Experiencing the Other Laos

We finally tore ourselves away from the comforts and charms of Luang Prabang and ventured into the far less developed parts of Laos. (It was tempting to write the "real" Laos but that wouldn't be fair to Vientiane or Luang Prabang -- they were touristed and affluent but their cultures are still very Lao). So, we headed north to Muong Ngoi Neua, which is accessible only by boat an hour up from the nearest town.

This was one of our ideal travel destinations -- an idyllic village set on the river with just enough tourist infrastructure (bungalows and a few restaurants) to make it comfortable. We found a great bungalow overlooking the river with two hammocks in the room. The village itself consisted of one main, dirt road about a quarter mile long. Off of that were coconut tree-lined paths to peoples homes, the school, etc.  There was only electricity, provided by generators, from 6:30pm-10:30. Muong Ngoi seems to be at a perfect juncture where it's developing and gaining more wealth but is not yet overrun with tourists.

The area is known for its hikes to minority villages. We did a full day's hike with a great guide, along with a couple Aussies we met on the boat ride over.  The guide told very funny stories which he almost enjoyed more than us--he just couldn't stop laughing!  He particularly liked stories where his tourist trekkers had minor accidents such as disappearing off the edge of a rice terrace or a male who slipped on a ladder and fell on the rung in a straddle.  Ouch!  At one point the guide picked some small yellow flowers and said the Lao cook them with eel.  He told us to bite a little of the end.  Just as we started to feel the slightly tingly and numbing effects he exclaimed, "It tastes like electricity!! It's like when you put a battery on your tongue."  What?!  A few miles in we passed a large cave which we went back to the following day to explore a little bit (only a little so we didn't get lost among the twists and turns!).  We passed a group of men sitting on huge logs to be used for building.  They were enjoying a 10am drink of lao-lao, a homemade rice whiskey, before working.  Later they passed us carrying the huge logs.  When we caught up to them again they were at the building site not building but having more lao-lao.  It was a funny glimpse into the laid-back, fun-loving Lao lifestyle. We then visited a Khamu village, passed rice paddies, and hiked up a small mountain with great views. On the way back our guide asked us if we wanted to join him for dinner, so we bought a duck in the village.  He walked home with it flapping under his arm. That night, we sat around a small fire while his wife grilled the duck over the flames. We then sat on the floor  of their house with them and a few of their friends in the traditional Lao style, eating the food and sharing some lao-lao whiskey.  It was a great, authentic experience.

After a few days in Muong Ngoi we took a long bus ride northwest to Luang Nam Tha. This is known to be one of the top ecotourism destinations in Laos. It's known for trekking in its National Protected Area (like a national park, but minorities live in it and are allowed some agriculture). Apparently, this is one of the most successful and sustainable ecotourism initiatives in southeast Asia, with mainly reputable companies that offer the treks. The hiking provides extra income, education, and environmental awareness to the villages. It's also done in a way to minimize the negative impacts of tourism, such as a dependency on tourists the way Sapa, Vietnam has become. So, we booked a three-day trek. It was a great experience. Our guide was knowledgeable and spoke good English. We spent the nights staying in traditional lodging (basically just a simple thatched hut with thin mattresses on the floor) in the villages. The hike itself was moderately difficult -- lots of steep up and downs but not too long -- luckily for us, since we hadn't gotten much exercise in the last month.

The first night was a Hmong village and the second was a Lanten and Khamu.  Although these minority groups don't mix much they appear similar to us because they dress the way most Lao people dress: Western clothes and sarongs for women.  The villages were small and primitive; simple huts, no electricity, tons of pigs and chickens running around. The first village we stayed at had no roads at all -- if someone needs medical care they need to walk 4 hours to the nearest road. The second village we stayed at had no running water -- people bathe and get their water from the river. On our second night we sat around a fire sharing a vat of homemade rice wine, sipping it through the straw.  The local people enjoyed asking us questions and it was interesting to hear their perspectives on America.  One man we met fought with the Communists in the 1975 war but believes it's time to move on from past differences.  Everyone we met was ready with a quick, hearty laugh and we continued to enjoy getting to know the Lao people.

We're now back in Luang Nam Tha, doing various chores and trying to figure out the plan for our last 5 days before our flight to Bali.  We will probably spend it in northern Thailand where opium trade used to be big business and then a few days in Bangkok.  We definitely want to see more of Laos, though, in the future.  Although it's been hard to leave each country and there's always more to see this is the first place where we really wish we had about 2 more weeks.  We didn't realize there was so much to see (or how long it takes to go relatively short distances) and it is a wonderful place to embrace the local culture and just chill out.

Photo Journal from Tibet

Here are some pictures from our time in Tibet (beginning of November):

 The crazy moon-like landscape

Being here felt like we'd stepped back in time.  People used horse-drawn wagons to get around and transport goods.  We saw a lot of poverty but were impressed by the beautifully painted wood decorations that could be found on every house, even in the middle of nowhere.

