more in Laos
This could be a long one. So much has happened and I often don't know how to do it justice. Ok, well just for the basics, I spent 5 nights ultimately in Luang Prabang, then I took a bus for around 3-4 hours to Nong Khiaw, spent a night there, took a boat to Muang Khua, spent a night there, then took a bus today to Oudomxai. Tomorrow I will take a bus 3-4 hours to the China border which I will cross on foot, then catch another bus to Mengla, in southern Yunnan province of China.
Now for the good stuff. I just don't even know where to begin. In Nong Khiaw, I stayed in a bungalow. It's a small village along the Nam Ou river. There were a few other foreigners (falang) running around. A lot of folks go to this village then continue an hour upriver to a town called Muang Ngoi which is somewhat of a touristy place in the area, which means they have a few more cafes catering to westerners and a bunch of guesthouses. Both these places are dusty and small. There are chickens everywhere. Baby chickens too.
About animals in Laos, there are dogs and cats running around all over the place. Kittens and puppies are common. I'm guessing spaying isn't exactly a priority. Livestock is common. I see water buffalo a lot. Also something that looks like a water buffalo but is pink. Cows are reasonably common too, often with the typical giant bell around the neck. They are often standing in the middle of the road between cities and the buses honk at them to get out of the way. Chickens and ducks also wander the roads freely. Sometimes it is clear to whom they belong, but in villages they just sort of wander everywhere. Today I saw a small monkey-like creature playing with some girls. It seemed to be a pet as far as I could tell and quite domesticated.
Then we talk about the bugs. I must admit, I'm a bit squeamish bugs. Not phobic or anything, but I don't particularly enjoy them crawling on me and I'd say find it discomforting in proportion to their size. In Nong Khiaw I was sitting at an outdoorsish cafe talking and eating with some people and of course there are all manner of flying insects investigating our edibility. Periodically beetles fall from the heavens or ceiling and land on you. You just sort of get used to removing them, though I never quite got used to the ones falling into my hair. You never think you've gotten them out so I walk around with a permanent afro from raking my fingers through my hair to make sure. I tried to buy a hat in Louang Prabang, mostly for the sun but it would've been handy for this as well, but apparently they don't make heads here as large as mine. Me and the Lao hat girl I spoke with had a laugh over that, trying to squeeze any of her hats onto my orb-like cranium. Failure.
Anyway, I stayed in this bungalow under a mosquito net. There was a squat toilet in a sort-of walled off section of the room. I awoke in the middle of the night to use that, put on my flip-flops, and immediated noticed in my sleep-like haze that clearly something was biting me. A lot. Lights on, glasses on, lots of ants. Apparently the giant spider I subsequently noticed in the bathroom was full and not doing any good. I got them all off but for the next 30-40 minutes in my bed was convinced they were still on me. I looked like a 60s rock star having a bad trip I'm sure. At least the impressively large cockroaches skittered out of the way and left me be. I tucked the mosquito net into the bedframe extra well that night.
You know in the movies, the roosters always crow at key times like dawn. As it turns out this is a lie. Sorry for being such a city slicker and not knowing this, but hey I grew up in the suburbs, what do you expect? As it turns out, it is more like every 10 seconds starting at 3am or so. This is not picturesque either as it is in the movies. It is right outside my window, and it's usually say 50 roosters village-wide trying to outdo each other. I think there are almost as many roosters in Nong Khiaw as people. They panic easy too. They don't attack, but if you come within a few feet of one, sometimes it pretends to ignore you, then all of a sudden flaps its wings and makes a break for no direction in particular. Fortunately, there is something innately comical to me about roosters and chickens so I never felt particularly threatened. It's also weird watching cats and other animals that we in the west consider traditionally domestic associate with livestock. I saw dogs herding goats and things like that, which I suppose is common enough in farm settings but not something I get to see all that often in the east village. Ok in Chinatown maybe it'd be less far-fetched, but not really.
I took a 6 hour boatride from Nong Khiaw up to Muang Khua. Very nice scenery. Similar to my trip down the Lijiang river in China, though the limestone "karst" scenery isn't quite as overwhelming. That said, it is awful green and certainly beautiful in its own right. I rode upriver with Teresa, a girl from Ireland I'd met in Nong Khiaw and with the boat pilot and his wife. We had a few locals with us at various times, some of whom got off at smaller villages en route to Muang Khua and others whom got on for various portions of the journey. Transport is not exactly reliable here. We'd often pass broken down boats and the day before I'd often pass broken down buses and the drivers stop, offer assistance, and offer to take on any stranded passengers.
