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Published: March 22nd 2006
All tagging up to enter cave
Me wearing a pointless torch that doesn't work after 2minutes. Safety issues is Asia? hmm..I know, it's an awful title. Another very long one - but I guess you're used to this with me by now. I was contemplating making a new entry just for the hill-tribe trek, but thought I'd add it to this blog, hence the length. I've sort of drowned you in photos this time too. Everyone seems to like these blog photos, and with connections quite good out here, I'm sure you don't mind a little photo-drowning. Think of them as a gift for reading my blog. Of course, you could just scroll down and ignore the blog, but I know you wouldn't do that...would you? 😊
How would I describe Vang Vieng? A miniature, wild-west version of Khoa San Road would come close (and some joker even named the main street by this name). As would a giant building site, at present too. Many people loathe this place, and it's true that if you want to see the true cultural Laos, you don't come to Vang Vieng. There is a non-backpacker 'original' just down the road, but the town is rarely visited or even known by travellers. What we're expected to see is a couple of streets where every
Me in my 2-piece suit.
Some ppl complained that I didn't add it last time - sorry, forgot. Here you go. Sorry, no photo of tux. building is either a tour operator, restaurant/bar or guesthouse, or sometimes all 3.
The first thing practically everyone notices when they walk down the street on arrival is 'Friends', and we're not talking past acquaintances here, we're talking Ross, Rachel, Joey, Chandler, Monica and Phoebe, everyone's favourite group of people...or not. I admit to being partial to a few episodes, and often made excuses to having breakfast or a fruit shake just so I could watch some, sometimes unseen, episodes. Afterall, 'Friends' is one of the two things I've heard Vang Vieng spoken about through the grapevine, and I have been secretly looking forward to coming here - consider TV comedies a taste of home that I miss, along with white chocolate chip cookies and cheese. But when nearly every restaurant is playing all 10 series back-to-back, 15 hours a day, such that here the phrase 'gap in the market' implies playing 'Family Guy' instead, it can get a little ridiculous after a while.
Generally, most people come here for a few days of rewinding and exploring the area, either on their way to of from Luang Prabang and Vientiane, rather than to develop any impression of Laos
society, and I can see why. The town is surrounded by a towering karst landscape that is incredibly dramatic and very beautiful - all the more so for me as I realise it's been a number of weeks now since I've seen much of the world's impressive natural landscape (and since NZ where I seemed to climb a different mountain every day). Since Bangkok, most sights have consisted of either temples, village, temples, rice fields, historical sites or temples. Basically, I've missed my mountains!
Hmm, so far I've managed to waffle without mentioning a single thing I've been up to (watching 'Friends' doesn't count). I'll get right to it then. 2 days of caving, tubing, kayaking, death-defying jumping and surviving the extreme heat. It's the peak dry season right now, which sounds like perfect timing until you realise this means +35oC and views obscured by dust. But what better cure to the heat than tubing down the river with beer in hand; the second thing Vang Vieng is famous for. I there befriended 4 others; Dave, Olly, 'Z' and Pamela, of which I was the youngest by 7 years (but thankfully no one seemed to notice for most of
the day), and together we grabbed our big rubber tyres, got driven 17km north and dumped at the river's edge where we're expected to place our bums in the centre of said tyre and simply allow the river to carry us back into town over several hours, backed by the towering breath-taking mountains. A genius concept!
This day is further broken up by occasionally paddling like a penguin around a cheeky rock or branch, having a bum massage going over some rapids, or stopping for cold Beer Lao at one of the many bamboo-structured bars at the riverside, playing (yes, you guessed it) Bob Marley. All the bars try to entice you in by the regular chants of 'Beer Lao', and if you happen to float too close by not doing enough penguin strokes, they pull you in with big bamboo poles. It's understandable why many come and not want to leave - for $3 and just $1 more for every cold, good quality beer, it can be addictive. It took us 5 hours to float back to town, burning in the sun as only stubborn Europeans know how, and being helped along in the final hour by some
Local monk
I love this photo. local kids and hitching a lift on the back of some kayaks. I believe David used the word 'languid' to describe the day.
