In the tubing...

October 12 - Muang Ngoi, Laos

October 13 - Muang Ngoi, Laos

October 14 - Muang Ngoi / Luang Prabang, Laos

October 15 - Vang Vieng, Laos

October 16 - Vang Vieng, Laos

October 17 - Vang Vieng, Laos

October 18 - Vientiane, Laos

October 19 - Vientiane, Laos

October 20 - Bangkok, Thailand

Hey all! Just a short ramble about the rest of my adventure in Laos, before I catch an early night hopefully filled as much sleep as possible, before getting up at 3:30am to catch the bus to the airport to go to Burma!

Muang Ngoi was amazing. A three hour bus from Luang Prabang then sat around in a small hut "restaurant" waiting for the boat to leave - they do everything here in their own time, and leaving at a certain time generally means leaving one hour later. Got there, pigs, chickens, roosters and dogs running down the one "road" - no vehicles or bikes, a few wheelbarrows... Went for a stroll around, about maybe ten tourists staying in this village. Found a bungalow and sat on the balcony with a Beerlao (inventive name for Laos' national beer) with an awesome view of the locals returning from their days fishing etc. and the kids swimming as the sun came down. Saw a pig being carried up the stair old school style - two guys carrying either end of a stick the pig was hanging upside from, listening to it's squealing and heard it getting slaughtered - that was an experience... The power in Muang Ngoi only runs from 6pm til 9pm every day, giving three hours of lights, but not a whole lot to do but sit in the hammock and read.

Woken at 5 by a plethora of roosters cock-a-doodle-doing - seems as though there's more roosters here than people! Set off for an early morning walk by 8 through the mist covered mountains, past a cave and on along a rainforest type path following a river, then exiting out onto endless fields of rice paddies, and walked right through the middle of a rice field for the first time walking past abandoned rest spots and checking out the bamboo irrigation system. First village I came across was Ban Na - there was one "guesthouse" - basically a place with a small wooden balcony and two bungalows attached - there was one tourist here, the only other I saw all day. The village was everything you'd expect it to be - pigs and chickens running frantically about, my path being blocked by cows, the people weaving and chopping bamboo and the kids yelling out "SABAIDEE!!!" (hello in Laos) and every time I replied, they'd chuck another sabaidee my way - like sabaidee ping pong.

Walked another hour or so, this time up through the mountains to the village of Huan Bor. I stopped in at the "guesthouse" (similar deal to the one in Ban Na) here, for a beer - warm clearly, no power... Tried to talk to the owners as much as I could with their limited English - they'd had five guests in the last 2 months, and were really keen for me to stay - I couldn't unfortunately, no time, plus wasn't packed for it. They may have been spinning me tales, though I'm inclined to believe them as I say no one here and also because to get here you need to walk from Muang Ngoi which already has a lack of tourists, and then past Ban Na. The owner's husband spoke English ok and told me about how the previous night he'd gone to Ban Na and drunk many Lao Lao (Lao whisky - again, inventive name). Walking back to Muang Ngoi I passed some kids that must live in these villages and attend school in Muang Ngoi - dedication, bit of a walk... A totally awesome day walking, easily one of the best days of the trip, only seeing one tourist really briefly the whole day, made it feel a really genuine experience. Back in Muang Ngoi some of the villagers were holding cockfights... pretty intense and uncool stuff there, but intriguing nonetheless... Another night pretty much the same as the night before.

Woke early again courtesy of those roosters, boat back to Nuang Khiaw, where I'd planned to catch a slow boat back to Luang Prabang from, but we needed a group of ten for this to happen, and it didn't work out... so instead into the back of a truck the five of us pilled with a bunch of locals for the ride back to Luang Prabang. Someone's bag feel off on the way - luckily not mine. Back in Luang Prabang I ran into Jonas the Dutch fella and Ho ho, and was incredibly disappointed to hear that the police had stopped by the Kombi bar and closed it down! No reason given, but in such a country, I guess no reason is really needed as far as the authorities are concerned... so instead we stopped by what they call the "trendy bars."

