Advertisement
Paradise for me has always been defined by a white sandy beach, palm trees and a turquoise ocean - I never thought that paradise could be found in a landlocked country. Laos has completely redefined paradise for me. This is a land of such extreme natural beauty, that I have been left speechless on more occasions than I can count. In my life I have been lucky enough to have seen many beautiful places and many beautiful things, but there have been very few times when I have been left lost for words. Roaming around the temples of Angkor in Cambodia was the most recent one, and I’m struggling to think of many more examples. Every corner I turned in Laos left me more stunned than whatever I’d left behind. Whether it was the jungle covered mountains stretching as far as the eye could see; the intricacy and vibrant colours of the temples; the unnatural blues and greens of a waterfall surrounded by luscious forest; or even in the laugh of a little girl in the remote northern tribes – this is a special country and one that I will find it difficult to forget.
The journey started with a
24 hour bus journey from Hanoi in Vietnam, to the capital of Laos, Vientiane. As hellish as this sounds, I had a good seat, and managed to sleep the majority of the way – only occasionally woken by the thumping Vietnamese pop music and seventies stripper videos being played on the TV. As I knew Vientiane had little to do, I only spent the night there, and spent the little time I had there soaking in the atmosphere of this new country. As always in Asia, I was surprised at the modernity of the place (although as the capital, what did I expect…). I had a quick look round the Laotian version of Paris’ Arc de Triomphe, the Patuxay, built with cement given to Laos by the Americans and intended for a runway. The sign on the monument amusingly describes that ‘from a closer distance, it appears even less impressive, like a monster of concrete’. At least they’re honest!
The next stop on my trip north was the infamous Vang Vieng. Vang Vieng is known the world over for ‘tubing’, where hoards of young backpackers used to float down the river on rubber tubes, stopping off at bars along
the way to go and get off their rocks on drink and drugs, and then kill themselves on the numerous ziplines and slides over the shallow, rocky water. The number of foreign backpackers dying became such an issue that the Australian government put so much pressure on the Lao government, that it was shut down almost overnight. Which happens to be one of the best decisions that the Lao government could have made. You can still meander down the river on a tube, and you can still stop at a couple of bars along the way for a relaxed beer. It is the perfect way to enjoy the dramatic karst landscape that unfolds around every bend, and you no longer have to put up with hundreds of drunk 18 year olds intent on killing themselves. And it’s a relief to see that it is no longer having such a negative impact on the local people. As a modest and conservative people, seeing hundreds and thousands of drunk, half naked people flaunting themselves around the area, is hugely offensive. Although it used to bring money into the area, I’m sure they’d rather earn it in another way. Finally, Vang Vieng has
the peace and tranquillity that the landscape deserves. My balcony overlooked the river and the sheer cliffs that spring out of the plains below – mountains shrouded with mist in the morning, and bathed in golden sunlight in the evening. What a place to unwind from the hectic lifestyle of Vietnam.
I spent my time in Vang Vieng by trying to explore the area as much as possible, and by as many means as possible. I used a tube to explore a cave, I both kayaked and tubed down the river, I climbed steep cliffs to explore more caves, and cycled around the mountains and local villages. Just cycling for less than an hour away from Vang Vieng took me to countryside where there was no one but me and the locals. Whilst I was in Vang Vieng, the annual homemade rocket festival also happened to be taking place. Every year, all the locals make their own homemade rockets from bamboo, some of them weighing up to 15 or 20kg. And these are big rockets! They are fired into the sky to encourage the rains to fall, and as a symbol of fertility. The rockets are launched from some
wooden frames down by the river, with the small rockets going first, and the bigger ones being launched as the day progresses. By the evening, the biggest rockets are being fired, and believe me they sound like aeroplanes taking off. Unfortunately, this was the time we had chosen to float down the river in some tubes. A guy tried to get us out the water before we got near the rockets, saying it was dangerous and that we should get his tuk-tuk. But in Asia you are constantly bombarded with tuk-tuk or motorbike drivers making up stories to try and get you to give them some business, so we completely ignored him and carried on down the river. Well, as we came round the next bend, a rocket exploded into about ten pieces right across the river, not 50 metres away. Two more came flying low across our heads and crashed into the jungle just beyond. As we scrambled for the side of the river, a huge rocket exploded in the middle of the river, sending smoke billowing everywhere. For once, the tuk-tuk driver was right. Not knowing what else to do, I swam along the inside of the riverbank,
praying that no more would hit, as the size of these rockets were just huge. We slowly made our way down toward the launching site, and as we approached, I swam as fast as I could to get underneath and away from them. We made it out unscathed, but it was definitely an exciting trip! Felt like we were in a warzone.