The previous day to this, I also travelled down the same river, but kayaking instead as part of a day tour to some nearby caves. This time there were 10 of us, but I mostly stayed in the company of a middle-aged Canadian called Alan, and a mid-20s dutch girl called Agnes. Again, it was another genius concept, probably generated round a table full of Beer Lao and 'Happy Pizza' (which, by the way, is everywhere in Vang Vieng) - one sits in a tube and pulls themselves into the cave by a rope, before proceeding to penguin paddle 300m deeper and deeper in. After 2 days, I can proudly say I've tried and tested a number of penguin-paddling techniques: front, back, forwards, backwards, using flipflops as paddles etc - it's quite a skill I can assure you. We all had torches attached to our heads, but in true safety-conscious fashion of Asian tour companies, half of them stopped working once at the furthest and darkest point in the cave, including mine. Great. However, we stayed
Preparing the kayaks for the day trip...
Not a particularly important photo - I just like it I guess in for over an hour, exploring the large, long caverns and still made it out unscathed, before spending the rest of the day rowing down-river.
I've often heard said, not least in a particular Bazz Lurhmann song, that you should do something every day that scares you. Well, I think I've reached my monthly quota over these 2 days in Vang Vieng, not from the tubing over rapids, or even the caving with a broken torch, but from the highest monkey swing I've ever seen. Nearly every bar had a swing, platform or some other jump-off-if-you-think-you're-crazy-enough apparatus to entice those in that don't happen to fancy a beer, or have had their brain cells fried by the sun. However, one had a monkey swing that I can only fairly describe as bloody high! I fell in love with it, and must've jumped over 20 times during the 2 days. Yet, every single time I would climb back up and ask myself "what on Earth am I doing here?!", then jump, swing, rise higher, let go, pull a huge "oh...my..." facial expression for the umpteenth time and fall from a great height into the water, then remind myself each time
The entrance to the tubing cave.
which we pull ourselves in on, with a rope, on said rubber tube. Whoever thought of that idea?! what a thrill it is. A true adreniline rush. Unfortunately it can also be quite dangerous, as sadly Agnes realised by letting go too soon and landing at a very acute and painful angle. As for me, I left the second day with thankfully just an unsurprising headache, and slightly bruised feet - nothing that a traditional Lao massage in the evening, and a sing-song on St Patrick's Day into the early hours couldn't heal.
And so I left Vang Vieng without seeing anything of the Lao culture, but in a thoroughly content mood, and appreciative of the mountains once more. Next stop, Luang Prabang, designated as a UNESCO World Heritage City, which took 8 hours to get to, despite being only 200km away. It's a ratio I'm becoming used to, and makes a coach trip from Leeds to London seem like a walk in a very small park. The views were amazing, winding through the mountains, but sadly obscured most of the way by smoke from the seemingly endless slash-and-burn techniques happening everywhere. Even in Luang Prabang during this time of year, the locals complain of the coughy smog, and views are limited.
Although this deforestation was
Inside cave
Bit of a crappy photo, but you get the idea of what it was like in the cave. Err, yes, dark. scarily evident along this bus journey, Laos’ wilderness is still one of the least touched in all of Asia, mostly because the population is only 5 million despite having a landmass greater than the UK. A slight contrast to Vietnam’s 80 million, and very noticeable. For example, Luang Prabang is Laos’ second largest city, and has a population of only 18,000 - even a Brian Adam’s concert could claim to attract more people. Laos is also the least visited country in SE Asia, though things are changing fast with so many positive stories abound. The pace of life is refreshingly slow - this past week I’ve been approached by only 2 moto and tuktuk drivers. In Hoi An it was 30. But the tranquil present hides its complex past, often being the rope in a tug-of-war match with other countries, most recently with USA during the Vietnam War, a time known as ‘The Secret War’ (as today, much of what went on is still unknown). It’s too complex for me I’m afraid, but I think it had something to do with America fighting the communists in Lao, despite this being against the Geneva Accord that it signed, resulting in the
Local weaver in a small village
I really don't have a knack for writing funny photo comments, do I? Secret Airforce dropping a planeload of bombs every 8 minutes, 24 hours a day, for 9 years, often on civilian buildings and temples. Therefore, thanks to USA, Laos has become the most heavily bombed nation, on a per capita basis, in the history of warfare, even though it still denies involvement. Just a couple of facts for you there.
