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Published: March 6th 2017
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Crossing the Mekong river into Huay Xia, Laos was easy enough. Once on Laotian soil, things got complicated. Trying to navigate the process of obtaining my Visa on Arrival was challenging and when I finally was stamped into the country about two and a half hours had passed. The whole passport stamping and paperwork involved - in any country - to me seems so senseless. Now the choice was to either head North to the jungles, or South down the Mekong River to the ancient capitol Luang Prabang. The decision was made and we booked our tickets for $220,000kip ($27.50USD - for the record, I love saying kip. It is the funniest currency name ever) for the two day journey along one of the World's great waterways. This was a journey I had been looking forward to for a long time and I could barely contain my excitement.
I really love to travel on rivers. It has to be my favorite way to move from point A to point B. It is so relaxing being on the water and the view is constantly changing so I never tire of looking out at the scenery. Along the way we passed several
little villages in what seems to be the middle of no where. I often would think about the people who live there and how great it would be to show up in a place like that and stay for a few days. Difficult to do in communist controlled Laos. The first day was about six hours chugging down the Mekong. With nothing but time on our hands Oksana and I had some great conversations. Her being the same age as me it was fascinating to talk about how and where we grew up. Her in the former USSR and me in capitalist Orange County, California. Two seemingly complete different worlds, but at the end of the day we still share so much in common. However, it really does strike you when someone says they had never had a Coke until they were 10 years old, or how in the town only one house had a TV where all the kids would go together to watch cartoons.
The boat is unable to navigate at night so we had an overnight stop at a strange town called Pak Beng. The sole purpose of this place's existence is to provide some guesthouses
and restaurants to the people who arrive daily on the slow boats going down river to Luang Prabang. A strange place indeed and I was happy to board the boat the next morning to continue our journey. Many times on the boat I was reminded of the other great river journey I did on the Amazon River in Brazil. I still cannot comprehend how far I have come and all of the things I have been able to experience. The Amazon trip was back in late April 2012, but it seems like just yesterday I was swinging life away in my hammock in the rainforest of Brazil.
After two solid days of cruising down river with the scenery changing from lush rainforest covered mountains to semi-arid grasslands and back again we arrived into the ancient holy city of Luang Prabang. The city once served as the capitol of Laos hundreds of years ago and is still today the most revered Buddhist city in the Nation. Now amidst the monks wandering the streets are roving hordes of geriatric French package tourists. If I closed my eyes and just listened to people talking I could have been in the streets of
Paris. The city is a wonderful place to stroll around in the day and take in the many Wats and sweeping views from the banks of the Mekong River. Home to thousands of monks, every morning here there is ritual of alms giving. Since monks have no possessions, the people of the city line the sidewalks and donate food and drink. This process is a huge draw for tourists and I was among them at dawn to see the spectacle. The monks must feel like a sideshow or zoo animal with all of the people in their faces snapping away hundreds of photos. I didn't really care for the charade. It all seemed manufactured to me, so after about twenty minutes I went off back to bed.
After a couple of days in Luang Prabang together it was time for Oksana to move on. Having a flight out of Bangkok back home on the 5th she needed to make progress South whereas I was going to be sticking around in Northern Laos for a bit. I really hated to see her go. I grow very tired of the revolving door of people I meet. Inevitably they always go home
and I continue alone on my own path. It makes me not want to talk to anyone or get to know anybody because it sucks when they leave. In a terrible mood after Oksana left I grabbed some beers and sat on the side of the street. Turns out I happened to sit in front of a store selling post cards. I got to watch people pick out cards to send to their loved ones back home. In my state of mind this was probably the worst possible location for me to sit. I never wanted a friend more than in that moment on that curb in front of those post cards.
The next day I had booked a full day to ride elephants in the jungles outside of Luang Prabang. Now some people might say that these elephant camps are exploitative and cruel for the animals. I would say to them "How did your hamburger for lunch taste today?". I'm in Asia and come hell or high water I was going to ride an elephant. All of the animals I saw were well looked after, ate like kings, and were in good health. I was given a sweet
elephant riding uniform and off I went. Undoubtedly the best moments for me was riding the great beast into the river and swimming around with "Ping-Pong" my elephant. A really fun day and just what I needed to get my spirits up.
The time had now come for me to move on. I took out my map and decided to head further East to the interior of Laos where a dark chapter in history unfolded and a secret war perpetrated by the C.I.A. took place.
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