Next day, bus to Vang Vieng - known as the backpacker centre in Laos. Basically twenty year olds just come here to get stoned and trashed... interesting. That being said, there are reasons why such places become so popular in the first place, and it is a really beautiful area. Spent my first night sucking back a few Beerlao's in the many "tv bars" here - basically a dozen or so couches pointed at two tv screens playing Friends and Family Guy dvd's all day. This part I didn't mind so much, god knows I like a bit of tv. Next morning got up first thing to do the "tubing in vang vieng" - the almost rite of passage for backpackers in the area that draws most of them here, basically floating down the clear and cool river in beautiful mountain surrounds in a rubber tyre ring. My intention in getting up early was to beat the crowds, and this I certainly did - I was the only person here, didn't see a single person the whole time, and by the end of the two hour trip and when I returned my tube, still no one else had gone yet.

Spent the next day and a bit biking around taking some super rural roads - some of the most scratchy, dodgy and dangerous roads I've been on. Yet still the only stack I had was coming out of the petrol station, where no English was spoken... helpful. Came across some great caves that involved long steep walks up mountains, providing great views of Vang Vieng - from here you can't see the ugly side. Alot of cool little lagoons with green blue water and only a few people around - most people that come to Vang Vieng tend to neglect this part of it. Shame. Went up through the hills and through a few villages - of course a billion "SABAIDEE!!!"s were thrown my way.

In my last afternoon there though I decided to experience the tubing properly (well, maybe observing it rather than experiencing directly), and went out about three o'clock. Sure enough, dozens of out of their minds, wasted, hormones raging backpackers dancing about in the "bars" that set up along the side of the river, that try to draw in people with signs boasting "pyschedelic mushrooms! magic tea! special shake!" A slightly disturbing sight all this, particularly from the perspective of the locals, who sure are making money, but not sure what negative effects it has... Opted for a Beerlao at one of the less busy "bars" - which mind you was still cranking awfully bad dance music (I like the way you move, etc.) at earsplitting volumes, and bizzare to see their kids and chickens etc. running around about ten metres behind the bar. Spent one more night watching some Friends - good thing is, for all the idiots here, they don't tend to hang about the area people stay so much, so the tv bars are just generally quiet and relaxed places.

Next day down to Vietiane, the capital of Laos with a population about the same size of Hobart. Checked out a few of the main "attractions" - not much to behold really. One of them a Laos' interpretation of the Arc De Triumph - the name even translates to the same. I think the fact that the sights are underwhelming is why Vientiane gets a bad rap as not being a good place to visit, which is a bit incorrect. If you ignore the fact that the sights are rubbish, it's a great place to hang out in cafes and around water fountains etc, read a book, observe more modern Laos culture - there are even actual cars in Vientiane - everywhere else, if you're rich enough to have a car, you have a big fuck-off SVU 4 wheel drive, as in Cambodia, but here it's just like any other place with a lot of crappy older cars. Minute thing to fixate on perhaps, but I liked that. Also a great place to enjoy a Beerlao and watch the sunset on the Mekong. Unfortunately not a great place to spend the night throwing up for no apparent reason (no, not drunk...) - but then again, where is? Also discovered the joy of having to check out of a hotel, but then having to spend a whole extra day in the city feeling like absolute totaly crap, with no grassy parks to lay on... Not cool.

Boarded the bus at 5pm for Bangkok - in true Laos style we sat there in a not moving bus for a whole hour before it decided to leave. Exited Laos, crossed a bridge and went through Thailand boarder control. Stopped for 45 minutes unnecessarily for "dinner", stopped again at midnight for a half hour, then arrived in Bangkok at 4:30am, an hour and a half early. So really, I could have got on the bus in Vientiane at maybe 9pm, skipped out all this stopping crap and got into Bangkok at decent hour - this seems like amore reasonable system, but whatever... I was lucky enough that the place in which I was staying had a spare room, that they let me into at 6, and spent most of the day sleeping in preparation for Burma!

Not internet there, so no blogs be posted for a while (dissappointing I know...) and also if I don't reply to any emails it ain't cos I'm rude, so keep that in mind.

Peace!

---

---