The remainder of my time in Laos was excellent, if uneventful. I spent 5 days in the capital Vientiane, not doing much at all. I spent 1 day doing intensive sightseeing and the other days just hanging around waiting for my Cambodian visa to come through. I also learned 2 more valuable lessons for the long term traveller: 1) Try to keep track of which day it is. That way, you can get things done a lot more efficiently if you pay attention to silly little things like business hours. I applied for my Cambodian visa on Friday afternoon, and while it usually takes 24 hours to get, that doesn't include the weekend. I finally got it Monday afternoon, which explains why I stayed so long in Vientiane. 2) Try to stay vigilant about your personal belongings. At first, I was slightly paranoid about losing my stuff, but ater a while, you get a bit complacent. Case in point: I left my wallet at the ATM. I only realised it an hour or so later (when paying for my visa application), and ran back to the ATM. Obviously, it wasn't there anymore. After 10 minutes of scrambling, emptying my daypack on the street to be sure my wallet wasn't hiding somewhere in there and generally trying to avoid full-out panic, I finally calmed down long enough to notice a note stuck to the ATM door that said: 'Janie, I've got it. Please call me at xxx xxxx'. Some nice person had found it and kept it for me! I called the guy up and met him nearby. My wallet was intact and my day was redeemed! I should add another lesson learned to the list: 3) People are generally great and very helpful. And they don't expect anything more than a thank you.
Once I had my Cambodian visa in my hand, I was ready to head south and eventually cross the border into Cambodia. I took an overnight bus to Pakse, the largest town in Southern Laos. In theory, the overnight bus is a great idea. You get to sleep away a long boring bus ride and you save money on accomodation. In practice however, for me, it is less than ideal. I can never sleep more than 20 minutes at a time on the bus and since it's nighttime and I'm overtired, I get twitchy (aka 'jimmy legs'). Plus, spending 8 hours in subzero temperatures with some random German guy sleeping on my shoulder is not as exciting as it sounds :-)
My reason for stopping in Pakse was to visit a nearby temple, Wat Phu, the most impressive ruins that Laos has to offer. It just so happens that my visit coincided with the yearly festival going on at the temple, where thousands of Laotians head to Champasak (where the Wat Phu temple is) and book out all the rooms in town. Since I couldn't stay in Champasak, Pakse it was.
The day after my arrival in Pakse, after recovering from my sleepless night, I got up early-ish and started a wild goose chase to find the 'bus' to Champasak. I got a tuk-tuk to the morning market where the bus station is reported to be. Now, at this point in my travels, I should have realised that a bus station in Laos would not quite be what you would expect back home, but for some reason, that morning my brain was a little slow to catch on. I spent 30 minutes wandering around looking for buses, any bus, before I broke down and started asking for help. After perhaps the 5th person I asked, I finally was pointed in the direction of a songthaew (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songthaew) headed in the direction of Champasak. I sat in the already full truck, the only tourist amongt villagers of all types. There were 2 older ladies with blackened teeth and blood-red gums that come from chewing betel leaves, a fashionably-dressed young mother with her baby, men with no intention of taking up less than double the space they needed,.... As we waited to cram yet even more people on the 'bus', another tourist got on next to me. It so happened to be a girl I crossed paths with the previous day in Pakse. As it happens when you're traveling, we quickly became friends and spent the day visiting the temple ruins together.
Once at Wat Phu, we couldn't quite figure out what was going on with the festival. It was supposed to be the last day, so you would expect it to be very busy, but there was more garbage lying around than people. Tents were up but no music was playing, the market was opened but no people were shopping, ... We'd spoken to people who'd been the day before and they'd said it was crazy-packed. Regardless, it was a beautiful day and I got a few good pictures in. The ride back was a surprise, as transportation usually is around South East Asia. We grabbed a songthaew to Champasak, this time a smaller one meant for 8 people. It was already full when Silke and I hopped on, so we were a bit crowded, as usual. But the driver still stopped along the way to pick up more people. At one point, a whole horde of children and 2 more adults got on, so I ended up having a child sitting on each lap. I stopped counting at 19 heads since I couldn't see further, but I know there were more people hanging out the back. It was hilarious!
