Screw Brevity... Here's Laos!

After a lazy, laid back week or so in Southern Laos we made the jump to the North and picked up the pace. Our first stop was the capital, Vientiane. Given that the whole country only has about 6 million people, the capital is an understandably understated affair. We were lucky enough to find a clean/cheap place to stay and a traveling partner (Jeanette from New Zealand) who kept us going throughout a full-on two days of power sightseeing.

Beginning on day one at about 7:30am (we arrived in the city at 5:00am) we rode bikes, walked and took the bus to the sites in and around the city. We ended up seeing the Buddha Park (full of strange and sometimes grotesque statues depicting Hindu myths), the Morning Market (everything from fridges to rice baskets were sold here), Pha That Luang (a giant, gaudy, gold stupa), Wat Si Saket (a wat filled with thousands of beautiful Buddha statues) and of course the ubiquitous 'crumbling French colonial style architecture'. We also managed to eat dinner at the amazing restaurants that appear at night on the banks of the river. The food was fantastic; whole BBQ fish, prawns, pork and of course plenty of Beer Lao!

From Vientiane we headed about 4 hours N.E to the backpacker mecca of Vang Vieng. Admittedly, my expectations were not high, for this area as it has a reputation as a drugged-up flop house for lazy foreigners (Oh wait, that's Thailand haha). I ended up really enjoying it, a lesson learned how to not make snap judgements about places... well, not really. We spent a day biking around the countryside, visiting caves and villages along the way. It looks a lot like Yangshuo, China as the topography is similar, ie...more karst. We also spent a wonderful day tubing down the Nam Song.

Tubing is an activity that seems to be unique to Laos... You pay to rent a large truck inner-tube and grab a ride 10km upstream. From there you are at the whim of the river which slowly nudges you along past the many makeshift 'bars' on the rivers edge. If you feel like a drink, and inevitably you do as floating is VERY hard work, the bar staff extends a pole from the shore and you pull yourself in for a beer... Kind of like lassoing slightly inebriated, obnoxious cattle. These places also have giant bamboo swings. You have to jump off a rickety bamboo platform 50ft above the water, swing a few times and then drop into the icy water below. Needless to say, they had a hard time prying me away from the swings and the beer.

One other unique thing about VV, although not as much fun as above, is the 'TV Bar'. Most restaurants/bars in VV are equipped with at least two TVs and numerous tables on the floor with pillows. Every night people pack into said establishments to stare blankly at re-runs of Friends, The Simpsons and Family Guy. You have to see it to believe it... come to another country, sit in front of the TV and stare for hours. It was so bizarre that even I, the huge Simpsons fan that I am, could resist just on principle.

Leaving lovely Vang Vieng we headed North along a windy mountain road to Luang Prabang, the golden child of Lao tourism. The city itself is really picturesque with many old buildings/streets/Wats nestled between two rivers. There is now an airport and the streams of middle-aged, wealthy tourists have made the place a little more swanky than most other parts of Laos. Downside, the prices are a lot higher. Upside, there is a Scandinavian Bakery that sells GREAT coffee. While in LP we visited many Wats/monasteries, explored the old streets, shopped till we dropped at the Night Market and observed the age-old 'Morning Alms Ceremony'. We also had an amazing time at an elephant camp (I'll try to write an entry about it later).

I think both Amy and I were a little weirded out by the Alms Ceremony... Traditionally, monks from the monasteries in the area walked through the streets with bowls, collecting 'alms' (food for the day) from local people. It is supposed to be a spiritual act in which the people give something to the monks and receive good blessings in return. Once the monks have collected enough food to sustain them through the day, they return to the monastery. In LP it has turned into a bit of a zoo... Tourists flock to the streets to take pictures of other tourists giving food to the monks. When the monk's bowls overflow, which they inevitably do because of all the people, they throw food to children waiting behind them to receive the cast-offs! Doesn't sound quite right does it?

From LP we headed to the small town of Nong Kiaw, nestled on the banks of a lovely river, the name of which I've fogotten. This was a quiet and beautiful town with a set of cool caves used to shelter people during the Indochina wars. One hour further down the river was Muong Ngoi, my favourite place in Laos. We stayed in a slanted, yet quaint bungalow on the bank of the river for a whopping $2/night. During the day we went on a 'do-it-yourself trek' lead by Amy, our fearless leader! We tromped through fields, villages, rivers, pretty dense foliage, almost got eaten by a dog and still came out happy! Neither of us wanted to leave, but life goes on...

Next stop was the "heartland of Northern Laos" (as stated in tourist brochure) - Oudomxay. Let me tell you, if Oudomxay is the 'heartland' someone bring on the defibrillator! Nice city with a nice temple and some nice views over the valley, but nothing to write home about.

The next day we carried on further north to Luang Nam Tha and then further still to Muang Sing. We were searching for some socially/ecologically responsible trekking and all we found was what I imagine the Wild West would look like... post nuclear holocaust. We spent the day with Adi from Israel, eating and learning Israeli card games as there was nothing else to do.

The next morning (as early as humanly possible) we headed back to Luang Nam Tha, thoroughly disenchanted with the far north. We were toying with the idea of leaving early for the border when we met a couple of girls who were planning to do a trek. Turns out the trek we wanted to do actually originated in LNT. We visited the office and the UN Development Award and cost breakdowns posted on the wall were enough to convince us to sign up!

I loved the trek - it was a perfect combination of beautiful scenery (real jungles with 500 year old trees!), challenging hiking and an interesting look at village life. More importantly, in contrast to Sapa, it actually felt right... Not exploitative. The thing that really struck me was how amazing the kids were. Naturally, at first they were wary of us strange looking foreigners but it didn't take long for curiosity to overcome. Everywhere we went the kids would come up to say 'hello' and sometimes play games. Previously we discovered that kids love to have their pictures taken and then to see the picture on the camera screen... These little ones were no different, they were lining up for pictures and then viewing. The one thing that was different about these kids was that they never asked us for anything. In other places random kids come up to ask for pens/money/candy etc. I think this is encouraged by parents and reinforced by tour companies who don't set out ground rules or properly compensate the villagers. Anyway, I took the absence of begging as a good sign... Obviously contact with foreigners isn't a good thing in these villages, but I think it's inevitable and positive (and mutually beneficial) interactions are important. Now I will get down from my soapbox...

From LNT we headed to the Thai border at Huay Xai in a bus that was over-capacity (nothing new in Laos). An interesting twist occurred about half way when we stopped briefly and the woman in front of Amy bought dinner... Dinner was an animal that looked vaguely like a prairie dog and it's new home was under the seat, right next to Amy's feet. She would squeal every time the buses movements forced the hairy carcass to touch her feet and I would laugh because these kind of things only seem to happen to her.

The Laos pictures are now up (Internet has been good to us in Thailand)... Hopefully they are more interesting than 1000 pics of rocks :)