Anyways, enough of this depressing history that's always biased against America, Luang Prabang is a lovely little town, and I spent a day climbing the central hill for some good views, if you ignore the smoke, reading on the Mekong riverbank, seeing a cultural music show and visiting yet more temples. It's impossible to escape them in Asia; they're everywhere and each one boasting some sort of niche: oldest, most decorative woodbeam on a ceiling, largest Buddha footprint etc. There's also a wonderful night market, and vegetarian buffet food stalls for 30p - naturally, packed full with poor backpackers.
With much to see and little time left before my love arrives at Bangkok International Airport, one day will have to do in Luang Prabang, as I book myself onto a 2-day hill-tribe trek - something I've been considering for
Thursday's Buddha and a little man
a cave near the other one - this one used as a Buddha shrine a while. Unlike most of SE Asia, hill-tribe treking in Laos is still a fairly new thing, and very eco-friendly with very little tourist impact, and why it thus cost so damn much! But it was definitely worth it. Besides being with some 1-day trekers for the first hour, my group was just a very pleasant four of us: Voo, our guide, Richard and Nick, a father/son couple of Australia, and myself. As much as I would love to talk and could probably fill an entire blog writing about just this trek, I fear I've crossed the line with suitable blog length, so I'll keep it to a few final paragraphs.
It was a wonderful experience. During the first day, we visited 4 villages. The first we just briefly walked through, but at the second we stopped and spoke to the Chief for a short while in his house, complete with 1970s-style speakers, playing with a home-made crossbow, and found out that the Government has ordered for the complete transition of the village downhill to the 1st Village, so as to curb the rate of deforestation. That explains why we passed so many people, from 8 to 80, carrying
planks of wood, roofing, the kitchen sink etc. Although obviously a tough decision, I can understand why, as two-thirds of the track was through deforestated or burnt regions and the views equally as depressing, despite still being impressing, as I mentioned earlier (rice cultivation here means slash and burning a large area, then working it for just one year before it becomes useless for another 5, and the process repeats - hardly seems worth it, but it means a lot of burning). We then continued to a third village, after lots of walking. Back in England, the walk would've been fine, but out here it was relentless - even Voo was struggling and he lives here! It was not only hot, but very humid and mostly uphill; I can't really remember the last time I drunk over 7 litres in 1 day.
We were going to stay overnight at this Mong Village, as the entire tribe is known throughout Asia, but Rick and Nick wanted to walk less the second day, to my disappointment as I was looking forward to staying with the Chieftain (who turned out to be a drunk man with 14 children, wearing a Nike t-shirt).
Consequently we stayed here an hour, wandering about saying ''Sipadee!" (hello) to everyone and rapidly filling up the memory card on my camera. The place was amazing - straight out of a Hollywood film set, against a backdrop of mountains, and the people intriguing. I also brought my hilltribes phrasebook with me, and finally, after carrying for 2 months, I was determined to use it!
Walking to the final village turned out to be a fine idea in the end - 2/300 people, 1 shower (bamboo pipe with a constant water flow), bamboo huts, grain being beaten (I had a go), boys playing volleyball with their feet (I didn't have a go), babies crying (same all over the world), pigs running about, people eating, picking fruit from trees, a large commotion as one man proudly showed a 2m-long cobra (thanks Will, i thought it was a python - as ever you are the nature guru) to us he had just killed with a big stick. A true hilltribe community, where we were being stared at as much as we were staring at them - you could say we were at the zoo, but we were the ones in the
cage. The village runs on rice farming, and most children don't go to school, so there seemed to be more kids than adults about the place.
Having breakfast today in the village, we then made it back into town by kayaking. A pleasant way of returning, stopping occasionally to swim and have a skimming stone competition. Nick and I also capsided in a sizeable rapid - which would've been fun if it wasn't for the fact that I lost my sunglasses (which I only bought 4 days ago as my last pair broke), and my bag leaked with my camera in, and has now tragically stopped working. I'm leaving it to dry internally, but hope is fading. Photos are fine thank god, but looks like I've gotta buy a new camera in Bangkok, *sigh*. Donations are welcome. 😊 😊
And that's me up to date. Only one week left now before I'm back in Bangkok standing at the airport for my special person! Can't wait. :D A less funny and longer blog this time - apologies. Speak to you soon. Manly embrace or big hugs to you! Simon xx
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Billybob
non-member comment
oh dear god
congratulations on the new levels of campness you are relentlessly managing to achieve. xx