It's Worth Getting to Luang Prabang... But You Might Not Believe It Until You Get There.

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LINDSAY

Quote For Laos Experience
James, tell them to stop the bus! My bladder is going to explode!

We are in our final hours here in Luang Prabang, Laos and it has been quite an experience getting here. It has also been something trying to get to computers that will allow us to upload photos as well as finding the time to sit down and write. We started in another internet place earlier (probably our 3rd one today as we have been doing photos and booking places to stay thoughout the day) but had to leave to find a better place again.

I am in charge of uploading photos and generally dealing with getting them organized. It is one of the few duties that have been given to me for this trip as James has, graciously, taken over the duties of doing the far more time consuming and irritating jobs of organizing travel and accomodation. While he spends hours online researching and booking things, I am plugging away at photos.

What this means is that tonight I have less time to write then I normally would, do to a great deal of computer complications. But I am also not in the mood to write a novel anyway. I am sure James has covered all the bases. Mine, therefore, I hope to keep short but I always intend this.

One night in Huay Xai was enough. Not much to do and not much to look at. So it was off to the bus station early in the morning. The first thing we learned was that Laos does not run on a schedule. The bus does not leave until it is full and/or until someone finally decides we should go. This actually applies to many other things in Laos as well. For example, many businesses and services take a break in the afternoon and claim to reopen at 1:30. Rarely does this seem to happen before 2:00. Anyway... We left Huay Xai an hour or so late.

My first impression of the bus was one of dread. How could we be on that thing for 6 hours. By the time we left I was feeling quite comical about the whole thing. It seemed kind of interesting, fun even. At about hour 2, it was no longer so much fun. The scenery was no longer new and the novelty had worn off. My ripped and well worn seat was starting to feel as uncomfortable as it looked and I was worrying about what would happen when I had to go to the washroom...

Luckily we blew a tire and everyone scattered in all directions for a pee. As it turns out, buses occasionally stop for this reason in Laos, but as we were to find out much later on, not always when you need them to.

The roads in Laos are like the roads to the beach we went to in Thailand, but the whole country is this way. Most of it is unpaved, there are holes and ruts and fallen rocks on them. Sometimes you hit holes so big you fly out of your seat and come crashing down. The roads are winding and people often get motion sickness. On this bus a young girl in front of us was throwing up all over herself and her father.

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4 days later
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Alright, so you can see how far I got that night. We are now finished in Laos and back in Chiang Mai for one night. I will continue now with the story of Laos.

One thing we learned right away was that we had not escaped the water war. Laos new year or Pii Mai also involves water and flour. So we got water tossed at us the whole way. The nice thing though, is that there is a lot less water and it ends earlier in the evening. This did not prevent us from getting soaked in Luang Namtha, our destination after Huay Xai. Some people first poured glasses of water down our backs and then James got a fist full of flour all over himself and his packs. As everything is wet, the flour sticks like glue.

Laos new year is less like a war than in Thailand. The people are more conservative about it. They throw less water and go to bed earlier, but traveling in Laos during New Year has it's own challenges.

The Main challenge being that everything is closed! When we first arrived in Luang Namtha we decided to go out to the "Boat Landing", which is where we were going to be booking our kayaking tour, to see if they had a room available. It was 6kms out of town and the grounds and rooms are beautiful. Set along the river and a little secluded, it seemed like the logical option. When we got there we found out the room was $32 US a night! This might seem very cheap to many as it is far below what one would pay at home... but here that is ridiculous.

It had been a long couple days and we just wanted a place to stay so we decided to stay the night. We thought we would leave on a two day Kayaking trip the next day so it would only be for a one night splurge.

We quickly started to see the beginnings of what Laos new year would mean for us travelling in Laos. There were no two day trips available because they could not get any guides. 2 people had signed up for a one day kayak trip so we thought that we might as well do that. The price goes down the more that sign up so we at least saved some money.

We also moved into town to a guesthouse that cost 6$ US a night. This place was nice, clean, hot shower... really made us question the justification for the $32 US at the "Boat Landing". It was our journey into town when we realized the problem with travelling in Laos during new year celebrations.

We had the Boat Landing call a tuk tuk for us but she said that she could not get anyone as they were all out drinking for the day. So she suggested we walk up to the market up the street to see if we might be able to catch one. One the way to the market we got cold water poured down our backs and then stood on the side of the dusty road near the market waiting for someone to come by who might be able to get us to town. There were Songthiews & tuk tuks filled with fruit and people every once and a while but nothing to help us out. Finally a guy gave us a break and even though he did not seem to be working that day, took us into town.

We wandered around in circles trying to find a place to stay. During this walk we got very hot, soaked with sweat and flying water and James got covered in flour. The previous night a guest house was suggested to us by a group of travellers dining at the Boat Landing. They, unfortunately, could not remember the name of the place they were staying. After a while we hopped in a tuk tuk after a confusing discussion with about three drivers about where we were trying to get to. I am sure a couple of them said Zuela a couple times but we were saying "no no, G.H." as this was what we were told to look for.

