Loveable Laos

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Arrival at Bangkok’s amazing airport the second time was much easier than the first and a bus over to the now familiar surroundings of Kao San Road felt a bit like coming home, although being back in the company of so many westerners took a bit of getting used to! A couple of ‘admin’ days were followed by the 13 hour train journey to Chiang Mai - first stop on the well worn backpacker route to Laos.

A day visiting a few of the 300 or so local wats (temples), gave us some interesting comparisons between Burmese and Thai Buddhism (and architecture) and also a chance to scope out some of the more western attractions (i.e. bars). We had heard there was a paper making and umbrella festival at a nearby village (spotted in the Air Asia in-flight magazine - the tourist office in Chiang Mai knew nothing about it!) so we popped out to that for a day on some of the worst bikes we have hired anywhere in the world. It was all a little on the commercial side but it was pretty interesting and watching the herds of other tourists buying tat by the boxful was entertainment enough in itself.
That evening, giving in to the westerner in us (you don’t really have much choice in Chiang Mai) , we found a Northern Soul/Indie bar run by a couple from Wolverhampton and ate chips with HP sauce whilst getting thoroughly drunk on Chiang beer excitedly waiting for news on the arrival of our baby niece (yes Karen, it is all your fault we were too hungover to fully participate in our cookery class the next day, you could have squeezed a bit harder early on). The said cookery class was pretty good (especially as half way through we got the news that baby Ruby had arrived safe and well, well done sis!) despite feeling a little delicate and we promise to cook authentic Thai food for anyone who wants to pop round for dinner on our return!

Eschewing the option of trekking to ‘remote’ hill tribes with bus loads of other westerners we decided to head on to the border town of Chiang Khong for a crossing into Laos and a slow boat down the Mighty Mekong to Luang Prabang.

We had heard some pretty bad things about the tourist boat to LP - overcrowded, uncomfortable with restricted views of the river, so were very pleased to bump into a group of people looking to charter a boat and they were equally pleased to bump into us to make up the numbers so, after picking up some other people to join us, 18 of us set off in plenty of space and comfort with a ‘window’ seat each. The scenery was absolutely beautiful - lush green tropical plants, amazing rock formations, tiny bamboo villages and the other longboat traffic on the river made for a truly memorable journey. Our arrival for the overnight stop at Pak Beng before the main tourist boat gave us the pick of the accommodation and delivered us into the arms of Mamma Su, landlady of a nice little guesthouse, who force fed us multiple shots of Lao Lao (local moonshine whisky) as we signed in! The journey the following day started late (as is usual in Laos) and in a cool mist which spoilt the view a little but with stops at a weaving village, Lao Lao Distillery and Buddhist cave it was still a good day and our arrival in Luang Prabang at sunset was again beautiful.

Luang Prabang is a lovely little town, with tree lined streets full of gorgeous French colonial buildings and a laid back atmosphere; it’s a great place to spend a few days.

We took in the main sights, including numerous Wats and the Royal Palace Museum, wandered around the large night market - possibly the most relaxed market we’ve been to where nobody actually tried to sell us anything! Something we came to know as typically Laos. A long, hot bicycle adventure took us to the airport (accidentally!), another handicraft village (with local goods at Western prices) and Santi Chedi, a large golden temple on a hill - the internal walls of which were covered in paintings showing very graphic images of hell! We made sure we left a generous donation for the young monks, who incidentally were play-fighting outside, safe in the knowledge they would be saved from such a gruesome fate.

We particularly enjoyed a visit to the morning food market, where we found people selling all sorts of exotic fruit and vegetables, along with some ‘interesting’ local delicacies including bats, squirrels, rats, fermented sparrows, parrots and marmot-type creatures (sorry, Iain!) some of which were very dead and skinned, alongside some nice cute live ones trying desperately to avoid the fate of their siblings! Claire was appalled, whilst Dan wondered what the little mites tasted like!! Hmmm.

Next stop, Nong Khiaw, a tiny village on the banks of the Nam Ou river surrounded by dramatic slate grey mountains and verdant forest, where we hoped to go trekking and fishing. On arrival at the dusty bus stop we found a place to stay that was completely run by children (we did not see a grown up for the whole three days we were there) and tried to find someone to get some trekking information from. After scouring the town (it only took about twenty minutes) we found absolutely nobody who could help us. In fact in the three days the large tourist office did not open at all! We managed to find one guy but he was from LP and had only been there for two weeks so didn’t really know much about the area at all! Still, we met some really nice people and managed another long, hot two wheeled adventure visiting caves, waterfalls and bamboo villages and finding some great local food (not bats though!) before we took on the twelve hour bus journey along the sometimes torturous (really, they were handing out sick bags at various parts of the journey) but always beautiful mountain roads to Sam Neua.

