Quiz time!

We are now in Laos, an absolutely beautiful country! People are very very nice and we are discovering a lot of new dishes.

Here is one speciality. What is it???

Gagne! Vous avez du tricher en zoomant ;-) Et oui des fourmis toutes fraiches, avec larves et oeufs. Il parait que c'est tres bon! Helas, nous sommes vegetariennes et n'avont pu gouter. Quel dommage. Par contre Jean-Charles y a trampe les levres et n'a pas trop aime...

Yes aunts, complete with larva and eggs. Supposedly very tasty but, unfortunately, being vegetarians we could not try it. Jean-Charles however had a go, but did not seem to like it much...

Laos: The Bolavens

In true Eurovision style, voici la premiere entree bilingue de notre blog - here is the first biligual entry on our blog... France 10 points!

(Beautiful French Presenter) Nous venons de passer un sejour de reve dans le plateau des bolovens au Laos. Tout simplement magnifique! Nous avons fait un tour du plateau avec Jean-Charles, un cycliste francais que nous avons rencontre a Savannaket, ici en photo avec son beau velo.

(Terry Wogan) And here's a little introduction to the Bolaven Plateau near Pakse - a beautiful place of hills, waterfalls, jungle and nice poeple. The girls teamed up with Jean-Charles from Nice for the trip... found him a decent bike before they set off though..

(BFP) La premiere chose a noter au laos, c'est qu'il y a du pain. Hourra!

Sylvia a meme pu avoir un sandwich a la vache qui rit.

(TW) Before we tell you about the cycling, Sylv would like to share her joy at the availablity of 'good bread' in Laos ... she's filling up on processed cheese sandwiches now and smiling all the way!

(BFP) Ensuite c'est la beaute de la route, que nous avons fait en 4 etapes, dont une premiere de 50kms de monte non-stop de plus de 1100m de denivele. Mais un denivele doux; ce n'est que plus tard que les pourcentages de la cote se sont corses...

(TW) So, breakfast over, here's some pics of the beautiful plateau - there was a long climb up for 50km to get to the top... a long day's climb that was soooo worth it!

(BFP) La route au Laos est un vrai plaisior a velo car il y a tres peu de circulation et les paysages sont magnifiques. Rajoutez a cela les enfants qui accourent sur les bords des routes pour vous faire un enorme sourire et crier 'Sabaide' (bonjour en Laos), et c'est le bonheur.

Les routes principales sont en bon etat, en general, a part quand elles sont en travaux. La, c'est la boue et la poussiere rouge.

(TW) Apparently the roads are pretty ok here and pretty empty too, which makes riding a pleasure. There are kids all the way along the route waving and calling out hallo (in Lao, of course) which is nice... even when you hit a patch that's being resurfaced and spend a few hours getting covered in the lovely red dust of the mountains, freshly watered into red mud by the nice men on the water lorry..

(BFP) Et dans les villages, les ponts ne sont pas toujours des plus actuels...

(TW) The team have wobbled across a few dodgy looking bridges...

(BFP) Nous etions donc au pays du cafe. Des plantations a pertes de vue, avec l'odeur exquise des cafeiers en fleurs et les grains qui sechent partout au bord de la route.

(TW)... and enjoyed a return to coffee land - the wonderful scent of coffee bushes in flower, that of coffee beans drying in the sun next to the road... and a fresh brew or two too I should think!

(BFP) Les Francais avaient implenter le cafe sur ce plateau. Le cafe des Bolovens est reconnu comme etant l'un des meilleurs cafe au monde. On s'est regale! Le 'Cafe Laos' se boit comme sur la photo: un cafe tres noir (voir goudroneu) avec du lait condense sucre.

(TW) The French claim they were responsible for bringing coffee to the plateau and it's meant to be one of the best tasting in the world ... they would say that of course and between you and me, our two French tasters made a number of comments about the oil like texture, linking it to the re-surfacing works we'd just ridden through... so it might be a little stronger than we're used to at home, and doesn't change colour much when you add a bit of Carnation!

(BFP) Sur le plateau, a cause de l'altitude, il fait frais la nuit. Quand nous sommes partis de Paksong a 7h du matin, il faisait pres de 10 degC et il y avait une brume epaisse qui nous empechait de voir a 20m mais nous a offert des paysages sublimes.

