Laos : a diary extract



Friday, April 21, 2006
I'm in Chiang Mai airport awaiting my flight to Luang Prabang. I had intended to catch a bus to Chiang Khong on the Laos border and then the slow-boat down the Mekong for the remainder. However, Becky was heading back to Bangkok and I was reluctant to abandon her for too long, so rejigged my plan to shave 3 days off my Laos itinerary.
Of all the airports I've been to in my life, and of all the airlines I've travelled with, I've never been in a slower-moving check-in queue than today's with Laos Airlines [formerly Laos Aviation, but they changed the name to make it sound safer]. No exaggeration, it took 45 minutes to process the 3 people standing ahead of me in the queue. I wonder if this approach to getting things done will set a pattern for things to come?
I enquired of the very friendly but ultimately unhelpful Laos Airline official scouting the line as to what was happening. After a long, circuitous conversation he offered me a free sandwich and drink in the restaurant upstairs. 'What's the catch?' I asked him. He replied that the flight is delayed by two hours for 'pilot training'. That doesn't fill me with confidence, especially given this from the Lonely Planet: "Safety records for Laos Airlines aren't made public, but many international organisations and Western embassies advise staff not to use this airline".

Tuesday, April 25, 2005
The last few days have been great fun. Things got off to a good start when the plane didn't crash. I walked down the steps onto the tarmac at Luang Prabang airport and immediately understood what someone had meant recently when they said, "As soon as you enter Laos the noise stops". Whilst waiting for my 'visa-on-arrival' I got talking to Babs (Barbara) from Canada. Turns out she was heading to the same guest house as me so we shared a minibus with two Americans into town, and all got drunk together in the evening on BeerLao, perhaps one of the finest tastes known to man. Luang Prabang is immediately likeable - green mountains on all sides, a mighty river, pretty buildings and an amazing aura of calm.

Boarding the boat from Luang Prabang


Fuel station on the Mekong


A marginally faster boat overtaking us


Children playing and watching us pass


Children from a village where we looked for food


Relaunching the boat after our stop-off

First thing on Saturday Babs and I headed to the riverside to catch a slowboat up the Mekong and Nam Ou rivers to Nong Kiaw. Although sitting on a hard, wooden floor for eight hours made me numb, the journey was great - beautiful scenery all the way, a decent book and free-flowing conversation between the eight of us on board.
Stupidly, none us had thought to bring any food for the journey. We made an impromptu stop along the way at a village to look for a shop. Amazingly, not only could we not find anywhere selling food, the people we met didn't even seem to understand the concept of money.

Muang Ngoi Neua's main street


View from my hut in Muang Ngoi Neua


Fellow travellers on the terrace with my hut at the back


Mama - the all working, never-sleeping, always-smiling landlady

We pushed on to Nong Kiaw, found something to eat and continued upstream for another hour to Muang Ngoi Neua where I stayed for three nights. The accommodation was basic to say the least (Becky would have hated it), but each of the rickety bamboo shacks were in great positions on stilts overlooking the river, and each faced onto the wooden terrace which would be the social focus of my time there. The other people staying there were a fun bunch, including a selection of Canadians, Swedes (who taught me an amusing song about a small frog), Germans, a Swiss guy and a Dutch lad. The BeerLao was flowing followed by LaoLao - a weak Laos whiskey we were enthusiastically encouraged to drink by Mama - the always-working, never-sleeping, always-smiling landlady.

Water buffalo I passed on my walk inland


Baby water buffalo


A village I passed on my walk


The village I reached at the end of my walk


Children in the village


Children in the village

On Sunday I left the group and headed out early for a walk, some time much later ending up in a small, traditional village which I imagined few other foreigners would find. The villagers were amazingly friendly and despite the language barrier, I stayed for two hours, giving them an English lesson, showing the kids my digital camera, and generally pinching myself to appreciate what a wonderful experience this is. To cap off a perfect day, on the way back I was invited to join in a football match with some locals. Great fun, until the heat and bobbly pitch got the better of me.

Water buffalo bathing outside my hut


Albino water buffalo


A fisherman further downstream


Fishermen further downstream


Children conforming to gender stereotypes

More revelry that night, but on Monday some of the gang left. I was worn out by the previous day's exertions so took things easy. I pottered around on a boat, checking out the rapids upstream until I saw water gushing through a crack in the bottom and thought better of it. The local kids were having a good laugh at my expense but I appeased them by letting them borrow my goggles and challenging them to a swimming race across the river.

Muddy water flows into the river following the previous night's storm


Monks dismantling a wooden marquee


Therp encouraging me to contort my legs a little more


Ai (in yellow) and Therp (second left)

There was a huge storm that night. It had me convinced the whole complex would collapse. Fortunately not, so I was alive to take a boat and then a 'bus' back to Luang Prabang today. That was a much quicker way of doing it, but still great fun sitting on benches on the back of a pickup with a bunch of locals with whom I swapped food.
Back in Luang Prabang, I helped some monks to dismantle a temporary wooden marquee at a UNESCO world heritage temple, before talking to some trainee monks at a different temple. I stayed for a couple of hours. They're great fun. In return for the English lesson I gave them they've invited me back tomorrow morning for a meditation class.

Me in a saffron robe


Monks at the waterfalls


Monks at the waterfalls


Monks at the waterfalls


Ai at the waterfalls

Sunday, April 30, 2006
After I got home from chatting to the monks on Tuesday evening, I somehow became involved in a street party with some locals. I was invited to join them and share their food and drink, all apparently as a celebration of 'Luang Prabang'. Magic.
I was back at the temple first thing on Wednesday for the meditation class but it didn't materialise. Instead we took a trip to some beautiful waterfalls with the two of the 'novices' (Therp and Ai) and a qualified monk. The four of us shared a tuk-tuk there, and as we were there early had the place to ourselves. We took advantage of this by climbing all the way to the top and, despite my protestations, jumped over the fence with the "Danger - No Entry" signs which are presumably intended to prevent people from falling off the cliff. We spent a good couple of hours leaping from rocks into the turquoise waters and enjoying the view over the falls below. After feeding and stroking the tiger on the way back down (apparently caged to protect it from hunters), the four of us ate lunch together (spicy papaya salad and grilled fish). On the way back into town, we stopped off at Therp's village where his uncle climbed a tree and brought down some coconuts for us to drink from. This was one of the most enjoyable days I've ever had. I was just amazed at how hospitable people were to me, how welcome they made me feel, and how incredibly happy they seemed to be, despite having so little in the way of material possessions.

© 2007 Andrew McCargow