Laos was superb! Due to French colonization, the place was littered with little stalls selling baguettes, and the architecture still had serious French influence.
We had decided to travel from Chiang Mai, Thailand, to Luang Prabang, Laos, via road and boat. It took us about 6 hours by car and then a total of 18 hours by the aptly named, Slow Boat. An overnight stay was required during the transfer from car to boat. The 2:30 am stop over at this, well, "hotel" was quite honestly designed for a few hours of rest only. The room smelled damp, peppered with spider webs, mattresses were literally made of plywood and bath towels were our blankets - fun! The next morning we are woken up at 5 am and after a quick "breakfast" make our way to the border, Huay Xai. After getting our visas on arrival we proceed to get stuffed in the back of a tuk-tuk and make our way to the boat. The idea was to ride down the great Mae Kong river which is famous for it's giant catfish that occasionally weigh about 200 kilos and stretch out to some 12 odd feet! Unfortunately we didn't see any. We were introduced to some Cobra whiskey, given some cultural ground rules and start our overcrowded journey to Luang Prabang. We soon make good conversation, and subsequently friends, with some of the other travelers. After a brief discussion we all decided on a remedy to help pass the 10 hour journey - alcohol! Our soon to be good friends Dan and Sef (from Corpus Christi, Texas) bust out the local rice wine called Lao-Lao and we, including some brave others, finish the entire bottle. We get to another stop for a night before we head out the next morning for another 10 hrs. Here we are greeted by the guesthouse with promises of amazing hashish - however, out of safety we do not oblige. Hersh, Dan, Sef and I bond, along with new friends Anne, Steve and Jelle. The next day we headed out for part two of this trip and decided to use the same remedy as the day before. Along the way we stopped to find a few women selling fish, bbqed monitor lizard, along with a large live monitor and some sort of giant rodent/groundhog. These are eaten as commonly as we eat chicken. Was sad to see the live lizard and rodent hanging on for dear life! But at the same time, did realize that this was the way of the Lao people.
We finally make it to Luang Prabang and get a nice room for cheap! I mean, why not spend an extra dollar a night for hot water and an a/c? Sometimes we like to indulge. Dan and Sef get a room next to ours, as the rest of the boat people scatter. We continue our drinking and all meet up at the famous Hive Bar. This was a bit of a party for us, and after it shut (11:00 pm) we soon walked to THE bowling alley (only place to drinkthat late) while being propositioned to buy weed, whores and other drugs - what, no ladyboys? During the rest of our stay we visited some temples and rested at one of my new favorite places - l'etranger. This place was a French-owned tea lounge and book store that was built for comfort and relaxation! The walls were lined with national geographic mags and down-tempo lounge music played in the background. I read and drank the best cup of Ginger tea ever. Ah, what a perfect way to spend an afternoon.
Another very memorable moment would be the 35 km bicycle ride to a natural waterfall called Kuang Si. With chicken baguettes in our bellies, Anna, Steve, Helle, Hersh and I rented cycles and made the unknowingly steep ride to the waterfall. I suppose popping an Immodium and drinking the night before didn't help my cause either. I remember hersh and i walking our bikes for a few km, (purely bc of the heat) promising each other we would get a tuk-tuk on the way back! The Lonley Planet book said it was "gently undulating"- they lied. After a few rest stops we hit a nice long downhill stretch along the mountain. This was, however, short lived. Steve unfortunately popped a tire and I broke a chain - both in succession! I took a tuk-tuk for the last 5 km, while the others trucked on. The waterfall was amazing - a milky yet stunning blue due to the algae, and also, unbeknownst to us, freezing cold! There was a long rope attached to a tree about 20 ft in the air, primarily for pulling Tarzan moves - so I slapped on my animal skin thong and swung away! (photos on Hersh's cam, will update soon). It was a great refresher after an exhausting ride on the mountain.
We soon went more cultural and made it to the Plain Of Jars in Phonsavan. This was the city that was bombed the MOST by the US. approx 55 thousand tonnes of it if I'm not mistaken. Bombs were dropped during the Vietnam war, not to mention land mines and other explosives. It is such a problem that there are many remnant live explosives that are being uncovered even today. There were so much varied remnant ammunition that people now use them as decorations and as fencing; some also sell them as scrap metal! Anyway, besides visiting these plains of Easter-island type phenomenon, the real rush was, once again, the cuisine. We spoke to our guide and he took us to eat the local cuisine...are you ready?DOG. Curried dog, bbqed dog and dog sausage, accompanied with a smelly fish sauce, rice, some lettuce and a unripened green plantain. Move over locusts, this is as exotic as it gets. Sadly? I actually enjoyed it. In the midst of the meal we suddenly here a small bark- out comes a dog who is then, quite eerily, fed some of the of cooked food! This restaurant only cooks dog. Yes, quite sad to eat mans best friend, but at the end of the day it's all just meat... right?
