Same Same...But Different

The best part about Southeast Asian trains is the bathroom.  There is simple honesty in the hole cut in the floor, which allows you to watch the railroad ties whip by as you relieve yourself.  There is no pretense that excrement will be collected or treated - it is quite clear where it will end up.

After a string of urban haunts, we were ready to escape the bustle of Bangkok.  We rode the rails north to the former capital of Siam, Ayutthaya.  In its day, the city was a powerhouse, boasting one million residents in 1685 (about double London's population at the time).  This all ended when the Burmese sacked the capital in 1767.  We spent a day exploring the eerie remains, including many striking wats (temples) and crumbling Buddha statues.  At dusk, local monks in their striking orange robes wandered the grounds with us, politely declining the Christmas cookies we offered.  At dinner on the Pasak River, mammoth bats fanned out like flying puppies for a night of hunting under a full moon.

An overnight train spirited us north to Chiang Mai, where we took the much ballyhooed trek to visit the hill tribe people.  Though purported to educate us on the tribe's customs and way of life, there was precious little of this provided by our guide.  Instead of glimpses into the lives of villagers untouched by the modern world, as advertised, our only contact with the locals was when they were peddling trinkets or beer.  The highlight of the experience was watching our guide catch the frogs and rats that served as his dinner.  We also rode elephants and braved a river atop a bamboo raft.  Even these unique experiences were oversold and underdelivered.  Thailand was a vexing place.

 

Matters improved markedly when we crossed the border into Laos, thus the title of this post (citing a ubiquitous local saying).  Tourism is much less developed here, leaving more natural, untarnished beauty and a population intrigued by and genuinely friendly towards foreigners.  Plus, our initial trip to the ATM delivered delightful news...for the first time, we were millionaires.  And boom goes the dynamite.  With ~8000 kip (the local currency) equivalent to one US dollar, it only takes about $125 for an account to hit seven digits, but the ATM receipt with our balance still became a treasured souvenir.

We spent our first two days on an appropriately named "slow boat" cruising the Mekong River.  The river has long been the country's primary transportation corridor, with roads coming slowly through the jungle-covered mountains.  The leisurely pace allowed us to observe riverside agriculture, local fishermen working their nets, and tiny thatch villages connected to the rest of the world solely by the river.  Long periods of silence and calm but for the droning engine were punctuated by frantic stops that found our vessel thronged by sales-children hawking everything from drinks to scarves to freshly snared mammals and fish-on-a-stick.

 

 

Our boat trip terminated in the amazing, temple-bedecked town of Louang Prabang.  There we had a few days exploring the well-preserved wats, indulging in the tasty restaurants, and appreciating the relaxed nature of the residents.  One highlight was walking through the local open-air market, filled with exotic fruits, live fish and toads, extremely dead fish being filleted on the roadside, detached cow legs, maggots, etc.  It was stomach-churning, but rewarding to see "real life" after the contrived sights of Thailand.  Our other high point came at sunset when we serendipitously found ourselves outside of Wat Nang as the monks did their nightly prayers.  The rise and fall of the chorus of holy voices pouring out mantras as the last sun rays glinted off the golden roof was nothing short of magical.

A winding 8-hour minibus ride through bandit country delivered us to our next stop, the town of Vang Vieng.  Here we took a full-day excursion into the amazing jungle-covered, round-topped mountains that fill the surrounding countryside.  First, we paddled inner tubes into a frigid stream flowing from a cave's gaping maw.  With giant battery packs slung around our necks to power the ancient headlamps we wore, we stowed the tubes and set off on foot (and knees) to explore the cave.  For about an hour, we walked, crawled, and shinnied through the stalactite-filled cavern.  Along the way, we spotted albino cave crickets, a mega millipede, and a spider the size of a dinner plate.  At one point we stopped and quenched our lamps to enjoy true darkness where we could see absolutely nothing.

After BBQ lunch, we set off on a quiet kayak paddle down a peaceful river.  Vang Vieng is a tubing haven for intrepid backpackers and our river experience changed dramatically as we hit the tubing headwaters.  All of the sudden the banks were covered by bars filled with writhing, bathing suit clad kids getting all kinds of wasted.  With little in the way of liability laws, each bar has a towering rope swing, zip line, or water slide into the river.  Bodies were flying in all directions as the bass thumped and free shots of whiskey went down.

Carolyn hit the high rope swing to show the youngsters that old coots still know how to have fun.  We highly enjoyed watching the novice zip-liners ride to the stopper device at the end of the line and get thrown head over heels.  After paddling back to town, we treated ourselves to our first massages of the trip, shelling out $4 each on hour-long rubdowns.




Our last destination in Laos was the capital city of Vientiene.  Our masterstroke here was devising a way to attend a portion of the 25th annual South East Asian Games in progress in the city.  A veritable SE Asian Olympics, these were on TV everywhere in Laos during our stay and we wanted a piece of the action.  Our foremost goal was to watch a sport we had never seen before, so we sought out the soccer/volleyball hybrid called Sepak Takraw.  It took lots of stops to ask the locals, but after a few tuk tuk rides we found the stadium.  The seating area was packed and sweltering, but we got to see incredible over-the-net bicycle kicking action in both the women's and men's 3-person finals.  For the men's game, we sat on the floor three people away from the court.  This gave us great views of the action and we even caught a "foul ball" at one point.  It was unique to see athletes so specialized and skilled at a sport that doesn't even exist in the U.S.





Thanks for your patience as we struggled to find the internet bandwidth to make this post.  The last few weeks hold many more tales and we will share them as soon as we are practically able.

P.S.  Jason - we hope you liked all the video, which was provided per your repeated requests!