Vacations are awesome, getting there is not

---

Ah! Another winter, another trip! This year Kim and I decided to focus on Laos. We had really wanted to go last year but couldn’t work it in. Kim is on winter break from her school, but I only get national holidays (now that I have a ‘real’ job) so I had to take unpaid leave to go on holiday. During our trip research I found that we could fly to Bangkok and take a train through Thailand to Laos. It would take hours and hours and probably be very uncomfortable but it was really cheap.

Both Kim and I agreed to skip the cheap option and fly everywhere. The problem is that it isn’t always easy to find direct flights to cities in SE Asia. So our solution was to fly from Hong Kong to Kuala Lumpur to Vientiane to Luang Prabang. Even though we were able to find the plane tickets we needed, it still took hours and wasn’t very comfortable. Here’s how it went:

Friday, 01/22/10

Kim and I met at the Luohu metro station around 4 o’clock and made our way to the airport in Hong Kong. Our flight to Kuala Lumpur was only about four hours and uneventful. We arrived in KL around midnight.

Saturday, 01/23/10

Ugh. There’s nothing quite as depressing as the prospect of sitting up all night in an uncomfortable chair. Our flight to Vientiane was not until 8 o’clock in the morning. We got some McD’s and hunkered down for the night. Even though we were both bleary and nodding, neither of us felt secure enough to nap. We didn’t want our things to wander away while our eyes were closed. The morning came quickly enough and we boarded our flight to Vientiane and I think we both passed out before the plane even took off. It was another three hours before we arrived in Vientiane and for some reason Laos was an hour behind, so we landed around 10 o’clock. There was a scramble to get cash to pay for our visas ($35 USD) before our 1 o’clock flight to Luang Prabang. The domestic terminal at the Watta Airport was the size of a postage stamp and looked about forty years old. It wouldn’t have surprised me if a herd of cattle had walked through it. It was pretty funny. When we boarded our final flight for the day there was a Chinese woman sitting behind me along with her son, who appeared to be around nine years old. But her son wasn’t sitting. He was in the aisle throwing a world class fit worthy of a spoiled prince. When I looked back to see what was happening he almost punched me in the head as his arms flailed around. I had to duck out of the way. He and his mother were quickly relocated to the very back seat of the plane.

We landed in Luang Prabang around 2 o’clock. By this time Kim and I were giddy with sleepiness. I can’t even recall what that airport looked like. I was so looking forward to collapsing in our hostel, The Spicylaos Backpackers Hostel, which had received an 86% rating on hostelworld.com. When we reached the historic home that the hostel occupied we breathed a slight sigh of disappointment. Okay, it didn’t look quite as nice as the pictures on the internet, but there are a lot of places that are quite nice on the inside even if their exterior was a bit shabby.

We climbed the steps to the second floor porch and poked inside the front room. There was one guest working on a computer and he informed us that everyone had gone down to the river, everyone including the staff! There was no one to check us in. With heavy hearts we plopped down on some pillows on the porch to wait. I can’t remember how long we sat there (again, we were extremely tired), but finally a young man appeared and we jumped up to check in. The young man barely spoke English. When I say barely, I mean he spoke less English than I speak Chinese. I realize that while in a foreign country it is arrogant to expect everyone to speak English for me, but when a hostel advertises on the internet that they have English speaking staff I think they should have English speaking staff.

He showed us to the dormitory (there were no private rooms available) and my heart sank again when I saw that the only beds left were top bunks. Because I have a tendency to fall off of things, I always try to avoid the top bunk. Then we noticed that there was only a ceiling fan and no air conditioning (again, something advertised on the website). It wasn’t terribly hot outside, but it was a bit stuffy in the room. We asked for a key but were informed that the dormitories had no keys. The bathroom at the end of the hall was actually in another structure and was accessible via a rickety stairway between the two buildings. The place just kept getting better and better. Exhausted and wary about the shaky start of our trip, we ascended the metal ladders to our beds, which smarted our feet, and I fell immediately into a restless sleep.

A little more than an hour later I was awakened by the loud conversation of two of our roommates that came bursting into our room, unaware that new arrivals were trying to sleep. I couldn’t go back to sleep after that and neither could Kim. We peeled ourselves out of our bunks and walked into town. We found a hip looking pizza place called the Hive and had a truly great dinner. 2 for 1 cocktails, wood oven pizza, garlic bread with lots of cheese….it was fantastic! In addition to the phenom food there was an ethnic fashion show showcasing the various traditional clothing of the many Laos tribes. I didn’t have my camera with me so Kim and I decided to return another night to see the show again.

We went in search of the night market and on the way found a hip-hop dance show in progress. We stood and watched for a while, thinking how surreal it was to be in small town in northern Laos watching foreigners and locals have a dance off. We found the night market and walked around but didn’t buy anything. In my still weary state I didn’t want to make any impractical purchases. We returned to our unsatisfactory hostel and passed out, despite the creakiness of the metal bunks, the stuffiness of the room, and the noise of the other guests.

---