So here are some journal excerpts from my 2 week stay in Laos. It was an awesome trip and a wonderful country - so glad I chose to go there with Maria for our vacation.
Monday, July 26: Vientiane
“Happy Khao Pansa Day! Today is the beginning of Buddhist Lent - the day where monks traditionally retreat to the temple on the full moon of the 6th lunar month. This holiday originated to protect the rice fields from monks wandering through them, which would not only destroy the crop but also commit an act of murder, going against the first Sila (or rule) of Buddhism. I woke this morning at 6:30 to the sound of drums and recordings of marimba music, and saw a group of about 30 monks walking down the street from the sitting room balcony of our guest house. Maria and I went around to the different wats in the neighborhood, seeing all the offerings that people had brought and the women in the traditional, floor-length sarongs.
It was a beautiful sight, and I really felt like I was witnessing something special. I also felt slightly intrusive, though, especially with my fabulous but large camera. Does capturing something authentic detract from it? Make people feel uncomfortable? Resent you, even? And eventually, can a tourism industry destroy the very things that drew people in the first place? I think the answer is yes, but I’m not quite sure what a solution would be. Not to go at all?”
Wednesday, July 28: En route
“I’m sitting in a van traveling up to Luang Prabang from Vang Vieng. The road is nuts and full of hair pins turns, and shoots through villages clinging to the edges of insane cliffs. The scenery is out of this world - rock formations jutting up out of the ground, kids using balloons and bottles for soccer balls, women bathing with their sarongs, children laughing, babies crying, slingshot practice and corn husking, cloud-tipped mountains and thatched roofs, and roads so windy that you can’t see what’s next.
We’re stuck at our second mudslide obstacle - good one, rainy season. We hairily navigated the first one without sliding into any of the other parked vans (either waiting to pass or until the conditions improve) or the edge of the mountain. Glad we didn’t fall to our death, and that the driver knew what he was doing - looks like I will live to see another day!”
Friday, July 30: Luang Prabang
"...after lunch we climbed Phu Si - the central hill/wat complex of Luang Prabang. We chatted with these 2 novice monks named Khan and Kham (convenient, no?) about learning English in their temple, universities in Bangkok, how long they're been monks, and what are their favorite foods from the daily, morning alms-giving ('well, we have to like it all - it's our food for the day'). It was a neat experience, since I've never actually had a conversation with a monk, and to make a tangible human connection with some of the many orange-clad boys we've seen everywhere throughout Laos. The view at the top was stunning - overlooking the town, the Mekong, and the untouched mountains beyond."
Saturday, July 31: Luang Prabang
"After chatting with some high school and university students at the Big Brother Mouse literacy organization, we took a trip that we had organized with some other tourists the day before (shout-out to Paul and Genevive!) to see the Kuang-Si waterfall. We took the longboat down the Mekong for about an hour, where we tied up, joined another small boatload of people, and waited for a tuk-tuk in a small village. There was no tuk-tuk, but there were hundreds of these little yellow butterflies that made it seem very otherworldly. Soon a pick-up truck rolls up: naturally, this is Laos, and we all climb onto the truck bed. When in Rome, right? We snacked on egg fruit from a nearby temple as we rolled past rice paddies and buffalos. Cruising along, bouncing around in the back of that pick-up truck was probably the greatest high I've had in a while. And I guess swimming at the waterfall was nice too. :)"
Tuesday, August 3: Si Phan Don (4000 Islands)
"After a short boat ride to Don Det, we found Mr. Tho's bungalows from Lonely Planet and settled in. Hammocks, books from the 'library' (aka, shelf of old books by the kitchen) and cheap eats (pumpkin burger? Chocolate shake? Yum?!) consumed our afternoon. Life is sooo slow paced here and I feel like everything, even my breathing and talking, moves at half the rate of that in the US. I took a late-afternoon walk to the southern tip of the island. There were children and parents bathing in the river, dads and sons carrying still-flopping fish up the banks from their boat, families cooking dinner, teenage boys playing this soccer/volleyball hybrid game, and plenty of ducks, geese, roosters, cows, pigs, dogs and buffalo wandering around. It was the most relaxed, therapeutic day I've ever had. And since the island only got electricity in 2008, we easily fell into an island sleeping schedule: go to bed after sundown, rise with the roosters."
Friday, August 6: Champasak
"Today we woke up early, got some delicious pork/mushroom/egg buns and a rack of bananas, rented a pair of bikes and set out for the Khmer-era ruins of Wat Phu Champasak. We decided to bike the 8km there, for economic and scenic reasons. It was such a good choice - between 7 and 8am, we rolled through fields, towns, over bridges and through clumps of livestock (they're everywhere - the frantic ducks crossing the road was my favorite). The people of Champasak are literally the nicest I've ever encountered. 'Sabai dee' (hello) is tossed around, from kids to elders, usually accompanied with a huge grin. It made me giddy with happiness, especially the little children who look at you in awe, wave, smile and giggle when you wave back. There were definitely less tourists, and maybe that has something to do with the genuine kindness of the locals."
Saturday, August 7: Pakse
"So we decided to visit Khem in Pakse - she was the hyper-enthusiastic Canadian/Laotian woman who shared a bed with Maria on the sleeper bus. She had given us her address and number, and we really wanted a) a place to go other than the bus station, b) free lunch, and c) to be adventurous and check it out. It turned out to be more than we could have hoped for, and we were very glad that we visited.
She was so kind and welcoming, and her family curiously looked on as we chatted over coffee. She told us about her life during the Secret War, when America dumped millions of tons of bombs on Laos during the 70s to try and get rid of the communist Pathet Laos forces. Even though she couldn't talk about it for years, she openly told us that she saw her fair share of death - women hanging out of trees or dead babies along the road. She escaped to a refugee camp across the border in Thailand when her family's make-shift mattress bomb shelter wasn't secure enough, when at the age of 17, she married a man twice her age. He was abusive, but gave her 3 kids and an escape to Canada nonetheless. After 20 years she divorced him and started a new life for herself in Canada. Now, she has an online business, provides for her family, and divides her time between Toronto and Laos.
At her house, we watched "Betrayal," a documentary about the war, and ate a fabulous lunch: spaghetti with meat and mushroom sauce, cheesy bread and iced tea. When I commented on how much I liked laap (Laos spicy meat salad), she went over to her family eating and chatting on the floor and got a bowl for me! Basil-y and delicious. Her brother drove us to the bus station as her family waved from the driveway, and I felt humbled, grateful and simultaneously ashamed at what my country has done to these wonderful people."
Click here to read more about the cluster bombs in Laos
-The woman who owned the place we ate lunch at escorted us to the train station. We really only asked where it was, but I guess she wanted to prevent lost Americans wandering around her town. Solution: grab and arm and take us there herself!
-The half-naked child on a tricycle, who was pretending to tow Molly around on another bicycle.
-We then watched the driver smoke a cigarette over a growing puddle of gasoline leaking out from his car engine. Which he then tried to restart.
What a day. Without good spirits, optimism, and a great ability to laugh at ourselves, I guess it could have been a disaster - but we had an awesome time. Only in Thailand!
