Into the Boonies of Asia

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Welcome from Luang Prabang. It has been two days since my posting (I try to write every other day), yet it is a little tougher to get access to the internet as you could imagine. There are only 3 internet portals in the entire province, so it is utilized sort of like the few phones in a jail (lifers go first). On both sides of me are monks, which is a living contradiction. They're all done up in their orange robes, typing away on the net. I bet they're looking at porno. HA.

From Chiang Mai, my last stop, their are very few options to get here. One choice was to take a three day journey. The first day is all day in a mini bus, then you sleep overnight in some town. The next day, you take the mini bus for a little while, cross the border into Laos, and then get onto a boat on the Mekong. After stopping overnight once more, you take off again on the boat and finally make it to Luang Prabang by day Three. This option sounded acceptable to me at first, being that the drudge of the trip might be made up for by the excitement of the journey. However, after speaking to many people, I was told that this isn't so. They all said it sucked, and had wished they took option number two, flying. I spoke to a hippy who didn't have the patience for the trip, so I figured I am left with only one option, to fly.

The trip wasn't too expensive, only $120 US. The only problem was that the little 12 seat plane was booked for over a month. After hitting a brick wall for a few hours in terms of trying to maneuver my way into a seat, I decided that I would just go to the airport and see what happened. The travel agent told me that sometimes people don't show up, since they don't take deposits, just phone reservations. Well, within an hour I was up in the air. I gave the pilot a crisp 100 dollar bill US (I knew the American money would work) and he squeezed me in. I don't even think it was a seat. It was more like a flying van with propellers. To make a long story short, and to bypass the life and death situation of flying in the teetering little piece of shit plane, I made it to Luang Prabang in only an hour! I can see why it took so long by bus, boat. We flew over all these crazy mountains, until finally ending up on Luang Prabang.

This town is amazing. All surrounding it are these HUGE mountains, and it is nestled in the valley. The entire town is a UNESCO world heritage site, which pretty much means that the entire town is a living museum. It is awesome; very rare for an entire town to be designated a UNESCO world heritage, for that distinction is usually only given to single sights such as a temple or temple complex. Since I was so preoccupied with just getting to the city, I pretty much ignored the accomdation situation. I also wasn't worried about it, since my guide book said that I shouldn't have a problem. WELL, it definitely was wrong. I came to the place with a list about 15 good places to stay, making it a little bit more difficult than normal since the only hostel in town just had a so so rating. I went to every place on the list, with all of them being completely booked, until I got to number 14. I almost took the room, until I asked to see it. It was real crap, so I told them that 'I'd be back'. I didn't want to give up the only open room in town, but I also didin't want to settle. Three of the places told me to come back later to see if perhaps someone didn't show.

So, I went back to number two on my list, and they had a room open. I think it is like the bastard room, but it seems pretty nice to me. The place is called the Satri House; it is really really nice. I got the room for only 60 bucks a night (more than in other places in SE Asia, but the rooms in this city are pretty expensive, with the hostel being 30 bucks a night), and it includes breakfast. You can probably type that name into google and find their website. It is really nice. Breakfast this morning was awesome, served by the nice pool covered in a jungle canopy. Since they were a French colony at one time, the breakfast was French, which is great. I'm sick of Pig penis with bamboo shoots sticking out of it. The place I'm staying was built for a Laotian Prince in the turn of the 20th century. They called him the 'Red Prince'. Nobody seems to know why. Just like everywhere else in this region, the service is impeccable. I told them that a light was out, and they were up with Three men in 5 minutes. It's funny that it takes three little Laotians to screw in a lightbulb; one to hold the ladder, one to screw it in, and the other to direct.

I can't even begin to explain this town. It is so old, filled with emerald monastaries. Every morning at 7:30AM, all the monks in town walk the streets throwing stuff around and lighting incense. People then give them food for the day. What a bugout. Everyone is up at this time, since there is an 11:30PM curfew in the entire town. This is what happens in a one party state. They are pretty lax about it though. Last night the scariest thing happened. At about 11PM I was in my room, and ALL the power went out in the entire town. I've never seen such darkness in my life before; more dark than when I close my eyes to go to sleep at night back home. Normally when the power goes out, you can see some light outside. This was PITCH black. I managed to find my LED light, but about 10 minutes later, it sounded like all these Helicopters overhead. The blackouts I heard were normal; but helicopters weren't. I don't even think that the Laotion government owns helicopters. There were at least three of them, which were very low, and VERY loud. All these flashing red lights surrounded them, which I had no idea what they were. I didn't see the helicopters, I could just hear them, so I hope they were helicopters. Well, after five minutes this stopped, and nobody mentioned what happened this morning. SO WEIRD!