The next stop was Luang Prabang, the royal capital of Laos. When I arrived, I went for a walk along the banks of the Mekong in the late afternoon. I watched a monk in his orange robes crossing a bamboo bridge, bathed in the orange glow of the setting sun and surrounded by red flowering trees. The town is teeming with the most well decorated and ornate temples I have ever seen. I immediately loved this place, and knew I wanted to spend a few days here to relax. These are the images I always had in my head when I thought of Asia. One day, I took a bicycle on the ferry to the other side of the Mekong, and explored the half abandoned temples along the banks of the river. I didn’t see a single
other tourist there, but got some great views across the Mekong, and saw plenty of wildlife – huge lizards, scorpions, and butterflies the size of my hand. Another day I went elephant riding through the jungle, explored yet another cave, and went to what has to be the most beautiful waterfall in the world – Kuang Si. These waterfalls cascade into pools of light blue and green water, which slowly makes its way down several other smaller waterfalls, and is surrounded by lush green jungle. Jumping into the pool from the rope swing was the most refreshing way to cool off in Laos’ merciless sun that beats down and gives shade to no one.
Whilst in Luang Prabang, I also dragged myself out of bed for the collection of the alms by the local monks. I had never heard of this before, but had been recommended by someone the previous night. I got up at 5, went outside and was immediately collared by a woman trying to sell me some rice and bananas to give to the monks. I gave in, and perched myself down on the pavement ready for when they came by for the collection. And what
a sight it was. I mean it was nice to see the monks, but what was more interesting was the behaviour of some of the tourists. There were a number of tourists getting literally right up in the monks faces, trying to get that close up shot. The monks seemed to be tolerating it, but they didn’t look too happy. I wouldn’t be either if someone was shoving a lens in my face when I’m trying to eat my Coco Pops in the morning. I’ve always had this problem with photography – I always want those type of photos, but tend to refrain as I feel it’s a bit disrespectful, particularly if you don’t ask permission. I also felt a bit weird about giving the food out as I’m not a Buddhist, and I think it should be something that just the locals do and tourists watch. Well anyway, live and learn!
Legend has it that there used to be a monk in Luang Prabang in the 1960s called the Blind Bonze, who used to make surprisingly accurate predictions. One time, the French were desperately trying to build fortifications to prevent an attack by the Vietnamese, when all the
Lao workers mysteriously disappeared. They were found making preparations for a party instead. Turned out that the Blind Bonze had made a very specific prediction about which Vietminh division and regiment were marching towards Luang Prabang, and that they would be halted and retreat north. It turned out to be right. The French decided to investigate, and it turned out that all of his predictions were right, even down to the smallest details. They thought he might have connections with the Communists, but this was proved wrong when he predicted a French military countermove at the same time as it was being planned a few miles away. An anthropologist reported that he had predicted the winning numbers in the Thai national lottery just for fun, and then went on to ignore his advice when the Blind Bonze warned him not to take a certain plane trip. The plane crashed, killing everyone inside! I’ve never believed in that kind of stuff, but stories like that do make you wonder…
The bus from Luang Prabang to Luang Nam Tha has to be one of the worst roads in the world. I took an overnight sleeper bus, and unfortunately ended up on
the top bunk, which measures about a foot across and five feet long. There’s no rail on the side to stop you from falling off, and the bus was lurching from side to side so violently I had no choice but to hold on to the curtain rail and hope for the best. Not much chance of sleep when you’re terrified of being thrown out of bed five feet down to the floor below! Luang Nam Tha is a sleepy little town on the Chinese border, and although it is fairly well known it definitely gets much less tourism than some of the other places I’d been in Laos. I came here as I’d heard the trekking in the Luang Nam Tha NPA (one of the biggest National Protected Areas in Laos) was very good. And I wasn’t disappointed. We started the trek in the jungle, hacking our way through the undergrowth, collecting food for dinner, and trying to pick off the leeches (and I thought I’d seen the last of them in Borneo!). It was hard work, especially in the humidity and heat of the Laos rainforest. I was, as usual, completely unprepared – jeans, trainers and no waterproof
