My Laos Experience

Some days ago (I'm not sure how many), I boarded a mini-van in Chiang-Mai and made my way to Chiang Khong- the last stop before Laos. The town was charming and quite small. Although they have tourists running through there all the time on their way to Laos, the locals were still excited to see foreigners and kids stopped what they were doing to stare. Once 'hellos' were exchanged, they'd go back to whatever they were doing. Our guest house was far from luxurious, but we were right on the Mekong river and had a beautiful view at sunset. The next morning, we picked up our bags and made our way to the dock where we were ushered into tipsy motorized canoes to take us on our thirty second journey across the Mekong to Laos. After passing through 'customs' and having my passport stamped a hundred times, we boarded the slow boat that would take us (eventually) into the heart of Laos. I was last on the boat and settled myself right at the front with the locals. I had by far the best seat on the boat- far from the smell of the toilet and the deafening sound of the motor at the back of the boat. The sun was always on my side and I even had the priviledge of stretching out my legs. I received envious looks throughout the journey and promised myself that I would not leave my seat until we docked in Pak Beng.

I learned a very important lesson in Pak Beng. Never, ever, ever book a room without having seen it first. As we boarded the slow boats, the man herding us into the boats indicated that we may have trouble finding a place to stay as the sun would have set by the time we arrived and the town had no electricity. Suckers that we are, each of us shelled out our 200 baht (about 6$) to guarantee our rooms that night. When the boat pulled into the town some six hours later, it was clear that we had been taken. Those of us that had fallen for the trick- myself, two Austrians, six Brits, and two Israelis followed the creepy little man back to our guest house. I had been weary of booking the room without having seen it, but I thought what were the chances that I would be screwed the first time I did it? I thought, no big deal- it's only one night anyway. The creepy little man finally stopped in front of our guest house and we each made our way in. Up a steep, narrow flight of stairs we encountered six wooden doors. The hallway looked like it belonged in a film about Alcatraz. I dropped my bag in my room and went out for dinner. The place wasn't pleasant, but one night there wouldn't kill me. Besides, I had very little kip on me (Laos currency) and had noticed that while Baht is accepted everywhere, the prices seem to triple when you use it. I went for dinner with the British girls- who turned out to be quite dull. They were travelling all over the world in one year- starting from London and then through India, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Australia, South and North America. They had just left four weeks ago- had whipped through India- or rather, the expensive, beach front cities in India and were now making their way through Laos. I was subject to an hour rambling about all the foods that they missed from home- namely different types of chocolate bars dipped in tea. Once they finished that, I was subject to another half hour rambling about how they had each gained weight since leaving London and they couldn't imagine how. This was followed by another half hour of "Do I look better with my hair up or down?" "Do I look better with my hair straight or curly?" "Do I look tired today?" "I looked awful that day we were in New Delhi- remember?" I almost died of boredom. Just as I my head was about to explode, the two Israelis boys sat down and interrupted the girl talk. I proceeded to experience extreme embarrassment when one of the Brits asked what sort of things there were to see in Israel. The two Israelis, Nati and Avi, just stared at her without responding. Another said she had heard there was good skiing in Israel. Thankfully the girls finished their meals and headed out to find chocolate bars to dip in their tea. I stayed behind with Nati and Avi for awhile- quite interested in their perspectives on Israel as ski central. When we returned to the guest house, we discovered it was worse than we had thought. The bathrooms did not have light bulbs and were lit by candles, making an already dank and dirty room seem even worse. The hot showers that we had been promised turned out to be enormous bathtubs full of dirty water. It smelled really bad. I went upstairs to my room and covered my bed in clothes- it was too late to look for another guest house, the electric generator in the town was about to be turned off, plunging everything in darkness. I went to sleep with my keys in one hand and mosquito repellent in the other. I couldn't explain it, but I had a really bad feeling about the creepy little man that ran the guest house. He had asked me earlier to join him for a beer and I had said no. He seemed shocked, saying that he always drank with the Canadian girls that came through. He wasn't pleased when he stormed away, and left me with a bad feeling. I lay awake for quite awhile, nervous. Feeling quite disgusted with the state of the guest house, I barely slept. I was awoken at 5:00am by the screams of the British girls next door. They had heard rats and weren't able to turn the lights on because the generator wouldn't start up until 6. Having woken everybody up, we all made our way downstairs for some bad coffee and counted down the minutes till the slow boat would leave this horrible place. We were on the boat a full two hours before it left, and none of us bathed in the trough of dirty water. A Chilean man I met a few days later told me he had made the mistake of buying pot in this town- and someone had threatened to call the police unless he paid them off. Possession of marijuana doesn't get you jail time in Laos, but is used as a means to extract money from tourists. The going rate for possession, apparently, is 500 US dollars.

