Greetings from Laos! The Mekong River

I am now in Laos, a country bordered by Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, China and Vietnam. I travelled to northern Thailand and entered Laos at a town called Huay Xai. I had to buy a visa to enter Laos. Here is a picture of one of the border control offices.

Once in Laos I boarded a slow boat to sail south down the Mekong River. The Mekong River is the twelfth longest river in the world. Its source is found in Tibet and it then runs through China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. The Mekong is up to 14 kms wide in southern Laos.

The slow boats are very basic, made out of wood and with wooden benches to sit on.

Here are some slow boats moored at Huay Xai.

The picture below is of the inside of a slow boat.

I spent two days travelling on the slow boat and we sailed for around eight hours each day. There were lots of different types of boats on the Mekong.

These pictures are of the different boats I saw. This boat was being used to transport goods, such as food to the villages which are found along the river.

This is a "rocket boat" which has a very powerful engine to make it go really fast. People wear crash helmets when they ride on these because they are very dangerous. Each year people are killed travelling on these boats.

This picture shows slow boats moored close to a village. They are very long boats and can transport up to seventy people at a time.

This picture is of a house boat. Families live on these boats.

I saw many people washing, bathing and swimming in the river. Laos is one of the poorest countries in the world and the people have very little. Many Laos people have no bathrooms or washing machines so they use the river to do all their washing.

This picture shows some Laos people enjoying a bath. They will walk to the river from their villages, usually at dusk which is at about 6pm, and then wash themselves and their clothes.

The slow boat stopped at many villages and some of the people boarding the boat were carrying lizards. The lizards are a speciality in Laos and people spend a lot of money to eat them.

A lady was waiting with this lizard on a lead, for the slow boat.
When she got on the boat many tourists were shocked, but this is a normal sight for the Laos people.

I saw many beautiful mountains on my journey down the Mekong river. Here are some pictures of the views I was so lucky to see.

The Mekong river has at least 1200 different types of fish. Fishing is a very important part of life for the Laos people. They make money by selling fish. Also, fish is a very important part of their diet.

No other river in the world has as many large types of fish. One of the largest is the giant river carp which grows up to 1.5 metres long and weighs 70 kilograms!

The Mekong also has freshwater dolphins called Irrawaddy Dolphins and crocodiles, although these are becoming rare now. The river is facing many environmental problems mainly due to the building of dams. Three dams have been built on the river in China and another twelve are planned. The dams effect the natural environment of the river, for example the fish are getting smaller, the dolphins are getting rarer and the level of water is dropping which means that boats get stuck. This is worrying because the Mekong River is hugely important to the lives of many people, especially those in Laos.

After two days of sailing I arrived in the town of Luang Prabang. I had an amazing trip on the slow boat and I learnt lots of things.

I hope you have learnt some new things too and you may want to do some more research on the areas I have written about. Next week I will tell you all about the school children in Laos.

Lots of Love, from, Laos xxxxxxxxx

Thai Food

I've been very lucky to try lots of delicious food in Thailand. It is very different to the food we eat in the UK. Bread and potatoes are a very important part of our diet, but here in Thailand rice and noodles are the most important part of their diet. The Thai people will eat rice or noodles with every meal, even breakfast! Whilst we usually eat cereal or toast for breakfast, the Thais eat a thick rice soup called Khao tom.

Noodle soup (nam) is one of my favourite Thai dishes. It is made from boiled noodles, pork, chicken or beef, beansprouts and cabbage.

The photograph is of noodle soup with pork balls, which taste like sausages.

This is a picture of noodle soup with chicken. The Thais eat their soups with a spoon for the liquid, and chopsticks to pick up the noodles, vegetables and meat. They never put food in their mouths using their left hand, only the right hand.

You can buy lots of different food from street stalls. Sometimes these stalls are permanent and open up in time for lunch. Other street stalls are mobile, and are usually attached to the side car on a scooter.

This picture is of a stall selling noodle soup and fried noodles called phat thai, ("fry up"), which is a delicious combination of eggs, spring onions, ground peanuts and lime and sometimes topped with shrimps.

In the UK we normally have salt, pepper, vinegar, mayonnaise, tomato sauce and

brown sauce to add to our meals. In Thailand, they have chillies, chilli sauce, garlic, salt, sugar and fish sauce to add to their dishes.

This picture is of tiny green chillies, which burn your mouth if you chomp on them, and whole garlic cloves. These were given to me with a meal of pork and rice.

This is a picture of chilli flakes and ground peanuts which you can add to your noodle soup. You have to be careful with the how many chilli flakes you add to your meal, as too many can upset your stomach!

The Thais love chillies but they also love coconut cream. Many of the Thai curries (kaeng) contain coconut cream, for example kaeng karii (mild and yellow) and kaeng matsaman (Muslim curry) which is made with potatoes. The idea of using coconut cream in curries came to Thailand from India, long ago. Some Thai soups are also made using coconut cream, such as tom kha kai, a creamy coconut soup.

The Thai people eat coconuts but they also eat lots of different fruits which we do not find in the UK. They do eat bananas, which are much smaller than the ones in the UK and much nicer. They taste really sweet.

This photograph is of a dragon fruit. Inside it looks a bit like a kiwi fruit but it isn't as tasty.

The Thai people also like to make shakes out of lots of different fruits. My favourites are mango or watermelon shakes. Sometimes they will decorate your glass with flowers. I also love to drink iced tea which you can have with milk or lemon. You can buy most of the drinks that we have in the UK, such as Coke, Fanta, tea and coffee. Cold drinks are served with lots of ice and sometimes in a cooler.

This is a photograph of iced tea.

