Mum's a teacher. Dad's a...

Today over breakfast the girls and Simon were discussing what we do for an occupation. Miss Adventure clearly stated 'Mum's a teacher. Dad's a...a...a...' "government worker" Snake girl finished. So there you have it. Simon is now officially our 'government worker.' Here are the photos to prove it:




Oh, and in case you are wondering. It has been Movember. The moustache is now gone.

Thanks to the staff of the MRC for passing these on.

Study finished = creative time

I finally did something creative that involved paper and glue.

Have a good weekend.

The visual learner

As part of my university study I have been participating in discussions in Second Life. We were asked to paste some notes we had taken into the etherpad. I had to admit my notes were handwritten so couldn't be cut and paste. Some people were keen to see my 'butcher paper' so here it is:



For me this caters for my learning style...word just doesn't do it, I spend too much time changing colours and formatting.

Rebecca

Driving in the Dark

Whilst driving to Xam Neua we had the unfortunate experience of having to drive in the dark... unfortunately there is no stopping at roadside hotels in this part of the country. To get my mind off how scared I was I decided to capture the moment on film. Looking out the windscreen we had this:


and the occasional honking of a trucks horn.

If I looked in the back I saw this:



and this:



The ipods were definitely kept the girls busy.

It's funny while we were driving I was terrified but now I look back and only feel pride. Our girls handled the trip in their stride. The ipods did entertain them some times but other times they just watched the scenery, joined in conversations and listened to me read 'Deltora Quest.'

Rebecca

Library Alive (Book Week)

Each country seems to have its own library celebration. In Australian schools it tend to be during the Australian Book Council's Book Week. Here in Laos we celebrated 'Library Alive.' Each day of the week featured a special event and there was an 'open mic' platform every day in the library. Whilst I could tell you about poetry day, t-shirt Tuesday, Wacky Wednesday, and Treasure Hunt Friday I am not going to :) I have chosen to focus on Character Day and these two gorgeous girls:



The girls decided to go as Thalia and Annabeth from the Percy Jackson series. Miss Adventure was Thalia, daughter of Zeus and lieutenant to Artemis. Snake Girl was Annabeth, daughter of Athena, and Percy Jackson's fellow adventurer. I thought they looked great. We all put in a special effort and it paid off. The girls won a prize for their efforts.

I look forward to seeing what 'Book Week' in Australia will be like.

Rebecca

Video trial

A movie I made today about our walk in the caves.

Northern Laos: Part One: The 'Fish Village' and Vang Vieng

Recently my mum came to visit. The visit coincided with Awk Pansa and the Boat Racing Festival in Vientiane. We decided to take the opportunity the school holidays afforded us to drive North to Phonsavanh and Vieng Xai.

As this would be our last trip up North I had to take a lot of photos of the landscape. In particular I had to get a shot of the 'fish village.' Located close to a large lake, this village's main street is hemmed by market stalls selling fish products. Snake Girl hates the smell of the place. So, usually we drive straight through. However, this time we had to stop and get a photo. One more snapshot to compliment our memories.



The smell really did get to Snake Girl so the stop here was brief. Soon we were on our way again, heading for Elephant Crossing, Vang Vieng.

In Vang Vieng we soon discovered that the town's Awk Pansa celebration had been brought forward a night. Each village in the area had designed and made a boat to set 'alight' to float down the river.



I don't know if you can see them. But there are monks clinging to the boat. As each firework display died down the men would set the next set alight. It was quite spectaular.



On Sunday, we headed for the Phonsavanh and the Plain of Jars. However, before we did we get to see some of the local boats practicing for the boat races in the afternoon.

Northern Laos: Part Two: The road to Phonsavanh

Our first stop after Vang Vieng was a 'hilltop' restaurant. The view from the top was spectacular. Little did we know that this was going to be the view we had for the next 5 days.



Our journey to Phonsavanh was long and windy. We travelled at about 50km/h most of the way.



However, the road was not nearly as bad as I had expected...but then again I was expecting dirt goat trails :)



Another bonus: no-one threw up even though Simon had said he would give $10 to the first person to do so.



A major lesson learned these holidays was to get a GOOD map of where your accommodation is in relation to the town you are visiting. Unfortunately the Lonely Planet maps just don't cut it and neither do phone directions. This lesson was first learned in our attempt to find our hotel "Auberge de les Plaines le Jarres." I guess the upside to getting continually lost is the fact that you get to see the sites of the town and the wildlife over and over and over again :)



Eventually we found our hotel and were able to relax.