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Published: January 14th 2013
And So it Begins
Tickets for all flights to LP20 to 21 Dec: Auckland, Sydney, Taipei, Hanoi and finally Luang Prabang (26 hrs)
All great extended holidays generally begin a few days before the actual date of departure with the ritualistic packing, repacking, regretting what hasn’t fit in the luggage, deciding to reshuffle and repack and finally resigning yourself to the fact that you have packed too much yet not enough. My trip to Laos and Cambodia began in a similar fashion.
Knowing that a rolling suitcase was out of the question for two countries known for their dirt roads and rudimentary public transportation – I decided to go with a large trapping backpack and a small day bag.
The day bag was simple: two different cameras (one for better quality photos and the other that would be used on excursions that would possibly end in disaster for electronic devices e.g. kayaking/tubing, bars/clubs etc…), one hardcopy of all trip related documentation, small torch, first aid kit, emergency toilet paper and disinfectant wipes, an MP3 player and my kindle (by far one of the best recent technology innovations as a trip like this I would normally pack 4 or 5 reading books
– in this case I managed to read six good sized books while on the road.
The larger bag (with the tighter dimensions that come with a backpack) was a more difficult proposition. In the end it came down to a disproportionate amount of space being allocated to a mobile pharmacy and first aid kit (looking back now glad I had the pharmacy component as it all was used at some point in time or another on the trip, but the first aid gear was probably enough to cover me had I been in two or three catastrophic bus accidents over the three week period – I guess better safe than sorry when in a third world country. The remaining space was divided between clothes (I had three or four of everything which was more than some of the more daring backpackers, but I also smelled better than a number of the backpackers I got to sit next to that were stretching the same set of clothes over three or four days without washing them), sandals (for showers and toilets – I learned from London that my feet are not cut out for the biohazards of backpacker
accommodation showers), water shoes (as I’d be spending a fair amount of time on/in rivers), a couple quick dry towels, bits of tech support for those items in my other bag (battery charges and cords for cameras and kindle etc) and finally duplicate hardcopies of all my travel documents. In total the bag weighed about 33lbs; but it took many attempts to get the bag down to this manageable size!
The day of departure 20 Dec (Thur) arrived quickly. As with most of my travels I worked right up to the very last minute before the flight. I started the day with a meeting in town at an architect’s office, which I brought along both my luggage and my work briefcase (as I took a cab so that I could leave my car parked at home while I was away). The cab driver looked at my quizzically as I made my way from the cab into the crush of office professionals making their way down Queen Street, as I in a suit and tie had to throw my large pack on my back, my day bag on my chest and my briefcase in hand.
After the first meeting the second cab ride was equally interesting as I used it to make 15 or so calls to assorted contacts ensuring final matters were resolved for the year and wishing them all a happy holiday. On the way to the office/airport it took some convincing to ensure the cab driver that while I wanted to go towards the airport I didn’t want to go all the way to the terminal despite all my luggage, instead I wanted to be dropped about a half mile away (at my office), he was certain that I thought that I could avoid the airport tax by getting dropped off some distance from the terminal and agued with me that I couldn’t avoid the surcharge (which I wasn’t trying to do). Much to his surprise he found an actual office at the address I directed him to and he was satisfied I wasn’t one of the people he’d seen do the last half mile or so by foot to save $5.
I had meetings the rest of the day right up to 4:30pm, fortunately one of the consultants at the last site meeting was from San Francisco and
Traffic Jam at Taipei
It's been ages since i've seen so many airplanes at one airport. Major hub here. he was able to drop me off at the terminal as his flight back to the States was leaving at the same time as mine.
The flight(s) itself was uneventful and took 26 hours, including layovers. Air China was the carrier for three of the four legs – and I was generally very pleased with their service. First stop was Sydney (Aust), next Taipei (Taiwan), than on to Hanoi (Vietnam) and finally Luang Prabang (Laos –by Vietnam Air). During the journey I may have worked in one or two hours of interrupted sleep so when it was all said and done I was awake for all intents and purposes about 45 hours.
There were three memorable events from the flight. First was sitting next to the heavily pregnant woman on the AKL to Sydney leg – she could not sit still during the flight as she struggle to find a comfortable position to sit in her seat… I felt sorry for her.
The second was the result of the dual Chinese / English flight instructions. Some of the flight attendants spoke nearly perfect English, but others really struggle. As we prepared
Area imediatly around Taipei airport.