After spending another day sightseeing around the region, I headed to Si Phan Don, the 4000 islands region in Southern Laos, for a little rest and relaxation. I'd planned on staying there 2 days and ended up staying 9, so you can imagine how restful and relaxed the place really was! I couldn't leave!
I stayed on Don Khon, the quieter of the tourist islands. A beautiful island amidst the Mekong river, it had a magical feel to it. I stayed in a guesthouse on stilts, with a huge balcony overlooking the Mekong. It had no electricity during the day, only a generator for a fan and light in my room from 6:30-10 PM each night. What's even more amazing is that you wouldn't even notice the lack of electricity. You know what it's like when you're at home and there's a power outage? You keep trying to turn stuff on, as if you can't remember or even adapt to the lack of electricity? Well, the opposite happens here. You forget that they don't have electricity because daily life just keeps on going, no problem. I'd been eating at local restaurants for a few days before it dawned on my to question how they make the meals without electricity (gas & wood stoves). Things are kept cold(ish) in coolers filled with ice. The locals go to the mainland each day by boat to get their supplies (including ice, food, beer, ...). The generators only work during the evening, with one exception: Sunday afternoon thai boxing. All the locals get together then and watch thai boxing on their TVs, drink lao-Lao (rice whiskey) and Beerlao, and cheer on their favorites.
The place I was staying at was a huge factor in my staying much longer than I expected. While the accomodation was basic, with shared bathroom and cold Mekong water showers, and yes, even the occasional cockroach in my room, the ambiance more than made up for it. I met quite a few interesting people and enjoyed just chilling out. The guesthouse owner, known to everyone as 'Papa', was a bit of a lush. I'm being diplomatic really, he was more than a little bit too fond of lao-Lao . Any occasion, at any time of the day, was a good occasion for a shot of lao-Lao. I only realised this my 3rd day, when I went on a trip to the 'Big waterfall' with 2 other guys from the guesthouse, with papa leading the way. He was already looking a bit the worse for the wear when we got in the boat to go to the waterfall, but he thankfully navigated us there and back safely. Once there, we had to climb and clamber over rocks to get to see the waterfalls. Papa served us more lao-Lao to help us out with the exercice. I was exhausted by the end of it!
To better understand how special this place was, there was a French couple staying in the attached bungalows who'd been here last year and had now come back to stay a month. It was interesting and very beautiful to see, as they were now part of papa's family. Though papa and his family spoke no English or French, and the French couple spoke only a few words of Laos, they still managed to communicated quite well. The French couple spent all their time with the family, eating their meals together, going fishing, ... It was quite cool to see. One of the highlights of my stay on the island was an impromptu going away party held for Guillaume and Lina (the French couple). I say impromptu, since I was invited only 5 minutes before it was about to start :-) Papa did the rounds of the guesthouse trying to assemble the guests, even going so far as calling over David, a fellow Canadian staying at the guesthouse, as he was taking a swim in the Mekong!
The party started with a ceremony sitting on Guillaume and Lina's balcony. A man was there to give them a blessing as we all sat and listened. Then the fun really started, with the family and friends giving some sort of blessing to us tourists, by tying a piece of string around our wrists. I believe in the Boudhist faith, this helps keep our friendly spirits attached to us as we go traipsing around the world. Otherwise, they could just fly away, lost (this is my interpretation of the Budhist ceremony, so take it with a grain of salt ;-)) The tying of the string was accompanied by a blessing in Laos (who knows what they were saying?) and of course, the obligatory shot of lao-Lao. Thankfully, as a girl, my shots were often smaller and could sometimes be substituted for beer. Cause I counted 18 bracelets on my wrists the next morning. If that had all been lao-Lao, I don't know how I would have made it. Just ask David, the Canadian guy, who needed 2 days to recuperate :-)
At the ceremony, there were also a few older ladies part of papa's extended family. These women took a liking to me it seems, as they were quite impressed with my size. They started discreetly enough, by touching their bellies, pointing at mine and smiling. Since I smiled back, they grew bolder and started gently poking at me and touching me here, there and everywhere. I was already nicely warmed up from the lao-Lao by then, so I didn't object. We then started 'talking' as it were, them telling me they wanted some of my meat for their bones, and me telling them I would gladly part with some if I could. I would pretend to put some fat on them and we'd laugh and laugh. It was quite the bonding experience!