coat are a terrible combination for trekking! We ate lunch by taking some huge banana leaves and setting them on the jungle floor as a picnic blanket, and then just piled food all over the leaves. We’d scoop up some rice with our hands, and then scoop up some chicken or tofu to go with it. We climbed higher up through the jungle, and eventually the scenery and wildlife began to change. As we got higher, we got some great views over the jungle, and began to encounter some basic wooden huts used to store rice by the Akha tribe, and some spirit houses used to make offerings to the spirits (the Akha practice a mixture of animism and ancestor worship). Eventually we arrived in the village where we would stay the night, on a hilltop surrounded by jungle. It was an amazing sight – tiny wooden shacks on stiIts used for children when they reach the age of 11 as they no longer live with their parents (every 11 year old in England’s dream…a treehouse and not living with your parents!); buffaloes sitting around; and of course the stares from the locals. I was expecting the villagers to be
used to foreigners, as we had booked the trip through a tour agency – however we were met with stares from everyone, and some open mouths and wide eyes from the kids. The trekking tour agencies are set up very well in Luang Nam Tha, with each tour agency only allowed to operate in a certain area in the NPA, and only allowed to stay with one tribal village each. A third of the money you pay goes to the village. As a result, and due to the lesser number of tourists in Laos and in Luang Nam Tha, it means that you get a much more genuine homestay experience.
When we arrived there seemed to be a fair bit of commotion, and it turned out that a woman was giving birth but apparently she ‘wasn’t strong enough’. The chief decided to send her to hospital, but as this tribe is only easily accessible by motorbike it was going to be a problem. Somehow a tuk-tuk arrived to take her to the nearest hospital – I think taking a tuk-tuk down those bumpy roads was definitely the best way to deliver a baby that’s having trouble getting out!
We were staying with the chief of the village, and we rested while our jungle dinner was cooked up. I wasn’t expecting much from the food, but it was incredible. It’s amazing that such great food can be cooked using a few simple ingredients found in the jungle. The three year old daughter of the chief entertained us all evening with her renditions of local songs, accompanied by some hilarious dancing and acting. Not short on confidence that girl! After dinner we were told it was time for our massage. It was dark by now, and there is very limited electricity in the village, so we were led into a dark smoky room and told to lie on our front. Some girls entered who I couldn’t see, but by the sounds of their voices they sounded about 14. We were all still completely dressed in the smelly clothes we’d been wearing all day, and the girls didn’t so much massage us, more pushed us around a bit. It was definitely a bizarre experience! After, we went to the local hangout, where all the local teenagers go every evening to meet their girlfriends, and we got the chance to ask them
a few questions about their lives. There is only a primary school in the village, where the children get a basic education before being sent out to work in the fields. To us that sounds like slave labour, making your kids work out in the fields in the blistering heat all day, and depriving them of an education. It got me thinking about how much we value education in the Western world, but in their society it is not so important – what is more important for them is to know how to work the land and make a living. We were also told about how in another tribe, the Hmong, a group of 3 or 4 men will steal a girl from her home while she is sleeping. Her parents know what has happened, but won’t know where she is for a few days, until one of the group will approach them and tell them he will marry her. Not the most conventional proposal, but whatever works for them I guess! I assume it’s more of a tradition thing than a forced thing, but could be wrong! We went back to the house to get some sleep – our
beds were right next to where the chief and his family were sleeping, and only separated by a thin cloth sheet. I went to sleep watching the silhouette of the chief smoking opium against the cloth between us, feeling content that this was the exact experience I was looking for in a trek and a homestay – not some commercialised and touristy affair, but something a bit more genuine. As the smoke billowed around the room I drifted off into a nice deep sleep!