We soon moved on to our next destination called Vang Vieng. This was purely a tourist destination with cafes that sell opium and mushroom shakes, and play Friends and Family Guy episodes all day - yup, ALL day. Apparently Chandler made it to Laos.
Tubing was the ultimate highlight of this place for me; and actually what the town is famous for. The vibe reminded me alot of Spring Break season ! We rented the tubes and floated down the river, being reeled in by the owners and their makeshift anchors, telling us their bar was the best and constantly providing shots of free whiskey. I even had wasp, centipede and snake whiskey. In each bar they would have huge trapeze swings approximately
50 to 60 ft on the air. The fun part? Swinging and letting go at the highest possible point -what a rush! The first swing was the hardest... but being an adrenaline junkie I couldn't get enough. We jumped, dived and somersaulted our way down the river with bruises to prove it the next day.
Considering we had only partied and not done much cultural adventuring here, we decided to visit one of the many limestone caves in this town. The caves were very interesting, but realized it took us more time to reach the place than the time in the caves! On our way back, our guide who was a local farmer and barely spoke any English, suddenly shoots off towards bank of the river we were crossing. He is soon joined by by some of his buddies and they start beating the brush with machetes and huge bamboo sticks. I had hunch that they had found a snake, and I was right. This ended up being an 8 ft long king cobra! Our guide even jumped in the water after it and managed to kill it, unfazed by this venemous creature rearing his hood at him. Being a reptile enthusiast it was a little upsetting to see such a gorgeous creature being killed. But, they assured me that it was done to prote t the village and would actually provide food for the next few days - There was some comfort in those words.
All in all Laos was a fantastic mix of alcoholic western fun and the opportunity to see glimpses of the local culture. Now in Cambodia, we hope such experiences continue to occur! More posts to come in the next few weeks. Enjoy the pics.
We had decided to travel from Chiang Mai, Thailand, to Luang Prabang, Laos, via road and boat. It took us about 6 hours by car and then a total of 18 hours by the aptly named, Slow Boat. An overnight stay was required during the transfer from car to boat. The 2:30 am stop over at this, well, "hotel" was quite honestly designed for a few hours of rest only. The room smelled damp, peppered with spider webs, mattresses were literally made of plywood and bath towels were our blankets - fun! The next morning we are woken up at 5 am and after a quick "breakfast" make our way to the border, Huay Xai. After getting our visas on arrival we proceed to get stuffed in the back of a tuk-tuk and make our way to the boat. The idea was to ride down the great Mae Kong river which is famous for it's giant catfish that occasionally weigh about 200 kilos and stretch out to some 12 odd feet! Unfortunately we didn't see any. We were introduced to some Cobra whiskey, given some cultural ground rules and start our overcrowded journey to Luang Prabang. We soon make good conversation, and subsequently friends, with some of the other travelers. After a brief discussion we all decided on a remedy to help pass the 10 hour journey - alcohol! Our soon to be good friends Dan and Sef (from Corpus Christi, Texas) bust out the local rice wine called Lao-Lao and we, including some brave others, finish the entire bottle. We get to another stop for a night before we head out the next morning for another 10 hrs. Here we are greeted by the guesthouse with promises of amazing hashish - however, out of safety we do not oblige. Hersh, Dan, Sef and I bond, along with new friends Anne, Steve and Jelle. The next day we headed out for part two of this trip and decided to use the same remedy as the day before. Along the way we stopped to find a few women selling fish, bbqed monitor lizard, along with a large live monitor and some sort of giant rodent/groundhog. These are eaten as commonly as we eat chicken. Was sad to see the live lizard and rodent hanging on for dear life! But at the same time, did realize that this was the way of the Lao people.
We finally make it to Luang Prabang and get a nice room for cheap! I mean, why not spend an extra dollar a night for hot water and an a/c? Sometimes we like to indulge. Dan and Sef get a room next to ours, as the rest of the boat people scatter. We continue our drinking and all meet up at the famous Hive Bar. This was a bit of a party for us, and after it shut (11:00 pm) we soon walked to THE bowling alley (only place to drinkthat late) while being propositioned to buy weed, whores and other drugs - what, no ladyboys? During the rest of our stay we visited some temples and rested at one of my new favorite places - l'etranger. This place was a French-owned tea lounge and book store that was built for comfort and relaxation! The walls were lined with national geographic mags and down-tempo lounge music played in the background. I read and drank the best cup of Ginger tea ever. Ah, what a perfect way to spend an afternoon.