The rest of my time in Don Khon was spent in the most relaxing way. Every 2 days or so, I would rent a bike and cycle around the islands. On other days, I'd just go for a walk, or sit and do nothing more than reading my book. Lost of lazing around, chatting with the other guests, writing my journal, napping, ...
Sounds like paradise, doesn't it?
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Side trip in Northern Laos
(*** I've made 2 new entries today, so make sure you've read the previous one before hitting this one! I'm trying to catch up!)
My trip to the Plain of Jars was even better than I'd imagined. I started off with a vague interest in seeing the archaeological sites (more about them at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plain_of_Jars) , and ended up with a better feel for the country I was so clueless about.
Always interested in ruins of any kind, I was curious about the Plain of Jars and thought the detour would be worthwhile. And while I'm quite happy to have seen them and would recommend the side-trip to anyone visiting Laos (I know there are a few of you out there!), the Jars themselves were not the best part of the journey.
The first day was simply to be a travel day from Luang Prabang to Phonsavanh, so again, I wasn't expecting much. Our group consisted of an English couple in their 40's, 2 Swedish girls in their early 20's, another solo traveller about my age from Netherlands and myself. The 2 Swedish girls giggled the whole way, and kept to themselves, the girl from the Netherlands was very very shy and the English couple were car sick for most of the journey. Interesting. But I thoroughly enjoyed the trip, as you got a lot of glimpses into rural Laos life. Whole villages are set up along the only paved road in the region. The road was built around the mountains, so to say the ride was curvy is an understatement. The not-quite 9-hour mini-bus journey almost did me in too, so I am soooo happy I didn't take the public bus! (to give you an idea, they pass out plastic bags to everyone at the beginning of the trip on the public bus).
The villages are made out of wood sheds built on stilts on the hills along the highway. The only "playground" the kids have is the highway itself, so our driver has to honk his way along the road, to alert the kids and make sure they get out of the way. I should say it's not only for kids, but also for chickens/dogs/pigs/motorbikes/buses. I was annoyed with the constant honking at first, but once I realised this was just how it was, I relaxed. And since the driver and his wife spoke no English, we had to use hand signals to convey things like: "Stop now! I am going to puke!" (from the English couple), "Can you please stop at the next available toilet?" (Every 2 hours, from 1 of the Swedish girls) or "When are we stopping for lunch?" (again, from the Swedish girls who were somehow expecting to be catered to at every step). I have to admit it wasn't much of a success, as the driver just started stopping on the side of the road every time we had a request. Peeing by the side of the highway while hanging on to a bush to avoid rolling down the mountain, and holding on to your pants for obvious reasons, is a talent I still haven't quite mastered, but got a bit of practice during this trip. Thankfully, I wasn't the one puking my guts out every 30 minutes or so, so I was a happy camper.
We arrived in Phonsavanh in late afternoon and decided to go to dinner as a group, minus the English couple who weren't quite done feeling car sick. This group dinner was one of the moments that makes me soooo happy to be traveling on my own. Without going into all the gory details, the 2 Swedish girls were the most unpleasant travelers I've come across yet, going on and on about how awful Thai and Laos people are, how everyone is just out to get their money, how everything is so different than in Sweden (duh!) and they would just for once like to have a good breakfast like they do at home (snif, snif). All this, after only 2 weeks of their 5-month 'round the world journey! I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt and hope that they will get better as they go along, but somehow I doubt it. But moving on...