The notion of a schedule is very loose here. When I arrived at the Luang Prabang bus station that day to go to Nong Khiaw, I had been told there was a 12pm bus. I rolled in and at that time there were only 2 people ready to go, so they told me they'd be waiting for more people. I asked how long. They said, maybe 3, maybe 4pm. Aha. Most transport in Laos works this way. There's some number of buses that go each day, or in some cases every few days, and you just sort of know the general time it might roll by and you can hop on. When I was in Nong Khiaw, I met a girl from Chile who was headed over the Vietnam border. She was told that a bus would come by around 9 heading her way. Sure enough, give or take an hour, the bus rolled past us and she hopped on to the amusement of myself and the packed bus full of locals, all of whom were headed that way. Her destination was 15 hours east or so. Teresa, the Irish girl, told me of a bus ride she'd shared with locals and their livestock, and said there was a goat under her seat that she prayed wouldn't eat her bag. I guess we often prepare for things like rain, but I wonder if the companies making backpacks have considered the need for goat-proof bags. Perhaps there's a fortune to be made.
Last night was one of my favorite nights in Laos. Me and Teresa were looking for food. The first place spoke no English and when I asked them for vegetarian food in Lao, they said they had none. I decided not to pursue it and seek out another place. We found a darkened garage/kitchen nearby and wandered in as they were one of the only places that looked as if they might have food. These are dirt and rock paths in a small village mind you, there's not exactly a lot of options. So I did my best with the Lao I've picked up and my phrasebook. At one point a guy rolled in who spoke a modicum of English, the only guy in town from what I heard who can speak. He learned when he was a monk in Luang Prabang. He helped us confirm and when the dust had cleared, we had a splendid vegetarian meal shared with two Vietnamese guys who come quite often to do some sort of purchasing or trading. The 9-language phrasebook I brought with me was really worth the price of admission. So we sat and talked and smoked and drank Beer Lao with all these people. Across the street there was some kind of domestic dispute which provided the entertainment. In the end, the husband of the cook arrived from a trip to Vietnam and he spoke some Chinese which was just wonderful after struggling to communicate for hours. We did well after that and overall it was just a super evening with a local family and some friends and lots of smiles to go around. I felt very lucky to have stumbled into this tiny little corner of Laos very much by accident.
I'm thinking the electricity is going to go off soon here. Usually in this part of Laos it runs from 6-10pm, so I feel fortunate to have had time to do this much. The last few villages have handed me a candle before I go up to my room. I also want to try to charge my ipod tonight before the power goes out so I can have it on the busride tomorrow to the Chinese border. I totally have more stories and will write more again soon, I think that's enough to digest for now. These adventures aside, NYC is often in my thoughts, especially in leech-infested waters and cockroach-infested bungalows. See you all soon.
Now for the good stuff. I just don't even know where to begin. In Nong Khiaw, I stayed in a bungalow. It's a small village along the Nam Ou river. There were a few other foreigners (falang) running around. A lot of folks go to this village then continue an hour upriver to a town called Muang Ngoi which is somewhat of a touristy place in the area, which means they have a few more cafes catering to westerners and a bunch of guesthouses. Both these places are dusty and small. There are chickens everywhere. Baby chickens too.
About animals in Laos, there are dogs and cats running around all over the place. Kittens and puppies are common. I'm guessing spaying isn't exactly a priority. Livestock is common. I see water buffalo a lot. Also something that looks like a water buffalo but is pink. Cows are reasonably common too, often with the typical giant bell around the neck. They are often standing in the middle of the road between cities and the buses honk at them to get out of the way. Chickens and ducks also wander the roads freely. Sometimes it is clear to whom they belong, but in villages they just sort of wander everywhere. Today I saw a small monkey-like creature playing with some girls. It seemed to be a pet as far as I could tell and quite domesticated.
Then we talk about the bugs. I must admit, I'm a bit squeamish bugs. Not phobic or anything, but I don't particularly enjoy them crawling on me and I'd say find it discomforting in proportion to their size. In Nong Khiaw I was sitting at an outdoorsish cafe talking and eating with some people and of course there are all manner of flying insects investigating our edibility. Periodically beetles fall from the heavens or ceiling and land on you. You just sort of get used to removing them, though I never quite got used to the ones falling into my hair. You never think you've gotten them out so I walk around with a permanent afro from raking my fingers through my hair to make sure. I tried to buy a hat in Louang Prabang, mostly for the sun but it would've been handy for this as well, but apparently they don't make heads here as large as mine. Me and the Lao hat girl I spoke with had a laugh over that, trying to squeeze any of her hats onto my orb-like cranium. Failure.
