So we entered sleepy Laos, what is, so far, the biggest surprise in our trip. This is a very poor country, with beautiful people, incredible food and stunning scenery. Lao (according to Lonely Planet the silent “s” at the end was added by the French) has been tugged at and intervened upon by many a nation, and the French influence in particular is very dominant in areas. It has only been sovereign since 1953 but has struggled to keep up with the rest of South East Asia since. In recent history, northern Lao was heavily bombed during the Vietnam War, endured trade embargoes and is now struggling to not be amongst the Least Developed Countries. Lao is in a landlocked position, and shares borders, some more official than others with China, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, making it a transitional point for many.
We arrived in Huay Xai across the Mekong from Chiang Kong in five minutes and almost immediately the economic disparity was evident. Huay Xai is a tiny border town and there we spent our first night in a lovely guesthouse. We were exhausted from our bus rides out of Thailand and crashed onto our rock hard beds (really crashed, we didn’t expect them to be completely solid, and it hurt!) to nana nap for a couple of hours. The evening was pretty cruisey; we walked to the temple atop a hill where two beautiful little girls were playing and posed by a temple statue for a picture. When they saw the photo they giggled and ran off! We watched the sunset from our guesthouse restaurant overlooking the Mekong, and there really is no sunset like it, the hills blend into each other and slowly fade along with the red sun. Lanterns were hanging from the wooden beam ceilings and one particularly enterprising kitty purred his way over to our table where we were drinking a Beer Lao (their national beer, very nice) and helped himself to Scott’s lap and mine respectively. Needless to say, we were stuck there longer than planned… I think he knew when we wanted to stand up because then he’d purr louder to increase the guilt factor at disrupting his cozy slumber!
We had dinner at another waterfront restaurant (now keep in mind, the town is one main street, so all eateries overlook the Mekong, and this is Lao, so get that image of the foo foo, posh, waterfront restaurant out of your head. It’s much more basic and charming than that) where our new local guide, Kuan, showed up with bbq’d chicken feet… on a stick. Told you “Things you can put on a stick” was a fun game! We asked him how you ate it, and he pulled a foot off, bit off the nail (relax now, I can hear your groans) and ate the toes, bones and all. Of the four of us Katherine and I were game (I was healthy finally, and after 5 days of nausea and a staple diet of crackers and water I felt adventurous), and we proceeded to bite off the sharp little chicken claw and eat a toe. But only one toe. Ok, only half the toe, but I did try it. Surprisingly, it tasted like chicken. But crunchy.
We had all read that the Lao Red Cross offered massages given by locals and that the moneys went directly into community development, so off we went after dinner. Unfortunately only three therapists were available and Scott was chivalrous enough to sit it out. What to say about Lao massage? It’s not what you expect! You are kneaded, smacked, stretched and not so lightly punched into submission. I had my arms locked behind my head with my legs crossed at one point while she pulled up on my arms and cracked my back by digging her knees in. Youch! At one point my leg was bent towards my back and then the floor, I thought, “Nononono! My leg doesn’t do that, oh ok, you made it do it, yes it does now.” Needless to say, the massage style in Lao is chiropractic meets physiotherapy meets deep tissue massage meets extreme yoga. Despite the pain (or was it pleasure?) the three of us walked out laughing and energized, so obviously it worked.
Our next two days were lazy, romantic journeys down the Mekong in a long boat, starting at 9 am and finishing at 5 pm. It was a great opportunity for snoozing, photography, and hours’ worth of reading. So laid back and relaxed, it was an abrupt and very welcome change from the Thailand bustle. The first day we did a midday stop at one of the Hmong peoples’ village and it was a scene right out of a movie. Beautiful and curious children ran down to the riverbank to look at us silly, awkward strangers and took us to their little village dotted with thatched homes and farm animals. You wouldn’t even know the village existed until you climbed the banks and were led in. Many villages in Lao still lead a traditional life of self-subsistence, and this is one of them. All the adults were away working in the fields, so only the children were left and two elders, a very smiley and welcoming man and a tiny, gorgeous old lady. We got a mini tour from the kids, and having asked permission to take photos, they then got a lesson in photography from me as they absolutely loved the camera. They all took turns pushing the shutter and seeing what they took to then descend into giggles! Scott then showed them the video and so it happened, as does universally, the boys gravitated to Scott and the girls hovered around us females.
It’s difficult to explain how a moment like that makes you feel. You feel overwhelmed with happiness at their attention and laughter, deeply distressed at the poverty, guilty about your wealth, proud of their traditional life and culture, humbled to be allowed to be part of it for a small moment… for Scott and I, it was definitely a moment we will never forget and feel so fortunate to have experienced it. It further puts your life into perspective. I officially fell in love with Lao children at that moment, and I’m still feeling enamoured.
The night was spent in the small port town of Pak Beng; you may wonder what I mean by port as the country is land-locked. The Mekong River runs the length of Laos (a very brown river) and is one of the main forms of transportation in Laos. Everything is shipped on slow long boats, corn, oats and even live buffalo who have figured out to stand very still side by side on the boats. Goods are offloaded in Pak Beng and then sent by road into all parts of the province. The town is basically one unsealed street with lots of guest houses and restaurants. We chose a restaurant and had chicken curry and koy chicken, an excellent Lao dish consisting of finely chopped chicken heavy on coriander and lemongrass and the obligatory chilies and sticky rice, along with a small sip of Mekong whiskey, 70% proof, yikes! An effective way to sanitize the digestive system! We then headed back to our guesthouse, where the electricity is only available in the evening, dotted with frequent blackouts and very cold showers in the morning, super refreshing, and definitely woke us up!
