Nong Khiaw was all about waking up to the Mekong at my front door, attending butterfly parties near the stream, hiking solo all day and greeting/ chatting with village kids along the way "Sabadee!" I saw a serenity here in the local people that is largely absent from back home. We are the so-called "land of the free" but what are we free to do? Work ourselves to death in jobs we hate to buy shit we don't need or have time to use? Sacrificing time with loved ones, u time away from our passions to climb this never-ending ladder disguised as "success" or even "normalcy"? I am in love with lazy Laos life and the freedom in their every day. As a customer, for the majority of the time you are in direct contact with the people benefitting from your services. Go to a guesthouse, it's run by a family that you have the chance to interact with, and you witness your dollars (or Kip) going right into that family's pocket. Same deal for going to eat, you may have to wake someone up from a nap to get service but usually another family member is present as well to serve you something they made in the kitchen, not some frozen processed bullshit. This is in sharp contrast from the corporate-driven consumer lifestyle of the West that I needn't go on a tangent about. Laos is unlike other poor nations I've been to in that they have a take it or leave it attitude toward travelers and aren't going to hound you for business. You want it, cool, if not, they don't care, they're napping in a hammock, or happily playing with their kids. Free to pick their noses and wedgies when desire strikes. Now this is freedom.
Back to Nong Khiaw and my perceived brush with danger! I walked a few kilometers to a cave and maneuvered over a sketchy bridge of sticks. I hadn't seen a soul for awhile, as this is a pretty rural area and low season for backpackers, but upon crossing the bridge to get to the cave, I notice a man standing, watching me as he smoked a cigarette. I nodded and passed by, then sensed he was following me a few paces behind. I spun around and he said hello, asked where I was from, if I was married, did I have siblings, etc. I entertained the first couple questions because a lot of local people just want to practice English, but I was soon put off. He asked "you go to the cave?" I asked "have you been?" He said "yes, we go" and started leading the way. I see now that the cave could be accessed by another path apart from the one I used and that this man was looking around. What the fuck... who was he, why was he initially waiting like that then following me, then asking profile-building type questions, and now leading me into a cave? Were some men going to approach by the other path and snatch me inside? Not a safe place for a girl to be with a stranger and I wasn't taking any chances. I gave some distance between he and I then abruptly turned and quickly walked away back over the stick bridge to the main road. I heard him call "hello?" but kept on trekking a couple more kilometers to the trail to waterfalls. Phew, I told myself, you could have been done for! No one knew where I was, the guesthouse didn't ask for my passport or anything, my remains could have been scattered around some field, never to be found...I shuddered and was thankful I got out of that mess. I met a French couple at the waterfalls and they asked if I had seen the cave yet. I said no, and they told me it was really interesting, that there is a man there who will guide you through the cave and teach you about how/where the local people hid there while the US mercilessly bombed the shit out of them during the Vietnam war. Oh how silly I felt, running away like that, intuition on high alert. Of course the man was there to help, not harm! As I was later told by a man who gave me a ride when I was lost in Pakse: "Laos people very good, always help." Ain't that the truth.