We got the driver to take us to this internet place that was supposed to be near this Guest House to find it was closed... so instead we went to the in town office of the company we booked our kayaking with. They then suggested Zuela and I started to realize that maybe the tuk tuk drivers had actually known where we were going even though we kept insisting they were wrong. Also, we realized that the people from the previous night had basically given us the initials for Guest House (G.H.) which is prety funny as they thought this was the name of the bike rental place near the place they were staying.

In all of this we noticed a couple things... The internet places were closed, the banks were closed, many stores and restaurants were closed. When we arrived at Zuela we were told by another guset to sit in the empty restaurant and watch TV as the workers were all out. We waited for a long time and chatted with a french girl who told us she had been there for a number of days already and that she couldn't even get bread for a couple days. This is insane in Laos which is land of baguettes and cakes. We found out that she was right. We couldn't get bread for days. We'd ask for baguette at breakfast and they would laugh. "No bread, Loas new year, no one is making bread, all drinking instead".

Our Kayak trip was awesome. Through the bush on the river (which was a frightening brown colour much like the Red River at home), but it seems much cleaner than the ones in Thailand, likely because it is. There are a lot less people here. Which is also nice. We were on the trip with three young German mechanical engineering students. They were a lot of fun and we were on the same path for a while after that. We were at the same place for dinner that night, same bus the next morning and then the same place in Luang Prabang (because we brought them here when we arrived). And something we learned about travelling in Laos... if you see someone in one city, you will probably see them again in another. It is a rather small place in that way.

We kayaked down the Nam Tha river and passed the Nam Ha river, all along the side of massive forest and a national protected area. At times it was as if no people existed anywhere near where you were and at others you would see people from villages fishing, swimming, washing or travelling in the river. There were smooth, relaxing stretches and some small rapids. We got caught on some rocks (we got better at steering once I was in charge ) but we never flipped.

Unlike the kayaks I am used to, these ones were inflatable ones that float on the water rather than being more submerged and skimming through the water. It made for much harder work, requiring more paddling to move than I expect from a kayak and was harder to steer. We both came out with blisters and tired arm muscles. I think by the end of day 2 we would have been a pathetic mess.

We also stopped in some villages and walked around learning a little about the people. James got some great pictures of some very fun kids who loved to pose. When we pulled up at a village to pack up our things and hop in the tuk tuk to get back to the office in town, we became aware that we were experiencing a little role reversal. A mob of mainly women and children came to stare and watch us, much like I imagine tourists like us do in villiages everyday. It was as strange as one would think it was. I can imagine how irritating this would be everyday as you tried to go about your daily business of life. It was cool to have that feeling, just to have a different perspective for a while.

There was a boy with a bird tied to a string and he kept passing it around to the other kids. If it tried to fly away he would yank it back to his hand by the string attached to the bird's foot. The poor thing looked sad and resigned to it's situation. Nonetheless, the boy hardly stopped watching us for a second. The trip back was dusty and winding and bumpy as all travel is in Laos but it was a good day. And so far, our only real outdoorsy trip (until of course the Gibbon Experience, which I will get to at a later time).

We ate the second best asian food of the whole trip (the first being the stuff we cooked at the cooking school) in Luang Namtha. A small restaurant called "Panda Restaurant" where, because it was new year, one man was cooking for a packed house. We finally got to eat hours after we had arrived but were entertained by a Canadian couple who had just come from China and who had been travelling with an Irish guy since the border earlier that day. The drunken Irish guy ranted, in often entertaining but also often irritating ways, while the Canadians asked us about our trip an told us of their exploits in China.

I think what came of it is that China is off my list of places to go. Although they had some good things to say, there were other things that make me think maybe not. They laughed as they told us about it all but you can tell that at the time it was not experienced with so much laughter.

A little more about Luang Namtha before I move on. Luang Namtha is a few guest houses, a market and a very small bus station. Other than that there is very little there. As we were there during a holiday season it is hard to say what it is like on a normal day but form what we experienced, it is quite a sleepy little place. Things open early and close early, except in the new year when they do not always open at all. While people drank from 7 am onward during the holiday, they were also falling down tired and sleepy by 8pm.

This is literally a place where the streets have no names. You can get a crude looking map if you are lucky but there will be no names on it. Directions are all given by landmarks. There is massive construction going on everywhere but at the moment most of the roads are dirt. The dirt is everywhere, in everything, on everything and is a redish kind of colour. It really is a shocking contrast to the much more developped Thailand next door. This is not how the whole country is of course, when I get to Luang Prabang you will see this. But in Luang Namtha you really feel you are in Laos. It feels less touched by the west. And I suppose in many ways it is.

You also notice a difference in how touists are allows you to operate in Laos. There are a lot more posters and information booklets and packages on the proper way to act and dress in Laos, you have to provide your passport number everytime you book somewhere to stay or to travel, there is much more conciousness about how to comport onself in the villages... Basically there is in many ways a much more healthy kind of tourism being attempted in Laos. Whether in the long run this will work out who knows, but for now it seems that there is a greater focus on the Laos people and the environment being protected than in simply serving the tourists who come to visit. This is very refreshing but also does require more of the traveller. At times, this is quite frustrating but all it takes is a moment to realize that you are getting frustrated with a country and a people that have nothing. When the bus is crappy or doesn't leave on time, or you can't find a bank that is open, you kind of have to step back and think about the fact that the average Laotian lives on $1 US a day. So if the infrastructure to support your travel wishes are not there, well, they have larger problems to deal with.