The turquoise waters of the lake formed by a dam

 

Chris enjoys his dinner at an outdoor stand

 

Potala Palace, former home of the Dalai Lama, at sunrise

 

Sabaidee

After a few hectic days in Cambodia, we've turned the dial down and are taking it easy in Laos. For Chris, it was interesting to see Cambodia again, especially how far it has come in such a short time. Five years ago, it was mainly the province of backpackers; now, the Angkor area has reached the high-end market. But he was excited to move on to a new place.

We've been in Laos over a week now and are loving it. This landlocked country sits between Vietnam (to the east) and Thailand (to the west); China and Burma are to the north and Cambodia is south. As with much of the region, it was formerly a monarchy but fell to communism in 1975. It has since followed the paths of China and Vietnam -- communist only in name, essentially a one-party system with a market economy. But compared to its neighbors, everything seems more low-key here. The government isn't as intrusive (e.g., Facebook isn't blocked) and people in general are more laid-back -- the Lao apparently express the notion that "too much work is bad for your brain." So, this general attitude, combined with the lowest population density and most intact natural environment in South East Asia has made this a great destination after Vietnam and Cambodia.

We flew first to Vientiane, the capital. It was far nicer than we expected -- set along the Mekong River, it's not exactly a beautiful city, but it's clean, has some nice architecture, not much traffic or pollution, lots of trees, and in general a good vibe. There's a large ex-pat community, especially of French, meaning lots of cafes and bakeries. When not in a cafe, we spent most of our time walking around visiting the many wats, Buddhist temples.

We then decided to take an alternate route to Luang Prabang. Most travelers head due north via Vang Vieng, a backpacker haven with beautiful karst scenery (and plenty of drugs). We decided to take our guidebook's advice and travel northwest to Sayabouli instead. This way we'd be able to get off the main tourist path for a bit. It ended up being a pleasant place to spend a night -- not much to do but good scenery and fun to be the only tourists, literally, in the entire city. But getting there and away was, interesting. After India, each country we visited had better and better buses. Here in Laos we've now regressed back to the beginning. Because Vang Vieng is on the main tourist path the route has big "VIP" buses with comfy seats, a bathroom, AC, etc. Sayabouli, however, does not. It has what is called an "express" bus for the 15 hour overnight trip. Boston to Rochester, NY is 400 miles and takes 6 hours. This 15 hour trip took us a total of only 280 miles! The seats were far too small -- Chris' knees were crushed against the seat in front of him. Large sacks of rice filled the aisle, on top of which were packed with people. Lao pop music blasted all night and it was pouring out (despite being dry season) so bathroom breaks were in the open in the rain. Luckily, we had peanut butter to tide us over, since the food at road stalls was often grilled rat. Amazingly though, the time actually went by pretty quickly.

My new little Lao baby friend

After our night in Sayabouli we then went to Luang Prabang. (This bus ride was only four hours but it was missing some windows and broke down once on a steep hill.  On the upside we had a great interaction with a family who handed their baby over to Alex for awhile.) This has been the city Chris has been most excited to see in all of SE Asia. It's amazing. It opened itself up to tourism in 1989, in 1995 it received UNESCO World-Heritage status, and since then has been restoring and preserving itself. It's not really like any city we've been to. The main section is on a peninsula between the Mekong and Nam Khan Rivers. A hill, topped with a stupa (Buddhist monument) looms above most of the city. The area is completely walkable but not too dense and full of tropical trees and plants. And everywhere there are wats, which are beautiful. Our book lists well over 20 and we've seen several more that weren't listed. At 6:30 every morning hundreds of orange-robed Buddhist monks walk the streets collecting alms (mainly rice to eat). Seeing the monks at the wats and on the streets, doing everything from studying under a tree to chatting on their cell phones, is one of Alex's highlights. At night, the main road closes to cars and a night market opens. And with money pouring in from UNESCO and tourism, the city has aimed at an upmarket clientele -- everywhere are nice eateries, cafes, inns, and restaurants.

The beautiful archictecture of downtown Luang Prabang

 

Luang Prabang has its own unique food. Alex got a chicken stew with a local bitter-spicy root. And Chris got deep fried river weed served with a jam of chilis and buffalo skin -- once was enough. In general, we've indulged in the new main staple of the city -- baguettes and crepes served with everything from ham + cheese to nutella.

The mornng alms tradition

After 4 months of almost constant travel, we knew we'd eventually need a place to stop and relax. And Luang Prabang has been it. We planned on staying four full days. As we were walking to the bus sales office to buy tickets to our next destination, we realized we just weren't ready to leave. So, we decided to spend an extra day. We're using the extra time to recharge our batteries and it allowed us to visit a nearby waterfall that was beautiful and  natural pools for swimming.

How to See Cambodia in 2 1/2 Days

1. Change your travel itinerary to include Cambodia.
2. Stay on the move constantly--no down time.
3. Visit only your top choice sights.
4. Thank your husband for returning to a country he's seen before.
5. Relax and breathe when you reach Laos.

So, we managed to squeeze a quick visit to Cambodia in between Vietnam and Laos.  Since we were already in the Mekong delta, which borders Camdodia, we decided to go overland through the country to get to Laos.  This accounted for a hectic 3 days.

