Laos Part I

First off, sorry for the huge gap between our posts. Laos was just not as up-to-date with their computers as its surrounding countries, so we've had to wait. Now, Laos...

Our entry into Laos was anything but ordinary. The border between Thailand and Laos (pronounced Lao, the French decided to add the silent "s" at the end for some reason) at this specific entry point was the Mekong River, and the only way across is by boat. It wasn't a very long ride, maybe 2 minutes, and there was Laos on the other side. For those of you who don't know, the Mekong flows through 6 countries in Asia, starting in Nepal and ending in a huge delta in Vietnam.

Right off the bat, we noticed that northern Laos is very relaxed. There were no taxi drivers on the corner calling for our business, no motorbike traffic jams, no beggars. And, they drove on the "right" side of the road again! Strange how a river crossing changes that. Also, Laos has Beer Lao, a very good beer, with a 650 oz. bottle costing just a fraction over US$1, or 10,000 kip. 8,000 kip = $1.

We had decided to go to a small town called Muang Sing, known for its trekking to hill tribe villages, as we hadn't done any popular treks in Thailand. After getting a good night's sleep, our bus took us north to Luang Nam Tha, where from there we could continue to Muang Sing. Little did we know that that night, we would meet someone who grew up in the Santa Ynez Valley, where Anna is from. Small world, huh? We fell in love with the Laos comfort food, a soup called khao soy that has rice noodles, chicken, cilantro, green onion, and sometimes lettuce and chilis, and is just so good anytime of day. Especially since the weather turned cold! Our jackets had been at the bottom of our packs since mid-Australia, but mornings and evenings here were downright chilly. It was a wonderful change.

Once in dusty, breezy Muang Sing, ourselves and a German/Thai couple haggled with a tour operator over getting a decent price for a trek into the nearby mountains. We won, and our trek started early the next day. It turned out to be 6 of us, another couple had joined us that morning. However, an hour into our hike, we got narrowed back down to just Ryan and I. The German/Thai couple were just a bit too out of shape to handle the hour uphill that we started out with, and the other Israeli couple dropped out because the guy had food poisoning. Well, that was fine with us, as we got one guide to ourselves and our own pace.

Khamla was our guide, and completely stoked on his wedding that had taken place the week before. He had his camera, and showed us just about every photo he could during our breaks. Laos weddings mean the whole village and all the towns around are invited. He said 1,000 people were there, they slaughtered a water buffalo or two, and cases upon cases of Beer Lao and lao-lao were consumed. It sounded like great fun, we wished we had been there a week earlier!

The hike itself was just okay. We saw no wildlife, though Khamla said there were bears (little Asian bears) around. It was a little disappointing. Adding to that was walking through areas that had been burned, because that's how they clear land here. We hadn't seen blue skies since southern Thailand because of all the fires there and here. As people who do what they can to help the environment, it was hard seeing that and not being able to do anything about it.

We ended up trekking more than 20 kilometers that day, and when we finally limped into the Akha village where we'd be staying and heard we got traditional massages later, we almost (if we could have) jumped for joy. Khamla led us to the chief's house, who wasn't home yet; he was at the market buying some things they couldn't grow. On our way in, we'd seen some women and children bathing in a special area of a stream they'd blocked off, which is where we ended up a bit later. The women wear sarongs in the water and the men wear their underwear; the men definitely get the better end of the deal. Anna barely got her legs and face washed, while Ryan was able to soap up pretty good.

Khamla never ended up introducing us to the chief. We figured out who it was because he was the most well dressed man in the village, in a black button-down and black jeans. We didn't even eat with him, just with Khamla and a man who prepared us dinner, which was yummy! Banana flower soup with pork, vegetables with pork, sticky rice, and the famed lao-lao, a rice whiskey that most villagers make themselves. The shot glasses were passed just a few times, but it was enough to make us feel it, as we hadn't drank enough water that day.