It seems a whole different world when you get to Luang Prabang. We left Luang Namtha on a morning bus that I call the "bus" with quotations as it was more of a very large van. First, the seats are so close together that my knees are pressed against the seat in front of me. You can imagine what this is like for someone like James. Randy will remember this from sky service air lines, though this is worse Rand, it really is.

once everyone is in the seats that are visible, seats fold down into the "aisles" and people sit in those as well. Once that is full, small plastic childrens outdoor chairs are placed in the remaining "aisle" and all extra room for people to fill. Then any more people sit on any bag of rice or box or whatever they can find. In addition to this there are 4 wheel wells that force those sitting in those seats to sit with their knees tucked into their chests.

We sat in the back, which has slightly less leg room and was more of a bench, with a very nice and interesting student from South Korea, who plans to come to Canada to ski next year. His poor friend, who was bigger than James, had to sit in the aisle on a children's chair. The three Germans from the Kayak tour were in front of us, one of them in a seat above a wheel well. Itamar, an Israeli guy we met later on in our adventure told us he road the same bus on a bag of rice, facing the back of the bus.

It was a journey from hell I have to say. I was only nauseous for part of the ride but it was slow, bumpy and horrible. If anyone is reading this and thinking, "it can't be that bad", I say, TAKE THE SLOW BOAT any time you can because there is no exaggeration here.

After lunch, about an hour later, I had to go to the washroom, but being that it had only been an hour there was no reason to expect the bus to stop any time soon. So I tried to hold it as long as I could but there was no doing it. It was either that I was going to pee myself or I had to get off the bus.

James tried to talk to a Laos woman sitting beside the Germans to see if she could pass a message but she could not understand his English or the Laos he was trying to speak from the phrase book. The Korean then tried to decipher the language from his book, and because his language has more similar sounds, he was able to make a better understanding. Even this, however, did not seem to work. Then one of the Germans named Alex (there were two Germans named Alex) started yelling "excuse me could you please stop the bus?". But this only served to get people looking at us but still not understanding. It looked like maybe the message got through but a while later when the bus had not stopped and I thought I was going to either pee on myself or have my bladder blow up, we realized that the bus was not going to stop.

Finally James got the attention of an older man a couple rows up and made a stop kind of jesture and he understood. We all jumped off and people scattered to find a place to pee. From this point on I am paranoid of getting on buses or vans without peeing ten times first and not drinking anything.

The bus ride was horrible but once we found Joma in Luang Prabang it seemed a distant memory. Joma is a cafe and bakery not far from our guesthouse. We learned after a few days that it was started by Canadian siblings about 10 years ago and there are now two (one also in Vientiene). It had the best cake and breakfasts ever. They had a mango crumble pie that if I could get at home, I would be ten pounds heavier.

Luang Prabang is the most charming city you can find. It looks like a combination of Asia and France and it really is this. Much of the architecture is left over from the French and because the whole city has been declared a UNESCO heritage site, everything is well preserved.

It is hard to believe that Luang Namtha and Luang Prabang are in the same country. It is a lot more developped and a lot more western in Lunag Prabang. It also seems to have a very different culture than in many ways than Luang Namtha. However, even here you can see how different life is for the Laotion people than at home. For example, here anyone who owns a business also lives where there business resides. Not all I am sure, but a great majority live in the backrooms of the stores they own or guesthouses they run. It often seems like you are stepping into someone's life when you go into a place to buy some water. There might be a grandmother sitting in a chair in the corner, a child watching TV, a baby sleeping (or crying) in the other room. Considering the average income this seems like the logical outcome I suppose.

In a restaurant attached to the only gay bar in the city, there is an information article about some things to consider in Laos. Apart from the fact that most Laos people live off a dollar a day, they also do not have any primary health care and if someone gets sick there is nothing to do but self treat as best as possible.

It is another reminder that as much as people complain about the flaws in the Canadian health care system, it is something to preserve and protect. Remember this when you vote in the provincial election on the 22nd of May. While the NDP has not fixed all the problems with the health care system in Manitoba, it was partly the result of cuts from the previous Conservative government that got us in this mess in the first place. If you don't want to vote NDP, I can tell you personally that Jon Gerrard is an awesome man and well worth taking a good look at. While cutting red tape and creating a birthing center, as the Conservatives have proposed, may be good ideas (not high on my priority list but likely noble causes in some ways) it seems to me there are bigger, more important things for the government to be dealing with.

As you can tell since getting to Luang Prabang and back to Chiang Mai, I have had the chance to catch up on some news from home. I am happy to be home the day before the provincial election. I want to at least cast a ballot as I am dreading that people will stop thinking about what really matters and start voting from media stories alone as they often do... and we will end up with a horrifying triumvirate of Conservatives on all levels of government - Katz (shudder), that guy running against Gary Doer (Jed Bartlet would think I was "dotty" for not saying his name but whatever), and Harper (double shudder).

