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Published: August 6th 2007
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Luang Prabang, Laos Pregnant & naked men, topless women & naked bottom tanning. Three things that some may like to see, but others may not. People who are least likely to expect or want to see such nakedness are the local Cambodians who live & work along the beach in Sihanoukville. Conservative & likely to enter the sea fully clothed, the last thing they expect is to see a white backpacker's bottom bronzing (or not) in the sun, a middle aged man removing his wet speedos & standing naked on the beach, western women sunbathing topless & a very large number of middle aged men with pregnant looking guts that hang over impossibly tight & disturbingly short shorts.
I'm not a big fan of some of these either, but what really surprised me is that the topless women didn't find it odd that they'd drawn such a crowd. Locals were calling friends over for a look & numerous young men were standing staring open mouthed in wonder, yet still
they lay there. Topless.
In the past six weeks our
Buddha
Luang Prabang, Laos travels have ground almost to a halt. After Burma it was hard to know where to travel next - few places can beat the magic of the country & the people there. Nowhere in the local vicinity was calling us & as I sat at a computer looking up various airline websites nothing could excite us enough to click on "buy" Even the flight to Manila for US$1 (about 50p) didn't move me. In the end we opted to change direction & begin a new journey - a journey that was harder to put into action than you may think. It took a few more weeks of planning, stressing & consulting before we could move on.
This final episode from South East Asia is a random meander from Thailand to Cambodia, back to Thailand, into Laos & back to Thailand for a final time. If it comes across as schizophrenic that's no surprise - that's how the past weeks have been as moments of travel were interspesred with too much time spent thinking about where to go, how to get there & running backwards & forwards across borders trying to arrange visas.
After taking a quick look at
Pulling Teeth
It's not all fun & games Thailand's former capital & ruins in Ayuttaya we travelled back again to Sihanoukvile, Cambodia. The greeting at the Cambodian border was far from pleasant. The immigration officers there are perhaps the rudest advert possible for such a normally friendly country & attempted to extort almost 150% of the cost of our visa from us. A strange way to welcome people to your country.
Torrential rain followed as we were taken into town on the back of motorbikes already overloaded with our things. Needless to say the umbrella is now in shreds.
The following three weeks in Sihanoukville revolved around beach & food. More beach & more food. A plate of fresh lobsters (for Kylie) for a dollar & a mountain of fresh fruit daily on the beach also for a dollar, followed by divine Khmer curry or the best burgers in Asia for dinner (thanks to Green Gecko & a place along the road).
The change of direction from SE Asia left us a few weeks to take a brief stroll into Laos. I spent six weeks in Laos in 1999 & remember it to be one of the most laid back, untouched, undeveloped & friendly places
Wat
Luang Prabang, Laos I'd ever been. The bad roads meant that journeys on overloaded & slow moving truck or pick up could take days. Travelling the Mekong River by boat provided a quicker & gentler alternative. Transport rarely left until it was full, which meant that some days you waited most of the day just to leave. One day we sat on a truck for a few hours until they decided not to leave at all. Another day, a bus broke down - the driver & his mate tried to fix it but failed, so we were left in the middle of nowhere to fend for ourselves. As we wandered off hoping to find a village I remember thinking that there were worse places to breakdown - the view was stunning. Throughout the trip, as we passed through village after village, crowds of kids would all run out to shout the Lao greeting - SABADI! SABADIIIIIIIII!
Laos is one of those countries that rarely gets mention on the news - it's a place that few people know much about. Relative isolation, with no access to the sea, mountainous borders on two sides & a river along another left Laos largely detached from
Buddha Head
Ayuttaya, Thailand developments further afield. But it's six million people have had a rough ride that most recently included French colonisation & a US led war. The French left some nice architecture, baguettes & some bad transliteration (they spelt the capital city's name Vientiane, when it's actually pronounced Wien Cheung). The American war - know as the 'Secret War' left Laos as the most heavily bombed country (per capita) on the
planet.
Today, people who travel to Laos will probably tell you about it's passion for sticky rice & locally grown coffee, it's national drinks - Beerlao & local the whisky, Lao Lao.
It remains a remarkably laid back country. After awhile in these parts you get used to being hassled by tuk tuk, motorbike & taxidrivers every where you go. You rarely have to worry about getting from A to B as someone is always after your business. Yet on arrival
at a new town in Laos, the chances are you'll have to work hard to get someone to take you to a guest house. It's the same story when shopping - there's no hard bargaining, if you don't want to pay the price that's fine, they'll go back
Ayuttaya
Thailand to their lunch/sleep/texting etc.