I was surprised the number of ponds/water features were in the landscape around the airport. for take-off I could have sworn I heard clearly the following instruction: “don’t cover your seat belt during the flight, as if you do we will have to DISROBE you during the flight to confirm you are buckled in.” Wow I thought, Air China takes these things seriously! I got clarification later in the flight when we hit turbulence when another attendant clearly said “disturb” instead of ‘disrobe’.
Third was on my flight from Taipei to Hanoi. Of the 250 or so people on the flight I could only spot three or four people of European descent; and in my section of the plane I was the only person… My head was a funny mountainous island of blond in a sea of black hair and I stood head and shoulder over everyone else… it was the first time a felt especially tall (at 6’2” (188cm).
The passing through five different airports was an interesting transition from a small first world country airport up to a major international and financially well off countries’ airport and then rapidly spiralling down to a small third world country just recently benefitting from the first 10 to 15 years
of gradual opening up to tourists.
My brief impressions of the airports:
Auckland and Sydney airports and their offerings were very similar. Relatively modern facilities, generally middle of the road retail offerings (i.e. postcards, a mix of inexpensive and somewhat expensive tourist knickknacks; some expensive duty free offerings (alcohol, travel technology, perfumes, jewellery and accessories and some clothing); and a range of food offerings).
Taipei was top end offerings only. It was nearly impossible to find a postcard and good luck finding much for travel knickknacks. Most shops seemed to be competing to offer the most expensive items in the airport – it would be easy to find more than a hundred+ items over US $8000 (even if you were to exclude the likes of jewellery etc). Much to my surprise the food options were limited to a small coffee shop and noddle bar in each terminal wing (people must eat before coming to the airport, or they really look forward to their inflight fried rice?!?).
After Taipei it was a jolt to third world reality landing in Hanoi and Luang Prabang. Hanoi’s terminal was a bizarre construction
from the 80’s with most of the lights turned off, as if they were still hiding out from air raids. The shops were an assemblage of what would be $1 or $2 shops anywhere else, why one would bother making, selling or buying some of the things on offer made me scratch my head – a number of these items were poorly assembled and appeared to have sustained damage from repeated tourists picking up the items and then quickly dropping them when they realised their error of even contemplating such a purchase. The large restaurant facilities were nearly vacant making one question why you would even consider purchasing food from such an establishment - as they may be serving leftovers from the previous two months. The only redeeming feature for a laugh (which I wasn’t able to investigate given the short layover) was a highly questionable neon lit hole in the wall that flashed in bold red letter “LUCKY Foot Massage Parlour” – I wonder what goes on behind that curtain?
Luang Prabang’s (LP) terminal (I take liberties using the word to describe my point of arrival) was quaint. You climb down the short flight of steps
China Airlines PC Santa for their market
I couldn't determine what Santa was doing with a shovel - perhaps just finished digging coal? from your turboprop plane into a wave of heat and humidity and walk across the dusty tarmac to what looks more like a small old west town’s train station. Inside the facility you must pass by the immigration gate keepers who sit in what is nothing more than a timber and glass box that could have doubled for an old British phone box. You must stand behind a line about an arm’s length away from the box and hand your documents to military clad officials that look like they would rather be sleeping, on the plus side they smile at you welcomingly despite the fact that you’ve disturbed their slumber. There were no amenities to speak of at the terminal other than a ATM (the most you can withdraw on any one day is 1,000,000Kip; which is about US$125), a money changer and a taxi/tuk tuk stand. No need to lag here longer than needed – load up into the cab and hit the road for town.
I’ll pause here for a moment to describe Laos landscape that I could see from 10,000 feet as we made the one hour flight from Hanoi. Leaving Hanoi there was
Hanoi Duty Free
Why bother - stay at home and go to your local $2 shop. about a minutes worth of visibility as the area was covered by a low hanging layer of fog/cloud –as far as I could see in every direction were rectangular rice paddies outlined by raised earth mounds and inter-sprinkled with houses and small farm buildings and the occasional road cutting at an oblique angle to the paddies. For the next 20 mins or so the clouds hid from view the terrain below. As we got closer to our final destination the clouds changed from a dark gray to white puff, thinned and then entirely disappeared. Below, in all directions was the green of what appeared to be untouched jungle/forest. The very infrequent dirt roads from the air could easily be mistaken as hiking paths as they snaked their way along ridges or river valleys. There was a marked transition when the terrain went from relatively flat level to one accentuated by steep mountainous crags carved out by narrow river valleys It was only the last minute or two of the flight where any real sign of human habitation was detectable – and most of these appeared to be small timber shanties, lean-tos, chicken coops and dusty red dirt roads.
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