A Glorious Week in Laos

Sabaidi!  [Hello in Laos]

In continuation of our adventurous border crossing post, we spent an amazing week in Northern Laos.  The night we arrived, we stayed in Hoay Xai – a quaint little town just across the border.  We had a nice dinner, experienced one heckuva thunderstorm and went to bed rather early, anticipating our next two days on a slow boat.

The slow boat fit close to 100 passengers (it’s about 140 feet long and not more than 12 feet wide); however, we were lucky to have it as a private trip for our group of about 15 people.  A family owns and operates it – a husband/wife and their three young kids (plus a bun in the oven).  This was a relaxing couple of days – slowly drifting down the Mekong River towards Luang Prabang.  We had no Internet (oh, the humanity of it all!!) so were able to catch up on reading, converse with our fellow travelers, play cards, drink local whiskey and just kick back and relax.

We stopped for a night in a local, secluded village.  The village is about 300 years old and has roughly 280 members.  The villagers are mostly subsistence farmers but some have found outside employment.  What they lack in resources, our new friends more than make up in generosity, humility (before Buddha) and enthusiasm.  Despite the poverty of Laos, the villagers all have proper homes with brick walls and running water.  We even spotted a few satellite dishes.

Upon our arrival, we gathered in what appeared to be their town hall.  The village elders welcomed us with a Baci (welcoming ceremony) where each of them tied MANY cotton bracelets on us and blessed us to ensure a safe and successful journey.  We also consumed MANY shots of local Laos Whiskey (made from sticky rice) – at least four in total, one for each arm and leg.  The villagers sang us traditional songs and then it was our turn to reciprocate.  Our original thought was Bohemian Rhapsody but too many of our group didn’t know the words.  E then had a brain storm and we quickly settled on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star – including the hand movements.  Sidebar – Everybody knows Twinkle Twinkle, right?  Apparently, the non-native English speakers had never heard the song so we had to quickly teach them the lyrics.  The villagers couldn’t sing but they had fun with the hand movements.

Although we couldn’t communicate with the locals – we joined in some traditional Laotian dances to their traditional music.  After a bit, our tour leader ran up to S and said that the villagers wanted to hear our music.  After a little bit of panic (given that S’s phone has lots of …rock and heavy metal), he finally settled on shuffling the Black Eyed Peas.  While our tour group danced the night away, the villagers eyed us like crazy people.  After lots of begging we got some of the older women and teenage girls to join us…though they did so with giggles and reluctantly.

When it came time for “lights out,” we were separated into groups of 3 and escorted into individual villager’s homes for the night.  They were excellent hosts.  In the middle of the night, some strong thunderstorms blew through the village.  The roofs of the huts are formed with corrugated metal – just imagine the sound and volume as the rain came down in sheets.  Although this made sleep impossible – we loved every minute of it.

After returning to our slow boat, we continued our drift down the Mekong River to Luang Prabang.  The quintessential no stop light town is a haven for backpackers and travelers.  Over the next two days, we went swimming in a beautiful series of waterfalls and had the opportunity to be rice farmers for half a day – where we learned and actively participated in all 14 steps of producing sticky rice (including walking barefoot in the 1 ½ foot thick mud and guiding an ox in tilling the mud patty).

From Luang Prabang, we hopped on a bus and drove to Vang Vieng.  The natural beauty of Laos generally and Vang Vieng specifically can’t be understated.  The town features a backdrop of tall pointy mountains, a slow-moving river and a lush green landscape.  We LOVED it here and wish we could have hopped off the bus for a few more days.  The first afternoon, we went swimming in a blue lagoon.

The highlight of Vang Vieng was the river tubing trip the next day.  Think barhopping and tubing all in one.  It takes about three hours if you don’t stop along the way; however, the bar owners along the river bank make it all too easy to stop.  They toss weighted water bottles attached to ropes to you – and pull you into the bank.  The bars were a blast – full of loud music, cheap drinks and warm food.  Each bar has a slightly different vibe – one had a field in which we played frisbee and soccer, one had a platform that allowed us to dive into a deep spot in the river, one had an elevated platform where we played flip cup and beer pong with the locals.  Note that the locals played beer pong with Lao whiskey while the visitors played with lemon drop shots.  Then you go back into the river, float until you see the next bar – and this repeats a few times.  The slate walls and mountains make for a beautiful landscape and reward a slow float down the river…until sunset anyways when one needs to quickly exit the water and the quickly chilling night air.

We were surprised to see how “open” Vang Vieng was.  Although Laos is a communist country, you could buy nitrous oxide (think laughing gas) balloons from bars, magic mushroom shakes on the street, venture into a “space bar” and order all sorts of drugs openly off a menu for public consumption.  Sorry to disappoint you, but we stuck to beer and the local rice whiskey.

Bars in Laos seem to welcome bar hoppers.  Many bars regularly feature free drinks for an hour – say from 8-9pm or 9-10pm.  We noticed this promotion in more than one town in Laos.  We don’t fully understand it, but it seems to work for the local bars.

We were sad to leave this town; the vibe of the town and the natural beauty are mesmerizing.  Many from our backpacking tour stayed behind to climb the mountains for the epic views of the valleys below.  Given our flights to Vietnam, we had to continue our journey to Vientiane, the capital city and our final stop in Loas.  Vientiane feels like a big city complete with tourist attractions, the Presidential Palace and other government buildings.  We visited the COPE center, a non-profit organization that educates visitors and raises awareness for victims of UXO (unexploded ordinance) and the secret war.  For those of you who are not aware, more 200 tons of munitions were dropped on Laos by The United States (to disrupt the Ho Chi Minh trail which veered from Vietnam into Laos).  Much of which remain tragically undetonated.  Laotian villagers are routinely maimed and killed by the bombs (which are being harvested as scrap metal for much needed income) when they detonate half a century later.

To end on a more positive note, we want to stress how much we enjoyed Laos, and ask that you please put this gem on your list of places to visit in Southeast Asia.  Most people have been to Thailand and Vietnam, but Laos is the friendly, less developed version of both.  It remains undisturbed by consumerism and friendlier for tourists wanting the local experience (THERE ARE NO CHAIN STORES IN LAOS – THANK HEAVENS).  Beer and food are more expensive than Thailand but everything else is cheaper.  The natural beauty is stunning, and the humility of the people is inviting.

The danger of planning a trip like ours is that we get the time allocations wrong.  We would heartily steal time from other places and reallocate it to Laos.

Khobchailailai [Thank you very much in Laos]