Alright, little rant over with, I will get back to Luang Prabang. I am sure James has told you a lot about the place. There is little to tell in the way of what we did there. We had a lot of extra time there and so mainly walked about casually doing a couple things here and there. Saw some wats, tried to get online and make photo cd's, shopped the market, ate a lot of cake and bread, climbed a small mountain (rather a very large hill) for sunset, where James bought some birds in a cage for us to release.

The cake here was so good if we were to stay to live there we would be hundreds of pounds heavier. The shopping was great as the night market was calm and beautiful. Unlike shopping elsewhere, where it feels like you are in the middle of chaos, you could wander around here for hours looking at things and actually enjoy it. We bought so much stuff that we had to buy an extra bag and have to cart it on the plane from Chiang Mai to Bangkok to store in our locker while we are in Vietnam.

We did some research into travel options for us (a lot actually) for the rest of the trip as our next destination, The Gibbon Experience, required us to backtrack in Laos, thus losing time in other destinations. We decided that we would skip southern Laos as we heard Vientiene was much like Luang Prabang but not as good. We also, therefore, cut out a portion of Vietnam. So we stayed in Luang Prabang longer and we will stay in and around Hanoi longer.

We also changed our mode of travel. We decided to take the 2 day slow boat back to Huay Xai to get to the Gibbon Experience and it was one of the best decisions we have made so far. The first boat from Luang Prabang to Pakbang (where we spent one night and ate some good Indian food - yes, apparently I like Vindaloo) had comfortable seats much like bus seats but the ride was smooth and you could get up and walk around. There was also a washroom on board! Yay!

The second boat had the worst seats ever. They were so high that even James' feet would not touch the ground and the seats were narrow so that you could not sit on them without falling off. Luckily everyone got one of these seats and could sit length-wise across them... And James and I got there early and threw down a beach mat on the empty floor at the back and sat on the floor the whole way. We had room to spread out and play travel scrabble and cards, read and even sleep a little.

There was one annoying woman who kept thrusting her child in people's faces, taking their things and dressing her child in them and basically trying to get other people to look after the child so she would not have to. The child would have been quite cute if she had not picked up her mother's habits of taking things, throwing things and hitting. The child would bring back a bottle of water she had taken from somewhere, the mother would smack her on the had and get mad and take the bottle back. Then an hour later she would send the child to get the same bottle, fill the child's cup with water and send her back with it with praise. Even the other Laos passengers were making faces of disgust at her. Worst mother ever. It annoyed me all trip. But other than that, the scenery was fantastic and the ride smooth as silk.

That basically brings us to Huay Xai for the second time where we got ourselves a nice air con room for the first time in weeks and got ready for the Gibbon Experience... which will be the topic of our next blog.

The new plan from where we are now is to take a plane from Chiang Mai to Bangkok and then one from Bangkok to Hanoi, thus making up for time lost (and flights are cheap on Air Asia). Then at the end we will fly back to Bangkok from Hanoi for one last week and a bit on the beach and few shopping days in Bangkok (bleh).

'Til next time.

JAMES

Quote for the Laos Experience
STOP THE BUS! LINDSAY HAS TO PEE!

Where did we leave off last time? Crossing the Mekong into Laos, wet, tired and frustrated? I think so.

We clambered up the steep road from the pier towards the main road with our giant packs, smaller packs, camera bags et cetera, with a guesthouse in mind and no idea of how to find it. What good fortune that there was a tuk tuk driver waiting right there who asked us if we wanted to go to the Arimid Guesthouse! Had he read our minds? Wow, were we releived! We haggled over the price a bit and then struggled to get ourselves, and our grand retinue of travelpacks onto the motorcycle/rickshaw type device. Two things slowly began to dawn on us. The first was that our driver was taking us on a wide circurtuous route to our destination, and the second was that he'd guess the Arimid Guesthouse because it was the only guesthouse far enough away from the pier not to be in plain sight and thus enabling the crafty driving to make the very short distance seem worth the Kip.

Now, I'd read about charming, little, darkwood bungalows nestled together in groups of two or three with connecting balconies...and this was from reviews written by other impartial travellers. What we arrived to was clusters of rattan shacks cleverly decorated with Beer Lao pin-up girl calendar posters. We'd also chosen this spot because it was widely advertised that the owners spoke good English and French. The only person we ever dealt with was a Laotian woman who spoke no English or French, who tried to be very helpful nonetheless, and who ultimately reminded me of Marty Feldman in Young Frankenstein.

I kept trying to ask where we could find some food but was only told repeatedly, "no cook - Pii Mai", which means that there was no cooking due to Laos New Years celebrations. While the Thai people generally keep all of their businesses open during their New Years, but stand outside soaking you with buckets of water as you enter, the Laos people prefer to close all businesses, start partying in the morning, and are mostly passed-out by 8pm. We met a French girl who'd tried to party it up with the her Laos hosts, only to find that by evening when she was really getting ready to start the festivities, all her Laos cohorts were passing out about her.

Motivated by massive hunger we struck out into the dark, back towards the direction of the pier, where we were fortunate to find one of the town's restaurants actually open. After such a crazy day it was nice walking down the dark main-drag of the dusty, rural, bordertown. Also to our pleasant surprise, it was slightly cooler than the 30 degree nights we'd become accustomed to. While we waited for our food, I woke up an old woman at a neighboring guesthouse that advertised buses to Luang Nam Tha, and got the info we needed to depart the following morning.

