When I last wrote, I had just arrived in Laos and was in the capital city of Vientiane. Since then, I have completed my whirlwind tour of Laos, consisting of lots of relaxation and finishing with a less-than-relaxing speed boat ride up the Mekong. I am now back in Bangkok, after going through Chiang Mai on my way back from Laos.
Sunday, 8/10/03
I woke up in the middle of the night, very groggy and confused. My first thought was "Where am I?" Once I remembered that I was in Vientaine, my second thought was "Where is the guy I'm travelling with?" After realizing that there was no such person, I settled back in to sleep. However, I couldn't, because I had the eerie feeling that there was someone else in the room. I looked around, but there was no one there. Yet I couldn't get over the feeling that there was someone--or something--between me and the bathroom door. Oooooooooo. Spoooooky. Mind you, I was still half asleep, and the thought that went through my mind was "The more attention you give it, the more real it becomes." So I rolled over and went back to sleep. Yeah, I'm not that superstitious and can recognize a sleep-induced delusion when I have one. :)
I caught a bus out of Vientiane to Vang Vieng--a small city halfway to Luang Prabang. The ride was very nice. It started flat, with little towns and dirt roads leading off the main one. Then it got hilly and twisty. Little clusters of thatched houses dotted the roadway (one or two with satellite dishes.) It was pleasantly scenic, and--like pretty much all of Loas--very green.
I did not expect much from Vang Vieng, but was pleasantly surprised. It sits on a river and on the opposite banks are karst formations. These jutting tree-covered stone hills made a really cool backdrop to the river--particularly as the sun set and in the morning when they were covered with mist. There were some caves in the area that I had planned on hiking to if I had gotten there earlier in the day, but it was too late to do that.
The town of Vang Vieng is quite small. Other then the main highway through town, all of the roads were one lane. It did have plenty of restaurants and hotels. All-in-all, I think I liked Vang Vieng better than Vientiane or Luang Prabang.
Monday, 8/11/03
When I woke up, I decided to forgo cave exploration in favor of moving on to Luang Prabang, which was the reason I came to Laos in the first place. Again, the bus ride was very scenic--mountains, jungles, half-naked kids running and playing everywhere, thatched and wooden houses, rivers. The places we passed are the kinds of towns that they promise you when they sell you tours to hill tribe villages. (In reality, these tours end up taking you to gift shops that used to be hill tribe villages before tour groups started coming.) Laos has not had enough tourism to spoil it yet. (I've heard Myanmar [Burma] is even more unspoiled.)
It was a very talkative group on the bus, so there was a lot of conversation. I spent most of the time talking to Hoon--the Korean sculpture student sitting next to me.
When I got to Luang Prabang, I was a bit disappointed. Don't get me wrong, it is a great little city and I would recommend it. It is nestled at the confluence of the Mekong and another river. It is chock full of temples, which is why it was declared a UNESCO world heritage site. It is sedate, quiet, relaxed, easy-going, and attractive. I guess I was expecting something more like Ayuthya, Thailand where walking through town I was just bowled over by the overwhelming and abundant temple ruins. The temples in Luang Prabang are not as grand. Again, I liked Luang Prabang, and would recommend it, but my expectations were set pretty high by talking to people who had been there. To listen to them, you would think they had an orgasm as soon as the entered town.
I spent the remainder of the day wandering around Luang Prabang, talking to travel agents, using the net, and having dinner in a really nice French restaurant. (Laos seems to have some pretty good ones.)
Tuesday, 8/12/03
I booked travel out of town for the next day. I decided that I would go back to Thailand by continuing north rather than backtracking through Vientiane. This way, I could go back to Chiang Mai and surprise Nui on his birthday, which is Thursday or Friday depending on whether you go by the date on his birth certificate or not.
I just hung out, walked around, wrote some postcards sitting next to the river. (This is the river that is not the Mekong. The Mekong is not very scenic--wide and muddy. Kinda like the Mississippi.) It was starting to rain, so I went back to my hotel and finished reading the book I had borrowed from the hotel in Bangkok. (The book is called "Important Things That Don't Matter". It's pretty good--especially if you are nostalgic about the 80's.)
In the evening, I walked around to find a restaurant. On the way, a little boy (maybe 3 or 4 years old) trotted by, said "sabba dii" ("hello"), I said "sabba dii" back, and he kept on his way. He didn't stop and ask for anything, or get annoying--he just said "hello" and went on. Laos is cool like that.
I chose a restaurant near the river. I was the first person there, so I chose a prime spot on the veranda overlooking the river. It was a very nice--but not too expensive--restaurant. The staff were very friendly. Even wearing a sweaty T-shirt, dirty khakis, and a plastic calculator watch, I managed to get a feeling of sophistication. :) Dusk over the river turned to night with a light shower and a few flashes of lightning to illuminate the river. A very good, laid-back meal.
