Laos

Last time we wrote, we were in Northern Thailand, about to head over the border into Laos. It's a simple process, a few bus rides, then you hop a small boat and an old guy rows you over the river and you're in Laos. Who needs a busy airport? Of course, the minute we arrived we could tell things were different than in Thailand. For example, very few people could speak any English whatsoever, so getting reliable information about onward transportation was, well, challenging. But, that's what budget travel is all about…so we grabbed some other foreigners, negotiated a price, and climbed (actually, waded) into what's known as a "fast boat." It turned out to be the only fast-moving thing in Laos (except a bus ride from hell, more to follow). We were packed into a craft only slightly wider than a canoe, with a car engine in the back. Our driver immediately donned his motorcycle helmet and carefully pulled down the visor…hmmm…no safety equipment for the foreigners…oh, well, it was a lot like a water park amusement ride minus the guys in funny costumes. Although we were whizzing along at perhaps 50 MPH, and the skin on our faces was practically pulled tight by the force, we were fortunately able to appreciate the gorgeous scenery along the Mekong River. On the left bank was Burma (Myanmar),on the other side was Laos, and we were in…the water. We had been interested in visiting Burma, and there it was - tempting, but we didn't try to land there, although it didn't appear that there were any barriers. Meanwhile we were enjoying the green mountains, pure white sandy beaches, and rocky outcrops along the sides of the river. And the first blue skies we'd seen for a long time due to the atmospheric smoke (and unfortunately, the last for a while).

We landed in the tiny village of Chang Kok, which consists of a small boat landing, a dusty path leading up a cliff to the wooden homes, and a small market. No guest houses, but the villagers pointed us to a small shop(their entire inventory consisted of a few dusty soda and water bottles, some canned condensed milk and some packaged crackers). They obviously are used to taking in guests, because it didn't take them long to set up mattresses, blankets, pillows and mosquito nets for the five of us, plus a delicious homemade meal. The next morning we had just a short time to explore the small village before grabbing a "bus" (this is what the euphemistic term the ever-positive Lao people use for PICKUP TRUCK) to head to the next town, a mere five hours (less than forty miles) away via a dirt road. Our posteriors suffered quite a bit from the bumps, but our eyes were feasting on spectacular lush mountain scenery, with many dense forests. Oh, how we wished we were traveling by foot so we could truly enjoy the surroundings at a slower (and less dusty) pace. We alighted (nice word for barely rolled ourselves out of the truck) at a town called Muang Sing, from which we visited hill tribe villages where the ethnic minority groups still wear their traditional embroidered clothing. We attempted to visit the Chinese border by bicycle, but weren't able to see it from the Lao border. The immigration officer, who was wearing a towel, having just emerged from his bath, didn't seem keen on letting us go any further.

Our next goal was to travel by "slow boat" from yet another small town (reached by yet more "bus" rides) along the Mekong River. Unfortunately, now that we'd headed a bit further south, the smoke from the slash-and-burn agriculture was obscuring the clouds and visibility was poor. Our biggest challenge at this point was communicating with locals who couldn't speak English. Our guest house had what we thought was a good system for ordering food: you write down the number of the item on the menu that you want to order. In this case, we made the mistake of ordering the "set breakfast," which includes choices such as tea or coffee and how you want your eggs. Now, in India we thought we learned our lesson - when you order a set breakfast, list out every single item it's supposed to include, or you might not get it. Well, thirty minutes passed, and we only received parts of each order. Hmmm…something wasn't quite right…how on earth do you explain to without English or Laotian that your eggs and bread haven't arrived? After 10 minutes of failed attempts, Eduardo wrote up a neat little chart showing the items that should arrive with check marks after those we'd received. After a few more minutes, we realized that of course they couldn't READ English, maybe not even Laotian. Duh, amazing how stupid you can be at times! In this case, the problem was finally solved when the only English speaker in the family returned from the market and could translate. Now it was getting close to time for the boat to leave.

More challenges there…. We couldn't find the boat! Everyone we asked pointed in a different direction! Finally we found a boat that was willing to accept our ticket, but it didn't seem quite right. For one thing, where were the other foreigners - we know there were 5 or 6 others heading the same way. But it was time for the boat to leave so we carefully crossed the skinny gangplank and boarded. About a minute later we saw the public boat, with a pile of farangs (foreigners) sitting in the front. Oh, well, as long as our boat was heading the right way (downstream) we figured we'd get there sooner or later. And sure enough, we did, and there was no problem with our ticket. We're still not sure if the boat captain got reimbursed for our tickets or just took us to be nice. At any rate, it's always more fun to travel with the locals. I pulled out our photo album and we soon learned some Lao words (for family relationship terms).