Back at our shack I had to screw an eyehook into the rattan ceiling in order to hang our mosquito net. It was a bit of an operation to arrange the maiden voyage of the mosquito net in such a way that it wouldn't get caught in the ceiling fan, or pull the rattan ceiling down.

We awoke at 6:30 in an attempt to get some breakfast before our 8am tuk tuk ride to the bus station. We got to the restaurant just in the nick of time, scarfed back some muesli, yogurt and fruit, and were off. We wondered on our way to the bus station if the long-haul buses in Laos would be air-conditioned like they are in Thailand, as it was already nearly 30 degrees at 8:30 a.m.

I think we both realized as we pulled into the "bus station" "parking lot" that we were in for an experience. The parking lot consisted of puddled, red clay, interspersed with large rocks and foraging pigs. The "station" was a counter and large red roof over some benches. We were immediately informed that the bus would be leaving at 9:30, not 8:30 as we'd previously been told, as there was some work being down on the bus. Our tickets had seat numbers on them, but it quickly became obvious that these meant little, and that the first person to sit in a seat, had rightfully claimed it. We claimed a pair of seats and hunkered down to wait for what turned out to be two hours. I passed the time by photographing the pigs that were roaming about and the men that were changing two of the buses tires, while Lindsay passed the time by asking repeatedly that somebody unlock the bus station bathrooms. She was told each time that it would be done in ten minutes and after an hour of this walked out towards the road to use the bathroom at the gas station.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN! While they don't jar quite as ferociously as the road from Poipet to Siem Reap in Cambodia, the Laos roads still take the cake as the worst I've ever been on. While the giant potholes in Cambodia threaten to swallow the front end of your bus, or at the very least tear-off its axles, they are somewhat spread out and the road is otherwise flat and straight. The road from Huay Xai to Luang Nam Tha was a constant lombar lambasting, rollercoaster ride that lasted 6 hours. There are small, interspersed sections of paved road that'll suddenly appear for about 20 feet, and then it's back to the extremely uneven, rocky gravel. Just when you were getting used to the constant jostling and noise there'd be ten seconds of smooth quiet ride…then boom!..back to the real road.

The bus was definitely of a Korean origin. We could tell this by some of the writing on its inside. I believe that it had once been used as a bar-crawl bus for American G.I.'s on R’ and R in Seoul during the Korean War, and having survived that, was later sold to Laos in the early eighties for scrap parts. Much of the original covering on the seats was gone, leaving only the exposed, wet and moldy foam.

I had enough
Thank u

(Itamar, an Israeli we’ve returned to Chiang Mai with after the Gibbon Experience, has added this above entry and thinks that this is all I should write in our travelblog for the rest of our trip.)

There was no lack of amazing scenery as we shook up and down and around the massive, jungle hills of Laos. The twists and turns were never-ending. It was very easy to see the many areas of land where the trees had been clear-cut and the remaining land burnt for ease of planting. All over the lush green hills were spotted with these black, charred sides.

We were granted a brief respite from our ride when the bus blew another tire and we rolled surreptitiously onto the longest bit of straight and paved road on the whole journey. Everyone poured gratefully out of the bus and looked for private, little pieces of real-estate for peeing.

The rest of the journey continued on much the same way, except with some passengers vomiting and the temperature getting cooler and cooler and further we climbed towards Luang Nam Tha.

Being the only foreign passengers on that bus, we were quickly deserted upon arrival. Usually you end up being among numerous confused backpackers all trying to figure out where they're going next. I'd read of a nice guesthouse called the Boat Landing being just outside of town, so after fifteen minutes of looking about in general confusion we found a tuk tuk driver who understood those words and headed off.

It was a good twenty minute ride to the guesthouse and we were shocked to learn upon arrival that it was $32 USD per night (at least triple our Laos norm), but being there, tired, filthy, hungry and the like, we decided to splurge for the night. Also, we were planning on leaving for a multi-day kayaking trip the next day anyhow, so long-term lodging wasn't necessary. The room was right along the Nam Tha river, spacious and well adorned with local art. After cleaning up we went to the front desk restaurant area to inquire about their much advertised and lauded kayaking treks. We were handed a menu of trek options and sat down to figure out what might suit our interests. We decided upon a two day kayaking trek with an overnight home-stay in a local minority village. There were some phone calls made and then we were informed that such was not possible as there were no guides. Ah, Laos New Year strikes again! We were informed that the soonest we could begin would be Monday morning, and that there were already a few people signed up for a one day kayaking trip that day - which meant that it would be doubly cheaper for us. So be it, we thought and had a wonderful dinner of the local Laos cuisine which included flavours in my stew that I'd never tasted before. I wish that I could go into some greater detail as to what lent the food such original tastes, but I don't know what most of the ingredients were… I know that there was the stalk of black pepper plants, baby bamboo and even rattan. I had a lemon fruit shake with fresh mint and coriander - how refreshing! We relaxed for a bit and played Rummy on the banks of the lazy river.