Sam Neua, was to be our base for trips out to the National Protected Area at Nam Sam (home to Tigers, Bears, Clouded Leopards, Gaur and many more) and the Old Pathet Lao headquarters of Vieng Xai. Arriving at midnight was a bit of a shock to the system as it was bloody freezing and after an uncomfortable sleep and a trip to the incredibly helpful tourist information place we realized that the NPA was a bad idea as we were told it was too cold for the animals to come out!

We contented ourselves with a nice walk around town (after buying some new jumpers in the market) and getting dragged into peoples houses for Vietnamese New Year parties where we were made to down several glasses of beer by the teenagers of the house and the adults (who were already too drunk to pour us a drink) just made us dance to incredibly loud Lao Pop music instead. Many camera phone pictures later we made our escape and managed to get our first proper look at our lovely new niece (ahh the joys of skype) before finding a couple more cheeky beer Laos (beer jacket was most definitely required) with some friends before diving under the duvet.

An incredibly dramatic vista of Karst hills, endless rice paddy and banana plantation were slowly revealed to us as the early morning mist slowly cleared on our pick up journey to Vieng Xai and as we reached the caves the sun finally burst through showing the area in all its glory, the dramatic scenery was only enhanced by the dramatic history that had taken place here.
Without going into too much detail, whilst the Americans were losing in Vietnam they were also conducting a ‘secret war’ in Laos (The Americans lost this one too probably why it’s still the ‘Secret War’). Two Million tons of bombs were dropped here making it the most bombed country in history. During the nine years the war lasted, twenty thousand people lived in the protection of the 400 or so caves in the mountains of Vieng Xai which became the headquarters of the Pathet Lao. The hills, unassailable by land and pretty difficult to attack by air too, still bear the scorch marks of rocket attacks and there are many small lakes (now used as personal fish farms) formed by bomb craters.
Not too many of the caves are open at the moment but the ones that are, were well worth the visit and our day trip there ended far too soon there was so much to explore that Claire had to keep Danny on a short lead after he disappeared to explore one too many caves!

What could have been a very dull, long bus journey through the mountain mist to Phonsavan ended up being rather eventful. The poor visibility and wet roads in our ancient Russian bus led to many near-misses with oncoming traffic. Again, the sick bags were out as the bus raced down the winding mountain paths and we were all relieved when we stopped to pick up some cargo. Sacks of rice, baskets of chickens and various other items were loaded into the bus, before a large pig was unceremoniously tied up, shoved in a sack and hoisted by a trailing leg onto the roof. The noise was indescribable! Suffice to say, it was not a happy piggy. Stomachs soothed and the noise of the engine drowning out the squeals from the roof, we continued our journey.

Phonsavan is home to the Plain of Jars (as well as the first base of the Pathet Lao), huge stone jars set in groups, built around the same time as Stonehenge they are believed to be some kind of ancient burial site, set on a large flat area and surrounded by mountains on the distant horizon they are quite an impressive sight and along with the secret war history in the area (there is still a massive amount of unexploded ordnance just laying around) make it a must see on a trip to Laos.

Skipping Vang Vieng, we went directly to Vientiane for some good food, good wine, a visa extension and a bit of sight-seeing.

The French influence is very strong in the capital, with plenty of old colonial architecture, ‘Champs Elysee’ style boulevards and even an approximation of the Arc de Triomphe! Many of the restaurants here serve classic French cuisine alongside the local delicacies and with a baguette stand on every corner even the food fits with the theme. Combined these with a ‘C’est la Vie’ attitude and it’s a good place to spend a few days relaxing, Wat hopping and washing down filet steak with a decent house red. All things we greatly enjoyed.
Many of the wats were either new or being reconstructed and we met many monks engaged in the tasks of re-roofing, painting or sculpting/casting various deities in concrete. We spent quite some time observing construction techniques and chatting with the monks about both construction and the parts of the Ramayana (Buddhas life story) that are close to the hearts of the Laos People. We have found that Buddhism rather than being a universal thing is very different in each country with different parts of the story being given more emphasis. Those parts usually being decided by an old monarch who would incorporate some part of himself into the story to show himself in a better light. The emphasis could be on compassion or wisdom or suffering hardship or one of many other buddist virtues but they do seem to have a subtle effect on the mindset of the people. Anyway, enough poorly informed musing on religion and the people.

A few days in Vientiane was enough to recover from the bus journeys and warm up after our chilly northern adventure and with our very easily obtained visa extentions we headed down to central Laos for a trip through Tham Kong Lo, a 7km long cave carved through limestone hills by the Nam Hin Bun river.

A three phase bus journey partially through more twisty mountain passes in a pick up so rusty that all the joints of the roof had disintegrated was made even more adventurous by a driver fuelled by M150 (like Red Bull but better) driving like a maniac and actually skidding around some of the sharper corners found us very happy to arrive safely at a beautiful guest house set amid rice paddy and fields of tobacco on the banks of the Nam Hin Bun a couple of kilometers away from Tham Kong Lo.

