Travel observations

I've booked a train ticket to Bangkok (12 hours, overnight) from here for Sunday, so I'll spend another couple days kicking around Vientiane with Margarita, my roommate. She leaves on the same day to fly to Siem Reap, Cambodia. I anticipate spending a little more time in Bangkok, and perhaps exploring a bit outside of the city, before continuing on to Siem Reap myself. I decided against arranging for my Vietnam visa here in Vientiane because it's Friday and it takes 3 working days (or 3 days working as it's often written here) to process. You can pay to expedite it, but what's the point? I'll just take care of it in Bangkok, where there's a lot more to do (and of course where the food is better!).

Not a lot to report, really, so I'll just post a recent pic from Luang Prabang and share some observations from my travels.

1 - White on vacation is just a bad idea. I've seen people rockin' the white linen pants and thought, "Ooh... how long 'til those are ruined?" It's hard enough to keep my white tops white, even when you "wash" them. Today I picked up my laundry from one lady and I question whether any soap was used at all. My white EMS shirt was a lovely shade of brown with a few white spots remaining. Hopefully I can handwash it and restore it a bit to its original state.

2 - Thai fisherman pants - cool concept, not so cool on. I haven't bought any for myself and although they're comfortable, and frankly probably made so you can eat to your heart's content in Thailand and not realize you're gaining weight, they're just generally not flattering. In Luang Prabang I saw a French guy wearing hot pink ones and this just drove the point home for me.

3 - Same, same, but different. How can I explain this phrase? They sell t-shirts with this slogan everywhere here. If you've ever spent any time in Asia, it just starts to make sense. Kind of like in every country there are tuk-tuk drivers standing around calling out to you, "tuk-tuk?" as if by simply saying this will make you realize that you do, in fact, need a tuk-tuk to wherever it is you're going. Tuk-tuk drivers are often best avoided, by the way, as they tend to way overcharge.

4 - Smoking. I could go on and on about this, but I'll just say that apparently Asia and Europe never got the memo that cigarettes are bad for you. And unlike in the US, you can still smoke all over the place here, sometimes even indoors. I don't know how many times I've had a perfectly lovely moment - a sunset, a boat ride - ruined by the second-hand smoke of somebody nearby. Ugh.


One afternoon as I was strolling around Luang Prabang, I came across a whole slew of these screens where papadum-style crackers were drying in the sun. Women were peeling them off and packaging them for sale at the market, I believe, and although I looked for them, I never found them to try. I heard they were tasty, though.

Vientiane

Oh no, am I getting so uncreative toward the end of my trip that I can only title my blog entries with the name of the city I'm in? I've hit another limbo moment... after the incredibly charming Luang Prabang, the rest of Laos just seems a bit blah. Actually the nature, in particular the mountains, are amazing, but as I am without appropriate footwear (I know that one hiking shoe is still out there somewhere on the side of the road in Kashmir!) I'm a bit limited as to what extent I can get out in it. Yesterday I settled for a lovely bike ride. It reminded me a bit of Taos, New Mexico in that everywhere you looked there was an amazing view of mountains.

I arrived in the capital of Laos today and am rooming with another solo female traveler from Austria. Our neighbor is also a solo female traveler from Australia. I'm not sure how many days I'll be here, probably at least a few days in order to arrange a visa to Vietnam. After a bit of research on airfares, I think I've decided to continue in Southeast Asia, down through Thailand into Cambodia and then up into Vietnam. As I start to think about my triumphant return to the states, all the usual questions are returning - what to do about money, health insurance, yadda yadda yadda. Maybe I can just hide out in SE Asia forever. ;)


I pulled over to take this picture on my bike ride. Holy gorgeous!


Humorous typos are everywhere here. In fact, there's a whole website dedicated to them, http://www.engrish.com/. I may submit this one. I have no idea what else they were possibly going for here... needless to say, I didn't order it to find out!

Nothing is sacred

For the first time in a long time, I woke up while it was still dark out this morning to go observe the offering of alms. Every morning here in Luang Prubang, as in many cities and villages across Southeast Asia, the monks come out en masse. They form a long line and proceed to advance through the streets where locals, and now tourists, line up to give them food. From a hygiene perspective, it's kind of a nightmare as everyone uses their hands. But then, that is still my over-sanitized American mind at work.

It's a cool ritual, one that a friend of mine participated in, as a monk, when he lived in Thailand. It was quite a sight to see - hundreds of monks, young and old, shuffling down the street in silence. It was beautiful. At the same time there was something not beautiful about it as well, and that was the fact that the tourists just about outnumbered the monks. I had seen signs around town showing pictures of obnoxious behavior - camera-happy tourists standing too close to this procession to get that "perfect shot". The posters serve as a plea to "please respect this tradition" by not doing this. Sadly, some folks had missed these signs. I never got closer than the other side of the street. In a way it was a missed opportunity as I don't have a good enough zoom lens to get the kind of shots I could picture in my mind. But at the same time, there's something to be said for sitting back and observing with your own camera, your eyes, sometimes. At one point, overwhelmed by the spectacle of it all, I decided to turn the lens on the tourists. It was almost as interesting as taking pictures of the monks themselves.

