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Published: December 18th 2017
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Laos - what a change 11 years has made! We were in Luang Prabang in 2006, with only a few other tourists. Laos has been “discovered,” and there are a lot more tourists here now. It still has a magical charm, with great Mekong River views (especially at sunset) and lots of great food, including French and Lao.
We decided to cross the border from Thailand into Laos by taking a two-day slowboat “cruise” on the Mekong River. We were told that there would be about 40 people on the boat; there were more like 100, in airline-type seats, scrunched together, closer than on a plane. I’m a short person, and my knees were smashed. You could walk up and down the aisle on the boat, but that was about it. The first day’s ride took less than six hours; we spent the night in a small guesthouse in a small village on the river. The second day’s ride was a little bit longer. The weather wasn’t as nice as on the first day, but it was an interesting people-watching day. The boat was full of mostly backpackers, but there were also a few local people getting on and off
the boat along the way. If anyone is interested in doing this ride, look into the “luxury” boat ride - a lot more money, by Thai/Lao standards (about $170 compared to $50 per person), but less crowded and more room to move around.
Lonely Planet calls Luang Prabang “one of the most alluring places in Southeast Asia. Nowhere else can lay claim to the city's old-world romance of 33 gilded wats, saffron-clad monks, faded Indochinese villas and exquisit Gallic cuisine. It’s a unique place where time seems to stand still, amid the break-neck pace of the surrounding region.” Lonely Planet, Laos, 2014, p. 34. Even with the influx of tourists, it’s still a charming city.
One great program we heard about in Luang Prabang is “Big Brother Mouse.” Apparently Lao school children have little access to books, and this non-profit organization started printing books so kids have something to read, besides textbooks and government pamphlets. Their slogan is “books that make literacy fun.” The organization also provides English conversation times, when Lao students or adults come in and talk to English-speaking tourists (even if English is not their first language). Locals can practice their English, usually one-on-one,
and visitors can learn about Lao culture. There are two sessions a day of about two hours each. When we went, it was pretty crowded, probably about 50 people. It was a really rewarding experience.
Another cultural attraction was the Luang Prabang Film Festival, which took place while we were there. It was a free outdoor event, with mostly Thai or Lao movies being shown on a big screen. You could watch a movie after walking through the Handicraft Night Market, which is geared to the tourists but still fun to walk through. You need to bargain, though. Many prices they quote are high, and some of the products may be mass-produced.
You also need to bargain for transportation. In Thailand and Laos, tuk tuks are one of the main ways to get around for short distances. The driver will pull up and ask where you want to go, you tell him, and he’ll quote you a price, but he’ll almost always bargain with you if you think it’s too high (and it almost always is). Luckily Pete is a good bargainer, but sometimes it’s hard to haggle over the equivalent of $0.50. You may have to do
some climbing to get in the tuk tuk.
One fact of life in Laos is unexploded ordinances, or UXO’s. 300 people are killed or injured by UXO’s every year, 40 years after the “war’s” end. This is something I wrote in our website ( carandpuj.com/13-laos.htm) after our first trip to Laos:
Even though Laos was recognized as neutral by the Geneva Accord of 1962, it was caught between "modern opponents playing native pawns (the Hmong and Pathet Lao) against one another, while committing thousands of their own troops in support." Laos was bombed by the U.S. - "between 1964 and 1969, about 450,000 tonnes of ordnance had been let loose on the country, and afterwards that amount was fielded every year through to the end of 1972; this was more than the U.S. dropped on Europe in WWII. By the 's end the bombing amounted to approximately 1.9 million metric tonnes in all, or over a half-tonne for every man, woman and child living in Laos. This makes Laos the most heavily bombed nation, on a per capita basis, in the history of warfare . . . The secret air
force dropped an average of one planeload of bombs every eight minutes, 24 hours a day, for nine years . . . costing the U.S. taxpayers around US$2 million a day (Lonely Planet Laos, 2002, p. 28-9).
We went to a UXO museum in Luang Prabang. One movie told stories about some accidents involving UXO’s and landmines. Children in the countryside are educated about “bombis” - which are about the size of a tennis ball. They know these are not toys, but should be reported to officials who can detonate it, or remove it. Kids are kids, though, and some may still play with it. And city children may not be aware of the danger. One city child came to visit his family in the countryside, found a bombi and picked it up, threw it, killing or injuring those he was with when it exploded. Another story involved a farmer who accidentally detonated a UXO while farming, and lost part of his arm. It didn’t just affect him; two of his kids had to drop out of school to help with the farming. UXO’s can also be hidden, underground. One woman accidentally built a fire on top of a
buried UXO, it exploded, and her arm is damaged.
Scrap dealers pay for the metal of the shells. Ignoring the risks to themselves, some people now get their own “metal detectors” and try to find scrap metal that they can turn in, to make some extra money. Up to 30% of the ammunition that was dropped by the U.S. did not detonate. About 80 million unexploded bombis remained in Laos after the war. UXO’s and landmines are a problem worldwide, not just in Laos. One of Diana's (Princess of Wales) last charitable events was to make the world aware of this problem.
We later visited another organization (COPE) that dealt with injuries resulting from UXO’s and other accidents. They have exhibits about prosthetics and the UXO’s that make prosthetics necessary. A $200 donation will buy the whole “kit” for a new leg or arm. On a positive note, there is new technology to find UXO’s, and it is believed that by 2021, most areas will be cleared.
From Luang Prabang, we hired a car and driver to take us to Vang Vieng. If you’re into the outdoors - trekking, kayaking, tubing, zip-lining or climbing karsts, this is
a really cool place to be. I also had my first pizza in about a month here. We had dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant, where the wait staff and cooks had their priorities - they were glued to the tv, watching an Indian soap.
Pete’s traded Singha beer (the Thai beer) for BeerLao. My splurge - whatever touristy areas we’ve been in so far, there have been plenty of spas to choose from. I went for a very relaxing aromatherapy session in Luang Prabang. It was wonderful. I’ll be ready for another one in a few days.
There are 94 pictures in this batch.
On to Vietnam ...
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Frankie
non-member comment
Loving your blog entries
Keep them coming!