The next day was the tour of the Plain of Jars (3 different sites), the old Capital and a minority village known as "Bomb village". Our tour guide was great, giving us a lot of information about the area and how they live. The day started off a bit rough, witnessing the result of an unfortunately frequent event in Laos, a bike/motorbike accident. Just as we were starting our touring day, we passed by a dead body in the middle of the road. The accident had happened not long ago, and they'd only just thrown a sheet over the person. Our guide said that they have fatal accidents weekly, with some weeks having 2-3. And what is even more surprising to me is that the roads here are much less congested than in Thailand, so I can't imagine what the statistics are like there.
The Plain of Jars sites were quite spectacular, made even more so by the evidence of war that surrounds them. I learned a lot that day about the 'Secret War' waged on Laos by the Americans back in the 60's and 70's. And while this was all new to me, it was made even more shocking by the fact that the daily lives of the Laos are still impacted by that war, even 40 years later. There are so many unexploded artillery lying around that they can't use the land to farm without risking their lives. And without farming, they live at an astonishing poverty level, so they try to make some money by salvaging and selling scrap metal, by locating said artillery and further risking their lives. You can see evidence of this in the 'Bomb Village' we visited later in the day, where they use old bomb casings as stilts for their homes, cooking utensils, decorations, ...
It wasn't all depressing news however, as the next day we visited an orphanage and a school for victims of UXO's (unexploded ordnance). The orphanage was very modern, and children are cared for by a mom in families of 6-8. The director of the orphanage and school was very proud (and rightly so, I thought) to show us around and you could tell they cared about the children, who all looked healthy and well cared for.
After these great few days, it was somewhat of a letdown for me to arrive in Vang Vieng. This place is known as a backpacker haven, but seemed more like a backpacker hell to me. It's little more than 1 road village set up for backpackers to get drunk and/or high watching reruns of Friends and The Simpsons. Lots of fun for some, but definitely not my style. Although I will guiltily admit to having dinner in a 'Friends' cafe the 2 nights I was there. Damn that show is funny!
My trip to the Plain of Jars was even better than I'd imagined. I started off with a vague interest in seeing the archaeological sites (more about them at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plain_of_Jars) , and ended up with a better feel for the country I was so clueless about.
Always interested in ruins of any kind, I was curious about the Plain of Jars and thought the detour would be worthwhile. And while I'm quite happy to have seen them and would recommend the side-trip to anyone visiting Laos (I know there are a few of you out there!), the Jars themselves were not the best part of the journey.
The first day was simply to be a travel day from Luang Prabang to Phonsavanh, so again, I wasn't expecting much. Our group consisted of an English couple in their 40's, 2 Swedish girls in their early 20's, another solo traveller about my age from Netherlands and myself. The 2 Swedish girls giggled the whole way, and kept to themselves, the girl from the Netherlands was very very shy and the English couple were car sick for most of the journey. Interesting. But I thoroughly enjoyed the trip, as you got a lot of glimpses into rural Laos life. Whole villages are set up along the only paved road in the region. The road was built around the mountains, so to say the ride was curvy is an understatement. The not-quite 9-hour mini-bus journey almost did me in too, so I am soooo happy I didn't take the public bus! (to give you an idea, they pass out plastic bags to everyone at the beginning of the trip on the public bus).
The villages are made out of wood sheds built on stilts on the hills along the highway. The only "playground" the kids have is the highway itself, so our driver has to honk his way along the road, to alert the kids and make sure they get out of the way. I should say it's not only for kids, but also for chickens/dogs/pigs/motorbikes/buses. I was annoyed with the constant honking at first, but once I realised this was just how it was, I relaxed. And since the driver and his wife spoke no English, we had to use hand signals to convey things like: "Stop now! I am going to puke!" (from the English couple), "Can you please stop at the next available toilet?" (Every 2 hours, from 1 of the Swedish girls) or "When are we stopping for lunch?" (again, from the Swedish girls who were somehow expecting to be catered to at every step). I have to admit it wasn't much of a success, as the driver just started stopping on the side of the road every time we had a request. Peeing by the side of the highway while hanging on to a bush to avoid rolling down the mountain, and holding on to your pants for obvious reasons, is a talent I still haven't quite mastered, but got a bit of practice during this trip. Thankfully, I wasn't the one puking my guts out every 30 minutes or so, so I was a happy camper.