Here is a can of Coke served in a cooler which is a band of foam and helps to keep your drink cool.

The Thais also love to eat roti, a pancake sold from pushcart griddles. The roti are made in front of you and served with your choice of fruit, such as banana, mango, chocolate (usually Nutella), sugar or condensed milk.

This man is preparing to cook a pancake at his stall.

In the UK we are usually served fish in a very clean way, with no sign of the fish's head, tail, eyes or bones. However here in Thailand, fish is served whole and they eat as much of it as they can.

This fish was lovely to eat, but as you can see it was served whole. At the same meal I also ate a squid's eye! It didn't taste of much but was very crunchy.

There are a lot of differences between Thai and British food but you can buy many things which we eat and drink in the UK. There are McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Burger King and many restaurants will serve pizza, hamburgers, sandwiches and chips.

The Thais don't eat as much as we do, but it is too hot to eat a lot. I don't know if Thai people are any healthier than people in the UK, because they add a lot of salt, sugar and spices to their food and a lot of the food is fried, but you rarely see overweight people in Thailand. Their life expectancy is 72 years which is lower than the UK and their diet may have something to do with this.

I hope you have enjoyed learning about Thai food.

Lots of love, from, Thailand. xxxx

The Turtle Festival, 1st March

I was very lucky to be invited to the Thai Turtle Festival which is celebrated every year on the 1st March.

On the 1st March the turtles come out of the sea, onto the beach and lay their eggs. This is very important because they are making the numbers of turtles bigger. Turtles live for a very long time.

The photograph above is of a turtle who is 60 years old, which is probably older than most of your teachers!

To celebrate the coming of the turtles, the Thai people have a huge parade of school children, floats and ofcourse, special turtle floats.

Here is photograph of a float.

There were lots of children in the parade. They were dressed in colourful costumes and some were playing musical instruments and twirling batons. They were amazing.

This photograph shows some of the children that I have taught English to.

Here are some children dressed as dragons.

The parade started at 6pm, just as the sun was going down. Lots of people lined the streets to watch the parade go by.

At the front of the parade were the special turtle floats.

The parade ended at a fair ground with lots of rides and stalls selling all kinds of things.

We were invited to the VIP area and ate a huge 5 course meal.

We watched many people dancing and performing on a stage wearing beautiful costumes.

Next week I will tell you all about Thai food.

I hope you are all well, lots of love, from Thailand xxxx

To Broomfields Primary from Volunteer Teacher Thailand!

My name is Nicola and I'm here in Khao Lak, Thailand as a volunteer, teaching English to Thai school children. On 26 December 2004, there was a tsunami which hit Khao Lak, killing many people and destroying villages and homes.

The Tsunami Volunteer Centre was set up and many people from all over the world came to help the Thai people rebuild their homes and lives.

This photograph is of a Tsunami memorial.

The photograph below, is of a memorial created by the original volunteers who came straight after the tsunami. It shows all the different cities and countries that they came from to help.




The majority of the Thai people who spoke English were killed, so there was also a need for English teachers. Volunteer Teacher Thailand was created and volunteers come here and teach English to Thai children. During the school holidays, volunteers also teach English to Thai adults.




These photographs show the volunteer centre. This is where we plan our English lessons and make resources for the children.










Every week we visit four schools and one orphanage. The schools don't have many of the things which we are lucky to have in UK schools. For example, there are hardly any computers, no interactive whiteboards, no TVs or DVDs. The teachers still use blackboards and chalk - most of you will be too young to have been taught in this way.




Also, you have to take your shoes off to enter any buildings in Thailand, so none of the teachers or children wear shoes in the schools. It is also very hot most of the time, but most classrooms do have fans to help keep everybody cool.



Here are some of the children working hard.












This is a photograph of me with some of the children. I hope you have enjoyed learning about volunteers in Thailand and if you would like to help, that would be great.











You can find out more, by visiting our website at www.volunteerteacherthailand.org.

Lots of Love, from Thailand.

Early Days in Thailand

Hello everyone. Already been here for 3 weeks and have experienced a huge amount. It's great! We have been visiting 4 schools in the area and one orphange - Home and Life - each week and the kids are generally gorgeous! I've also been on a trip out to the Khao Sok national park and stayed in a treehouse in the middle of a jungle. That was great although I was worried about falling out!

This is the Hamster, Khoa Lak, where I live for 100 quid a month! It's owned by a Thai - Chinese couple who are lovely. Their daughter's boyfriend, Ling runs it. Here he is above, with Blanc, one of the resident rabbits. There are 2 hamsters, three angora rabbits and lots of mozzies and an annoying cockeral - throwing water at it usually shuts it up at 630am.

The Hamster is next door to the Lazy Bar and Everyday Restaurant which is where the volunteers meet every night! We are often treated to live music by Gap, one of the owners. He's a great musician.

Here is Gap during one of his sets. The Lazy Bar/Everyday celebrated its 3rd Anniversary on saturday night with a BBQ, a big band and lots of drinking and dancing. If you every make it to Khoa Lak make sure you visit. The food and atmosphere are great and the staff are lovely.

Here are some of the lovely girls we teach. These students are 11 years old and their English is good. It's exam time here in Thailand and the desks had been taken to another room so we were filling in time with a photo session until a decision was made about where to teach.

These are sea gypsy (Moken) kids who are so tiny and placid. We all come out of that particular school feeling broody! They are so lovely.

Here we are eating (!!) a school dinner. If you think UK school dinners are bad........ever tried stewed fish heads?

Hope you are all well. I'll try to blog every few weeks. Take care. Nicola xxxxxxxxx