Anyway, I stayed in this bungalow under a mosquito net. There was a squat toilet in a sort-of walled off section of the room. I awoke in the middle of the night to use that, put on my flip-flops, and immediated noticed in my sleep-like haze that clearly something was biting me. A lot. Lights on, glasses on, lots of ants. Apparently the giant spider I subsequently noticed in the bathroom was full and not doing any good. I got them all off but for the next 30-40 minutes in my bed was convinced they were still on me. I looked like a 60s rock star having a bad trip I'm sure. At least the impressively large cockroaches skittered out of the way and left me be. I tucked the mosquito net into the bedframe extra well that night.
You know in the movies, the roosters always crow at key times like dawn. As it turns out this is a lie. Sorry for being such a city slicker and not knowing this, but hey I grew up in the suburbs, what do you expect? As it turns out, it is more like every 10 seconds starting at 3am or so. This is not picturesque either as it is in the movies. It is right outside my window, and it's usually say 50 roosters village-wide trying to outdo each other. I think there are almost as many roosters in Nong Khiaw as people. They panic easy too. They don't attack, but if you come within a few feet of one, sometimes it pretends to ignore you, then all of a sudden flaps its wings and makes a break for no direction in particular. Fortunately, there is something innately comical to me about roosters and chickens so I never felt particularly threatened. It's also weird watching cats and other animals that we in the west consider traditionally domestic associate with livestock. I saw dogs herding goats and things like that, which I suppose is common enough in farm settings but not something I get to see all that often in the east village. Ok in Chinatown maybe it'd be less far-fetched, but not really.
I took a 6 hour boatride from Nong Khiaw up to Muang Khua. Very nice scenery. Similar to my trip down the Lijiang river in China, though the limestone "karst" scenery isn't quite as overwhelming. That said, it is awful green and certainly beautiful in its own right. I rode upriver with Teresa, a girl from Ireland I'd met in Nong Khiaw and with the boat pilot and his wife. We had a few locals with us at various times, some of whom got off at smaller villages en route to Muang Khua and others whom got on for various portions of the journey. Transport is not exactly reliable here. We'd often pass broken down boats and the day before I'd often pass broken down buses and the drivers stop, offer assistance, and offer to take on any stranded passengers.
The notion of a schedule is very loose here. When I arrived at the Luang Prabang bus station that day to go to Nong Khiaw, I had been told there was a 12pm bus. I rolled in and at that time there were only 2 people ready to go, so they told me they'd be waiting for more people. I asked how long. They said, maybe 3, maybe 4pm. Aha. Most transport in Laos works this way. There's some number of buses that go each day, or in some cases every few days, and you just sort of know the general time it might roll by and you can hop on. When I was in Nong Khiaw, I met a girl from Chile who was headed over the Vietnam border. She was told that a bus would come by around 9 heading her way. Sure enough, give or take an hour, the bus rolled past us and she hopped on to the amusement of myself and the packed bus full of locals, all of whom were headed that way. Her destination was 15 hours east or so. Teresa, the Irish girl, told me of a bus ride she'd shared with locals and their livestock, and said there was a goat under her seat that she prayed wouldn't eat her bag. I guess we often prepare for things like rain, but I wonder if the companies making backpacks have considered the need for goat-proof bags. Perhaps there's a fortune to be made.
Last night was one of my favorite nights in Laos. Me and Teresa were looking for food. The first place spoke no English and when I asked them for vegetarian food in Lao, they said they had none. I decided not to pursue it and seek out another place. We found a darkened garage/kitchen nearby and wandered in as they were one of the only places that looked as if they might have food. These are dirt and rock paths in a small village mind you, there's not exactly a lot of options. So I did my best with the Lao I've picked up and my phrasebook. At one point a guy rolled in who spoke a modicum of English, the only guy in town from what I heard who can speak. He learned when he was a monk in Luang Prabang. He helped us confirm and when the dust had cleared, we had a splendid vegetarian meal shared with two Vietnamese guys who come quite often to do some sort of purchasing or trading. The 9-language phrasebook I brought with me was really worth the price of admission. So we sat and talked and smoked and drank Beer Lao with all these people. Across the street there was some kind of domestic dispute which provided the entertainment. In the end, the husband of the cook arrived from a trip to Vietnam and he spoke some Chinese which was just wonderful after struggling to communicate for hours. We did well after that and overall it was just a super evening with a local family and some friends and lots of smiles to go around. I felt very lucky to have stumbled into this tiny little corner of Laos very much by accident.
I'm thinking the electricity is going to go off soon here. Usually in this part of Laos it runs from 6-10pm, so I feel fortunate to have had time to do this much. The last few villages have handed me a candle before I go up to my room. I also want to try to charge my ipod tonight before the power goes out so I can have it on the busride tomorrow to the Chinese border. I totally have more stories and will write more again soon, I think that's enough to digest for now. These adventures aside, NYC is often in my thoughts, especially in leech-infested waters and cockroach-infested bungalows. See you all soon.
posted by Dan at 5:54 AM
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