On our second day, we visited another village. Nearly all the homes had set up little thatched market stalls selling their gorgeous, hand woven silk scarves, bags and assorted jewelery, and were clearly accustomed to boats arriving to purchase their goods. I was immediately sucked in and purchased some very nice things, not telling you what. Hold on, this next sentence is written by Scott: If expecting presents the sad thing is that everything that Jenn purchases in a village with someone in mind she inevitably decides is too nice to give away and keeps it for herself. Hmmm. Yes, he’s right, I cannot protest… if you were me you’d understand! Anyway… further down river we also visited the Pak Ou Caves. The caves were carved in the 1800’s into a Buddhist temple and are a place of worship for those from Luang Prabang and the surrounding Mekong villages. The four of us in our tour were suddenly shocked and deeply troubled at the caves when some of the local people began to dangle tiny little cane cages in front of us to buy. The tiny cages contained different species of live birds, many chicks that could barely move. They essentially wished for us to buy them to “set them free”. Unfortunately, this is some people’s form of subsistence, and upon silly tourists buying the bird to “set it free”, the vendor easily catches and cages it again after the tourist leaves as they are unable to fly immediately from prolonged confinement or because they have not even fledged. As difficult as it was, we ignored the little cages and walked on. That is definitely a moment in travel when you have to take a step back and reflect upon why people and cultures do what they do, and consider how you can help to change a situation in a mature and positive way. Reacting instinctively wouldn’t help the situation. Having said that, there are some incredible programs held by many organizations in Lao that employ, train and encourage the skills of local people to help them become self-sufficient. A cool brochure I came across listed all the projects including a weaving one I'll mention below called Stay Another Day, but I can't find the site! Another site with information on local programs is http://www.laoredcross.org/index_en.php
We arrived in Luang Prabang in the late afternoon and the French influence was obvious immediately. The town is a perfect postcard on the banks of the Mekong and heavily dominated by French Colonial architecture and Buddhist temples. Apart from the visual fare, the choice in food was overwhelming, ranging from the obvious French and traditional Lao to Indian, Thai and Vietnamese. And the prices! You know you’re in SE Asia when… we ate a traditional Lao bbq (food is cooked in the middle of your table over coals with spices, garlic, veggies, meats, etc) and the total food bill for 5 of us was $7.50. You almost feel guilty… we also ate the most delicious vegetarian buffet, set up by a street vendor for 5000 kip each. That’s .50 cents. I know! This is why all us tourists, even if traveling with Lonely Planet’s SE Asia on a Shoestring guide, truly are rich.
Approximately one hour from Luang Prabang were the Kuang Si Waterfalls, which were a fairytale in themselves. Pale blue and pastel green mirror waters formed in various pools down from the main wispy falls and we went prepared! As the locals swim in clothes we took our surf shirts and board shorts and braved the clear, icy water. It was amazing, so refreshing and clean. There was a tree overhanging one of the pools with a rope… crowds watched as an American guy went along the branch, grabbed the rope and swung in like Tarzan himself. That was it! I had to do it! I climbed up to the branch and got stuck by my lack of arm length and could not reach the rope, so the American guy came on the branch, grabbed the dangling rope and passed it to me, whispering as he went, “Don’t worry, there’s no pressure, nobody is watching!” I turned back to see the crowd of dozens that had gathered on the bank, cameras at the ready, waiting to see the silly girl fall. I looked down. Bad idea. I gripped the rope as high as I could, looked up and swung myself out and across to the middle of the pool where I performed a perfect rope dismount, and with a small shriek crashed into the water! Picture perfect, I didn’t let my fans down! I even saw a photo, and the woman that took it said I looked like Jane. Yessssss!!!! Naturally I had to go again, but first Scott, who was able to retrieve the rope himself and managed a spectacular Tarzan, with a bit of rope burn. No pain, no glory! It was a fantastic time and left us awake and ready for the rest of the evening, dominated by market shopping and a painful but effective Lao massage for Scott (we told him it hurt at the Red Cross!) while me, Katherine and Hannah ran across the street for cocktail happy hour!
Our last day in Luang Prabang we all rented bicycles, an incredibly effective way to get around, and visited the Museum, formerly the Royal Palace for the 1975 exiled, and never again heard from royal family. The family line continues, but cannot return to Lao and it is believed they reside in France. Slightly out of town we visited Ock Pop Tok, which translates into East Meets West, a community development project where Lao women’s weaving is made, displayed and sold, completely beautiful stuff. All silk worms and plants for natural dyes are on site, and courses, 1 to 3 days are even available and taught by the local women! Their on-site café also serves traditional Lao fare, and Scott and I tried the ginger and lemongrass refresher and the iced cinnamon bael fruit tea. We were incredibly impressed by Ock Pop Tok, and wish we’d visited it earlier.
Overall, Luang Prabang was incredible, and the first half of Lao has been a fantastic surprise. Everything about this country at a crossroads is so impressive, and more time could easily be spent discovering and visiting these areas. One of the cheesy tourist t-shirts sold state “I love Lao”, and I’m seriously considering buying one. We do love Lao!
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