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Published: June 15th 2005
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Mountains of Laos
The view of the jungle from the bus heading toward Vang Vieng I think it was the AK-47 bulging out of the guy's shirt that tipped
us off. Things aren't quite what they seem. We were headed to Vang
Vieng in Laos. Riding on a minibus careening up and down the jungle
covered mountains along roads that are barely wide enough for a bus to
negotiate the sharp curves let alone pass on a blind corner. All of
which we were doing while sitting beside this fellow who sat casually
dozing as the tips of his fingers caressed the gun's muzzle.
It's a five or six hour journey from the town of Luang Prabang to Vang
Vieng. The first part of the trip was quite normal, including the
white knuckles and green complexions as the bus hurtled through the
mountain turns. There were lots of Laotians along the road going about
their daily business. Nothing to be concerned about really. It was
kind of odd when we saw a guy walking his goat on a leash with an M-16
strapped to his back. But he seemed more concerned with fattening his
goat on lush grass than shooting at the tourists driving along in the
fat, white bus.
It was when we
The Slowboat
Holing of in Pak Beng for the night after 8 hours on the Mekong stopped for lunch that things took on a more serious
tone. After the break the guy sitting next to me climbed aboard with
the gun under his shirt. The first give away was that he was wearing a
long sleeved denim shirt when it was 35 degrees both inside and
outside the bus. He casually sat down and started pulling the gun
strap off over his shoulder without taking the shirt off. I guess he
didn't want anyone to notice. Well I noticed right away. In fact my
eyes must have been bulging out of my head as I looked from the gun to
the man to the bus driver about thirty times trying, in vain, to
communicate with my eyes, "Ahhh, hello, Mr. Bus Driver? You're aware,
are you, that the guy beside me picked up an ak-47 for lunch instead
of a baguette?" To no avail. In fact it seemed to me that the bus
driver was quite aware that this guy had brought a gun on board and
was not bothered by it in the least. At this stage I leaned over to
Charlotte and whispered the situation to her. She took it well, looked
at me,
Life in Laos
Is definitely along the Mekong. The river is used for everything. looked at the gun and kept quiet leaving me with my thoughts.
At that time, thoughts were speeding through my brain as fast as the
bus driver was gunning the bus around the tight turns. I figured there
were three things that could happen at this stage: 1) this guy was
planning to make his move soon and relieve all the westerners on the
bus of their precious dollars, 2) he was riding shotgun, there to
protect the westerners with their fat wallets from the bandits who
couldn't resist attacking so easy a moving target, or 3) he was just
taking his gun from point A to point B. You can imagine our surprise
when two hours later the bus suddenly stopped in the middle of the
road and the bus driver got up and said, "Get off now." Why, I
thought, what's happening? We're done for. I hope all those James Bond
and Jackie Chan movies I've watched over the years trained me for
this. Then the bus driver said "Vang Vieng" That's our stop. It took a
few minutes to realize exactly what was happening but finally we
shuffled off the bus, got our gear and headed for
Still on the Slowboat
If only you could stand up straight it might not be that bad. the nearest
guesthouse. It was anti-climatic but fortunate. We later found out
that many of the tourist buses that make the run through those
mountains have armed guards riding shotgun. Ignorance is bliss
sometimes.
We arrived in Vang Vieng after 10 days of travel from northern
Thailand. It started when we crossed the border at Chiang Kong and
hopped the slow boat to Luang Prabang. If you happen to be in Chiang
Kong for the night before crossing the border stay at the Bamboo
Bungalow and Restaurant. It has some of the best Mexican food we've
ever had and for breakfast some dynamite scrambled eggs with homemade
multigrain bread. We spent the evening in the restaurant eating great
food and listening to the owner play Dylan, The Eagles and Thai folk
songs on his guitar. The crossing itself is easy and requires a boat
to get across the Mekong to the Laos immigration office. And then a
Songthaew to the slow boat dock. The slow boat is an amazing ride.
Hot, sweaty and cramped, it's definitely the best way to see the
beauty and life in Laos. It takes two days to get to Luang Prabang
casually working your
Finally ...
Smiles all around after finding a place to stay in Luang Prabang. way down the Mekong, stopping along the way to
drop off and pick up cargo from the tiny villages dotting the
riverbanks. The overnight stop is in a place called Pak Beng and
there's not much to it other than a big, noisy generator with a few
guesthouses and restaurants who put up those traveling between Luang
Prabang and Northern Thailand. We had a room that cost $1.50. It was
so small we couldn't get both our packs in and still move around. It
had thin thatch walls with old newspapers as wallpaper. Thankfully we
had our own sheets and bug spray and thus managed to escape without
too many new bites. There were more than a few fellow travelers the
next day with red welts all over their backs and legs.
We eventually made it to Luang Prabang and immediately fell in love
with the place. It still retains much of its French colonial
architecture. It's also the cleanest and neatest place that we've seen
in Southeast Asia. There are no piles of garbage or things stacked
haphazardly. Everything is neatly swept and put in its own place. Not
sure where this comes from but it's quite amazing
Rice cakes anyone?
Yep, that's how they're made. Lao-style. when contrasted with
places in Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand. Even the small villages with
thatch huts seemed ordered and well maintained.
We stayed in a cool little guesthouse run by a Lao woman and her
Parisian husband. Had a great time with these two and another guest
from Paris, sitting around in the evening heat, ranting and raving
(one of my specialties) about the world. This would almost always be
after a long night of shopping at the amazing market which sets up in
the main street and dinner overlooking the Mekong. During the days we
explored the numerous temples and visited a truly idyllic set of
waterfalls.
Ended up staying about seven days there and would gladly go back
again. We weren't overly impressed with Vang Vieng or Vientiane. We
were ready to leave each place after a few nights.
We took an overnight train from the Thai border near Vientiane to
Bangkok and then flew to Phuket for the last ten days or so.
We weren't expecting too much from Phuket other than it was going to
be expensive, cater to package tourists and be very slow because of
the tsunami. All of which
Chillin'
Taking a break after a long climb to get to the top of the waterfall in Luang Prabang was true. The tsunami hit hard as everyone
knows but most places are well into the rebuilding process and much
has already reopened. There are a few deals to be had though not in
our budget. We happened to meet a couple of local denizens who took it
upon themselves to find us a nice place to stay for $20 per night.
Hugh and Linda are a couple of hoteliers from Australia who know their
business and found us a beautiful spot on a hill overlooking Kata
beach. It was a perfect room with lots of space, cool breezes and a
nice swimming pool. We ended up spending three evenings with them
having dinner, drinks and great conversations. Once again, we've been
very lucky, making lots of new friends. Here's hoping their latest
venture works out the way they want it to.
So now we're back in Bangkok once again and getting ready for the next
leg of our trip. It's off to Bali and Malaysia for the next month and
then on to India for three months. We're preparing for India with
loads of beach time and not too much traveling.
Hope all are well. Bye for
Wat Xieng Thong
Strolling through the Luang Prabang's temples as the sun goes down. Great way to spend time before evening cocktails. now.
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Dennis Matheson
non-member comment
Geat to hear from you !