Before starting the post a few facts about for the knowledge hungry:
Capital: Vientiane
Population: 6.5 million
Flag: three horizontal strips of Red: Blue: Red, with the central blue strip taking up 50% of the flag and a white circle positioned in the centre of the flag.
Language: Lao
Currency: Kip (K)
Religion: Theravada Buddhism
Officially Laos is called the Laos People's Democratic Republic and is one of the poorest countries on the planet and is near the bottom of all the main rankings used by the UN and other bodies to rate a country. Laos also completely isolated itself from the rest of the world during the 1970's and a large portion of the '80s.
With this all in mind, I have to say that Laos has been a surprising gem on our travels, such that I did actually leave a little bit of my heart in the country when we crossed the border into Thailand. If it wasn't for two small but not insignificant points, Laos would have surpassed Vietnam and be proudly sitting at the top of my leaderboard.
Firstly, Becs and I didn't find the food quite as mouthwatering as what we had tasted in Vietnam and Cambodia, plus we already knew that Thailand was going to blow our tastebuds. The main local dish, which I did actually enjoy, was Laap, but I will leave that to Becs' food orientated blog to describe. All I would add is that Becs didn't do a cookery class in Laos. Enough said.
I think the main reason it's food doesn't live up to neighbouring countries is, because of the period that Laos withdrew from the rest of the world, it hasn't had the outside influences in its cuisine. Also, as it is probably the poorest of the countries in the region, Laos food is quite basic and not as flavoursome.
The second reason that denied Laos top spot was that I didn't quite as enjoy the towns and cities as much as the other countries. Most of the places were quite small; didn't have the interesting architecture, history and sights of the previous places we visited; and we didn't quite fit in with the other travellers quite as much.
I don't know what it is with the Tarquins and Rupert's of this world, who travel courtesy of the 'Bank of Mum and Dad', but they seem to think that just because they buy a bandana that they have been to Woodstock. Talk about 'too cool for school'? It was unfortunate that some of their antics made the locals resent tourists so they weren't quite as friendly as those from other countries.
This, I think, accentuated the closeness of the Laotians, probably again a direct consequence of its time in isolation, demonstrated by most people's curiosity and bewilderment by even the most routine of tasks or action that would be normal in most countries. Also there were fewer people that we could communicate with in English, if we needed some assistance that was not served by our 6-10 awkwardly pronounced Lao words and/or phrases.
I am all for people having a laugh but, as an example, the sight of seeing a sexually confused young man, drunk and high as a kite, kneeling in broken glass head butting a wall after regretting snogging a ladyboy will live with me for some time...
Anyhow, back to the beginning. Our flight from Cambodia to Vientiane was very quant and I imagine a throwback to bygone eras. Not only was the plane a small propeller plane but the procedures at the airport were far more relaxed. We didn't have enough Dollars to pay our entry visa but the immigration staff simply allowed us to walk through immigration and out of the airport to withdraw currency. We just slipped back through a side door and completed the formalities before entering the country officially. They also let me bypass security a few times to buy and send a couple of postcards; seemingly not worried about security scanners.
Even the baggage hall in 'arrivals' at Vientiane was something to behold, as it consisted of a single track of rollers. If you didn't pick up your bag in time it just fell on the floor at the end. With bags saved from their Lemming-esq swan dive we proceeded to travel into the centre of the capital to decide on the next steps. Once the locals had recovered from Beetlemania, a Korean popstar also landed at the same time, we sorted out an illegal minibus and was dropped off in the old quarter.
We had read in a few places that Vientiane was a quant but not the most imposing of capital cities lacking significant sights. Both bits of commentary played out so, with our tight schedule firmly in mind, we pottered about the old town for an hour or so, hopped into a Tuk Tuk and saw the sights on route to the Northern Bus Terminal; where we picked up a minibus to Vang Vien. The minibus was quite a good experience as we were the only tourists. It is also cheaper and quicker than the VIP. I think it is quicker than the coaches as it is obviously more nimble but it also doesn't double as the main mode of courier/despatch. This is quiet important as it only stops at certain places for people to disembark, unlike the regular buses who stop seemingly everywhere to pick up and/or drop off parcels, packages and post.
We spent a day and a half in Vang Viang. As previously stated, the other backpackers weren't quite my cup of tea. They were either much younger than us (smug bastards...), extremely hippy and/or pissed/high as a kite. The highlight there was the couple of hours floating down the river on inner tubes and caving, albeit everyone, locals and tourists alike, were gobsmacked that we didn't get smashed or sample the 'happy-shakes' whilst tubing. Still, we did have to travel to Kasi that evening.
