As planned after Pakse I got a bus North to Vientiane, capital city of Laos. Even though it’s a capital city the relaxed feeling was still there and I just realised the whole of Laos might be this way. I met up with my friend Michiko and until today (writing from Chiang Mai, Thailand) we’ve been traveling together. In Vientiane the activities are quite limited but we did visit the COPE centre which is helping locals suffering from landmine injuries with prosthetic limbs (not sure this is very good English but it is very specific vocabulary so I’m a bit lost.) this organisation is truly amazing. The exhibition was excellent and totally free. Little did I know about the history of Laos and the very heavy bombings they endured during Vietnam war from the US trying to stop Vietnamese using the border. It was a very instructive, really well done exhibition, we just took two hours to find it as we decided to walk there from our hostel and got a bit lost on the way, under the heat as usual… We also visited some temples and the night market but apart from that and trying out excellent restaurants it was time after 3 or 4 days to go on. I kind of chicken out on stopping in Vang Vieng as it is a place where most people go to get full drunk and do tubing (some kind of water activity in the river which if you’re drunk becomes increasingly dangerous specifically in shallow waters during dry season) and I think Michiko who doesn’t drink, or drink much wouldn’t have had much fun either.
Anyway, we made our way to Luang Prabang in a comfortable night sleeper bus which decided to break down at 6am so we finished the road in another bus that was already almost full and had to sit on the floor of the upper deck for 3hours… just a new experience for me but I was just happy to get to my destination! Luang Prabang: a touristic but magical place! Tropical mountain landscapes, beautiful city (UNESCO heritage), the best French bread I’ve had in a year and other delicacies from my native country, more or less due to the heritage of colonial France and expats having set up their business there). Lao food is very good too of course but can be very spicy. We actually decided to stay a week in Luang Prabang. We had a cheap room in a guesthouse which was actually a family house, turned guesthouse. Once again, people were really nice! We woke up early to see the alms ceremony with the orange dressed monks getting breakfast food from offrands by locals in the street, visited amazingly beautiful waterfalls and again went on the night market almost every night! This market was the most relaxed market I’ve ever seen. It was very enjoyable to stay in this town for a little longer than usual without having to pack again so soon. It’s such a pretty city that even when you get stuck by the heat you still enjoy the beautiful surroundings. We suffered a bit from the heat as we slept most days in a room with a fan (no AC) on the first and top floor of the guesthouse. We actually decided on more than one occasion to spend some more time at a café close by, just to cool down under the AC unit and iced tea or fruit shake in hand! We got to see really nice sunsets from the top of the hill near the temple and also on the banks of the Mekong river. Luang Prabang was also a place where we met a really nice Argentinian traveller and so the three of us shared most of our time together for activities, also sharing tuktuk prices! and chatted to exchange tips about our respective onward travel plans. And we also got to meet locals, in particular one guy who started to chat with us on the market where his sister works and sells fruit shakes, it was quite interesting to chat with him as he was educated in a temple and was for some time a monk as so many we saw. I guess it a little like going to a private catholic school in Europe except it is a different religion with different “rules” and you are wearing very distinctive clothes but your life is different as you do have quite a few restrictions and I think you live away from your family. But most of these are assumptions so this comparison is just my way to try to figure it out…
In Luang Prabang something amazing happened… and it proves how small the world is. On the night market, I met again a French family that I had first met in…. Buenos Aires, Argentina!!! The family is composed of the two parents and three kids (2 girls and one boy, aged between 6 and 12). We had spent time together at our hostel in Buenos Aires chatting at night over a glass of wine (wine for adults only of course! Hehe). I knew they had planned to also go to Australia but didn’t know for how long and knew even less the rest of their plan. Neither could they guess how long I’d stay in Australia as I didn’t know myself at the time we met. So it was really fun to find them there by pure coincidence! i'm used to meet other travellers again and again when visiting a specific region of the world, but from a different continent, crossing an ocean I really think this is special, a good surprise!
I think I didn’t realise whilst in Cambodia that one of the things that shocked me there was child labour, a lot of kids are sent by their parents to sell stuff to tourists instead of going to school. I didn’t talk about it before because I thought it could also be related to "economics" but Laos is also a nation that isn’t very reach and actually classified as one of the poorest (although to me Cambodia seemed a lot poorer) but I really appreciated the fact that in Laos children are protected and cherished by their parents. The sense of family felt very strong there and little ones can grow up actually being children, without having to understand too early what money and making money is about.
I think Laos is one of the nicest country to visit, not only for its culture, nature, humble and welcoming people but also because it’s the perfect combination of how touristy a place can get. It’s not so much about the number of travellers either but the kind of travellers and foreign businesses in the country. Laos still has a majority of local businesses and a few foreign ones (might have a connection to communist government… didn’t see a single American brand there. No yellow clown restaurant around!). I’m writing all this because I am now discovering Thailand and getting back to a more heavily touristed country. So far so good, but the difference is huge of course, the kind of travellers is different (I’m talking about old white haired white men going for really, really young Thai women, sometimes girls… sorry for judging but I personally finds this disgusting) and a lot of businesses are foreign, more American and English big brands on the street. Of course I can’t compare it but it’s just the transition time between two countries that makes me realise all this stuff.
So I’m now in Thailand, in the North in the city of Chiang Mai. After visiting the city together and spending a really nice day today at an elephant rescue centre, it was time to say goodbye to Michiko who flew away to go to Bali. I’m going to Bangkok tomorrow, travelling by myself again and trying the Thai trains! I haven’t been on a long distance train since Australia. Otherwise just as a note, the situation in Thailand so far is very calm, in Chiang Mai the only noticeable thing is about the army staying all day and night in the city centre on the main square, leaving enough space for the market when it happens, and of course the curfew which is at 12 at night anyway. I think it should be the same in Bangkok but will just have to stay away from protest areas to be clear of any trouble.
It’s weird to think that Thailand is my last destination before going back to Europe and finding again a more normal way of life, I’m still pretty excited about going home with this amazing journey to think about for the rest of my life, I feel extremely lucky and it is not quite finished yet but I know there will always be room for more if my feet start itching again from something else than mosquito bites.
I think I’ll write the blog again a few more times until there is no travel adventure to write about , so this isn’t the last post but the writing will most probably end when the journey gets to a close.
