| Laos Laos has not had an easy time. It is basically a massive area of hundreds of different tribes that have been unified into one country. When the Thais and Vietnamese were not ruling or fighting over it, it was colonized by the French. Then after they finally gained independence in 1953, the US began bombing the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Eastern Laos as part of the Vietnam War in 1964. By the time a ceasefire came in �73 Laos was the most bombed country in the history of warfare. To be here and see how gentle these people really are it is truly saddening. In 1975 a guy called Pathet Lao took over and created a communist state - the People�s Democratic(!) Republic. He exiled the king and his family to a cave somewhere in Northern Lao never to be seen or heard from again, and 10% of the population left the country. They turned his palace into a museum. We visited it yesterday and it was very spooky. Strangely though, Laotians are not used to living in an anti-monarchist society and so they have started giving portraits of the Thai king pride of place in their homes. (In Thailand there are pictures of the King everywhere, down the streets, businesses � you even have to stand in the cinema before the film starts while they play the national anthem and images of the King). Fearing Thailand breathing down its neck the Lao government is not very happy about this, so even though it is communist and anti-monarchist it has started paying tribute to a notoriously bloody Khmer-trained 14th century king. It has erected a statue of him in the capital Vientiane and created a national holiday, all by way of redirecting its people�s affections! Very strange... Currently Lao citizens do no have the right to change their government. By the early �90s the economy had reached a new low with 500% depreciation in the Kip so they decided to open up the country to tourism. It�s unbelievable; you need a brick sized wad of cash to get through the night! We get a bus to Chiang Kong, and cross over the river to Hauy Xai in Laos on a ferry. We pay a small corruption tax (apparently you have to pay this if you arrive in Laos on a day of the week that ends in 'y'), and then change some money for Laotian Kip. The biggest note is worth about 30p, so we end up with a massive wad of notes. I feel like 'loadsamoney'. Laos was already amazingly different to Thailand. Totally unspoilt and way less developed. The only traffic tends to be pushbikes and the odd scooter. It�s a bit like an Asian version of new Zealand � with only 5 million people in Laos compared to 60m in Thailand and 78m in Vietnam. We take the slow two-day boat journey down the Mekong River to the world heritage listed city of Luang Prabang. We trundle down the river seeing the local people, fishermen, water buffalo, big rocks, other sunken boats, fast speed boats, fields, hills, hazy mists, forest, jungle & so on for 2 days. The toilet was a hole in the floor in a little cabin 2ft square and 3ft high! A bit of an awkward affair when you have to crouch down and the door�s flapping open every time the boat sways! We stop overnight in tiny village of Pak Beng, and stay in a very rustic guesthouse. As the boat docked chaos ensued as herds of tiny 7yr old children rushed onto the boat to drag off our rucksacks. Some of them had one on the front and one on the back! We were met by a nice young lady who took us to her family house that had guest rooms upstairs. It was probably the most basic place I have ever stayed. But I just thought of it like camping and I think it�s good to live like they do if only for one night. In our room we had a bed made of bamboo, a corrugated iron roof and a few scraps of lino on the floor. At 3.30am we got woken up by cockerels and the cafe playing music at 6am to wake up the westerners. The toilet was down a ladder into the muddy backyard where there was a bamboo cubicle with no roof (I later discovered it was viewable from upstairs!!). We'd been carrying "Rexona" body wipes around, in case we ever needed to freshen ourselves up, and here we were finally able to use them. There were chickens running around everywhere and they had lit a fire on the stove to cook breakfast. Most bizarre. The boat left again at 8am and it was bloody freezing because of the morning mist blocking out the sun. The next day we continue down the river, and stop several times to service the local community, loading and unloading rice, planks of wood, old ladies & monks. Stopping in these villages (most of which are still only accessible from river), seeing the houses, villagers & children made a wonderful change to the over-visited hill tribes on our one day trek. We stop at Pak Ou limestone caves , which contain a host of Buddha images, which were hidden away during the Vietnam War. We had a bit of a palaver here because some American show off had been up on the roof and the driver demanded that he paid