And hello to all you you people who keep coming back to punish yourself with my blog. You masochists, you. This little blog, which will probably turn into a not so little blog during the course of the 2 hours I plan on spending writing it is coming to you from a new country. Vietnam is done... for now.
A week and a day ago I left the city of Hanoi on a train bound for Vinh (still in Vietnam by the way). I was literally the only tourist on this train and I was treated as somewhat of a celebrity by the locals who plied me with rice whiskey and wanted to know everything about me. All of the time trying to communicate with hand signals as not one of them spoke a word of English. In Vinh the experience was continued as I was, once again, the only tourist there. On a routine wander around after arrival I was invited to sit with some locals who bought me beer and gave me tofu and peanuts. I couldn't stay long however as I had to get up early to catch the bus to Phonsavan (in Laos).
The bus for Phonsavan departed really early and was scheduled to take 10 hours, including the border crossing. As is the norm, it took roughly 12 hours excluding the border crossing. And I managed to sit next to the World Champ at Personal Space Invasion for the whole journey. Just my luck.
The border crossing was nothing short of epic. To get to the border one has to drive 25km up a spectacular mountain pass. The bus drove up the pass in bright sunshine and about a minute before reached the crest the heavens opened in a downpour second to none. At the border post it was raining so hard that the road had turned into a temporary river. Regulations stop the bus from driving right up to the Vietnamese side's entrance, so I had to run about 150m in the heaviest rain I have ever seen. By the time I reached the border post, 20 seconds later, I was soaked. I had wanted to take pictures of the crossing, but as you can imagine getting a camera out in a downpour in not the easiest or the best advised thing to do. I put my passport on the top of the pile of passports in from of the Vietnamese official and it got handled first and given back to me. Somehow the rain had stopped and I meandered over to the Laos side and got my visa without hassle.
Laos is a beautiful country. If not the most beautiful country I have ever seen. The drive through the mountains to Phonsavan proved it. Laos is lush and around every turn there is a stunning view down a valley or of a mountain. But more on that later.
The most beautiful country? |
One of the better-preserved Jars |
An idea of scale |
Sadly once you've seen the Plain of Jars you've pretty much done everything in Phonsavan worth doing. After a morning in amongst the the Jars I headed back to Phonsavan and booked my ticket to Luang Prabang for the next day. About 5 minutes after I arrived back the rain started up and didn't stop until the evening. It was such luck that I was able to see the Jars in a dry part of a day that was 90% rain.
Lao time is unlike any other time (African-, me-, etc). If you think African time is slow, add 20% to that and you'll get Laos time. "How long will the bus take to get to Luang Prabang?" I asked.
"About 6 hours. You leave at 7 AM and get there around 3 o'clock." came the reply.
"Sounds good to me."
After nine hours on the bus you're thinking, "Where the fuck is this place?"
And then, mercifully, 10 and a half hours after departure, you see it. Way off in the distance, but it's there. You can almost touch it...
Nope.
Another hour, thank you very much.
Every road in Luang Prabang looks like this. |
But rushing around and trying to see everything is just not on. This is Laos after all. You must meander, with a book in hand, through the streets and alleys. Stopping as often as possible to read that book or sit in silence and watch the Mekong river do it's thing. There are Wat all over the place in Luang Prabang and you'll almost certainly be 'watted out' by the end of your stay. (Wat are buddhist temples, by the way).
Wat wat? |
The night market |
On another of the days which didn't rain I headed out of town to see what I could find, away from other tourists. I found a place with looms set up and women weaving away. It was incredible to see how much effort goes into making those beautiful cloths that we barter so furiously over. It makes you wonder how they can sell those cloths so cheaply, hundreds of hours go into making a single cloth. It was a humbling experience and it put a lot of what I've seen into perspective. The sheer amount of effort that goes into it and yet we barter so hard over what, in our currencies, amounts to mere cents.
After visiting the weaving centre I headed back into the city's heart and found a shady spot to read away the afternoon. It seems that the most I did in Luang Prabang was eat, read, and walk. That night I went back to the night market, this time armed with a camera for some more trigger-finger stretching. The next morning I would jump on a bus to Vientiane - the capital of Laos and where I am writing this blog post from.
Luang Prabang will definitely go down as one of my favourite cities in Southeast Asia. It is a beauty-filled city with friendly people and the most relaxed pace of life you will ever experience. It makes doing nothing a reward for doing very little and it laughs at you for taking life too seriously.
Kip jokes aren't as funny as dong...
...
...
...jokes
Oliver
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