Don't get me wrong, by my mere presence alongside everyone else I was anything but above the fray. I wonder how the monks feel about it. I wonder if any other tourists felt the way I did. I wonder why I was born with such a keen sense of observation. It's a blessing and a curse.




Nearly empty baskets of rice wait to be picked up after the procession.


Unfortunately this shot is a little dark because I didn't want to use my flash. I just think this is the epitome of cluelessness and poor form. She even had a point-and-shoot, most of which have ridiculous zoom capabilities.

I Heart Laos

They sell t-shirts here with that slogan and it's true, I do. I'm not sure I've ever been to a more chill place. Today I walked around some more and ended up crossing a rickety bamboo bridge which led me to a village where they weave the many silk scarves you can find in the market and make paper out of mulberry, bamboo, even elephant dung. It was a beautiful walk. The weather here is perfect at this time of year - cool at night and hot during the day.

Cristiano from Brazil left this morning and the rest of the gang heads out tomorrow, but I'll be staying on for at least a couple more days. Tonight we hit the night market and Jasper bought some things to try to sell back in Belgium, inspired by my plan. He has so much energy and was a blast to shop with. We were able to pool our buying power as well, which is always good.

Everything pretty much closes here at 11:30, even the bars. So it's maybe a little too sleepy, but I guess it keeps people out of trouble, namely the tourists. Currently I'm outside at a table of a closed restaurant, next to the restaurant where I got tea this morning. This morning's restaurant had free wifi so I am now stealing their signal. And listening to really, really awful karaoke from some bar near the river. Why is it that the tone-deaf are the most enthusiastic crooners? Ay yay yay.


Monk robes hanging out to dry.


Silk worms, right, and the fruits of their labor, left.


Silk thread waiting to be spun into a fabulous scarf.

Sleepy town

The guesthouse I’m staying in overlooks a tributary of the Mekong River, which actually has a pretty swift current. The sound of the water is so peaceful and is punctuated occasionally by the sound of roosters crowing. Those things seem to go all day and night.

My traveling companions rented bikes today to check out the waterfall outside of town, but I decided to stroll through the streets and get acquainted with the new city. There’s nothing I love more than happening onto some random alleyway; you never know what you’ll find at the end of it. There are plenty of alleyways in Luang Prubang - lots of great images to be captured. The traffic here is pretty light, which is a nice change from most of the cities I’ve been in so far, and I’m having to get back into the habit of looking left when I cross the road, instead of right, as they drive on the same side as we do in the U.S.

I anticipate my time here being pretty relaxing. The nice thing about having an open schedule is you don’t have to run around trying to see this temple or that statue; you can take your time. And honestly even if you don’t see those things, that’s okay too. The point of this trip is to take time to reflect and enjoy the moment. And if that means sitting in a café or wandering aimlessly for hours, then so be it.

I noticed a disturbing trend at the night market tonight. Almost all of the vendors are women, but many of them look very, very young. Granted, no one in Asia looks their age, but there are definitely kids working. My first thought is, Isn't it a school night? But the literacy rate in Laos is pretty low, so it's likely that these kids don't go to school. So do you buy something from one of these girls, thereby supporting this trend? Hmm...


One of the many golden Buddhas at one of the many temples. The temples here seem a little bit cooler somehow, maybe because they feel a little more weathered.


My walk led me to this one shop where the owner’s dog had just given birth to these puppies 9 days ago. Adorable.

Luang Prubang

We just arrrived in Luang Prubang around 5 p.m. today and already I'm in love. There is the most chill vibe in the air here. People are friendly, all the shops look lovely (with uniform wooden signs I might add), and they sell nutella-banane crèpes on the street. What more do you need? Actually, what more would you expect from a city that is a world heritage site? I see myself staying here for several days. I was lucky enough to meet a great group of people on the slow boat - two women from Argentina, one man from Brazil, and another man from Belgium. Two of them are a couple, so I shared a room in Pakbeng, Laos last night with Maria and Cristiano. We're also sharing a room here, which is great. Traveling alone is cool, but companionship is also cool, not to mention the added benefit of splitting the cost of a room.

The boat ride was lovely... and slow. The shores of the Mekong are lined with mountains and forests and tiny fishing villages along the way. There were mostly farang on the boat, but a few locals would hop on and off at various points. Almost every time we pulled into shore a crowd would gather. I had heard that Laos is even more beautiful than Thailand, both in terms of the country and the people, and so far this seems to be true. Tonight we walked the night market, where we also ate, and it seems that good food is just as plentiful here as it was in Thailand. The handicrafts, although repeated in some fashion from one stall to another, seem to be of higher quality as well. And the great thing is that the vendors are really quick to drop their prices. All you have to do is stand up and they're knocking 5-10,000 kip off. (One dollar is about 8,400 kip, so this visit will be a test of my math skills.) This is great because unlike some people, I don't really enjoy bargaining.

So, more to come. Right now it's off to shower and meet some lovely English ladies that I also met on the boat. This trip just keeps getting better. :)


Morning on the Mekong.


Women and children greet our boat.