Listening to rice grow

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"The Vietnamese plant the rice, the Cambodians watch it grow, and the Loas listen to it grow." French colonialists. For me, this is the beauty of Laos.

Stepping off the boat in Don Det, one of the "4000 islands" in the Mekong river, I was struck: no locals pushing and shouting for me to come to their bungalow. It was as if I had to walk around and decide for myself!!! It was great. I strolled around until I found a nice set of bungalows on the sunset side of the river for $2 a night. The old Laos lady glanced up at and nodded towards one of the bungalow in what I assumed was "our reservation system indicates the bungalow in that direction is available" and than went back to doing nothing. Wanting to completed the check in procedure, I nodded back, and then set of for my bungalow.

I fear that this relaxed attitude is changing in Laos, and it certainly wasn't true for everywhere I went. Still, arriving in Laos is like stepping back in time, and by it's nature, the start of a wonderful adventure in a beautiful country.

I left Don Det (stupidly, maybe I should still be there) with a sketchy plan to go to Kiet Ngong village, gateway to Xe Pian national park. Standing on the side of the road, watching my bus drive away, still some 20km from my destination, I thought: I haven't planned this well at all. Undeterred, I found a patient old man willing to take me and my backpack on his motorbike. Life moves at a different pace in Loas, so the simple task of finding a homestay and a guide to take me trekking took all day and a lot of sitting around smiling at people while nothing happened. My homestay was a nice family hut, the proud owners of the hardest rock mattress in all of Laos. I was the only foreigner to visit the small village for a while. Most of the villagers came over to look/stare and chat to me in Laos. They had lot's of questions, and I had no answers. I had one photo of my sister and her kids and I couldn't explain, not for lack of trying, that they weren't mine. The lonely planet language section is great to say hello, help, and I'll buy 10 of those... however doesn't get you anywhere in basic conversation. The next time I visit a remote village I'm going to take some printouts of photos and useful phrases like: "no more rice thankyou".

I ran away from Kiet Ngong after my day of hiking fearing that my miming skills wouldn't make it another night. I had also arrived halfway through a three day rain festival, and felt that they should get drunk, set off fireworks and dance badly without me staring at them or moon walking away everytime they convinced me to join.

Following an overnight sleeper bus sized for Laos people, I arrived in Vientiane.. A few years ago, somewhere on a european tour of old buildings, I realised that I'm more of a nature and culture tourist than an old building tourist. Vientiane has a lot to offer for the later, less for me. Luckily I met some cool people and took in a swedish movie and a night of bowling.

I visited COPE Laos http://www.copelaos.org/ - they make prosethics and helps with rehabilitation of disabled people. A visit to the centre was extremely moving and touching. If you want to do some good today, why not buy someone a leg for US$50! Visit the site and make a donation. There work is of great benefit, and desperately needed following nine years of relentless secret bombing by America during the Vietnam war. People are still suffering from the unexploded ordinance which is collected and sold as scrap metal. Donate today people!

A trip to Laos isn't complete without a stop in Vang Vieng - the tourist party capital of Loas. I was too awe struck by all the mad river swings to bother getting drunk in the days of tubing. I would have some great pictures and videos had I not attempted to film while still on the swing.... Vang Vieng has so much to offer, I spent my days rock climbing, climbing through caves, running through rice paddies, swimming in blue lagoons, drinking whisky Loas Laos by the bucket... good times.

I caught a local night bus out of Vang Vieng having stomached all the "drunk tourists ruining a country" I could. Arriving in Luang Prabang at 4am allowed me to watch the marketeers setup for the day, and the monks collect handfulls of boiled rice from old ladies in the traditional alms ceremony. Such a lovely town, protected and conserved, stunning waterfalls, great restaurants... I sadly had to leave the next morning on a two day boat up the mekong trying to make a booking for the famous Gibbon Experience.

The Mekong is a truly impressive river, and one the Laos government is wanting to turn into a major money earner with hydro electric power. I hope it works, and I hope the hundreds of fisherman and villagers I saw making a living off the river aren't badly effected.

The Gibbon Experience is better named "The Zip Line and Vegetable Experience" as we didn't see any Gibbons and had three days of vegetables and rice. We did see a lot of leeches. Luckily the tree houses and zip lines were a once in a life time experience. Showering in a tree house overlooking a valley is amazing, though the girls struggled to pee with all the bees hanging around the toilet.

I left Laos and headed back into Thailand, to Chaing Rai. It felt like entering the 21st century again. It was a strange feeling. After my three days of vegetables I instinctively found a french restaurant and ordered a NZ T-Bone with a cheeseburger for desert.

Loas is a beautiful, quiet country. If you want to meet some of the most relaxed people in the world, book your ticket today. The costs are low, and the country is amazing.

Love to all.

Dave

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Photos

Fisherman
He caught about 20-30 fish in a few hours. No fish too small apparently.

Mekong - southern Loas
Vang Vieng

Social dinners
I have set off on this trip alone, but it's worth mentioning how very social travellers can be. I rarely eat alone and normally am chatting with a few other travellers.

$2.5 a night bungalow
Luang Prabang, monks head around the local streets at 5:30 - 6am and mainly collect handfulls of cooked sticky rice in their containers from the locals.

Local villages making offerings to monks
These local women were waiting to give little handfuls of rice to the monks in Luang Prabang

Vientienne bike tour
Jealous, but decided against trying to kick him out of the hammock

Veintienne
These beautiful collection of waterfalls cut through sandstone to deliver a series of stunning drops / infinity pools and twists and turns down the mountain

Tasty dinner
Vang Vieng

COPE bombs
A typical salad found in Loas where the vendor roughly beats the salad and sauce in front of you to your taste.

My Canadian friends
A group of us were heading north at the same time and I ended up travelling to Vang Vieng with these two cool canadian girls. Kept me out of trouble.

White guy / asian girl
Forutnately the trip was quite empty so I spent two days lounging around this boat, watching Loas float past, reading my book and snoozing.