US$100, which of course he wouldn�t pay. So then the American asked everyone on the boat to pay US$1 each for stopping at the caves. The driver got commission for this and would have stopped anyway, but he was so angry he was at bursting point and he wasn�t leaving until he had got as much money as he could out of the situation. Then the boat driver next door saw what was going on so he ordered that the American get on his boat and ask all those passengers for money as well!! We arrive in sleepy riverside town of Luang Prabang & have a hard time finding somewhere to stay (we get somewhere eventually). Laos is communist, but has been allowing private enterprise since 1990. It recently opened its doors to tourism to boost its ailing economy, but there is a strict limit on visas (which only last 15 days), as the infrastructure cannot cope with too many tourists. Eventually we find somewhere, and have a pleasant time doing not an awful lot. This town is a world heritage site, on the basis of its well preserved French colonial charm. People tend to fall in love with it, without being entirely sure why. It�s very rustic, with dirt roads, and not much traffic & chickens everywhere. We're woken every morning by the blasted things. We visit Phu Si, the pagoda on the top of the hill, where Jo frustrates the monks by trying to find out why it is that they wear orange. Originally the Kingdom of Laos was called �Lan Xang� (Land of a million elephants) and Luang Prabang was the capital of this kingdom until 1545. Even after this time it was considered the main source of monarchic power � until the king was booted out of his palace but the current communist prime minister Pathet Lao in 1975. One day, we visited his palace � now a museum (Royal Palace Museum) � and it was quite eerie as there was no mention of where the king is now or what happened to him. We went to the Royal theatre to see a traditional performance of dance, music and song, where they tell old stories and people are dressed up in bizarre costumes and masks. An acquired taste maybe, but it was nice to get an evening of culture. . It was very bizarre with Hmong people rolling around in the mud doing roly-poly while playing some kind of flute. They finish with local tribal dances where they perform the amazing feat of picking up heavy jars filled with water with their teeth. Owch. At the beginning of the ballet we were welcomed with a �Baci Ceremony�. This is a ritual performed in phii (spirit) worship found in Laos, which is now illegal, but is the dominant non-Buddhist religion. In this ceremony the 32 guardian spirits of the body are bound to the guest of honour by white strings tied around the wrist. We didn�t think much of it as it was only string, but the next day a tiny old hmong woman stopped dead in her path starring at us because the wrist bands came from a pagan ritual. On the way home from dinner that night we were also offered Opium on the street. (Don�t get me wrong, it�s really not a dodgy place, I just thought it was strange that we could buy it if we wanted to). Luang Prabang always seemed to have a smokey air too, due to the Hmong people in the surrounding hills practicing �slash & burn� techniques � used to prepare the land for opium crops. In the long term this is not good for the land because it causes soil erosion and flash flooding. It�s funny to see the French influence (as a result of the colonialism) in a place that is so different to France. Many people speak French (the post office is called �la poste�), the architecture is very French, people eat baguettes, and play boulle in the street. One other thing you notice in Laos is the distinct lack of the chains and logos that you get so used to � no MacDees here. Apart from cars, the only recognizable logos are Pepsi (who I presume have a deal with the govt), and Shell. And most of all, throughout Asia, you actually see children and old people everywhere. The extended family is most important, so every shop will have its own scampering kid, and grinning shrunken old granny (not hidden away in daycare or nursing homes). Everywhere you look seems like a postcard view. Almost all Lao men become monks/novices for at least a short time, so everywhere you see monks dressed in their brightly coloured orange robes (often chatting up western females). I only wish I had a better camera with which to capture it all. Valentines day comes around whilst we�re in Laung Prabang and I tell Jo I�ll get her anything she wants. We saw in an Asian magazine the suggestion that you could buy your loved one a bag of maltesers as a present, but Jo didn�t go for this option. Jo decides to rent a motorbike for the afternoon, and convinces me to get on the back (something I�m not overly keen on). It�s better than I feared, and it�s quite fun pootling about the Laos countryside. Towards the end though, on a muddy stretch, Jo slips and we fall off. Not hurt, but Jo bruises her