We arrived in Phonsavanh in late afternoon and decided to go to dinner as a group, minus the English couple who weren't quite done feeling car sick. This group dinner was one of the moments that makes me soooo happy to be traveling on my own. Without going into all the gory details, the 2 Swedish girls were the most unpleasant travelers I've come across yet, going on and on about how awful Thai and Laos people are, how everyone is just out to get their money, how everything is so different than in Sweden (duh!) and they would just for once like to have a good breakfast like they do at home (snif, snif). All this, after only 2 weeks of their 5-month 'round the world journey! I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt and hope that they will get better as they go along, but somehow I doubt it. But moving on...
The next day was the tour of the Plain of Jars (3 different sites), the old Capital and a minority village known as "Bomb village". Our tour guide was great, giving us a lot of information about the area and how they live. The day started off a bit rough, witnessing the result of an unfortunately frequent event in Laos, a bike/motorbike accident. Just as we were starting our touring day, we passed by a dead body in the middle of the road. The accident had happened not long ago, and they'd only just thrown a sheet over the person. Our guide said that they have fatal accidents weekly, with some weeks having 2-3. And what is even more surprising to me is that the roads here are much less congested than in Thailand, so I can't imagine what the statistics are like there.
The Plain of Jars sites were quite spectacular, made even more so by the evidence of war that surrounds them. I learned a lot that day about the 'Secret War' waged on Laos by the Americans back in the 60's and 70's. And while this was all new to me, it was made even more shocking by the fact that the daily lives of the Laos are still impacted by that war, even 40 years later. There are so many unexploded artillery lying around that they can't use the land to farm without risking their lives. And without farming, they live at an astonishing poverty level, so they try to make some money by salvaging and selling scrap metal, by locating said artillery and further risking their lives. You can see evidence of this in the 'Bomb Village' we visited later in the day, where they use old bomb casings as stilts for their homes, cooking utensils, decorations, ...
It wasn't all depressing news however, as the next day we visited an orphanage and a school for victims of UXO's (unexploded ordnance). The orphanage was very modern, and children are cared for by a mom in families of 6-8. The director of the orphanage and school was very proud (and rightly so, I thought) to show us around and you could tell they cared about the children, who all looked healthy and well cared for.
After these great few days, it was somewhat of a letdown for me to arrive in Vang Vieng. This place is known as a backpacker haven, but seemed more like a backpacker hell to me. It's little more than 1 road village set up for backpackers to get drunk and/or high watching reruns of Friends and The Simpsons. Lots of fun for some, but definitely not my style. Although I will guiltily admit to having dinner in a 'Friends' cafe the 2 nights I was there. Damn that show is funny!
Friday, March 7, 2008
Sabadee!!!
Arggg! I can't believe I'm more than a month behind in my blog! Things are going from bad to worse on that front...
I arrived in Laos a little more than a month ago, not at all sure what to expect. Laos is one those countries like Bhutan or Albania that most people, including myself until last year, couldn't even place on the map. No disrespect meant to Bhutanese or Albanians, it's just a fact that a lot of Canadians don't now much about them. The same can be said for Laos, so imagine my surprise when I get on the small Laos Airlines flight and end up sitting in the same row as 3 other Quebecois!
It turns out that Laos is quite a popular destination for the French (and maybe spilling over to Quebecois), being an ex-French colony and all. Supposedly, many Laos still speak French, although I certainly can't vouch for that. I only heard one Laos speak French in all of my time there, and this was a quite affluent lady who had worked and lived for years in Paris. As for speaking English, it is almost as rare as French it seems. I spent my time in Laos using hand signals, very basic English and making the most of the 2 Laos words I know: Sabadee!!! (Hello) and Kawp Jai (Thank you). It makes for very interesting conversations.