The trip to Kasi was spectacular. Not only did we travel in a 'Songthrough', which seems to be a long range Tuk Tuk, but the scenery was breathtaking. We arrived in Kasi a little after dusk and was met by Uncle Tom; a Welshman who is a Tom Jones lookalike that has set up a motorcycling school in rural Laos. I was starting to doubt myself whether I hadn't sampled some of the happy-shakes after all.
The day of the 16th October was great fun as both Becs and I learnt how to ride motorbikes. I had already had some exposure whilst working as a Jakeroo on a Cattle Station in Australia, but that was a long time ago now. The morning was spent familiarising ourselves with the basic operations around a field as the back of our home stay followed by a more challenging circuit round a local airfield. After that we went out on the roads and, more spectacular, off-road on some dirt tracks along the crest of a hill range.
When the riding school was finished, around 2pm, we had some lunch whilst the home stay put out a simple sign of consisting of one symbol on a page of A4 paper attached to a bambo stick wedged into a milk crate. I wasn't convinced that it would work, to be honest and was already setting my mind to what impact the extra night in Kasi, when a sixty seater superbus stopped outside after spotting the sign.
I think that you have just to accept that things work differently in Asia. Including, I might add, that Asians seem to be as photosensitive as Gremlins. The ride from Kasi to Louang Phabang was up there with all the scenery offered up by Laos to date, but most of the other passengers on the coach had not only curtains drawn but had shades on. Still their loss as they missed plunging valleys, shimmering horizons and beautiful contrasting shades of green.
The longest night market I have seen in a small town aside, I wouldn't say that there was anything noteworthy about Louang Phabang. Yes it had a quant palace and some pretty waterfalls but it was more of a pleasant stop and vital stepping stone to the slow boat up the Mekong River than a highlight on its one. The slow boat was one of my non-negotiables when agreeing the itinerary and something I had been really looking forward to.
Quite simply the next two days matched my expectations and some. To spend two days on a slow boat meandering upstream against the flow of this great river through some captivating countryside was a thrill. Most of the boat was made of friendly locals and was great for people watching. The boat was bustling with interesting things to ponder, including Millennium Falcon-esq smuggler compartments on board to store our luggage. Was the conspiracy theory about the CIA establishing a cocaine plant and smuggler route in Loas to further threaten the VietCon actually true? Still not sure on that one yet. More google searches I think.
The slow boat actually was two slow boats. At about 5-ish on day one we docked in a small town called Pakbeng, that has to rely on the showboat for its existence as it seemed the whole of the town emptied its houses to hawker itself the moment the boats moored up. After a night at Pakbeng we departed around 7:30 am to spend the second day continuing to meander up to Houay Xai on a slightly smaller boat.
The other real highlight of the trip up the Mekong was meeting Stacey and Pete; an American lady and Devon chap who met in New Zealand, and have been travelling as a couple ever since. Scary thought, I know, but I found myself on the same wavelength as Pete and the fact that he had a rather fetching big bushy beard was a real bonus. Stacey was also really sweet and I think like my wife, she welcomed the relief from our incessant chatter. The other travellers on the boats where great too and it was quite relaxing to play out conversations over the two days paced by the flow of the river.
All I would say is that there seems to an unhealthy ecological interference building in the region as the Chinese seem to be having a negative affect on the area. A substantial bypass already has been constructed can reduce the two day boat trip to a matter of hours by road. This has been sold to increase the attraction of the region to tourists but seems to part of a Chinese play in the area.
An Australian, who lives in the region, said that China is able to comply with various quotas imposed on itself as it is building an alarming amount of Dams on the Mekong River to generate power. The Chinese also seem to have an aim to make trade routes to Thailand easier by constructing a vast number of roads and railway lines across Laos and are making significant donations to make these projects possible.
Hopefully, but I fear they are losing the battle, Laos will not be ruined by these 'gifts'. I imagine that a lot of people are getting rich on approving the schemes and the public are buying into the economic prospects being promised. If this is the non-benevolent state that I know any wealth generated through these schemes will be safely tucked under the mattress in Beijing.
So after seven days, which was way too short, we headed over a bridge to the Thai Border for our forth country. Goodbye Loas. Gone but not forgotten and I have sneaky feeling I will be back!!!
Sohk Dii Der Goodbye