After washing the dust off in the river, a couple of Lao Laos and a good sleep in our bamboo hut we set off for the cave. The long walk through the fields was beautiful and we found a small flotilla of long boats waiting to take us through the cave. The journey through the cave was amazing, caverns up to 100m wide carved by monsoon water over thousands of years, stalagmites and interesting natural rock formations all viewed by torchlight as we slipped by. At many points the water was too shallow as it is now dry season and we had to get out and wade through. It was a stunning journey and equally impressive on the return as our eyes adjusted to the darkness.

Walking back to the guest housed we stopped at a small quiet village for lunch and took a walk around. There was one house playing particularly loud music and as we stopped to see what was going on we were ushered in by a smiley young man and given some beer. Through the power of mime and pidgin Laos we managed to work out that the house was newly built and his family was having a party to bless the house. The man’s father arrived soon after and made us feel very welcome, topping up our glasses and inviting us to try some Lao Hai (rice, yeast and water left in a big jar to ferment and drunk straight from the jar through bamboo straws everyone drinks it even the children)! The house was soon full of villagers and the party was in full swing when suddenly there was a hushed silence and two monks arrived. The monks performed a ceremony, to bless the house, which went on for quite some time and was obviously a challenge for the monks whose chanting was frequently interrupted with giggles as they forgot the words! After the monks had left, the village elders performed a “Baci” ceremony which involved the head of the village calling all the good spirits together and after putting a glass of Laos Laos and a parcel of sticky rice in our hand tied a piece of string around our wrist to bind the spirits to us and bring us good luck.

The forced drinking of Lao Lao and beer continued and after popping out for some extra bottles all the women disappeared (which was pretty good as by that point they were teaching us Lao dancing) and returned with small tables laden with food. As ‘honoured guests’ we had to start the eating and Dan was invited to eat raw chillies with the boys which he accomplished with aplomb although he complained afterwards that he couldn’t taste the food which was a shame as it was pretty good!

Much drinking and dancing later and a goat was brought into the yard and slaughtered, skinned and barbequed whole whilst Claire danced with the children and Dan was made to bunny hop around the room with an old lady for reasons that were never fully understood. At this point we made our slightly drunken excuses, thanked our hosts and slipped off for the moonlit walk back through the paddy and tobacco. A truly memorable day.

The following day, we made our way further south to Pakse, a good base for trips to nearby Champasak, a temple built at the same time as Angkor Wat and the Bolaven Plateau, home of Laos coffee, tigers and Grey Faced Tit Warblers!

Our first excursion was out to Champasak, for the biggest festival of the Laos Buddhist calendar. Similar to the festival at Bagan (if you read the Myanmar blog) it’s a 3 day festival culminating in a sunrise alms giving to hundreds of monks by thousands of people on the morning of the full moon.

The festival itself was kind of a cross between Glastonbury and a village fete with various stages of live music and dance in the evenings and people shooting darts at balloons and playing hoopla with washing up bowls as hoops and bottles of fish sauce as prizes during the day. In the middle of all this was a large ancient semi-derelict temple with people taking time out from the revelry to make offerings at and to circumnambulate the main shrine.
There was quite an excited buzz and a good feel about the whole event although the promised entertainment programme of sports and cockfighting didn’t seem to happen or if it did it was running on Laos time (i.e. several hours late) and we missed it all.
The sunrise alms giving was a great spectacle, we were a bit late as our pick up broke down on the way but that was OK because the Prime Minister was an hour and a half late (Laos Time!) and we all had to wait for him before it could start. There were thousands of people lining the processional route and so many monks that there were two starting points (a bit like the London Marathon). Each monk had a helper armed with large sacks and as the alms bowls got full the monks emptied the carefully and reverentially offered rice, money, cakes, chocolate, etc. unceremoniously into them. By the end the monks looked like saffron robed Father Christmases making a quick exit with bulging sacks of goodies. The pious looks on their faces at the start of the procession replaced with big smiles as they bought themselves ice creams and fizzy pop on the ferry returning to town with their donation money.

Back in Pakse and we prepared for a 3 day jungle trek. Shouldn’t be too tricky we thought, a nice walk in the jungle. Lovely. Hmm…….

