Peoples Democratic Republic of Laos

I know, I know. It’s been almost a month since my last posting. What can I say? I’ve been a little busy. Between working on the book, studying Thai, teaching salsa, and fashion shows…there just aren’t enough hours in the day! I have also noticed that keeping a blog almost requires you to step away from what you’re experiencing at the moment and think about how to record it, report it,…and otherwise describe it later. It’s like some sort of weird reverse engineering. In any event, my apologies for the delay in the action. Busy or not, you are all in my thoughts and heart every day.

Life is Chiang Mai continues to be good and very, very interesting. This is quite the international city and I am surrounded by every imaginable sort of people. We could easily stay here for the entire six months and never run out of new things to do and explore. But how could we resist visiting a few of the other countries that are just next door? First up: the People’s Democratic Republic of Laos!

After doing some research, we decided to book a tour that would take us across the border and up the Mekong River to Luang Prabang, the first major stop on our visit to Laos. It felt like quite a luxury to “get away” from what is already heaven…to visit yet another country, experience more, learn more. We were very excited. With only small backpacks, we waited for a mini-van to pick us up at our apartment. We were advised by everyoneto buy some seat cushions for the two day boat trip where we would be sitting on wooden benches the entire time. This was easier said than done as we put some energy into finding just the right cushions…some were too heavy, some too expensive, too fat…you get the picture. I finally ended up paying a whopping 120 bahts for mine, while Jimmy, thinking like a Thai, held out for a better price. So, with one cushion between us, we drove north to Chiang Rai where we visited Wat Rong Khun…an amazing Buddhist temple made out of all white materials.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Someone had earlier described it to us as like a big cake…and she was absolutely right. From afar, it is an amazing sight...but upon closer inspection there is so much more to see in detail.  The art images are simply wild! The wat was so beautiful and at the same time, a place a little tainted by the tourists. We had only half an hour to spend before we were back on the mini-van and on to our first guest house (or as the Thais call it…”get ow”)…in the town of Chiang Kong.

I have come to know a little about “border” towns. They are filled with scams, skeptics, tourists, travelers, and beautiful locals. They are places where many people are only passing through and that defines their character …at least on the surface. Chiang Kong was such a border town.

The mini van left us off in front of our “get ow” which was a nothing fancy, but to us…very interesting. Our room was on the second floor of an old building with a view of the river and Laos on the opposite shore. And it had a western style toilet which is a nice touch. After dropping off our bags, we explored the streets where locals were selling produce, fish, and other goods spread out on the sidewalk. There was some sort of “yardsale” with piles of clothes and I sat right down and started going though it…asking the prices and making small talk with my rudimentary Thai… something I never dreamed I would know how to do. A little girl, maybe seven years old or so, took a liking to me…handing me clothes saying “ow” (want), to which I would respond “may ow” (don’t want) and we would go back and forth playfully. The local women also tossed things in my direction and it felt so great to be able to communicate and feel comfortable in that situation. I ended up buying three garments for less than a dollar. We also discovered there were seat cushions for sale at every store…and for less than half the price I had paid for mine back in Chiang Mai. I hate it when that happens. They were also thicker so when Jim bought his I got one too. Later that night we made some “friends” ….Terry and Sonia, both from the Uk…or Great Britain…or England, depending on their mood (or who they’re talking to, according to Terry… when I asked him about this). Over a few bottles of beer and some whiskey, we had some great conversations about traveling and compared notes. Later, Jim and I did a salsa demonstration on the porch after two young Frenchmen let us hook our Ipod into their sound system. We slept very well that first night.

The next morning, we had a disappointing breakfast but that didn’t dampen our spirits in the least. One of the Frenchmen from the night before,walked by looking all bloody and banged up. Rumor had it that he had fallen from the balcony in a drunken stupor and was discovered unconscious. He looked pretty bad but was still smiling. When it was time to leave, there was the usual confusion about what was happening…lot’s of miscommunication and murmuring amongst the travelers. We were loaded into the back of a pick up for a trip down the road that only took us several minutes afterwhich we were unloaded again only to wait for the rest of the group to catch up. Jim and I are getting more comfortable all the time with uncertainty because things always seem to work out. WE also end up bonding with our fellow travelers even if it’s only for a short time and people seem more than happy to share information and advice. We overheard one girl’s story of how she could not use her ATM card therefore and had no money. I gave her my extra seat cushion.

I have come to realize that you have to go with the flow…especially when you have no idea of what is going to happen. When we got down to the river, we were directed to get on these extremely skinny and somewhat rickety boats. Some of them had crude coverings but the one we were boarding did not. I had a moment of panic thinking this was the boat that we would be traveling on for two days! I was not prepared to spend 15 hours on the Mekong without any sort of protection from the sun. Ready to flee to a covered boat, a fellow traveler informed me that these boats simply took us across the river to Laos…about a five minute crossing. Duh.

