Aah, the sweet smell of sewerage

Trip Start Feb 06, 2005
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Trip End Jul 2005


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Flag of Lao Peoples Dem Rep  ,
Wednesday, March 9, 2005

Aah, Vientianne. Civilisation. Well, it is after exiting the 'wild west' dustbowl towns and forested mountains that typify rural Laos (pronounced L-ow, the bloody French imperialists who owned it before had to make it complicated). Although on second take, once you get over the dust and the fact that the houses are unpainted wood, you notice that the towns are neat, well built and tidy. No wonder they went with communism, it's a veritable agrarian paradise. Mao would have orgasms thinking about it. Though he'd have to ignore the fact that the Lao are very laid back, meaning that they take or leave socialism as and when they please.
We spent the first day in Vientianne recovering, exploring the excellent eating spots and doing a walking tour of the main part of town- which takes about 30 minutes if you do it the long way and stop off to visit temples (my favourite temple name was Haw Phuk Yew, formerly Wat Phuk Yew). The first thing that strikes you is how clean the place is- the streets are empty of garbage, the roads have almost no traffic (after Vietnam that can be a bit disconcerting), and there is the feeling that all the people are hiding Brick trees: rare
Brick trees: rare
 .
This becomes a feature of an exploration of any part of Laos- in an area bigger than Britain there are only 5 million people. We met a 24 y.o. ex-monk who was talking about how overcrowded the city was, but stopped when we started laughing really hard. This was also our first contact with a local, and we discovered a great deal about Lao people from our hour speaking with him. We learnt that the people want peace so much that the politicians have started to listen and that the new peace (the last geurilla attack was in 2002) seems promising. We learnt that the Lao are very friendly and welcoming- he invited us to his girlfriends place the next day, but we regretfully declined to meet his 16 year old fiance (she's getting on a bit in years for Lao tastes, but he loves her all the same). We learnt that the Lao are completely open and upfront. It's a beautiful commentary on the maturity of the Lao that they're open enough to share with people they met a half hour before that they lost their virginity to a prostitute 6 months ago. We even got details (No, we didn't ask for the details you dirty people).
This civilised, mature environment pervades Vientianne, from the waterless Riviera (the Mekong buggers off downstream at this time of year) to the fantastic modern sewerage system with its fantastic lack of modern manholes. Carrying a torch (flashlight for the Americans reading this- we're not villagers out hunting vampires) is a definite accessory to any evening outfit. In Laos a 'quick drop and a sudden stop' doesn't refer to the gallows, but to what happens if there's a powercut while you're walking home and you decide to inspect the sewer system firsthand.
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