Now in the depths of the monsoon, I’m realizing from looking at the pics from this month that we still managed to get some pretty decent weather.
Obviously, I don’t snap away when it’s pouring (and we’ve certainly gotten our share of rain), but rainy season has so far been kinder on us than years past.
Not sure what that means for crops and reservoir levels, but for walks and bike rides, it’s been a welcome change from previous rainy seasons.
We finally made our way out of town in August for the first time since our week in Hanoi in April. We figured one final trip to Vang Vieng before leaving Laos was in order. We hadn’t been back in 19 months and Riley had never been.
Unfortunately, (as with our two previous trips away from home this year to Lao Lake House and Vietnam) Riley wasn’t feeling well.
Most of the time, he’s a happy, healthy little boy, with far fewer bouts of illness than Noe around the same age. But the dude has some pretty bad timing. Illness and teething also affect his attitude and well being a lot more than Noe.
Most of the time, we didn’t even realize Noe was cutting a new tooth until we could see it. With Riley, it seems like we know a week in advance, and he’s just a pretty miserable creature while it’s happening.
Noe, being at the age he’s at sees the extra attention Riley gets from not feeling well, screaming, and fussing, and does the same. So when Riley’s sick, both boys are unpleasant.
With 20 baby teeth to cut and a week of agony for each one (on top of catching some little bug that’s going around every six weeks or so), leaving town hasn’t been high on our interest list lately.
On the whole, we’re glad we made the trip to Vang Vieng. It was a more difficult trip than we had hoped due to Riley’s cold, but it was worth it to get away for a couple days, particularly since we know it might be the last time that direction for a while. I’ll write more about our visit to Vang Vieng in a future post.
It doesn’t happen as often these days as it did with Noe, but Riley still gets his fair share of attention when we eat out. On this particular morning at Le Banneton (now Cafe Vanille), business was slow, and the Riley disappeared with the staff, just like Noe used to back in the day. Old school.
Noe talks about Tit Kafe a lot these days. For some reason, he thinks this is where I go every day after I drop him off at school. I split my work time between the house and various coffee shops in town, including Tit Kafe, but it’s been a long time since I worked here.
Lately, every weekend, we make a stop after breakfast to grab a Nitro Cold Brew. It’s one of the few places in town that make both daddy AND Noe very happy to visit. I think Noe actually likes the place more than I do. He gets so excited when we walk up.
We have our routine where we pull up two stools at their take-away counter, the baristas pass him a metal mug of drinking water and Noe and the baristas have a little exchange in Lao. I order my drink and Noe watches the baristas intently as they go about their business. Then, we sit and chat and watch the motorbikes and tuk-tuks go by.
I think Noe likes this place so much because he gets to sit with daddy at the window and talk with the baristas and they treat him like a little man. Then, he gets to watch all the action: beans grinding, espresso being pulled, steam blasting out, people hurrying around. He loves it.
Riley and mommy have their own routine when we come here, which is much more milk- and giggle-centric.
This was a bittersweet discovery.
Shortly before we moved to Vientiane, a historic house collapsed in this location, bending one of the utility supports in an impossible shape.
It became a landmark of sorts in town, and we marveled every few months at how much more hardware had been added since our last visit to the beam.
Then, like that, it was gone.
We’ve been noticing just in the past few weeks little things happening like this more and more — the first coffee shop we ever visited in Vientiane back in 2012, restaurants or buildings with special significance, etc.
To us, it is a clear signal that it’s a time to move on.
Noe’s very proud of his new (new to him) sandals! They were in excellent shape when Lori bought them from another parent in town, but the Velcro was a bit too weak for our tastes. Nothing that Lori’s trusted tailors couldn’t fix. Now, they’re better than new!
On a long walk in the neighborhood, we stopped at this lush little local bar for a drink. (Update from the future: it has since closed as well).
Saturday brunch at Cafe Annabelle 2.
Haircut time at Mr. Barber.
Walking the Night Market.
Riley’s become a crawlin’ fool this month. Gone are the days of belly crawling. This guy’s up on all fours and he’s fast! Seems like we blink and he’s already going through the bathroom trash or helping himself to daddy’s beer reserves on the floor in the kitchen.
Yuckin’ it up at Anna Grilled Duck, one of Noe’s favorite watering halls (big construction site across the street).
Afternoon home with daddy.
One evening, we mentioned to Noe we were thinking of going on a walk. We got sidetracked with other things then wondered where Noe went. Moments later, we found him.
He had put on his shoes, unlocked the wheels of the tandem stroller, pushed it out into the driveway, buckled himself in and was waiting patiently to go.
One day during a weekend, the weather was cool and sunny outside. For the first time in months, I decided to open up the doors to the house to enjoy the fresh air and a nice breeze. Minutes later the entire front room was filled with hornets!
It was a bit of a mystery until the kids’ Lao babysitter pointed out this huge hornet nest in the tree in our front yard. Not sure how we hadn’t noticed it up until now, but it needed to be dealt with. Fortunately, hornet nest eradication is something Laotians are quite familiar with and the thing was gone in an afternoon.