For bedtime, 3 mattresses had been arranged on the floor, with pillows and everything. They sleep comfortably here. The traditional masseuses came in, dressed in their traditional garb, and began the most interesting massages we've ever received. They don't have the soft hands of professionals, and it was a bit aggressive, but we were still extremely grateful for their hospitality.

The chief's and his family's house

Traditional costumes of the Akha women. They sleep with the headpieces on,
which they get at age 15, and wear for the rest of their lives.

The next morning we got a "traditional" breakfast of baguettes, omelet, butter and jam ("yam," as they pronounce it) while Khamla ate his omelet with rice, then started off back toward Muang Sing. The trail took us through 4 more villages of Yao and more Akha people, including one stop at a school full of kids at recess. I'm sure they'd seen a camera before, as tourists do go through this area, but they were ecstatic every time Anna would take a picture of them, then show them their faces on the screen. Friendly kids, just what we'd expected of village kids in Laos.

Back in Muang Sing, we'd promised Khamla that we would help him set up an email account, as they just got internet in the town. After a little tutoring, it seemed like he could manage an email with his new email address, so we left on the bus back to Luang Nam Tha.

The next couple of days consisted of errands, and ultimately our next destination was east, in Muang Ngoi. The transportation to get there consisted of 3 bumpy crowded bus rides and an hour long boat ride up the Nam Ou river. We met several people from the States on our way, including Lisa and Ryan, and a solo traveller named Ryan. Lisa decided that since it was so close to St. Patrick's Day, it was destined that these 3 Ryans would meet! A cute puppy also entered our path at one point:

Mountains, boats, and water buffalo was the scenery for the boat ride. If the sky hadn't been so hazy, it would have been downright beautiful. This is a spectacular area, and we can only imagine what it can be with clear skies!

More hiking and hill villages awaited, so we took our time exploring the area, including some big caves, peaceful streams, and a nice lady in a Ban Na village an hour from Muang Ngoi who was weaving a scarf as we approached, then had a conversation with us in surprisingly good English! Sadly, we noticed several massive bomb shells integrated into the village, one used as part of a step up to a house. It reminded us that Laos still has many land mines and unexploded bombs hiding in the hillsides, and that many people have accidentally found these.

St. Patrick's Day arrived, and, getting all the Ryans together again, we celebrated with a couple bottles of lao-lao. Bad idea. We ended up at a family reunion, dancing in a circle with the Lao women and drinking the shots of lao-lao offered; we didn't want to be rude to our unofficial host. Too much of the clear liquid ended with an inexplicable cut on Anna's chin, and the next day spent doing nothing. But what we do remember of the night was great fun with all the people of the family.
By this time, we were ready for a little city life, a little full-day-of-electricity, a little ice. Destination: Luang Prabang. Driving into the city was a bit of a shock. We'd been up north in the boonies for a while, and we realized we hadn't missed the noise, tuk-tuk drivers, the general dirty-ness, and the heat!

Unfortunately, something we ate made us wish that we'd stayed up north. Both of us were up all night with bad cases of food poisoning, that left us laying in bed all the next day as well. So much for enjoying civilization. We still don't like to think about that night, or the food that may have caused it.

Enter: another valley. Once we knew we'd live, and after we'd stayed in Luang Prabang a couple more days than we would have liked, it was time to venture to the capitol of Laos, Vientiane. The bus ride there took 9 hours, with a quick stop for lunch. It didn't help our sensitive stomachs that the ride was twisting and bumpy, nor that several people around us got sick en route. As soon as we started looking for guesthouses in Vientiane, they started telling us they were full. Ryan wasn't feeling well after the bus ride, so as soon as we found a semi-decent room for an extravagant price (everything is more expensive!) we turned on the TV and rested. We vowed to get a better place the next day, and that's exactly what we did.