(TW) It was a bit chilly in the mornings up on the plateau... nice views of the world submerged in mist and the sun trying to get through. Sylv took her socks off not long after midday..

(BFP) Par contre, des 9h, ca se degage, et le soleil perce a nouveau, pour faire grimper la temperature jusqu'a pres de 35 degC l'apres-midi.

(TW)... it warms up later in the day as you can see!

(BFP) Les maisons sont faites de bois et sur pilotis. Voici un petit magasin de bord de route, et une maison de village.

(TW) A little view of the villages they rode through...

(BFP) On trouve chien, singe en laisse, coq, poule, poussin et cochon dans les villages.

(TW) There are lots of animals around... here's a couple of nosey porkers...

(BFP) On a rencontre une famille de voyageurs de Marseille.... at passe des soirees inoubliables autours d'une bouteille de Lao Lao et des assiettes assorties de on ne sait quoi

(TW) This is the only photo available of the lovely family, Mattieu, Sabine and Nora from Marseille the team met in Tad Lo - many evenings spent tasting the local drink, Lao lao and various un-named delicacies..

(BFP) Et les nombreux bombes et missiles non-exploses, largues par les americains lors de la guerre du Vietnam, sont utiliser pour toute sorte de choses. Par example, comme vase.

(TW) The plateau's position on the route home from bombing raids during the Vietnam war means they're still turning up unexploded bombs, some of which have been used in interesting ways... a fetching vase for instance

(BFP) Dans les Bolovens, il y a plein de chutes d'eau.

(TW) There were waterfalls... lots of them

(BFP) Nous en avons traverse certaines a dos d'elephant
(TW) And Sylv and Jean Charles took a tour on an elephant to get a better view

(BFP) et avons loges dans des cabanes dans la jungle au bord des cascades, dans une 'tree house'.
(TW) To top it all off our team spent a night in a house in the jungle, overlooking the waterfall... and unintentionally feeding a super-scuttler forest monster, who kept pinching the bananas and waking them up!

(BFP) Voici l'interieur de notre cabane des 3 petits cochons.

(TW) The house was a bit like home to the 3 little pigs.... 3 beds, 3 mosquito nets, 3 soaps and 3 pairs of shoes in front of the door, and pink!

(BFP) Et nous vivions un peu a la Robinson Crusoe. Ici, petit linge a la cascade.

(TW) In true jungle fashion, the washing was done in the waterfalls...

(BFP) A Phasoum nous avons pu voir des tribus qui tissent encore les fameux tissus Lao avec des metiers a tisser manuels.

(TW) And the tribal people next door were happy to show us how they made the lovely fabrics admired in the villages

(BFP) Et jouent des instruments fait en bambou.

(TW) Ah, Eurovision wouldn't be the same without the annual pan pipes act....

(BFP) Allez, pour finir des photos de rizieres et de buffalo d'eau.

(TW) Don't know where these are from... a few pictures of the paddy fields further north.... pretty green in the morning sun...

More pics from the ashram... better late than never!

While I still can, a few more pictures of the Ashram in October, views I'll let speak for themselves... a taste of the calm beauty of the Himalayas

Happy Year 2553

It's in nakhon Phanom that we've celebrated New Year's eve in style.

After feeding the elephants with Jude and Dave, 2 american cyclists who stayed in the same

hotel, we went for a Pad Thai before joining the celebration along the Mekong.

A stage with officials and some strange games. For example, if you were wearing glasses you had to go at the front to receive a prize: harriet got a shopping bag!

And then the sparkles, the countdown and the fireworks! Beautiful over a full moon.

And straight after the King's NY speech, the national anthem and some other official songs.

Christmas at Mut Mee

Thanks toTony there is now a picture of the two of us -a very rare occasion as it's otherwise always one or the other. As you can see, evidence from our sober Christmas eve, although we did let go a bit and had a Bailey's at midnight (thanks Tony again).

A lovely night at the Mut Mee guesthouse in Nong Khai, in a garden overlooking the Mekong river. No Santa Claus, mince pies or mulled wine, but a wonderful vegetarian buffet and traditional Thai music and dance, followed by a remarkable Irish band. A lovely evening, and the lovely company of Tony.