In laos now... days behind on the blog
Trip Start
Sep 03, 2008
1
16
117
Trip End
??? ??, 2009
Luang Namtha,
Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Saturday, October 4, 2008
thurs 25 sept...
after breakfast, we hoped to take the moped off to see a waterfall or two, and maybe stop off to nose around some of the chinese villages outside of pai. i think we must have thought that these waterfalls would literally be sat right slap bang next door to the villages because sean started banging on about how i'd have to wear a sarong if i was going to go swimming under a waterfall because i would offend the residents. i still hate this place for that sort of attitude. my body is perfectly acceptable. i have been told anyway! he says to me that i'd need to cover up, up top at least, and maybe even wear this sarong or a pair of shorts because the villagers find the upper leg, inner thigh rude and inappropriate to show off. so much for my mills & boon fantasy! anyway, so with my head on me, i get to thinking that there is nothing wrong with the upper leg area and if they think it's so offensive, maybe it's because they only see it as the start of the road to 'the doorway of life' - i'm talking sex here if you didn't know already! and if that's all they see then maybe they've got bigger problems than they know. i just find it really difficult to understand. they have hundreds of kids running about, which obviously were not dropped by a stork, so they would have had to have had sex at some point in their life, which means getting down to the nitty gritty and revealing the upper thigh area so how can it be that offensive to show it off to other people? unless of course, they are so behind the rest of the world that they don't view sex as pleasure and all these women only had to reveal their upper thighs in the line of duty. ladies, close your eyes and think of thailand! they're as bad as those no sex before marriage kids in america, who won't get down to business, but they're quite happy to 'fool around' with every tom, dick and harry, and probably spread a few diseases while they're at it! by the way, please, please, please tell me if none of that made sense. i think the couple of laos beers must have gone to my head because it is really difficult to make sense of the notes i made one week ago and translate them into the story i tell you now. well, after i had my little rant and got over being thoroughly annoyed at people's hypocrisy, and being told that the whole world is hypocritical, i got my stuff packed up and off we went. and no i didn't have time to buy a sarong so just thought i'd wing it. anyway, even if the village people were really offended my a semi-clad beauty, being such peaceful people, what were they going to do anyway? they couldn't climb down and start beating me up. i don't know what they would have been able to do? so we head off and go see some chinese villages. again all the houses are ramshackled, thrown together almost, very simple. plaster homes with corrugated iron roofs. others just wooden huts with thatched roofs. in the door way of every other one, an old lady or family sit preparing vegetables for their next meal. chickens and wild dogs run all over the place, getting in front of the bike if they haven't been trained to saunter to the side of the road when they see you. anyway, after a few wrong turns, and a few offerings of opium along the way, we find our first waterfall, surrounded by thai people smoking or playing the guitar or painting pictures of the waterfall. some have climbed up the side of the waterfall and perch just to one side looking down at those of us, like me, who are so clumsy they wouldn't even dream of getting up there. a western couple stand in their swimmers hugging and kissing. they hadn't read the rules. and even though i hate the no kissing or hugging rule throughout thailand, and laos now we're here, i guess if you can read them, you should follow them. yes i too am a hypocrit! i will throw a strop that i can't have my mills & boon waterfall fantasy, but like down my nose at the 'dirty westerners' fooling around beneath the spray! anyway we have a sit down, clock all the rubbish that has been left behind from a party the night before, perhaps. and we're off again. lunch in the mor paeng restaurant, where we have a local shan curry, and i buy more used books that won't fit in my bag, but which will make a beautiful edition to the rest of the charity shop books i still haven't read back at home. both seem to have been gifts or have belonged to guesthouses at one point. i think maybe i should consider joining in with the book exchange that occurs at every guesthouse, but once i've bought a book, i'm afraid it's mine. i can't give away my books. after lunch, we drive for miles to our second waterfall of the day, and i soon realise that i am the most clumsy sort ever, and if i don't learn to stand on my two left feet properly, i'm going to get myself and sean killed this month. here's how it goes, we climb up some steps, all good so far, then reach a wobbly, indiana jones style, wooden bridge, still alive. step off the bridge however and it's a whole new kettle of fish. worn away foot holes, slippery rocks dropping down to your death, and then the watery pools that flow from the waterfall itself. i'm struggling and shouting down at sean that him of all people should slow down and try and help me. he comes back up to where i am and says he'll help, but i bette get a wriggle on because behind me now stand a group of about six proper looking travellers in their baggy trousers, dreadlocks flowing! i apologise for my inability to walk and they advise me to take my not so clean trainers off because i'll get better grip with nothing on my feet. they are proper travellers. they're not old enough for peace and love and sex at glastonbury, in the good old hippie days, but that's where they belong. so they go past and i'm still stuck between a rock and a hard place, literally feeling like if i go down, i'll fall and if i go up, i'll fall. by now, they're all semi clad - there are no upset villagers to be had in sight - and laughing and joking and having a world of fun in the water. sean's talking about getting his swimmers on. i can't move to get to the water, let alone find a shady spot to put on my bikini, so it's bend down to sit on the rock that has become home for me, trainers off and in the bag, which keeps swinging around on my back, by the pull of my moped helmet strapped on tight. i dump the bag in a dryish spot, watch sean emerge from behind a rock, clothes in hand, he dumps his stuff in the bag and wander down to the water. i'm still stuck on this rock and feel like THE biggest pussy girl in the world EVER! finally, i cave in and slide myself down over the rocks on my bum, hands getting muddy, feet muddy, shorts having seen better days. but is it worth it, damn straight it is! i'm now in the water with all my clothes on, but having kept stood up once in the water, my shorts and top aren't that bad to travel back in. afterwards, we've got the walk down, which feels a little better minus trainers, although my feet look a sight when we get down to the bike. at times it gets hairy and i remind sean of my family's vigilanty / mafia roots (?!) - if i die, you die! i don't think they'd kill sean, but they'd be very, very upset with him! after driving back to pai, we have tea in an irish pub, where the sausages are not western enough, and watch two irish girls practically have orgasms eating beans on toast and chip butties! a beer on our balcony, followed by a few games of cards and then to bed.
ok so that was that. i'm off now to go see some wats, or temples as the rest of the world know them by! speak soon.