Later in the evening a contingent of four travelers from around the Western world arrived to try out the Boat Landing's restaurant and informed us that they'd found a very nice guesthouse in town for only $6 USD a night! Not one of them could remember the name of it, but they all seemed to believe it might be GH because they'd seen that printed on a lot of the stuff on the signs and in the rooms. They also told us that it was nestled behind a shop that rented scooters to tourists…and that maybe it was the scooter place that was called GH.

We rose early the next morning to make sure we got the most out of our expensive digs before transferring ourselves to the $6 a night guesthouse in town.

The manager called a tuk tuk to come pick us up but hung-up the phone looking a wee bit embarrassed. She told us that all the tuk tuk drivers were drunk because it was Laos New Year. It was 11 a.m. She told us that if we walked out to the main road and North for a bit that we'd come across a market and that there would maybe be a tuk tuk there. So, with all our stuff we trudged off again. We got to the market after nearly half-an-hour and there wasn't a tuk tuk to be seen. We considered just walking the rest of the way until an Australian couple came by on bikes and told us that it would take us at least an hour of steady walking. Finally a tuk tuk came down the road and we flagged him down. At first he declined to take us, but after we stood about chatting with the Australians for a bit he waved us into the back of his vehicle and we were off. He dropped us off back at the bus station in Luang Nam Tha where we then entered into a long conversation of charades and such with some local tuk tuk drivers who seemed relatively sober. Nobody understood this GH business. We were aware of three other landmarks that this supposed guesthouse was near - one of the town’s only two internet cafes, a restaurant called Banana Café, and the largest trekking & tour operator in town…that didn’t seem to help either. I was finding it hard to believe that in a town with twenty streets, not one of the tuk tuk drivers knew where any of these places were. Luckily there was an advertisement posted for the internet café at the bus station that included a photo of the café on it. We pointed at the picture and finally one of the drivers nodded tentatively. We loaded our packs and bags into the tuk tuk and took off down the dusty roads. Eventually we passed the internet café and yelled at the driver to turn around. Up the road a block we found the guesthouse we’d been looking for. It was called the Zuela Guesthouse, which had been abbreviated to Zuela GH. Unfortunately there was no one manning the counter… and in fact no one to be found at the guesthouse at all. We plonked ourselves down at their deserted restaurant and waited. Nearly an hour later a young Lao man emerged from the guesthouse and found us. He apologized profusely. It turns out that he’d actually been asleep on the floor behind the check-in counter and not heard us. He told us that he’d been up until 2 a.m. the night before because some of the guests were celebrating their own Laos New Year. (Staying up until 2 a.m. in Laos is like staying up until noon the next day in Canada.)

After cleaning ourselves up we went out hunting for a restaurant. It was 6 p.m. and everything was closed. We found the Panda Restaurant open and enjoyed some great beef fried in sweet basil leaves. They had coconut monkeys on top of their fridge. COCONUT MONKEYS!!!

Next morning we were off on our kayaking trek. Three German mechanical engineering students joined us - Alex, Kai, and Alex. I was pleased to learn at the trekking office that they were to supply us with waterproof bags for our belongings, and promptly ran back to our guesthouse to grab my camera. After a short drive we arrived at the river. We were surprised (and later grateful), that the kayaks were of the inflatable variety.

The guide suggested that I paddle at the rear of the kayak and that Lindsay take the middle/front. This was disastrous. First of all, I weigh more than any Laos man I ever saw on our trip (usually about double) and this led to the back of the inflatable kayak sinking to about 6 inches under the water - so I was paddling in the water rather than on the water. Second of all…I suck at steering. I just paddle like a maniac and overcorrect horribly every time we start veering off towards the riverbank. Basically we were spinning in circles with my ass submerged. Then came the first set of rapids. We were a rock magnet. We got hung-up on rocks constantly because our kayak was sitting six inches lower in the water than everyone else’s and because we couldn’t really steer. I was amazed how difficult it could be to dislodge oneself once hung up on a rock…with the kayaks being inflatable, they kind of shaped themselves around the rocks we were hung-up on, (though this was better than it splitting in two). Our rear-guard guide would come along placidly and unwedge us.

After our first stop at a minority village - I don’t remember, they might have been Karen or Hmong - Lindsay and I decided to switch kayaking roles and from then on things went much smoother. With little villages dotting the left bank, and the Nam Ha National Park on the right, there was a lot to look at. There were spots where the bank on either side of the river would rise up hundreds of feet, all of which covered with the densest jungle foliage. Naturally it reminded me of all those Vietnam movies that have been made in the last thirty years.

The kayaking became a lot of fun once we got our system down and from then on the rapids became looked forward to. It was quite hot and the spray and splashing while traversing the rapids was a relief. We were all amazed by the quality of the food for lunch. Our guide picked a little bank on the river and we pulled in to dine. With some palm leaves spread out on the ground to form a table, we chowed-down on some very tasty and authentic Lao food that had been brought in numerous Tupperware containers. We found out that it had been made by the restaurant of the expensive Boat Landing Guesthouse we’d stayed at.

The Germans were fun to watch. They kept purposely crashing through bits of the river that were enclosed by hanging tree branches, jumping from one kayak into the other and other such shenanigans.