And…apparently, they love eating the pupae inside as a snack, so win-win.
Another weekend, another brunch. Bacan Chilean cafe and Dee Bee’s cafe have become our two favorites of the moment. The owners have gotten to know the boys quite well.
At Dee Bee’s the owner always has some little tasty treat for Noe. Lori also likes her rich latte, and I like having my own little morning treat as well.
Dee Bee’s own spicy Bloody Mary. If this doesn’t wake you up, you’re probably dead!
The biscuits and gravy are delicious, but the breakfast bowl is on a whole other level.
We’ve had some of the best pizza anywhere right here in Vientiane. This one’s on a date night at Ai Capone.
Some of our international dinner go-to places these days are Privet Russian restaurant, and this place, Chokdee Belgian Cafe, which has had special significance for us for many years, and is one of the first restaurants we took Noe to when he was a little baby. He spends a lot more of his time perusing the classifieds than he did back then.
We almost always get the Belgian beer beef carbonade and one other dish. Often, that dish is fried rice, but sometimes we get an order of the sliders or the mini cheese sandwiches. Today, we got an order of each. Noe was beside himself. Who wouldn’t be!
Of course, he had to share them with mommy and daddy.
I don’t get my hair cut very often, but when I do, I usually go to Star Barber in our old neighborhood. US$10 gets you a 10 minute haircut and a 20-minute shampoo and scalp massage.
This time around, Lori suggested I try her guy, Tony Paris. With a name like that, I was a bit concerned I’d be leaving with a towering hipster quiff and maybe even a couple of earrings. But no, Tony done good.
My only complaint was I had to make an appointment. In Laos, I never have to make appointments or reservations, ever.
Doing some weekly grocery shopping at the market.
Skype Sunday with Nanny/Poppi and Grammy/Grampy.
For months, we’d talked about going on a little hike on Don Chan island on the Mekong in downtown Vientiane. Every time we wanted to do it, it was either too hot or too rainy. Today, it was neither.
Don Chan Island is a weird, mostly uninhabited strip of land just meters away from the urban center of the entire country. With the exception of a half dozen rudimentary houses scattered across the island, this area of town remains undeveloped due to the risk of flooding every couple of years.
Before the towering Don Chan Palace was built in the mid-2000s, the island was located quite a bit farther east than it is currently, and was considered the breadbasket of Vientiane.
For decades, nearly all of Vientiane’s commercial produce was grown on the island. Then, developers came in and the farmland turned into one big construction site. Eventually, a new island emerged, both as a result of excavation, dredging, and natural forces, and a new farm community popped up.
How much of Vientiane’s produce currently comes from the island, I have no idea.
Walking around the island proved much more arduous than we thought, as the trails in most places devolve into very faint walking paths in thick bush. Additionally, the few dwellings on the island have dogs, which didn’t seem to give kindly to visitors. Regardless, we’re glad we tried it out.
We thought that with the amount of rain we’ve been getting lately, that Naga Boat would be off the dry and floating. In previous years, this happened in June or July. Here it is August, and still a long way to go. As high as the Mekong is right now, it seems to have a lot of catching up to do after last month’s drought.
We return to Earth Bar with Noe for the first time in a while. No live music this time around, but they’ve got Connect Four.
And Riley’s got his admirers.
All buckled up and nowhere to go!
For the past eight months that we’ve lived in this house, our bedroom has looked out at a densely-forested vacant lot. I’d open the windows and listen to the colorful birds singing and the leaves rustling in the wind as I worked. The canopy also kept this side of the house nice and cool.
We counted ourselves fortunate to have this little slice of green space in a city that doesn’t seem to value such things at all. How long the lot has been vacant is anybody’s guess.
Then, one Sunday, a group of workers descended on the lot and started going to town, chopping, clearing, and burning. A number of large falling branches destroyed the upper part of our rear fence, and the fires burned for hours and hours, making our house virtually uninhabitable.
This being Laos, we can report this stuff to the landlord all we want, but nobody will ever do anything. The Lao landlord won’t make a fuss about their destroyed fence (because Lao people just don’t), and nobody would ever make a fuss about toxic smoke.
The work has continued, unabated for every Sunday since. They’ve managed to clear nearly all of the old trees on the lot, which leads us to believe something very large is going in here. We like this house, but we’re very glad we won’t be around to see whatever monstrosity they’re putting in go up (though I’m sure Noe would feel otherwise).
There are a lot of things we love about Laos. But there are many we are just tired of dealing with. Not that Phnom Penh will be much different in that respect, but at least there will be different things to get frustrated with rather than fighting the same stupid battles over and over that never get anywhere.
It’s the price of living in a developing country and we know it. But there are far more things we like about the lifestyle than things we don’t.
We’re just ready for a change of scenery.
Can your boys get any cuter?!! I absolutely love the picture of Riley with the black, white, and gray background. Love the pictures of Noe in his new sandals and looking at books, as well. What an incredible family you have!! Thanks for posting all the pics—-oh, and your hair, Dave, looks great…