In any case, we lived through the night and eight hours later, pulled into Luang Prabang. Despite the first impression I had of Laos, Luang Prabang redeemed it completely. I quickly forgot about the creepy little man and the horrible guest house. A recent adddition to the UNESCO list, Luang Prabang has a unique mix of French colonial architecture with ancient temples. The temples were less polished than in Thailand, allowing the age of them to really hit you. The town was absolutely beautiful. You can see that the town is verging on huge changes- store fronts are being redone and immaculate guest houses can be found at really reasonable prices. Travel agents all over the main street reveal that they are preparing for a boom in tourism. There were tourists everywhere- but somehow it didn't feel like the town was being overrun. The Laos government is so fearful of their country turning into tourist central that they are really cracking down on laws to maintain the Laos way of life. Everything- bars and restaurants included, close at 10pm. Posters all over the town remind visitors that prostitution is illegal, and will land you in jail. People sit in front of temples reminding visitors to please cover their shoulders as a sign of respect to Buddha. I treated myself to a night in an expensive guest house to make up for the previous night- headed out for a Laos massage (1 hour cost me 3$) and passed out early. The staff at the massage place invited me to stay for tea, but I could hardly keep my eyes open. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I spent the following day running about to see the main sights and prepared to leave for Vang Vieng in the morning.

I've learned not to believe bus schedules and the like. I was promised the bus left promptly at 9:30am, but arrived at the station to discover that in reality, that meant 10:30am. I met a Mexican guy, Branko, and as we were the only two foreigners on the bus, I was quite happy that he was interesting and didn't talk about tea dipped chocolate. We pulled into Vang Vien at 6pm, instead of the promised arrival time of 3pm. No matter- I've become accustomed to it by now. We went for dinner and noticed that the menu included 'happy food'- so we ordered a joint and sat back in the restaurant contemplating this odd town. Vang Vieng has become backpacker central in Laos, and neither of us could decide if we liked it or not. It was definetly not Laos, but it was a place that promised countless ways to spend the day in the sun and allowed you out past the 10pm curfew that existed elsewhere in Laos. The locals were so relaxed- whenever we tried to pay for something, they kept saying "later, later". I marvelled at the fact that it must mean they trusted tourists a great deal- and have yet to be burned by them, which is a very nice thought. We awoke early the next morning and decided to throw ourselves into the backpacker scene. Apparently a right of passage in traveling South East Asia is tubing down the Mekong river. So we grabbed our tubes and headed for the launch point- it took us about four hours to float back to our guest house and we arrived relaxed. I don't think there could possibly be a better way to spend a day than floating leisurely down a river in the mountains with the sun beaming down on you... and plenty of places to stop for beer along the way. Towards the end of the trip, we were swarmed by young Lao children wanting to talk. They gripped our tubes and floated down the river with us.

This morning, I said good-bye to my Mexican friend and boarded a bus to the capital- Vientiane. Of course, we arrived an hour and a half later than expected. I've checked into a guest house and wandered around the town. It seems that Vientiane is not the place to be. Tomorrow I'll be doing a quick run around the city and then heading back to Thailand to catch my flight back to Korea. It's been quite a week. Forgive me. I've lost all sense of time- which I believe is a good indication of a busy, yet relaxed vacation in the sun. It feels like I left Seoul yesterday, and ten years ago at the same time. I've eaten more baguettes in the last few days than I think I have in my life. Apparently I needed to make up for a whole baguette-free year. This trip through Laos and Thailand was exactly what I needed after a year in Korea. It's so refreshing to encounter people who have nothing and are absolutely fine with it. They have absolutely no desire to have our digital cameras, or our nice clothes. Buddhist to the core, both countries demonstrate an incredible sense of happiness. Content with what they have. In Korea, people often tell me that they would love to move to Canada. I haven't heard that at all from locals here. They just smile and say Canada has nice people. There is something so beautiful about seeing people as they really are. They have nothing whatsoever to hide. The Laos people are still a little unsure about tourists, but you can tell that they love it all the same. They're excited that so many people are visiting, but still seem a little thrown because it has happened so suddenly. The children in particular seem really confused by the sudden presence of blue-eyed, backpack people in their small towns. But it doesn't stop them from running around naked. I leave here genuinely relaxed and happy that I have had the chance to experience, at least a little bit, this absolutely beautiful country before it becomes overrun by tourists. So far Laos seems to be teetering on the edge of big changes, and they're doing their best to maintain their culture and way of life as best they can while welcoming people into their country. I only hope that we will be respectful of their wishes. The ideal traveller is one who can blend in as easily as possible with the culture they are in. I hope that those tubing down the Mekong river will read the sign that pleads with women not to don their bikinis for the trip and asks that when walking about in town, clothes are worn overtop of swimsuits. I don't think it's too much to ask if it makes the Laos people feel more comfortable with the abundance of Westerners parading through their towns...