We ended up at the Laos Orchid Hotel, a beautiful place that inlcuded breakfast, for way more than we were used to paying, but which we mentally and physically needed. Anna had hurt her toe in Indonesia, and had hurt it again the day before, Ryan's stomach was still sensitive, and our moods were not very bright. The weather was back to very warm, but now included rain as well.

We tried to uplift our moods by indulging in a bottle of white wine (cold, thanks to the mini-fridge in our room), good Australian cheese, a baguette, and dark chocolate for dessert; a meal like we'd loved to have in New Zealand. The wine was okay, the cheese and bread delicious, and chocolate (Hershey's!) not so good. Our stomachs didn't object, so we took that as a good sign.

The next day, we had a mission to get our Cambodian visas and see the sights. Our delicious breakfast fueled us up for the bikes we rented to get around on. Halfway through our day, the rain started again; luckily we had our rain jackets, but it's dangerous to bike in the rain with all the motorbikes and big trucks around Vientiane. We braked at the Laos' version of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, and slowly (because of Anna's toe) climbed to the top. We got a good lightning show in, then decided maybe it wasn't the best place to be. Our room with the TV with HBO sounded better.

From Vientiane, we booked an overnight bus to the town of Pakse, in southern Laos.The bus has beds instead of seats, so we're hoping the 10 hours goes by quickly.

Tuk-Tuk in Thailand

After one last breakfast in Krabi, we took the local bus to Surat Thani, the jumping-off point for the islands of Koh Samui, Koh Phagnan, and Koh Tao. We've been trying to take local transportation over tourist transportation whenever possible first to save a few bucks, and also to get the real feel for the country. The buses in Thailand are much nice than in Indonesia; however, they take just as long and cost about 4 times as much. 5 hours later (after what we were told was a 2.5 hour bus ride), we arrived in Surat Thani and caught a local minibus for an hour ride to the ferry pier. We just managed to get a ticket onto the last ferry to Koh Phagnan, and later that night we were smack in the middle of Hat Rin, home of the infamous Full Moon Party. One doesn't need a full moon to party on Koh Phagnan - if you like techno, buckets of booze, and people acting strange, this occurs every night on the beach. We came to this island just to see what all the fuss was about; after one more night we were sighing and thinking how old we felt. It was just not our scene.

Crossing our fingers that no more motorbike accidents were awaiting us, we island hopped over to Koh Tao, where scuba diving awaited! A recommendation from some Finnish guys we met in Indonesia took us to look at Phoenix Divers at Sairee Beach. We liked the people and price, so we booked our SSI open water diver certification course. Air-conditioned televisioned bungalow bliss and breakfast were included, so we spent the next 4 days in relative luxury compared to our previous country's options. Also included was an excellent instructor from Sweden, Susie, all to ourselves. Remarkably, it was refreshing to actually be on somewhat of a schedule; our whole lives since kindergarten are pretty much scheduled, so it feels great to get out of that, but also nice to have someone else tell us when to be where for a change. It took the stress off of us for several days, which we definitely needed.

Needless to say, we had an absolute blast, and got to see some amazing marine life on our 4 dives, including a Finding Nemo-ish clown fish family in its anemone! Sairee Beach itself was beautiful, with calm water and amazing sunsets.

Phoenix Divers come highly recommended by us, if any of you take the plunge, so to speak, and want to dive in Thailand.

We thought we should see another part of this beautiful island, so we chose Taa Toh Resort in Taa Toh bay. It was a great location and isolated from the nearest town, but the staff were so unfriendly that it took away from the beauty, and unless you had a motorbike (which we're still not keen on), you were at their mercy for dinner. During the day, we slyly waded through the bay to the other town in the bay of Chalok Baan Kao to explore and eat lunch, but at night we didn't dare try that.


We left with a bit of a sour taste in our mouth, which was unfortunate, as the previous 5 days had been some of our favorite so far! A ferry took us to Chumphon, where a 3 hour "layover" ensued, until we finally got on our overnight bus to Bangkok.