Today I pretty much got to know the town, walking around and seeing everything. It's great to finally be in a place where I can walk the whole town. It's not small, but not humongous either. Luang Prabang is also known for their 'outdoor adventures', so I signed up for an awesome trip tommorrow that leaves at 8 AM and gets back at 8PM. First, I go mountain biking, starting from town but then finishing through all these rough trails. I finish up by the river, where I take a motorboat upriver to this amazing waterfall that has cliff jumps and tarzan swings. Then, I hike to the 'elephant camp', where I see the elephants and eat lunch. Finally, I hike from there back to the river, where I go 'whitewater' kyaking all the way back to town. It should be dark for a good part of the kyaking, which is definitely cool. While biking, I stop in a native village also, and see some of the weirdo locals. It is going to be just me and the guide also, which is awesome, since I will be able to go much faster, see a lot more, and go a lot deeper into the 'wild'. This private tour for only 25 US.

In Laos, the US Dollar is king. I have a lot of Kip, which is their local currency, but it is SOOO worthless. 10,000 Kip to a dollar. So, 100 US Dollars is equal to a million kip. I have about 60 US Dollars worth of Kip in my pocket, and it is BULGING. I have got to have nearly 200 bills. It is much better to use Kip, since you get a much better deal on nearly everything. For instance, dinner tonight would have been either 3 dollars US or 19,500 Kip, which is only $1.95, soo, I use Kip.

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Sidenote
Something I noticed that is so funny. Even though the Canadian dollar has now surpassed the American dollar, at least on paper, in reality this isn't so. Everywhere I've been so far, they value the US dollar significantly higher than the Canadian dollar, typically valuing it 20% stronger. Once outside of the US, you see how dominant our country is. EVERY other country's economy depends on the US. When reading the Thailand newspaper, it is always 'the US this, so Thailand that', etc. I could see this even more so when watching Australian television, with half of what they talk about is America. While in the US, you never hear them talk about the Australian this, or the Thai that. You can also see the dominance in the language of choice in other countries. For instance, here in Laos, even though they were at one time a French colony, when a French tourist needs to speak to a Laotian, they speak with each other in English. America never colonized this country, but it has a strong effect on it, just as it does everywhere else I've been so far.
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OK, I got to go. I will try to email again soon. I am staying here tonight, and tomorrow night, and then plan on taking off to Vang Vieng. Travel from now on is all river, with very little roads, and no flight option. After Vang Vieng, I may head to Cambodia, or Vietnam. I'm not entirely sure. In the end, I hope to end up in the Thai islands and get my PADI certification. I met someone who just had done it, and it is only about 300 US to do. The scuba diving down there is also amazing, so I figure I should finally get my certification being that it is sooo much cheaper than to get it anywhere else in the World.

Talk to you later,

Dan

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Photos

Outside of the Satri House
It is a very old mansion.

Pool
Nightime by the pool

Kids on the River
All these kids love Americans. If they spot one from a mile away, they'll come running while yelling 'Hello' 'Hello' 'Hello'.

Life on the River
The Mekong River is their lifeline. They use it for everything, as a source of food, to cook and clean, and to recreate.

Washing
A girl washing her clothes.

Road Outside of the Satri House
In these towns, it feels like it is a town 'for the people'. Everybody hangs out on the streets. In this picture, it shows the village handicap and a few young kids. I think this guy was both mentally and physically handicapped; he always sat in the middle of the road and used his arms to move around. Right before I snapped this picture, the girl in the red dress walked over to give the man one of her two chicken kebabs. The little girl took care of him.

Satri House
This is where breakfast was served each morning.

Inside the house.
It was nice; however, it was a little too dark.