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Published: February 2nd 2006
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Sunset over the Mekong
Just outside our guesthouse, the river offers great views and the haze makes for colorful sunsets Part 11
February 1 Luang Prabang
I think you can develop a tendency in writing to seek to entertain, even if that means leaving aside some of the truth. But a blog seems like it should be more of real time reporting than an edited essay of highlights.
While it seems like travel should be full of only the most pleasant times, at least for me, there are times when my innate characteristics get in the way of enjoying some of the special opportunities we are so lucky to have. One of the most predictable challenges for me is the transition to new countries, when I still have this internal desire to do as much as possible and feel a need to think through all possibilities to maximize our experiences (while simultaneously minimizing our spending). (While on the topic of money, costs here in Laos, like Thailand, hover easily around $50 or less per day for our whole family ($10 for a room, and 10 at most for each meal, laundry for $1 per kg, bike rental $1 per day).
So after the epic boat ride here, and considering the limited 15 day visa we had, I spent
Monks Lining Up for Alms
The daily ritual of collecting rice and offerings from the community-an endless line of monks too much time yesterday trying to figure how to cover all of Laos in two weeks, as well as getting to Cambodia (through countries where the roads are notoriously poor and slow). Luckily, we met Derek, a Canadian living here for the last 5 years, who runs a seemingly very culturally and environmentally responsible outdoor adventure company. He gave us the run down on overnight trips (we are set on a three day mountain biking/trekking/kayaking trip to a remote, seldom visited area north of here) and also on travel in Laos. Despite Derek's adopted Buddhist/relaxed/accepting/gentle nature, his Western/evaluatory/assertive upbringing mercifully showed through as he confirmed the reports of the undesirability of Vientiane ("you could see everything you would need to see there in an afternoon, if there was anything to see") and Vieng Vang ("if you are interested in opium smoking, drunken backpackers watching reruns of Friends"), elaborated on the discomfort of travel further south ("I will never drive that road again"), and reminded us of the limits of time. And then he gave us the "insiders" guide to LP and the surroundings, giving the scoop on where to get away from the tourist crowd and see the real Laos.
Idyllic Swimming Hole
The water is colder than you'd think, but the kids loved swimming and jumping off the waterfall in the classical tropical scene This all helped give us a much less frantic plan, and now we can enjoy getting to know one place better, delving beneath the easy to find experiences and getting closer to regular life in this country. So today, after I rose early to view the intriguing alms parade of the monks (a line of several hundred orange clad monks back almost as far as the eye could see, patiently accepting offerings of rice and money from devotees in what is a morning ritual and blessed action), we all took off on bikes to the village of Ban Phanom, only 2 km away but it may as well have been 200miles from here. With not a tourist in sight, or any developed businesses, this looked like Lao life of any rural town. Although we did see a very few well constructed, wood and concrete houses, most of the dwellings were very simple bamboo structures, with women, chickens at their feet, weaving silk cloth on looms outside. We cycled the narrow and bumpy dirt lanes, greeted with friendly smiles but little talk as the language barrier here is fairly high.
At the town wat overlooking the river, we spotted
Sunrise Laos
Another nice view in the morning light, right after the monk walk. some boys (wearing only their undies) playing soccer down on the beach. We ventured down there for the highlight of the day for all, as we played ball with the surprisingly skilled kids, who took every dead ball opportunity to jump into the river and cool off or remove the sand. This game had no end to smiles and laughter, and finally we all ended up in the river where we played ball toss and moss fighting and splashing to the enjoyment of all.
The rest of the day couldn't match this for sheer fun, but we had other "local" experiences, as we met a law student who was a former monk at the temple on the hill and learned a bit about how to meditate, and dined at a packed Lao barbecue spot near the river where we were one of only a few tables of tourists. This outdoor restaurant was the epitome of the penchant for customer customized food, as you choose your meat option and then are given a plate of sliced raw meat, a bowl full of uncooked greens, tofu, and noodles, a small bowl of some sauce, another of garlic and chilies, and a
Tiger Viewing
Koby took this great shot of a tiger who was saved from the jungle hunters and is housed near the waterfall grill full of coals in the middle of the table with a metal pots atop for cooking your food. This demanded adept chopstick use, but the soupy creation I came up with was tasty and seemed more or less what everyone else was eating.
Feb 2 Luang Prabang
Laos is one of the poorer countries in the world statistically. The average income is less than 2/3 of India, but there is little sense of the destitute poverty of India. A lot of this is simply this city, Laos' second largest and its wealthiest, benefiting from its designation as a UN World Heritage sight for its unique and lovely combination of French colonial architecture and classical Lao buildings, numerous temples, and unique setting in the bend of two rivers.
At the same time, even the poorer areas feel less destitute maybe because the population is far smaller and less dense, and the rural life still gives room for houses, no matter how simple, and a lifestyle that seems to have at least some form of sustainability, even with few material possessions.
LP is a small city (population 25,000) with really just three parallel streets crossed by numerous small lanes that contain some of the most tranquil settings. Down the middle of the area lies a low land of tropical green, with trickling water (from who knows what source) and palms and banana trees surrounding the traditional raised houses. Thanks to the influx of money accompanying the UN projects, many lanes have been paved with stylish bricks, and are lit at night by romantic clay lanterns that give off light like Halloween. Long tailed boats ply the wide and brown Mekong just below our balcony (30 feet below in the dry season, almost at street level in the wet), while on the opposite side of the peninsula, the clear flowing Nam Khan runs between terraced river banks growing crops on land only open during the dry season. And off in the distance over both rivers rise layers of steep green mountains poking through the slight haze that seems caused by smoke in the morning, then the bright tropical sun in the day.
Laos, and Luang Prabang, are certainly not exactly off the beaten track anymore. There is a lot of construction here to upgrade the sidewalks and roads, and there seems a slow and reasoned renovation of property to appeal to the more international set. Thankfully, there is not the Disneyland tourist feel here (yet), maybe because the numbers of tourists is not so great,or because they seem to make a real effort here towards "respectful tourism" (as the numerous reminders around town call it).
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Louise
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Great reading!
I've been reading with great interest your travel! I visit this site when my cousin and her family make regular posts at http://www.travelblog.org/fred.php?id=39446. Are you planning on coming to Australia?!!