The first thing I saw when I woke up was one of the chief’s wives cooking some more opium over a candle – a nice reminder of where I was! Laos used to be the largest producer of opium in the world, and was part of the Golden Triangle (Burma, Thailand and Laos). Since then there has been a huge crackdown, but it is obviously still an important part of peoples’ lives here. We spent the rest of the morning playing with the kids – one of them was firing rocks at a bunch of little kids with his catapult much to their amusement, and he was trying to get me do the same! I
gave him a quick tutorial with my camera instead, and told him to go and get some photos. It’s such a good idea to do that – you immediately avoid the photography problem mentioned earlier, and you get much more genuine photos than if you take them yourself. People react so differently when it is someone they know taking a photo. They all love taking photos and having photos taken of them, and so everyone is a winner! He turned out to be a great little photographer too. It was such a different way of life up there – I saw one kid holding a stick with a piece of string attached to it. Upon closer inspection he had tied some kind of small bug to the rope around its neck, and was dragging it around the village! The villagers can also be seen chewing a piece of bark wrapped in a leaf with a bit of tobacco in, as an alternative to smoking. The bark is red in colour, and the result is something that looks a lot like blood forming all round their mouths! They hack up and spit like there’s no tomorrow too, the women more than
the men for some reason! When walking around the countryside in Laos you will often hear the word ‘falang’. I assumed it to mean ‘foreigner’, but it actually means ‘French’. As Laos was occupied by the French in the past, I guess they just assume every white person to be French...a terrible assumption to make…! We had another day of trekking along hilltop ridges and through the jungle, before heading back to Luang Nam Tha. It was a great experience that I will never forget.
The next day, I headed towards the border with Thailand, on a local bus. As is often the way in Asia, there were about three times as many people as seats on the bus, and how we all got in I’ll never know. Both people next to me were sick out the window. About 60km before we reached the border, the driver stopped and got his tool kit out and started fiddling about with the pedals. 10 minutes later we carried on, but almost straight away one of the girls at the back started shouting that he’d left his toolbox behind. So he hit the brakes, and nothing happened. He started hitting them again
and again, beginning to panic, but still nothing! As a last resort he pulled the handbrake up, and we eventually skidded to a stop. I was silently thanking that he had left that toolbox behind – it was an extremely windy and steep road, and we almost certainly would have had a serious accident if we hadn’t stopped when we did. The locals didn’t bat an eyelid of course! Another 10 minutes later and we were back on the road, brakes working again, but I was keeping a close eye on him the whole time, watching for any panic and planning my jump out of the door! We arrived at the border without any further incident, so next stop…Thailand…
Laos really is a special place. Out of everywhere I have travelled in the world, nowhere has come close to this beautiful country. This is another country with an interesting history, a history of which I knew nothing. They are an incredibly peaceful people, forced into defending themselves from the Thai and Vietnamese invaders for years, and then caught up in the US and Soviet cold war, and furthermore mercilessly bombed throughout the Vietnamese War. Despite all of this, Laos
has come through, and is now - for me at least - the jewel in the crown of Asia. The roads are bad, there are very few big towns, and there aren’t too many tourists. All of this adds to its charm and adventure, and combined with its spectacular scenery makes it one of the most amazing places to visit. You have to go there and see it for yourself!
I apologise for the length of the blog this time, but I felt Laos deserved a bit more! Hope all is well at home.
Love Ross x
Advertisement
Tot: 0.048s; Tpl: 0.018s; cc: 10; qc: 19; dbt: 0.021s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
jaiyen
Dan Simonds
Good Info
Really happy that I came across your blog - we're heading to Laos in a couple of weeks and we are following a similar path in the North. Haven't heard yet about that town you trekked out of but we may try to do that now, it sounded amazing. The photo at the top of the mountain Phuo Si I thinked looked great, I'll have to look for that too. Enjoy Thailand - I'd recommend Doi Mae Salong and Kanchanaburi as my two favorites.