To backtrack a little:  We made it successfully from the delta area to Phu Quoc Island, a small tropical island off the southwestern tip of Vietnam, where our hotel reservation was honored.  That was a relief.  We spent the next two days completely relaxed on the beautiful white sand beach.  The island is still pretty sleepy, especially considering how beautiful it is, with a lot of small beach restaurants and guest houses with bungalows.  There are some newer, fancier resorts cropping up but the whole vibe was very laidback.  We pretty much didn't move from our beach chairs from about noon to 6 both days except to order food or drinks.  This is also where we rung in 2010.  On New Year's Eve we enjoyed a nice dinner and then went to the beach where most celebrating was happening.  All the restaurants had tables set out on the sand and bonfires.  We got a drink on the beach before heading to a bar/club for some dancing and the stroke of midnight.  There was a nice mix of Westerners and Vietnamese dancing together.  At midnight they played a song called "Happy New Year" while tennis was still shown on all the TVs.  It was kind of weird not to have a countdown or watch the ball drop.  But the night was a lot of fun.

Enjoying sunset on the beach NYE...not too shabby

Then it was on to Cambodia.  We spent a long day on the 2nd getting to the border and then to the capital, Phnom Penh.  Border crossings are always interesting and this one was no different.  You go from a pretty well-maintained facility on the Vietnam side to small shacks, no real order, and a red dirt road on the Cambodian side.  We took a very dusty motorbike ride to a small town (after which Alex's legs looked like they had a bad spray tan) and then a slow, hot minibus ride to Phnom Penh.  We ended up randomly at the same place Chris stayed with his friend Andrew 5 years ago.  The next day we went to the Genocidal Center, more famously called the Killing Fields, where a huge number of Cambodians were killed during the Khmer Rouge regime from 1975-1979.  There were hundreds of bodies found in the mass graves.  The bones are now on display in a memorial stupa.  You can still see the pits of the mass graves and there are plaques on the former sites of buildings used to house prisoners and the rudimentary tools of killing.  One site is a large tree where babies were killed by being hit against it before thrown in the grave.  It was a difficult visit and just impossible to fathom how people could do this to their friends, family, and countrymen.  Afterwards Alex went to S-21 prison (Chris had been) which was where the Khmer Rouge kept and tortured their "enemies."  It used to be a high school and some of the playground exercise equipment was even used in torturing victims.  It was very eerie and disturbing to step into rooms that held prisoners and know they were classrooms.  Some still have chalkboards.  Another sad visit but I'm glad that the Cambodians have set up these places to remember and honor the 3 million people killed.

A prison cell/classroom at S-21

The same day we took a 2pm bus to Siem Reap, getting in at 8:45.  The next morning we had a tuk-tuk driver meet us at 8 to take us to the most famous Angkor Wat temples.  Chris had been to these as well but wanted to see them again.  We started at the walled city of Angkor Thom.  The famous Bayon temple here has over 200 carved faces of a boddhisatva (Buddhist diety) on its towers.  The whole temple is beautiful and awe-inspiring.  We visited several other temples here although none are quite as impressive.  Our next stop was Ta Keo from the 10th century.  It is huge but undecorated.  It was supposedly never finished because it was struck by lightening, a bad omen.  The sides have very steep, very skinny, very scary stairs to the top.  Alex did not like this but still climbed up.  Our final stop of the morning was Ta Phrom, also known as "Tomb Raider", which is famous for the huge kapok trees growing all over it.  This was Alex's favorite as it's incredibly atmospheric and a neat mix of human achievement and nature taking it all back.  The tree roots grow all over, around, and in between the stones of the building.  This is obviously causing the temple to fall into ruin but is also the reason to visit.  There is conservation work going on and it was interesting to think about how the government will try and preserve this unique temple.

Alex carefully descends the stairs of Ta Keo

The large kapok tree roots taking over

Alex: By this time we needed lunch.  That consisted of gross spaghetti with tomato sauce.  And Chris' food never came.  Chris had gotten sick the previous night so he returned to the hotel while I visited the temple of Angkor Wat.  It is HUGE.  First I had to cross the 250 meter wide moat that resembles a small lake on a wide causeway flanked by naga (cobra diety) statues.  Then there are 4 "gateways" into the temple which are really gates in a wide wall that has statues and bas-reliefs inside.  From the first gate to the actual temple there was another causeway about 1/2 kilometer long.  It was great to get that first sight of the famous building and its corncob-like towers.  Inside the temple my favorite part was the incredibly detailed and large bas-reliefs that go around the entire outside wall.  It took me almost an hour just to get around it all.  They're incredibly well preserved and probably 6 feet high and every inch is covered in carving.  The rest of the temple was equally impressive, with more detailed carving on the walls and columns.  You can no longer climb up the precarious stairs leading to the highest part of the temple (as Chris was able to just 5 years ago) because there were too many injuries.  I was fine skipping that experience. :o)

Angkor Wat

The following day we flew out of Siem Reap at 10am concluding our whirlwind trip.  We are really looking forward to slowing down again in Laos and taking time to visit more "off the beaten path" places.