My first stop in Laos was Luang Prabang, a very pretty city in the north, on the shores of the mighty Mekong river. It was back to budget living for me, after having indulged in my way-too-expensive-yet-still-shabby-and-depressing hotel room in Bangkok for so long. It was also my first foray in completely winging it, i.e. not researching and booking a room before hand. I usually like to read reviews and find a room that is supposedly clean and safe before showing up somewhere, but the reviews on Laos accommodation being limited, it was time to start winging it. I was a bit surprised however to find that rooms in Luang Prabang were not as cheap as I expected (damn you, outdated Lonely Planet!), and quite full, to boot. I ended up staying in a 9-bed dorm room in the basement of a guesthouse. For the 4 nights I ended up sleeping there, it was me and 8 Asian tourists (mostly Korean and Japanese). They were all very nice, and I even managed to follow some of the Japanese conversations. How, I don't know, but I managed!
I quickly realised that travel in Laos would be much sloooooower than my previous destinations. My first hint was when I tried to book a sawngtwe (converted pick-up truck with benches in the back) to go to a nearby waterfall one afternoon. All the trucks advertise if they go to the waterfall, but it's not as simple as flagging one down. They need to have a minimum number of people for the 1-hour trip to be worthwhile for them. After asking around for a while, I finally found one that said he had enough people, and would be leaving in 20 minutes. So I park my butt on the back of his truck and wait. And wait. And wait some more. It seems that the people who'd said they'd go with him bailed, so we were back to where we started. By this time, 1 other guy joined me in the waiting game, and we starting riding up and down the street trying to pick-up more customers. Felt vaguely like prostitution, but whatever works. Lo and behold, almost 2 hours after I started out on this quest, we are packed to the gills and ready to go! And all's well that ends well, since we got to the waterfall at the end of the afternoon, when the masses were all heading back to town. We had the place almost to ourselves, so it was great. Got a few nice pictures, that, one day when I'll have a passable Internet connection, I'll be able to upload. Until then, use your imagination ;-)
Another example of the slow pace in Laos was when I tried to book a trip to my next destination. I'd read about an archaeological site called the Plain of Jars and was curious to go there. I could go either by public bus to the city of Phonsavanh where the Plains are located, and then book a day-tour to visit the Plains themselves, or book a private mini-bus and tour from Luang Prabang. Since the public buses are supposed to be much slower than the mini-buses, and not being a fan of buses in general, I chose the 2nd option. The problem is, they logically work on the same principle as the earlier trip to the waterfall, i.e. have to have a minimum number of people for a tour to happen. And since there were 15 or so travel agencies in town offering the tour, each of them seemed to only have 1 or 2 names down for the next trip, and had no settled date. I spent half a day just going to every one of them and leaving my name, hoping for the best. I did the same thing the next day, and hit the jackpot at the 5th travel agency. I ended up leaving 2 days later than I'd hoped, but it wasn't really a hardship to be "stuck" in Luang Prabang.
Among the highlights in LP: beautiful sunset view along the Mekong, with all the slow boats traveling to and fro; the daily 'alms' ceremony, where hundreds of orange-robe clad monks walk down the street to collect their daily food from villagers and tourists alike; the view from atop Phu Si (mountain temple) and last, but not least, the bakeries ;-D Thanks to the French, bakeries are more popular in Laos than the other Asian countries I've been to. And while I've surprisingly (for me) enjoyed the food since I've been in South East Asia, it was nice to be able to eat something other than rice or noodles for a change.
And I'm happy to report that while sad to have seen my sister go, I'm comfortably back to my solo travel ways. I think I needed a little time and a change of scenery to get me back on track...
I arrived in Laos a little more than a month ago, not at all sure what to expect. Laos is one those countries like Bhutan or Albania that most people, including myself until last year, couldn't even place on the map. No disrespect meant to Bhutanese or Albanians, it's just a fact that a lot of Canadians don't now much about them. The same can be said for Laos, so imagine my surprise when I get on the small Laos Airlines flight and end up sitting in the same row as 3 other Quebecois!