Wednesday, 8/13/03
I got up at 6am, packed and went to the speed boat pier to catch the boat to take me to the Thai border. When I got there, someone said "Hello" to me. It was Hoon, from the bus ride to Luang Prabang. He ended up traveling with me all day. The boat was supposed to leave at 8am, but we didn't leave until after 9am. The speedboats are just like the longtail boats in Bangkok. They are small, long and narrow, and not terribly comfortable. But they really move. According to Lonely Planet, they go 80 km/h (about 50 miles per hour.) They are extremely loud. (My ears were ringing after.) They can also be very dangerous. Hitting submerged objects or standing waves can cause them to capsize and seriously injur or kill the passengers. Each passenger got a crash helmet along with his life jacket. The ride was pretty cool, but a bit tense. The scenery was very green--the banks were fairly high most of the way, so I couldn't see very far except for the mountains in the background.
The thing that ruined the boat trip was the scam that the drivers pulled. A couple in another boat bought 4 tickets so they could have more room. Each boat holds 6 people, so with their extra tickets, they had 4 people in their boat. The driver of their boat removed a local person from their boat for no apparent reason before leaving, so the boat left with 3 people. The boat I was in also left with 3 people, which puzzled me. I knew there was no way they would make the whole trip with the boat half empty, so I figured we would pick up other passengers at another pier along the way. Nope. The boat with the couple that bought the extra tickets had "engine trouble" 5 minutes after we left. And what a lucky coincidence that our driver was looking behind him when the other boat pulled over to the river bank. And wasn't it just a miracle that both boats happened to be exactly half full so that we could stuff them into our boat and continue? So, this couple got screwed out of $50 worth of tickets. A brain damaged 5-year-old could see that this was a scam, and we all made the boat drivers perfectly aware that no one was idiot enough to believe it was anything else. But they would not take the couple back, and they would not continue until everything was moved into one boat. The couple was pissed, but once they realized there was nothing to be done, they settled in and decided to take action when we got where we were going. Even though I didn't get screwed, it just really pissed me off for the rest of the trip. Plus, it made me realize just how vulnerable we were. Our driver could just stop anywhere, with nothing for miles but jungle and river, and demand anything he wanted. Of course, if it came to that, we could easily pound the shit out of him and steal his boat until we got to the next dock, but that would embroil us in a big legal battle for days.
Half an hour before reaching our destination (it was a 6-hour trip) the engine on our boat started cutting out. The driver worked on the engine for the better part of an hour. We were all wondering if we were getting screwed over again--that is, was this engine trouble induced to scam us again. In the end, we went back downstream a little way, hiked up the bank to a little village, where we had to take a pickup truck the rest of the way to our destination. The boat driver tried to get us to pay for this taxi truck, but I made it clear that we paid him to get us there, and he was going to pay for this taxi, which eventually he did. I suspect he was in cahoots with the driver, and I was not going to fall for another scam if I could help it. On the ride there, I talked with the couple about how they were going to handle the rip-off. They were going to try to find the tourist police (which exist in these countries for just such situations) and report the boat drivers and see if they could get their money back. And more importantly, keep these assholes from pulling this kind of shit with other tourists. I gave them my phone number and e-mail in case they needed another witness.
Hoon and I took the ferry over to Thailand and caught a minibus. He took it as far as Chiang Rai and I went all the way to Chiang Mai. After arriving, checking in and showering, I walked over to the bar where Nui works, getting there just after midnight, to surprise him and
wish him a happy birthday. Having been up since 6am, riding in boats, bus, and pickup trucks, and getting scammed, I was extremely tired and crashed early.
Thursday, 08/14/03
Hung out and went bowling. I averaged over 150 which is pretty good for me. :) Hung out at Nui's bar and went dancing afterwards.
Friday, 08/15/03
I celebrated Nui's birthday at the bar with the rest of the bartenders. Later, we all went dancing again. Chiang Mai has much better dance bars than the ones I've seen in Bangkok.
Saturday, 08/16/03
Flew from Chiang Mai to Bangkok. I had only about 2 hours of sleep, so I crashed when I got there.
Sunday, 08/17/03
I went to the weekend market in Bangkok to look for used books. (No luck.) I met my friend Maan there and we had lunch together.
I was still a bit tired so I read most of the afternoon and went out for a late dinner. I was going to go out and meet some friends, but it was raining, so no one was out.
Monday, 08/18/03
I finally got a new PDA. I bought it online and had David C. in California ship it to me. I had to go to the post office to pick it up and pay duties/taxes. I paid $80 for the PDA and another $40 to get it to Thailand. It was still cheaper than buying a new one here.
I ended up getting sick again. Nothing major--just diarrhea again and a bit of whooziness. However, it took 2 doses of cipro to get rid of it this time. By the end of the day, I was fine. I had coffee and dinner with Jake. At midnight he wished me happy birthday and gave me a card.
Tuesday, 08/19/03
I turned 35 today. I spent all day hanging out with friends in Bangkok. I had lunch with Jake, coffee, dinner, and drinks with Komsan, more drinks with Maan, and dancing with Beer and Komsan. It was after 3am when I got home. All-in-all, a pretty good entry to midlife. :)
So, now I have to figure out where to go from here.
Oh, I forgot to mention in my last travelogue that before I left Bangkok for Laos, I had drinks with a famous Thai supermodel/actress. I was having drinks with friends in Bangkok and she knew one of them and joined us. I, of course, had no idea who she was until I was told later. A different friend had pointed her out the previous time I was in Bangkok, but I didn't recognize her.
Till next time.
Sid
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