pride. As Jo explains; On valentines day, Mark said I could have anything I wanted, so much to his disappointment I decided we should hire a motorbike. I had never ridden a motorbike with gears before and I was really pleased that I managed to ride around the town and surrounding countryside afternoon. (Luang Prabang is really quiet � rush hour is when the kids come out of school on their bicycles). However we had had a torrential downpour that morning and the place we had to return the motorbike to was on an unsealed road and we had had a torrential downpour that morning�. Yes, we ended up in the mud.. I was only doing 5mph and we slipped. The only thing hurt was my pride, when were covered in mud and got laughed at by the locals. Felt a bit guilty too because I bent the wing mirror a bit, and the guy just got his screw driver out and everything was fine. But it�s not like a big multinational hire car company that can afford a few scratches. Laos is still one of the poorest countries in the world with an average annual income of US$260. 80% of the country lives of the land working in agriculture, fishing and forestry. It really makes no sense for Laos to be a communist economy, as it still is just a lot of tribal groups living off the land with no real need for a currency. Most of the manufactured goods here are imported from Thailand untaxed and traded freely on the black market, as is foreign currency.� The next day we visit the gorgeous Kuang Si Waterfall. I�m not a waterfall fan. But this was pretty spectacular. I hike to the top & knacker myself out, while Jo relaxes in the pool at the base. As nice and Peaceful as Laos is, it can be frustrating that nothing much is going on. Jo: �I�m bored.� Mark: �You should learn to appreciate the slower pace of life.� Jo: �I have, and now I�m bored.� We fly to Vientiane � why? Well on our way through the top of Laos we discovered that an incident had occurred a few days before on the road we were planning to travel on. Hmong bandits came out onto the highway and shot everyone in the area and stripped them of their belongings. They killed 10 people and at the time we were about to go there the army were still looking for them. So we flew. It really was 6 of one, and half a dozen of the other because Lao Aviation doesn�t publish its safety record. Apparently they fly by sight, so if they can�t find a hole in the cloud, they go back down and land and refuel, wait a while and then give it another go! Needless to say there was no flashy safety demonstration before take-off and my seatbelt kept undoing itself, but apart from that I was fine! We couldn�t get into Vietnam until the date given on our visa, so we kicked our heels in Vientiane for a few days. One magazine I read said to give the place 2 days, and that includes plenty of time to recover from hangovers, so we didn�t have a whole bunch to do, but discovered some nice restaurants. Which was nice. One excursion was to the propaganda filled Lao National History Museum (formerly Revolutionary Museum) which documents the glorious peoples struggle to become one of the poorest countries on earth. Naturally we visit some more Buddhist temples; Haw Pha Kaew (which originally housed the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok, was burnt and rebuilt in the 1930s), and Pha That Luang, a giant golden stupa and most important national monument in Laos. One day we go to Xieng Khaun Buddha Park, which is definitely worth a trip. It�s a bizarre collection of cement Buddhist/Hindu sculpture. This includes a weird giant sculpture that symbolizes heaven & hell, which you can climb to the top of. One monk took us inside this massive bowl shaped building, inside there were different levels full of figures representing heaven or hell. There were loads of cobwebs and it was pretty spooky, we climbed out through a tiny hole in the top and could see over the whole park. Our monk guide was getting a bit weird though, insisting that Jo climbs up before him (she had a skirt on!).. On the Twenty First of February was my birthday making me TWENTY FIVE. Wow. However, I get news from England that my Gran has died. She was ill for quite some time, but still it was hard to receive the news when I was so far home, and on the last leg of my trip. I�m not expected home for the funeral, and I don�t think I could have got home in time even if I tried. As you might imagine, I wasn�t exactly in a celebrating mood. We left Vientiane and flew to Hanoi in Vietnam with Lao Aviation. This flight was a little shakier than the last and I vowed to stick to land from then on! I will spare you the details but when we got on the runway, where in normal circumstances aeroplanes fire up the engines in reverse, this didn�t happen and it felt like we were still doing 200 mph on the runway! Luckily the runway was pretty long. But I felt vindicated, after hearing that the journey by road is absolutely terrible. |