Griffith University Nursing students arrive in Laos

COUNTRY: Laos
PROGRAM: UniBreak Groups
PROJECT: Nursing & Midwifery
WRITTEN BY: Rosie Haynes, Griffith University

The 4th of January, we set off to Bangkok......

Every thing went smoothly on our trip over and we were all enjoying getting to know each other and the great service on the plane, where many of us discovered the service button and enjoyed calling for drinks or extra food.

Waking up the next morning was an experience, as we had not been told we would receive a 'wake up call' and many of us, in our sleep confused state assumed the fire alarm was going off. Breakfast was delicious and we heard the stories of those who traveled to the night markets and had seen a 12 month old doing "Gang man style".

The plane we caught to Laos was small having only 18 rows and the airport we landed in was the size you would expect a bus depot to be in Australia. As we stepped off the plane we were greeted with Sa-bai-dee (Hello) and had our first look at Laos from the ground. Laos is spectacular with mountains in every direction you look and lush forest, we were truly in a whole nother world.

After meeting our translators Chipseng, Saing and Bee, and a quick trip for the all necessary phones, sim cards and money exchange we set off for a tour of the town. It was here that we were taken to one of the 34 temples in Laos, it was spectacular, covered in gold leaf paintings on the inside and outside of the building. As some of us proceeded to take off our shoes so we could walk through the temple, as if timed perfectly the monks started playing the gongs, adding a whole new atmosphere to the experience.

We then proceeded to walk up 400 steps to the top of one of the mountains to watch the sun set over the Mekong River and mountains and to have a well deserved rest. After the sun had set we followed the steps down the other side of the mountain, which proved to be alot easier than the way up, and descended in to the night markets where we got to try our hand at bargaining. At this point of the day the group split up to find dinner, some went out to restaurants however myself and a few others found an ally leading away from the markets that was lined with all the foods you could imagine and more that you couldn’t.

Some came back telling of eating chicken embryo, cold dried squid on a stick (leading to the question of where the squid came from as we are in a land locked country) and sucked the fat from around a fish’s eye which I have been told is a delicacy and appreciated from both locals and those with in the group.

Waking up on the Sunday the weather was very cold and there were clouds covering the sky, this stopped the majority of the group from going to the waterfalls, as we had discussed the day before. However a brave few made the trek out to the waterfalls, luckily for them the day turned out to be sunny and warm. Others decided to hire bikes for 15,000 kip or an extravagant $2 for the whole day and rode to some of the smaller villages where they saw people hand making many of the things seen in the night market.

As people met up towards the end of the day there was much talk of sore bums and aching legs from the days activities, so I’m sure every one will sleep well tonight.

Tomorrow we are of to the villages and to start the main challenge of our trip.