Another very memorable moment would be the 35 km bicycle ride to a natural waterfall called Kuang Si. With chicken baguettes in our bellies, Anna, Steve, Helle, Hersh and I rented cycles and made the unknowingly steep ride to the waterfall. I suppose popping an Immodium and drinking the night before didn't help my cause either. I remember hersh and i walking our bikes for a few km, (purely bc of the heat) promising each other we would get a tuk-tuk on the way back! The Lonley Planet book said it was "gently undulating"- they lied. After a few rest stops we hit a nice long downhill stretch along the mountain. This was, however, short lived. Steve unfortunately popped a tire and I broke a chain - both in succession! I took a tuk-tuk for the last 5 km, while the others trucked on. The waterfall was amazing - a milky yet stunning blue due to the algae, and also, unbeknownst to us, freezing cold! There was a long rope attached to a tree about 20 ft in the air, primarily for pulling Tarzan moves - so I slapped on my animal skin thong and swung away! (photos on Hersh's cam, will update soon). It was a great refresher after an exhausting ride on the mountain.
We soon went more cultural and made it to the Plain Of Jars in Phonsavan. This was the city that was bombed the MOST by the US. approx 55 thousand tonnes of it if I'm not mistaken. Bombs were dropped during the Vietnam war, not to mention land mines and other explosives. It is such a problem that there are many remnant live explosives that are being uncovered even today. There were so much varied remnant ammunition that people now use them as decorations and as fencing; some also sell them as scrap metal! Anyway, besides visiting these plains of Easter-island type phenomenon, the real rush was, once again, the cuisine. We spoke to our guide and he took us to eat the local cuisine...are you ready?DOG. Curried dog, bbqed dog and dog sausage, accompanied with a smelly fish sauce, rice, some lettuce and a unripened green plantain. Move over locusts, this is as exotic as it gets. Sadly? I actually enjoyed it. In the midst of the meal we suddenly here a small bark- out comes a dog who is then, quite eerily, fed some of the of cooked food! This restaurant only cooks dog. Yes, quite sad to eat mans best friend, but at the end of the day it's all just meat... right?
We soon moved on to our next destination called Vang Vieng. This was purely a tourist destination with cafes that sell opium and mushroom shakes, and play Friends and Family Guy episodes all day - yup, ALL day. Apparently Chandler made it to Laos.
Tubing was the ultimate highlight of this place for me; and actually what the town is famous for. The vibe reminded me alot of Spring Break season ! We rented the tubes and floated down the river, being reeled in by the owners and their makeshift anchors, telling us their bar was the best and constantly providing shots of free whiskey. I even had wasp, centipede and snake whiskey. In each bar they would have huge trapeze swings approximately
50 to 60 ft on the air. The fun part? Swinging and letting go at the highest possible point -what a rush! The first swing was the hardest... but being an adrenaline junkie I couldn't get enough. We jumped, dived and somersaulted our way down the river with bruises to prove it the next day.
Considering we had only partied and not done much cultural adventuring here, we decided to visit one of the many limestone caves in this town. The caves were very interesting, but realized it took us more time to reach the place than the time in the caves! On our way back, our guide who was a local farmer and barely spoke any English, suddenly shoots off towards bank of the river we were crossing. He is soon joined by by some of his buddies and they start beating the brush with machetes and huge bamboo sticks. I had hunch that they had found a snake, and I was right. This ended up being an 8 ft long king cobra! Our guide even jumped in the water after it and managed to kill it, unfazed by this venemous creature rearing his hood at him. Being a reptile enthusiast it was a little upsetting to see such a gorgeous creature being killed. But, they assured me that it was done to prote t the village and would actually provide food for the next few days - There was some comfort in those words.
All in all Laos was a fantastic mix of alcoholic western fun and the opportunity to see glimpses of the local culture. Now in Cambodia, we hope such experiences continue to occur! More posts to come in the next few weeks. Enjoy the pics.
View of Slow Boat from the back
L'etranger Tea and Book Store
Dog Curry, Dog BBQ in Phonsavan
Our cave guide who JUST caught and killed the King Cobra
Flopping off the water slide in Vang Vieng
Swinging off the trapeze line in Vang Vieng
Hersh inspecting the Cobra whiskey
Plain of Jars in Phonsavan
[These are high-def pics so you can click on them and enlarge them for a better look]
sooooo you ate dog.
ReplyDeletethat is all I have to say
hahahaha - cheers james!
ReplyDeleteThat was a great read, josh! Despite all my urbanised and anthropomorphic misgivings, I would have eaten dog too! The pictures gave good insight, especially the cobra kill and whiskey - this is real life unfolding where no judgement calls can be relevant for a land that time forgot and the people are survivalists. Looking forward to more as you move.....
ReplyDelete