Lazy in Laos

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?