It turns out that Laos is quite a popular destination for the French (and maybe spilling over to Quebecois), being an ex-French colony and all. Supposedly, many Laos still speak French, although I certainly can't vouch for that. I only heard one Laos speak French in all of my time there, and this was a quite affluent lady who had worked and lived for years in Paris. As for speaking English, it is almost as rare as French it seems. I spent my time in Laos using hand signals, very basic English and making the most of the 2 Laos words I know: Sabadee!!! (Hello) and Kawp Jai (Thank you). It makes for very interesting conversations.
My first stop in Laos was Luang Prabang, a very pretty city in the north, on the shores of the mighty Mekong river. It was back to budget living for me, after having indulged in my way-too-expensive-yet-still-shabby-and-depressing hotel room in Bangkok for so long. It was also my first foray in completely winging it, i.e. not researching and booking a room before hand. I usually like to read reviews and find a room that is supposedly clean and safe before showing up somewhere, but the reviews on Laos accommodation being limited, it was time to start winging it. I was a bit surprised however to find that rooms in Luang Prabang were not as cheap as I expected (damn you, outdated Lonely Planet!), and quite full, to boot. I ended up staying in a 9-bed dorm room in the basement of a guesthouse. For the 4 nights I ended up sleeping there, it was me and 8 Asian tourists (mostly Korean and Japanese). They were all very nice, and I even managed to follow some of the Japanese conversations. How, I don't know, but I managed!
I quickly realised that travel in Laos would be much sloooooower than my previous destinations. My first hint was when I tried to book a sawngtwe (converted pick-up truck with benches in the back) to go to a nearby waterfall one afternoon. All the trucks advertise if they go to the waterfall, but it's not as simple as flagging one down. They need to have a minimum number of people for the 1-hour trip to be worthwhile for them. After asking around for a while, I finally found one that said he had enough people, and would be leaving in 20 minutes. So I park my butt on the back of his truck and wait. And wait. And wait some more. It seems that the people who'd said they'd go with him bailed, so we were back to where we started. By this time, 1 other guy joined me in the waiting game, and we starting riding up and down the street trying to pick-up more customers. Felt vaguely like prostitution, but whatever works. Lo and behold, almost 2 hours after I started out on this quest, we are packed to the gills and ready to go! And all's well that ends well, since we got to the waterfall at the end of the afternoon, when the masses were all heading back to town. We had the place almost to ourselves, so it was great. Got a few nice pictures, that, one day when I'll have a passable Internet connection, I'll be able to upload. Until then, use your imagination ;-)
Another example of the slow pace in Laos was when I tried to book a trip to my next destination. I'd read about an archaeological site called the Plain of Jars and was curious to go there. I could go either by public bus to the city of Phonsavanh where the Plains are located, and then book a day-tour to visit the Plains themselves, or book a private mini-bus and tour from Luang Prabang. Since the public buses are supposed to be much slower than the mini-buses, and not being a fan of buses in general, I chose the 2nd option. The problem is, they logically work on the same principle as the earlier trip to the waterfall, i.e. have to have a minimum number of people for a tour to happen. And since there were 15 or so travel agencies in town offering the tour, each of them seemed to only have 1 or 2 names down for the next trip, and had no settled date. I spent half a day just going to every one of them and leaving my name, hoping for the best. I did the same thing the next day, and hit the jackpot at the 5th travel agency. I ended up leaving 2 days later than I'd hoped, but it wasn't really a hardship to be "stuck" in Luang Prabang.
Among the highlights in LP: beautiful sunset view along the Mekong, with all the slow boats traveling to and fro; the daily 'alms' ceremony, where hundreds of orange-robe clad monks walk down the street to collect their daily food from villagers and tourists alike; the view from atop Phu Si (mountain temple) and last, but not least, the bakeries ;-D Thanks to the French, bakeries are more popular in Laos than the other Asian countries I've been to. And while I've surprisingly (for me) enjoyed the food since I've been in South East Asia, it was nice to be able to eat something other than rice or noodles for a change.
And I'm happy to report that while sad to have seen my sister go, I'm comfortably back to my solo travel ways. I think I needed a little time and a change of scenery to get me back on track...
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