Franco-Asia
Trip Start
Jan 20, 2005
1
12
20
Trip End
Nov 17, 2005
Luang Prabang,
Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Wednesday, August 3, 2005
So i entered Laos, sailed by long boat over the Makong River from
>Thailand to the other side with the Laos flag proudly waving next to
>a crimson hammer and sickle flag. Yes this is a communist country.
>Now i've been noticing on my trip so far the levels of development
>between the several countires i've entered, from the fully developed
>Singapore, down a step to Malaysia, down a step to Thailand, and now
>a bit of a jump to Laos.
>
>Yep, the difference between the 150meters of water is instant. The
>road is a dirt road, the kids run around in ripped and soiled
>clothes and the houses are all mostly old and wooden. I bought my
>extotionate boat ticket down the river, yes, unfortunatly i managed
>to fall victim of a tourist trap. You pay about 12 quid for the 2
>day boat ride (a very small bench) the trip can actually be done
>within a day but theres a small town that survives off the boat
>stopping there and the tourists getting accomodation, and ofcourse
>the accomodation costs alot cos theres nowhere else you can go.
>
>Anyway it was quite a nice boat trip i met up with some people from
>Liverpool. Finally i got to Luang Prabang, a small, relaxed,
>mediterainian feel of a town, with friendly people. Laos has the
>unfortunate distinction of being the most bombed country in the
>world, mostly due to the Americans getting rid off their excess
>bombs after flying vientnam, which is really bad because to this day
>people still die from unexploded ordinance (bombs that didnt go off)
>but they're such a small country (10million in the size of the UK)
>noone really cares.
>
>It is also the poorest country in SE Asia, which means i dont mind
>paying more (this trip soon becomes my most expenisve) as long as it
>gets back to the people and improves infrastucture. Luang Prabang
>manages to capture a bit of Southern France in the middle of Asia
>which is nice, lots of bicycles and baguettes (small baguettes).
>
>Presently after a day there we (me and Liverpool people) decided to
>go on a tour with a curious little man called Mr. Nou, he had very
>light cheak bones and his skin seemed to be vacuum packed against
>his skull, but his ears stuck out so it was ok.
>
>He explained to us he would take us the the......"crystal caves" he
>said it in a hushed voice so noone else could hear..."a place
>tourists go do not" he didnt actually talk like Yoda but he looked
>like he should.
>So ofcourse we went with him, he took us deep into the jungle down a
>river i cant remember the name, it soon started chucking it down, we
>stopped off at the edge of the river and began our assent after a
>few hours of slipping and climbing up the muddy banks we arrived at
>the "crystal caves" and actually they were quite impressive. If
>they were anyway near a town they would be major attraction, with
>the stalagmites and tites creating sculptures, which you would'nt
>think missplaced in the Tate gallery. Some areas glittered with
>something hence the crystal cave name, also the ground was hollow
>from a cave beneth so you could sound like a giant, if you wanted to
>and risk it falling in...
>
>
>We slipped back down the bank Mr Nou proclaimed "so glad we got back
>safety" we all looked like big muddy falangs.
>
>He took us back down the river to a river side village, the whole
>village seemed to be waiting for us at the bank seeing these muddy
>beasts coming to try and conquer their village. We were to stay in
>the village for the night, i think this is the furthest civilsation
>i've been too, i mean furthest from the western world. It was a
>village, think back to seeing documentries about middle age Britain
>it looked like that. There were chickens and pigs running around the
>muddy tracks around the village. We slept in the meeting "hall" (a
>big hut) of the village, we were soaked and dirty, anyway we all
>went in (4 of us) and soon the place was filled with the villagers
>just sitting and staring at us, some not daring to enter just
>standing by the door. very timid people, Mr. Nou said.
>
>We didnt want to be unwelcoming but we really needed to get changed,
>preferably without a staring crowd, Pete after unsucesfully making
>himself known started to get undressed, THEN they got the message.
>
>After i got changed i decided to take some pictures, upon sight of
>my camera everyone fled, some falling on the wet surface, the whole
>village seemed deserted, i guess i'll never make it as a UN
>representative. I decided i'd best wait until we'd gotten their
>trust.
>
>
>We had tea against candle light, in the door way we could see
>siluettes of the village people staring at us, it was quite scary
>but then i guess many of them hadnt seen us white folk. I dont think
>ive ever entertained anyone so much though the eating of a meal,
>well maybe once.........
>
>That night after tea the head of the village came into our hut and
>through Mr. Nou expressed his delight and welcome of us falangs. He
>asked us to come into his head hut for drinks. In his hut is the
>only source and use of electricity in the village, a single
>fillament tube glowing from a car battery.
>
>The village head sang to us the national anthem of Laos with great
>pride, we in exchange did a rather half hearted rendition of "god
>save the queen" what is the second verse to that anyway? Then the
>liverpoolians did "red rover" and i jonied them in "yellow
>submarine". The head hadnt heard of the Beatles, or Elvis, but they
>had heard of Manchester United, and again that is the city i come
>from, the great city of Manchester Unitied in the country of London,
>suburb of Scotland.
>
>Anyway we had a bit of Laos Beer and really theres only so much you
>can talk about, but his village had been burned down 2 years ago and
>the government built them this one (the huts looked quite new) and
>so the village was very poor.
>
>We went to bed, the next day it rained again all morning, when it
>rains the village has a day off from everything, so during the rainy
>season (which it was) they generally dont do much. Life is so slow
>its amazing, you just sit around all day thats all you do, just
>occupy yourself in your thoughts.
>
>WE tought a little chappy frizbee and decided this was to be the new
>sport Laos will excel in the olympics (when frizbee gets into the
>olympics) we also gave them a blow up globe which they found
>interesting until they found they could play volley ball with it, a
>far better use.
>
>The 2 liverpool girls i came with were nurses so did the round of
>the villagers diagnosing what not, one of the ladies had possible
>Tubercolosis which wasnt good really.
>
>Anyway slowly we started chatting to the villagers who didnt seem so
>scared anymore, yes, they let us take their picture, we were
>accepted. We left the village with some pens and paper, a frizbee
>and a globe volley ball, jumped back into the boat and sailed to
>another village, bigger than the other, but this village ws a
>combination of the Hmong tribe and a Laos tribe, you can easily tell
>the difference because theres a fence between them and the hmong
>tribe has much smaller huts than the Laos tribe. Hanging above one
>the doors of a hut was a cross and written "Jesus Christ" to some
>effect. This village was much much better off than the one 10 mins
>away upstream, they had a huge satellite and i expect get live
>premiership games (something we dont get on terrestrial in the UK)
>and BBC world. The loclas gave us some whiskey to drink, although
>mr. Nou tested it first cos sometimes the locals put insectiside and
>cough medicine in it.
>
>WE left that village, the kids were playing in the river near the
>bank with fishing netstrying to catch anything aquatic, and it was
>sunny.
>
>The views down the river are amazing, forested hills tipped in
>cloud, it took hardly any time atall getting back downstream, from
>there Mr. Nou charged us twice as much as he said at the start "no
>no no 20 dollars a day not altogether!" pft yeh right, at the start
>he said, give me half now and half later, that half was 10 dollars
>(in Laos they have a complcated system of using 3 currencies, the
>Laos Kip, the Thai Baht and the US dollar, which makes everything
>confusing) so that was quite anoying but we got good experiance from
>it so it wasnt too bad....
>
>Ze bah dee (hello) Kop chai (thankyou) are the Laos words i know.
>
>Oh finally i've got to a country with NO MCDONALDS, hurray!
>
>Jonny