They said it would be ‘a bit up and down’, but we soon found out that was a slight understatement as we began the first day scrambling down a very steep descent into the depths of the jungle, clinging on to vines and bamboo as we slid on the sandy soil and fallen leaves. The three local guides (carrying the tents, food and all the other equipment) were like mountain goats skipping their way down in their flip flops! We slowly made our way through the dense vegetation, now and again catching glimpses of the plateau and a seemingly impenetrable jungle ahead. It began to rain just as we were approaching the place where we were to spend the night which made things a little tricky - walking along a fallen tree trunk at a 45 degree angle, 20 feet above a river in the rain certainly got the adrenaline going! We hastily erected the tents as the guides made fires and prepared dinner and, once the rain stopped, we were able to enjoy the picturesque surroundings of waterfalls, crystal clear river and jungle foliage at sunset as well as the sounds of exotic animal life that seemed to be just outside the range of the light from the fire.

Another arduous seven hours day of walking either vertically up or vertically down took us to the top of the plateau and its bare volcanic moonscape terrain and panoramic views, before heading down to the bottom of the valley for a well deserved swim in some rapids and another night of Laos lessons with our guides before the final morning’s return back up (vertically again obviously) to our starting point. It left us just enough time to go and see the dramatic twin 150ft waterfalls of Tat Fan before our weary legs (and arms and backs and just about everything else) returned us to the nice flat town of Pakse. We did not manage to see too much wildlife, some snakes, a wild chicken or two and that was about it but to be honest meeting a wild tiger in the jungle may initially sound lovely but really, thinking about it, a WILD tiger, in the JUNGLE, WITHOUT a gun perhaps not what you would really want to experience after all and the jungle itself was just a great experience.

A brief rest and we were on to Ban Saphai and the island of Don Kho just north of Pakse for a boat racing festival and a homestay. The festival itself was in full (and pretty drunken) swing by the time we arrived at midday and as we found ourselves a nice family to stay with the boat crews were ‘resting’ to avoid the heat of the day. We managed to accidentally meet one of the two guides on the island that spoke English and she took us off to join the party. Our partying was cut short as we had to get back for dinner, but it gave the chance to sample Laos home cooking and get to know the family. We spent the evening helping the children learn a bit of English until it was time for bed and we slept on the veranda under a mosquito net listening to the carousing going on across the river.

After being woken stupidly early by a cockerel who seemed to be about two feet from our heads, we were served a huge breakfast which included the ubiquitous sticky rice before Dan went off with ‘Dad’ for some fishing and Claire tried to learn weaving with ‘Mum’.

After many, many practice throws of the traditional weighted throwing net Dan actually managed to get it to open properly and after a couple of hours we returned with a very healthy bag of fish. Well, I say healthy, there were two catfish, well, I say catfish, more kittenfish really - they were only about 3 inches long but they were gratefully received by grandma and added to the pot for dinner and tasted lovely.

Claire’s morning sat at the loom was equally unsuccessful as sadly just 2 inches of weaving was completed - it’s not as easy as they make it look, you know! So, opting for hopscotch with the kids, the weaving was left for Mum to sort out in favour of fun and games! An evening of card games and Beer Lao followed (that is, games with the kids and beer with the grown-ups!) and the next morning we said goodbye to everyone and headed off to our next destination.

A beautiful bus journey followed by an even more beautiful boat ride took us to our final Laos destinations of Don Khon and Don Det, two of the 4000 Islands (Si Phan Don). This is the place where the phrase ‘Laos time’ was invented, everything happens so slowly it barely seems to happen at all, even the cockerels can’t be bothered to get up early!

A few lazy days relaxing in a hammock, swimming in the Mekong and casually cycling around taking in the beautiful scenery was just perfect after a month of adventuring (well, kind of). The cheap accommodation (bamboo huts on stilts over the river) and laid-back vibe made it easy to stay and we enjoyed the break. There’s probably a lot more to say about this place but just thinking about it has got us too relaxed to write any more so we’ll sign off here.

We’ve just enough energy to tell you that Laos is a beautiful, welcoming, fascinating and thoroughly engaging country. There is so much to see, do and learn about here that we would suggest everyone comes here at least once (we will definitely be back), although not all at once, we don’t want to spoil it.

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Photos

Thai stupa
same same, but different

Pad Thai
and hangover do not mix

The sun rises over Laos
as viewed from Thailand!

Lunch, Laos style
A tasty assortment of bats, rats, squirrels and little birds. Yummy

Hell is......
....eating yourself alive!

Mountains at Vieng Xai
20,000 people lived in caves here for 9 years

Spider Pig, Spider Pig
can he climb on a bus, no he can't cos he's all tied up

Plain of Jars
When Claire said 'do you fancy a couple of jars' Dan thought she meant something different!

Baci ceremony
Dan gets good luck wishes from the villagers

Claire was not too upset...
when she saw the local chicks Dan had picked up

Hopscotch
Claire was much better at playing kids games than weaving!

Alms bowls at dawn
We all wait for the President of Laos

Father Monkmas
and his little helpers

The Jungle
from the Bolaven Plateau

Sunrise at Don Det
you don't want to know how early Dan got up to take this photo!

Island paradise
Don Khon island from Don Det