When talking to locals in Laos I got the impression that poor as they may be, most people were happy as they were & really didn't have the same desperate desire to modernise or westernise as their neighbours did. There's something very satisfying about sitting on the Laos side of the Mekong River, surrounded by rafts & canoes, fishermen working & children playing, bamboo huts on the bank & palm trees all around and knowing that these people would rather live like this than with the neon lights, big cars & karaoke bars that are just metres away on the Thai side. Visiting Laos is still a very much a step back into the past. Laos is somehow still living in the middle ages.
Capital Vientiane is a sleepy city of less than a million people that has the feel of a provincial town. The cars are getting bigger & the motorbikes are multiplying but the streets are often deserted & there's no high rise or neon. Yet.
With little time left in Asia we managed just a couple of places in the country - Vientiane & former royal capital Luang Prabang.
Beer Lao
The national drink, Laos Setting off north to Luang Prabang we hit the lush green rice fields before we've even left the city. Although it's a nine hour bus ride - one of the main routes in the country, we pass perhaps only one or two real towns. Throughout the journey that takes us up & down numerous mountains & hills, all we see is tiny bamboo & thatch style villages. It's a very basic & rural existence.
Luang Prabang is a recognised World Heritage town & is most well known for it's numerous Wats (Buddhist Temples) & it's mix of colonial & Asian architecture. There used to be over 60 wats, today there's just over 30 left - varying in size, but still home to countless young orange robed monks. Many of the wats follow a similar style, low sweeping roofs that reach almost to the floor; colourful & intricate paintings or mosaics adorn the walls; countless bronze & wooden Buddhas sit peacefully inside.
The most historical part of Luang Prabang sits on the confluence of two rivers & is a peaceful place to lose a few days. At night the main street is taken over by a market full of
Arc De Triomphe?
Vientiane, Laos. The Americans gave them money to build a new runway at the airport. They built this instead. It's actually called Patuxai
beautiful local handicrafts. It's a dangerous place to shop - the temptation to spend
is hard to avoid (note to travellers - shopping is much better in Luang Prabang than Vientiane).
Luang Prabang has changed a little over the past few years - the most obvious difference being the rise in tourist numbers & the number of upmarket hotels, guest houses & restaurants to cater to them. Walking along the main street of the old town, you are more likely to see white faces than locals, and if you eat at a cafe, there seems to be
a good chance that a westerner will run it.
In the past few years I'd heard a few times that Laos had changed; I'd been warned not to go back, but knowing that everywhere that I have been back to has changed I was willing to take another look. Perhaps next time it will have changed a lot more - even so it has a long way to go before reaching the more developed status of it's neighbours. The people remain friendly, you're always greeted with a 'sabadi' & a smile, & the pace of life, even in the towns, remains
Moster of Concrete
Arc De Triomphe. Vientiane, Laos slow.
Of course there are those that want to change Laos - there's plenty of business people, UN officials & international organisations that are desperate to shift the country into the 21st century. Much of Asia is changing at an alarming rate - Vietnam has the fastest growing economy in the world & China is in a league of its own when it comes to development. But change at what cost? These countries are making changes based on out western ideals & standards. Shopping centres, mobile phones, four wheel drives, an air conditioned life - is this what guarantees happiness? For some perhaps, but not for all. Hopefully in a few places, in Laos, in Burma & in the quiet backwaters of China, Vietnam & Cambodia a few families will continue to live their close knit & communal family lifestyle where they live off of the land in a simple but happy existence.
As I write this (March 4th) it is our final day in Bangkok & I've just eaten my last Thai curry for awhile. Over the past nine months we've passed through here more times than I care to remember. We haven't recently seen a single
sight or partaken in any interesting activities here other than a brief trip to Chinatown during Chinese New Year. The rest of the time has been spent shopping, sitting in traffic on busses, waiting hours for said busses to arrive, eating curry, stressing about visas & flights, sitting here at a computer & having numerous teeth pulled out. Thai travel agents aren't the best in the world - they really do have no interest in getting you whatever flight you may want & really don't like to be interrupted when eating/sleeping/texting/ gossiping/spot squeezing/make up retouching etc.
Spend any time in Thailand these days & there's three things that you will notice people are obsessed with; yellow, the new airport & the government. Most of these have been going on since before we arrived & will no doubt go on a long time after we leave.
Everyone still wears yellow to show support for the king. It's hard to imagine what will happen when he finally departs this world - he's an old man now. While he is loved as a godlike figure, his sons & heirs are generally thought of as a waste of space. His daughter
would
Friends
Luang Prabang make a great & popular heir, but like the UK & Japan, the female heir isn't favoured.
Bangkok's new airport was prematurely opened & has been plagued by disaster since. From cracked runways, to a lack of toilets it's hardly the world class hub that it was billed as. They are even reopening the old airport any day (week, month?) now.