We arrived in Luang Prabang just as the sun setting was setting over the mountains behind the river. Walking down the main wide boulevard, we received the mistaken impression that we had arrived in a much larger city than we expected. Well, it certainly was more of a city than the small villages we'd visited, but still a rather small town, as we discovered while walking around the next day. In fact, the majority of streets are unpaved. It's a funny place, you walk down some paved roads past old colonial French shop buildings, then just around the corner is a small neighborhood filled with trees, chickens, pigs, and old wooden huts. Turn again and you're on a regular street again. The town is filled with dozens of wats (temples), and it's fun just to wander around and look at the different styles and decorations. Our favorite temple featured a beautiful Tree of Life mosaic made from shiny glass that was glimmering in the late afternoon sun. (According to our guidebook, there were some erotic carvings on another building, but despite trying we never could locate anything less tame than a co-ed hugging scene!) We wandered over towards the river and spent an hour talking with some friendly novice monks -they loved the chance to practice English, and we picked up some useful Lao at the same time.

Another interesting highlight of Luang Prabang was going to the local disco. Yes, there is one (just one). First we had the chance to observe a wedding party through a fence and were a bit surprised by the slowness of the dancing, but thought maybe that was because it was at a wedding. To begin with, no one exactly jumps up when the next song begins. At first you think no one is going to move, but then there's a very slow migration of pairs heading towards the dance floor. The dancing steps consist of two main parts: the hands and the feet. The foot part isn't too complex; simply keep shifting your weight from one foot to the other. Move slightly to your right as you do this, so that the entire mass of dancers slowly migrates in a counterclockwise direction around the dance floor. As for the hands, well that's easy, too. Start with your hands held loosely in front of your chest. Raise one about two inches while lowering the other. Then bring the lower hand up and the upper one down. If you're really fancy, add a few flourishes. But slowly, now! You mustn't break a sweat! Not, that is, until the song ends. We suspect there's some kind of serious stigma to being the last one on the floor, because the only time we ever saw Laos move fast was when they were returning to their seats. I'm surprised no one was injured. The disco was simply more of the same, except that we were participants, with a group of Laos, Italians, French and Americans (us). We arrived about 10 pm, things really got hopping by 10:30 (our Italian friends requested some western songs and we found out that young Laos can indeed dance quickly, especially if they're drinking),and then the place closed down at exactly 11:24 pm. I guess they don't want to keep the neighbors awake. Well, we had fun learning to dance Lao style!

Sadly, the clock was ticking on our visa and we had to move along all too soon to the next spot, a small town called Vang Vieng, known for its splendid karst scenery. What's karst? We're not exactly sure of the geological details, but I think I read somewhere that it used to be coral along, long time ago. At any rate, you see huge rock mounds covered with trees and vines rising up from perfectly flat fields. Many of the rock mountains have caves inside, and we visited a couple,including one where you jump in a pool, swim through a passageway and end up swimming around the inside of a small cavern. Some sunlight entered from above, and the water was a beautiful shade of blue-green, and very clean - not dark and slimy as we'd feared! One more water adventure awaited us before we left -tubing down the river with 8 of our closest just-met friends! Some how we ended up organizing this little expedition, in which 10 of us rented inner tubes, hailed a songtheow (truck taxi) and asked the driver to take us to a spot 5 km up the river. This particular entry point is known to most, but not all, of the drivers - we did hear of one poor woman who was dropped off at a stream somewhere else and had to somehow find her way back. Fortunately, we had the right river. Like everything else in Lao (apart from the fast boat), the river was slow and meandering. At first, we enjoyed the relaxing pace, and sat back and watched the scenery. Heavenly! Then we realized we'd have to paddle if we wanted to get back by dark. Sometimes when the breeze kicked up we were actually getting blown upriver! Well, to make a long story short, we arrived just AFTER dark, having walked the last bit after some frantic upper-arm exercise.

Our final stop in Laos was the capital city, Vientiane. Sticker shock -$10 US per night for a room. No one seems to know why this one particular city has no cheap guest houses, whereas rooms elsewhere in Laos were $1-3per night. It's a mildly interesting city with nothing much to see or write about. Some old colonial architecture, lots of old Mercedes and a few cellular phones, and lots of ex-pats, not much else. We did eat the best food there we'd had in Laos - Indian food - and it was so good we ate there 3 times in 2 days. I was a bit embarrassed that they'd recognize us and think we were nuts, but then I realized that several groups of diners had also returned the next day! We were bored and the city was expensive, so we headed back to Thailand via the "Friendship Bridge."

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