Nearing the end we were praying for the end. We’d each developed some pretty good blisters on our hands and had no juice left in our arms. We became the show and the villagers the audience as we pulled up our kayaks into a remote village of Hill Tribe people. We hung out a while checking out the village and asking our guide questions about the local tribes and their customs and habits. I had a blast taking photos of the villagers and then showing them the photos on the back of my camera. They really loved seeing themselves on that little LCD screen. It was nice to be able to share the photos with them and after a while it became a very interactive activity. They’d all huddle together and I’d take a photo and then they’d all dash up to see the results…then they’d run back and huddle together again for another photo.

Having spread the word about the Panda restaurant with all the other hungry travelers we’d come across over the last two days, we arrived that evening to find it packed with many people we recognized, including our three German engineering students…Alex, Kai and Alex. It seemed that the owner had given the rest of the staff (his wife) the night off to party for Lao New Year (day 4), and was by himself cooking for and serving twenty tourists. He was pulling drunk Lao women off the street to come in and do some dishes for him and then sending them off with beer as payment. It took him well over an hour to take our order, which was okay because we chatted with a couple from Victoria who were vacationing from their living in China, and an Irishman who manage a bar for Westerners in China. They were sober, quiet and attempted to be informative…he was drunk, interruptive and hilarious. The time passed well and when our food arrived at 10 p.m. (two and a half hours after we’d arrived), it was fabulous and devoured in moments.

Should I even devote more time to describing the bus from Luang Nam Tha to Luang Prabang? I don’t know. It was worse than our previous bus. Quite a bit worse really. Our three German engineering students were aboard… Well, okay - it wasn’t really a bus at all but a large van. It had four seats across like a normal bus, but no aisle once the second seat of each row had been folded down and sat on…so there was no getting up whatsoever. Despite what our tickets said, we ended up in the back seat with a friendly Korean student-tourist and a local woman. The back seats had far less legroom than most of the other seats for some reason…except for the window seat in the row ahead of us which had the wheel-well under it and no leg room whatsoever (poor Alex). Kai, who was in the folding seat ahead of us, ended up spending most of the journey holding up the buckling, little, plastic chair they’d given another Korean student-tourist to sit on in front of him. (This Korean kid was my size). And the road was worse.

Luang Prabang! Luang Prabang is easily the most charming city in South-East Asia…fly there sometime.

Luang Prabang is like a gorgeous, little, French, provincial town nestled tightly between two rivers…with friendly Laos people instead of French people. Having been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995, the entire city’s development is closely managed to maintain its French architecture and centuries-old, Buddhist temples. It feels very strange to find this place in the middle of the jungle, after driving for hours and hours over terrible roads and through never-ending hills. It has an incredibly relaxed atmosphere which is immediately contagious.

We passed our seven days there eating in cafés, walking about seeing temples, and leisurely shopping the Hmong night market in the evenings. There’s a very large and steep hill in the middle of the town called Mt. Phousi, atop which is a Buddhist temple. This is where you go to watch a Luang Prabang sunset, and if you’re a sucker tourist, buy two little, caged birds to release… At least ours flew away.

We caught the Royal Ballet Pralak Pralerm one evening which was more a costumed, Laos, high-school musical than a ballet as we know it…and nevertheless entertaining. I think that if I had to dance around in one of those costumes with one of those masks on in a stuffy room at thirty degrees, I’d probably die of heat exhaustion.

The night market was so relaxed - just the opposite of every other market we’d been to in Asia. You stroll down a long, wide avenue where the locals layout their wares on carpets. You see whole families sitting at their spots, hand-sewing the things that they eventually sell. Almost all of it is hand made; statues, jewelry, textiles, furnishings, clothing…and the people are actually a treat to haggle with.

And the best burgers in South-East Asia are in Luang Prabang.

Okay, enough of this (like my new Israeli friend has told me)… After 3 days in the remote Laos jungle at the Gibbon Experience, I have to look up the hockey playoff scores right now!

Bye!

---

Photos

Laos Bus #1
This was our bus from Huay Xai to Lunag Nam Tha. It was our introduction to the harsh reality of transport in Laos. The fine condition of the outside of the bus was very misleading. Also disappointing...no goats.

Inside Laos Bus # 1
You can see the Korean writing (at least we think it is Korean), above the left side window, from when the bus belonged to the Koreans. When Korea no longer had a use for it, we guess that Laos thought they'd hit the jackpot.

Hut in Field From Bus Window
This might be the largest piece of flat land we saw in all of Laos.

Our Bus Seat
If you thought the outside of the bus was sketchy... the inside was something much worse. What you can't tell from this photo is that everything is a little damp. GROSS!

Roadside Minority Village
Lindsay managed to catch this one from the bus. It's a very accurate view of rural Laos life.

Laos Bus #1 Changing the Tire
Regardless of the fact that we had to change 2 tires before we even left Huay Xai, we had to stop to change another not long after departure. Don't be fooled... the road is NOT paved like this for 99% of the journey.

Pride
Lindsay looking so proud for having found a private spot to pee as the bus crew changed our tire.

Slash and Burn Farming
The Laos landscape is in danger of becoming a charred, desolate landscape due to the growing population and its culture of slash and burn farming. The government and independently concerned citizens are trying to change this.

Boat Landing River Walk
This is the riverside path that led to our expensive hut at the Boat Landing Guesthouse.

