City of Sandalwood
Trip Start
Feb 01, 2004
1
29
44
Trip End
Jun 01, 2004
Vientiane,
Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Monday, April 5, 2004
We spent our last couple of days in Luang Prabang lazing around, drinking Beer Lao and lao lao, eating khao pun and watching the Mekong flow by.
Since then we have had a couple of interesting journeys..one to Vang Vieng and the other to Vientiane.
We bid farewell to any kind of comfort...road travel in Laos has a deservedly nefarious reputation..not only uncomfortable but potentially dangerous. The stretch of road on Route 13 from Luang Prabang south has been notorious for ambushes by rebels
san1
. The cause of the instability doesn't seem clear..we have heard everything from just plain old bandits, to rebels, to Lao airways paying stooges to scare tourists so they'll fly!But when we first saw a man run from his hut with a machine gun when our bus went by, we were rightly shocked. We still have no idea why he did it, but what we do know is from that point on we saw many men with many guns. Some were locals with long barrellled shot guns (likely for hunting) but others had M1's and AK47's (likely to protect the road!)
And we stopped everywhere. Imagine a yellow school bus made for about 40, with at least 60 and all kinds of gear...and stopping for people to pee on the roadside, stopping for the driver to eat, stopping for people to load bags of rice, and stopping at the watermelon village so half the bus could bargain for melons.
Did we mention that we were the only farang on the bus? The only ones not to care so much about these particular melons...
We did stay in Vang Vieng for a couple of days...a small river village which has become famous as a backpacker haven known for inner tubes floating down the Mekong
san2
. When we arrived in the early afternoon we saw all the farang in the bars watching movies. We wondered what the heck was going on with the sunshine, and all the kayaking, canoing, caving and trekking available...Then it hit us...Vang Vieng is the home of Happy Pizza! Most all the food in the town can be purchased as "happy and funny for you." Yes indeed..anything you want sprinkled with dope. You have your choice of shakes, pizza, garlic bread, etc as "happy" (weed) or "happy, happy" (weed and rooms)
We spent our time there...not eating happy pizza, but trekking and caving. We have become quite the "spelunkers" and are loving the caving. It is awesome, but also quite dangerous at times, so yesterday we turned back and took to having a beer instead of entering into the cave any further.
We think this is our favourite country thus far. There is a huge sense here of having stepped back in time..sleepy mountains hugging sleepy villages, hidden caves, lush river views and local people with infectious charm and serenity.
Our second journey was from Vang Vieng to Vientiane...same thing..local bus,, crowded and stopping constantly. It is still unbelievable to us how many people can get on one bus and how many water buffalo, kids, bikes, trucks, cows, pigs,roosters, elephants, one driver can avoid! But it was all worth experiencing the spectacular scenery and the glimpse of local village life here in Laos.
So here we are in Vientiane, just now beginning to experience the sights of this new city. By week's end we will be in Hanoi, Vietnam on a whole new journey.
We hope this finds everyone healthy and happy...no, not happy pizza happy, just content!
More to come from Vietnam.