The bus arrived at 5:30am, and delirious from the lack of a good night's sleep on the bus and wondering exactly where we were and what to do now, we thought we were dreaming when we noticed people still walking around with beers in their hands and shots still on the tables. No, this was Khao San Rd., where street bars were just being taken down at 6am. As no hotels were open yet, we found a coffee shop, sat for a while, then ventured away from the party street. We eventually found a nice quiet guesthouse overlooking the river, and from this base we took in a tiny bit of the sprawling city of Bangkok - we got lost in the Chatuchak Market (huge, everything you could ever need, including green abelskiver-type sweets):

...river taxied and Skytrained to Siam Square (massive, interconnected, air-conditioned malls), and trekked all the way to the U.S. Embassy (we needed more visa stamp pages in our passports) to find it closed. After just 2 nights in the City of Angels, we left on another night bus to Chiang Mai.

Chiang Mai has been one of the easiest places to like so far. The old city is surrounded by an old moat and wall, meant to keep out the Burmese attackers, and there are dozens of historic wats, or temples, throughout.

The cuisine is more northern-style than what we've had so far, which means many more kinds of spices, herbs, and vegetables than the more southern areas that cannot grow these delicious additions. One of Ryan's favorites has been pad paenang, a chicken curry with kaffir lime leaves and chilies:
Another nice thing about Chiang Mai is that we had a contact here. Doug, who has worked with Anna's dad, moved here 20 years ago, met a local woman, and never left. He was kind enough to take us to a restaurant serving good Mexican food (which of course we'd been craving!), give us the phone number of a local tuk-tuk (3-wheeled mini-taxi) driver:

and put our minds at ease by backing up our 9 GB of photos so far! It is definitely a comfort to know someone who knows the area, so thank you very much, Doug, for helping us out!

The day we got into Chiang Mai, Ryan decided to look at our passports for some reason, and let out a groan when he realized that we'd overstayed our Thai visa by one day. When we researched coming here, you got an automatic 30-day visa upon entry, but after the Bangkok airport debacle (during our Australia visit), they changed it to 15-day. Well, dumb Americans that we are, we never thought to check. Asking around, we found our best bet to be a day tour taking in sights north of the city, all the way up to Burma where we could easily cross and renew our visa. It turned out to be a good day of sightseeing, including boiling eggs in a natural hot spring (U.S. idea, anyone?):

...seeing the Golden Triangle where Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos (and China a bit farther north) come together and where the opium trade was once booming:

...native hill tribe communities, including the Mien and Akha people who still wear traditional dress (we both bought bracelets from a one-eyed widowed Akha woman, shown below):

...and officially crossed the border into Myanmar, one of the most tempermental nations:

The next day we finally got to an open U.S. Consulate, and spent the morning waiting for our passports to double in size with more visa stamp pages, then spent the rest of the day wandering around. Chiang Mai has many main streets, but off these mains are lanes called "soi's;" for example our guesthouse is on Soi 2, Ratchawithi Road. That night a fire broke out a few soi's down from us, cutting off the power right in the middle of Anna's shower. Luckily, there wasn't much damage, just tall flames and lingering smoke. Zen, the tuk-tuk driver, took us on a tour of Chiang Mai area where we toured several of the magnificent wats (several were being painstakingly restored by hand):



...went to see how paper umbrellas and Thai silk are made, ate delicious northern Thai food at Huen Phen restaurant, and decided to buy a laquerware elephant to send home for our non-existent house. It was a day of learning more about the crafts and culture of Thailand, and we were very glad we got the opportunity.

We also had a funny pup watching us eat breakfast:

...saw an amazing show of hundreds of almost weightless balloon lanterns being flown up into the sky for a festival to honor the North Gate of the moat:

...and sampled a REAL ice cream sandwich:

No wonder we like this place so much.

Next up is the most bombed country in the world, Laos. Cross your fingers that we don't step on any hidden landmines. Thanks.