After crossing the Mekong, we walked into Huay Xai and to immigration. What ensued was about an hour of total confusion. Our tour “ticket” consisted of a young English girl holding a piece of paper with a hand written list of names on it. Traveling can feel like an act of faith and in this case it was true. Jimmy took our passports and went up to the window along with a horde of equally confused travelers, all sharing bits information and trying to get their visas. The government officials would take your paperwork and then… after some period of time, hold up a passport to the glass and that person (feeling like they just won something) would go up and pay. There was a lot of standing around and sitting around…lots of uncertainty but no feeling of being in a hurry. At last we got through the border security which consisted of two or three guards behind a wooden desk and were once again united with our tour group outside a local grocery store. There, an enthusiastic Laotian tried to talk us out of taking the slow boat…telling us tales of stolen bags, hours of grueling travel, and the possible threat of malaria. He held up a photograph of a lovely bus and suggested we take that instead. For the most part, we all just looked at each other with raised eyebrows and stonewalled the guy. We were later told by one of our fellow travelers that they heard it was yet another scam and the shiny bus in the picture would turn out to be some old rickety thing with chickens in the back. Finally, we made the short trek downhill to the famous slow boat which was an ancient looking wooden vessel. We were completely surprised to find “real “ seats with cushions on them…rather than the wooden planks that had been predicted. The seats looked like they had been hijacked from some other vehicle…like a bus perhaps, and they weren’t bolted to the floor but since this was the slow boat, we figured it didn’t matter a bit! After all the brew ha ha about the seat cushions, we didn’t even need them! We settled in for the first day of our trip up the Mekong.

 

It was a lovely and comfortable six hours in the slow boat. The terrain around us was mountainous and green with these really interesting rock formations along the beaches.  It seemed mostly uninhabited, at least from our vantage point. Occasionally we’d see villagers fishing, small kids wandering on the beaches, and seemingly untended livestock on the hillsides. It was very peaceful and cool, a constant breeze blowing as we moved along at a luxuriously relaxed pace. What was the hurry anyway? For the two of us, it was all about the journey. We wanted to see Laos. There was one stop along the way, it wasn’t clear if there was any purpose other than to give the local village kids an opportunity to see us a snack. They came scuttling down the hillside with the agility of billygoats carrying bags of chips, dried squid and soda to offer…half climbing into the boat through the open windows.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aside from the crazy guy in Huay Xai who tried to talk us out of taking the slow boat, this was our first real taste of a Laotion sales pitch …and it turned out to the norm from then on. No pressure, very relaxed and easy.

Our overnight stop was in a village called Pak Beng. We were on our own to find a guest house and there was pack of representatives awaiting us as we disembarked the vessel, holding up signs and photographs. Jim and I passed on by and headed into the small town, wanting to check things out. It was a really charming place, despite being a major tourist way-station. The one main street curved around revealing little restaurants, food vendors, general stores, lazy dogs, and of course the “get ows.”

We were lured into one right off the bat and it turned out to be both cheap and clean…a very good combination. As was often the case, we were presented with a roll of toilet paper upon check in. That evening, we ate at an Indian restaurant…it turned out there were two in the village, and had a good time trying to imagine what brought the proprietor to this remote part of the world.

 

Day two on the Mekong. There were two boats to be boarded, neither one the same as the one we rode in yesterday. They were moored side by side so that you could step from one to the other which we did several times looking for a place to sit. The first boat seemed pretty full, the second boat was also crowded and had the dreaded wooden seats we’d heard so much about. After a little confusion and hesitation, we sat on the floor up front, just behind the pilot. This turned out to be the best decision we could have made. Not only did we have a great view of everything, there was also room to stretch out and move around. Someone thoughtfully brought us extra cushions so we had some to put under us and behind our backs. The day was gorgeous and we set off, spirits soaring. This second leg of the trip was nine hours long so you really have some time. Jim and I studied our Thai, took lots of pictures, and really got to relax. At some point I had the revelation that I had a boatload of subjects to draw who were going to be captive for some time. I had a great time sketching…and gave away two of the drawings, one to an old Laotian woman and one to the pilot.

Later that day as we were getting close to Luang Prabang, the boat made a special stop to let the old woman off and they left her alone on the beach with five or six really heavy sacks. I was trying to imagine what she would do next and much to my surprise she walked a little way down the beach and started trying to launch another smaller boat. Clearly confident in her situation, she got smaller and smaller as we motored away.

Next stop:   Luang Prabang.