as overwhelming but quite enough to make a fair bit of mess. The water has gone down somewhat but still has some way to go.
 
 
 
Back in Luang Prabang we enjoyed a delicious lunch at the Three Elephants restaurant. We rather liked the placemats, too.
 
 
 
All that rain has its benefits however, for when we got to the Kwang Si waterfalls we were privileged to see the most spectacular show imaginable. Mind you, the high water hasn't done much for the viewing platforms.

 

 

We drove back through the most glorious Lao countryside - teak forests an rice paddies with water buffalo grazing by the side of the road here and there.

During a short stop at a very muddy Hmong village we observed how wherever there is mud, there is a small boy or two not far away having a great time!

We were soon back at our lovely bolthole - the view from our window was beautiful. Nearly as good as the one through the bottom of a G&T glass shortly afterwards...

 

Tuesday
Aug192008

From under the mosquito net

 

 

 

 

 

 

There seems something strange about sitting writing a blog entry on a laptop under a mosquito net! I'm not sure that, with efficient air conditioning, the net is strictly necessary but rather than spend tomorrow scratching, I'll enjoy the cosy security here inside.

 

 

 

Thanks to Paulene, we have also got some sweet smelling anti-mossie stuff too. We are prepared.

 

 

 

 

 

We arrived here early evening and have just retired to our room having learned we've been booked on a non-existent flight on Friday. The dilemma was, do we move on a day early or stay an extra day here? For us all, it was no question - stay here a day longer! The bonus for me is that I could book a full day at the Ock Pop Tok centre, rather than the half day I'd planned. Mark and Edward would be happy exploring this delightful place a little longer too. Though we would be sorry to lose a day in Chiang Mai on balance, the new and exciting wins over the wonderful and familiar. But, the whole shebang hangs on the availability of rooms here on Friday night. We sit under our net and wait for news tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

Our day began in Saigon, with a last run round the shops. We had such a fun day yesterday that we felt we needed nothing more than a bit of shopping before heading to the airport. We managed to complete our lists in the dry sunshine and were back at the hotel by 11am, ready to pack our bags and watch as the heavens opened.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hopefully, tomorrow, I'll have time to write about the amazing place we visited yesterday. Here's a bit of a teaser...