The military coup was supposed to bring with it great changes for the nation as well as peace for the far south where a civil war has raged for years. Six months on they have failed to do anything but lose the faith of the people. This month there's new warnings that bombs are more likely than ever in Bangkok.
Despite this, we're supposed to feel safe - there are a few checkpoints of sorts around the city. At major shopping centres they half heartedly search the odd bag. There's plenty of soldiers with guns roaming around the city too. Khao San Road, the backpacker centre of SE Asia, has a gate at each end. Occasionally a few military types hang around looking bored. This is probably supposed to make you feel safe, but you're not.
Monk's Room
Luang Prabang It's like taking metal knives off of aeroplanes - the terrorist will simply find another way. No one seems to have told the guys here in Bangkok that there's countless side entries to Khao San Road, & that the terrorist could easily walk through one of these.....
Tomorrow we leave Asia - although we'll be back on the continent again very soon, albeit in a far reaching corner from this one.
We end a chapter that began nine months ago with us chilling out with a giant beach to ourselves in Khao Lak, Thailand but soon turned into us being constantly surrounded by a phenomenal mass of people right across China.
Despite my earlier rantings about China there are many special memories there - tiny panda cubs just a few weeks old, young Shaolin monks & their early morning routine, meeting Chinese peasants & seeing another side to the country while cycling through the majestic scenery of Yangshuo, tiresome journeys bouncing around on noisy sleeper busses & neverending rides on the trains. The ultimate highlight, Tagong, near the Tibetan border, with it's numerous different ethnic groups, mountain scenery & luscious food. And you can't mention China without
Robes
Luang Prabang mentioning tea....
From the chaotic streets of Hanoi & Saigon to the peace of Hoa's Place on China Beach, Vietnam provided us with DIY spring rolls, noodles & Hoi An - home to cut price mojitos, Cau Lau & White Rose.
Trying to understand Cambodia's history involved meeting numerous people who lost loved ones at the hands of the Khmer Rouge as well seeing the spot where Pol Pot was cremated. Elsewhere, rare dolphins, bamboo trains & the beach provided a more positive outlook.
Burma & her people are unmatched elsewhere. Befriending students & monks, numerous festivals & golden pagodas, teaching English classes & incredible hospitality
And a constant companion in every country - stealing babies, a never ending echo of 'hello' & many many motorbike tours.
All along a unique soundtrack has echoed around us. Dogs barking through the night. The early morning call of 'cock a doodle do'. Chinese opera, Thai pop. Traditional orchestras. But there's one sound that follows everywhere.
Perhaps not what you expect: Westlife - there's no escape. Westlife's Greatest Hits. The curse of that boy band is everywhere in Asia.
the final few pages of Buddhist Temple & Monk photos below!!
Wellington - Sydney - Bangkok - Khao Lak - Chaweng (Koh Samui) - Lamai (Koh Samui) - Bangkok - Macau - Guangzhou - Yangshuo - Guangzhou - Zhengzhou - Guangzhou -Shanghai - Huang Shan - Shao Lin - Beijing - Xi'an - Chengdu - Leshan - Kanding - Tagong - Litang - Xiang Cheng - Zhongdian - Lijiang - Kunming - Hekou/Lao Cai -Hanoi - Cat Ba Island - Ninh Binh - Hanoi - Hue - Hoi An - Hue - Hanoi - Sapa - Lai Chau - Son La - Mai Chau -Hanoi - China Beach - Hoi An - China Beach - Quy Nhon - Kon Tum - Saigon - Phnom Penh - Pursat - Battambang - Siem Reap - Anlong Veng - Siem Reap - Kompong Cham - Kratie - Ban lung (Ratanakiri) - Kratie - Phnom Penh - Kampot - Sihanoukville - Bangkok - Kanchanaburi - Bangkok - Rangoon - Bagan - Monywa - Mandalay - Pyin Oo Lwin - Hsipaw - Kyaukme - Inle Lake (Nyuangshwe) -Taungoo - Bago -Kinpun (Kyaiktiyo) - Yangon - Bangkok - Ayutthaya - Bangkok - Koh Kong - Sihanoukville - Phnom Penh - Bangkok - Vientiane - Luang Prabang - Bangkok
New Zealand - Commonwealth of Australia - Kingdom of Thailand - Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China - People's Republic of China - Socialist Republic of Vietnam - Kingdom of Cambodia - Union of Myanmar - Lao People's Democratic Republic
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Patricia
non-member comment
"Obrigada"
Obrigada is Thank you in Portuguese. I'm very grateful to have met such a great guy who "took" me on an incredible journey in Asia, with pictures and wonderful insights. I can't wait to see where you are "taking me"next. Tchau. patricia