Laos Behavioral Guide for Tourists
There are books in Laos showing tourists how not to act. They are very funny.

James Pulling a Lindsay
This is what Lindsay does to me when she feels I've taken enough photos of her that day.

A Street Scene - Luang Nam Tha
This is a Luang Nam Tha street (none of which are named), and the Luang Nam Tha to Udomxai tourist bus... We chose not to go to Udomxai.

A Street Scene - Luang Nam Tha 2
The nameless roads of Luang Nam Tha are all under construction...and have no street lights. So when you're wandering home in the dark after dinner you tread carefully.

Coconut Monkeys
Just for my papa, a connoisseur of monkeys of the coconut variety. Not a bad one hey papa?! Have yet to find where one buys one.

Kayaking Crew
Here we are getting ready to head off on a short day long kayaking trip. There were three entertaining Germans (mechanical engineering students all), the two of us, and two guides. Good times.

Lindsay at Hmong Villiage
Here Lindsay is standing on the shore near a Hmong village we visited while on the kayaking trip in Luang Namtha.

Hmong Villagers
These are the villagers that loved to see themselves on the camera's LCD screen after each photo... then they'd run back together and look serious for the next photo.

Girl Carrying Baby
older syblings are often put in charge of the younger ones. While we are often spectators in their lives, when we packed up our kayaking things near this village, we became their spectacle.

Hmong Tool-making
This man is making tools using charcoal, old car springs for metal and an old US bomb as an anvil.

Boy With Bird
This bird is tied to his finger. The kids passed it around like a kitten and the poor thing seemed to have resigned itself to it's fate.

Laos "Bus" # 2
More like a large, old van with more seats than you would've thought it could have, this "bus" was the worst transport yet. It was also the trip that convinced us that a little more $ for a plane ride to Hanoi was well worth it. The bus ride to Hanoi takes 32 hours.

For Five Hours...
This is German mechanical engineering student Kai, holding up a large, Korean tourist's small, crumpling, plastic chair in the aisle of our Luang Nam Tha to Luang Prabang bus... Yes, he did this for five hours.

More Huts in Field From Bus Window
Okay, so THIS was the largest piece of flat land we saw in all of Laos.

I'm Eating German Bought Watermelon
We shared a watermelon that the German mechanical engineering students (Alex, Kai and Alex), bought on the side of the road between Luang Nam Tha and Luang Prabang.

Luang Prabang Street at Dusk
Students riding home in Luang Prabang at dusk.

Street - Luang Prabang
Are you sure this isn't Southern France circa '51?

Luang Prabang Street Corner
Just a typical side road Luang Prabang street corner.

Joma Cafe
This is the outside of Joma Cafe - our daily hangout. Best pineapple smoothy in SE Asia, and one fine slice of Mango Crumble Pie.

The Inside of Joma
This is the inside of JOMA, our favourite cafe in Luang Prabang...it's airconditioned!!!

Hmong Night Market - Luang Prabang
This is the wonderful Hmong Night Market in Luang Prabang. You can stroll through this market nightly without being harassed or growing weary of the wares on offer.

Temple in the Distance...
Temple in the Distance...starring Brad Pitt as the Dalai Lama and Rowan Atkinson as Chairman Mao.

Scooter and Umbrella - Off We Go!
This is how all the Lao people ride around during the day to keep the hot sun off their faces.

Temple in Luang Prabang
This temple was in the grounds of the Laos National Museum in Luang Prabang.

Streetside Fruit Vendors in Luang Prabang
The title says it all...

Fish on the Bucket Barbee
This is a typical Laos lunch - a whole fish grilled on a make-shift bar-b-que.

Wat Is That? Sticky Rice?
People leave offerings of food - like this sticky rice - on temple walls.

Top of Temple Architecture
This is what the top of a Wat looks like through a telephoto lens.

Laos Streetside Restaurant
Typical Laos streetside restaurant. Note the date on the French staircase in the background.

Monk at Night
Monk at night...starring Hugh Grant as a monk questioning existence and Eddie Murphy as an idiot.

More Wat
Another Wat in Luang Prabang.

Monks Descending the Mt. Phousi Steps
Two monks nearly at the bottom of Mt. Phousi's 600+ steps.

Halfway Up the Phousi Steps
Looking out over Luang Prabang halfway up the steps to Mt. Phousi.

Lindsay and the Birds
Lindsay before setting free the birds. The little cage was surprisingly hard to open and I missed the Rutger Hauer moment.

James on the Top of Mount Phousi
James on the top of Mount Phousi for sunset.

Sunset from Mt. Phousi
Finally...the sun went down.

Comments

[Randy]

Bus from "H-EEE-Double hockey sticks"
I've heard of challenging bus trips over seas but never the first hand accounts. SOunds all too unpleasant (understatement I'm sure). I guess you'll never look at ours the same again! Once again great pics and stories guys. SOunds like you've met some very interesting characters along the way. Have fun. Miss ya. Rand.

[Dad]

Who Da Man
I finally got Lee to show me how to put in a comment, sounds like you are having a wonderful trip. Hope the rest is as good, look forward to seeing you soon. Its Magnificent Monday here so have a Magnificent Day, Love Dad.