Laos - 3rd to 19th April 2008

Introduction

Sabai dee (hello) to the final Asian country of the one year long second leg of our journey. And what a finale – emerald mountains and dramatic limestone peaks, a pristine rugged environment criss-crossed with rivers that idle and tumble into the massive Mekong River . Hard to imagine that just 40 years ago this country earned the distinction of being the most heavily bombed country on earth! Now it's gentle, relaxing with most of the country still surviving on subsistence village life – no smog laden metropolis's to fight through!

Background and History

Like all of South East Asian history, homo sapiens arrived here around 50 000years ago and their stone age technology evolved into hunter-gatherers and eventually cultivation about 10 000 years ago. Migration and the many tribes resulted in many principalities until warlord Fa Ngum united the area in the 14 th century, creating the first real Lao kingdom which waxed and waned under many kings until the 18 th century. The Siamese (Thai's) then controlled the area until the French negotiated for the territory east of the Mekong and Laos was born in 1893. After the Japanese invasion in WWII, France grated full sovereignty in 1953, but 20 years of chaos followed with the US carpet bombing the communist ambition. But after their withdrawal in 1973, the communists finally took over and today a ‘softened' form of socialism exists.

Our Experience

After our quiet border crossing from Cambodia into Laos ' far south, we made a lunch stop at a scenic spot where the Mekong channels into a narrow section, cascading over rapids. Bad news then arrived – Maaike had to rush home to Holland to be at her critically ill grandfather's side and we headed straight for the nearest town that had a border crossing with Thailand . By nightfall we had driven 370km from our last overnight stop and were in surprisingly structured Pakse staying at the Salachampa Hotel . After a sad farewell to Maaike the next day and some schooling, we decided on an excursion east to the cool highlands of the Bolaven Plateau with its hill tribes, coffee plantations and waterfalls.

With Rein in ‘Carlos' (their vehicle's name), we reached our goal after 100km of scenic dirt roads – the 120m drop of Nam Tok Katamtok (waterfall). We descended the plateau from over 1200m to wild camp along the river – we were in the heart of a jungle and despite the intense heat and annoying bugs, we attempted a trek to the waterfall, but after an hour the path disappeared and we opted for the safer return along the river bank. In the middle of nowhere we came across 4 guys in camouflage armed with rifles grilling skewered rats over a fire – the language barrier only allowed an exchange of friendly smiles and gestures. Back at the vehicles, around sunset another 4 young guys joined us around our campfire – they had home made torches with 2 prongs attached to a battery on their backs that they dived with in the black river stunning small fish that they placed directly on the coals and then ate scales, bones, heads and all! Quite an experience but not to our taste! In S.E.A. they literally eat everything and even here it was strange to see no more than insects, hardly any birds and not a monkey. Thankfully another vehicle made exploring such remote locations possible and Rein even made us pancakes for breakfast the next day!

After this jungle scenery, the road north via Salavan was through laid-back traditional Lao and unsurfaced roads half the time. We crossed more than a dozen rickety wooden bridges shouting with joy each time as Tipperdee's 4 tonnes made it across the gaping loose boards. The sparse traffic saw us back along the Mekong in Savannakhet after 380km just as the sun set. After the usual scouting for a good deal we settled into Nongsoda Guest House on the riverfront for $13 and wandered through the crumbling French old quarter with its lethargic lifestyle in search of dinner, eventually having to settle for fried veggies and chicken noodles.

At 11am the next day we tried to continue north but searching for the highway resulted in us backtracking and adding 30km to our 250km journey via Thakhaek to the Phu Hin Bun NP. We were in central Lao and decided to camp with views of the medieval black limestone karsts at the Sala Viewpoint . After a lovely ‘al fresco' dinner on the decked viewpoint, we settled in for the night. The reason for the detour was to be subterranean explorers at Tham Kong Lo. Our river excursion took us through amazing views as we snaked along in dugout canoes through a dark limestone mountain for 7km, visiting caves with stalactites and stalagmites en route.

After lunch we were back on the highway west and wild camped along the Mekong again after 200km, just short of Paksan. We did the next 190km to Vientiane early the next day, stopping en route at Buddha Park with its bizarre massive cement Buddhist and Hindu sculptures. Accommodation in the capital was quite expensive and after checking a dozen places we settled for the $14 Douangdee Hotel for the next 3 nights. Sightseeing was reserved for the 9 th April with visits to the 200 year old Wat Si Saket and its unique 2000+ small niches with little buddhas in the walls of the cloister, then a drive past the city's Arc de Triomphe to Pha That Luang. This golden 45m stupa was built in 1566 and is Laos ' national monument – a symbol of both its Buddhism and sovereignty. With our Vietnamese hats – courtesy of Rein, we strolled around the site well protected from the relentless heat. That night we did our best to hydrate with the famous Beerlao which resulted in us going 10 pin bowling and then joining the locals at the Marina nightclub into the wee hours. We'd met fun loving Lizzie (an English lady living in Ko Samet) whose advice resulted in us being at the Thai embassy at 9am next morning to obtain a free 2 month visa – all to stimulate tourism due to the financial crisis. The rest of the day was for shopping at Talat Sao Market and slurping delicious bowls of foe (rice noodle broth with chicken, bean sprouts, parsley, mint and veg) from a street food stall.

The 11 th of April we made our way north for 160km to Vang Vieng, stopping en route at Vang Sang to view 16 th century Buddha caves in the forest. The natural beauty of Vang Vieng dwarfed by massive karsts and set along the Nam Song river has made it Laos's main adventure backpacker destination – and the next day we were caving, tubing and kayaking on a 7 hour trip through thrilling scenic landscape. The combo experience first saw us hiking through local villages visiting Elephant Cave with its Buddha images and footprint, then we dragged ourselves through the low entrance of Tham Nam on tubes and with head lamps we penetrated the dark tunnel for about 600m – good fun. A great way to build an appetite for the barbequed chicken and veg sosaties that awaited us! The 7km kayaking back to Vang Vieng was amazing – until your hands and shoulders reminded you that you were paddling! Jade and Dane were with a guide and soon impressed everyone with their rhythm. Halfway down the river we had a pit stop to fill up on beers at the raucous river shacks where the kids went crazy sliding from a dizzy height into the river.

The next day we checked out of Le Jardin's new but unfinished rooms and did a 4X4 trip that started with crossing the wide Nam Song at a shallow point (we were too heavy for the wooden 20000kip bridge), and driving amongst the karsts for 8km to the spring fed Blue Lagoon were we swam and played on the rope swing. A hectic near vertical 300m hike up above the lagoon led to the golden cave with its sleeping golden Buddha set in the heart of amazing cave formations. Penetrating the dark depths with our headlights led to even more beauty – shimmering, sparkling limestone formations. Luckily a small group arrived with a guide that we could follow. With Lao new year the next day, the noise forced us to retreat into the rice paddies to wild camp for the night.

The 240km drive north to UNESCO designated Luang Prabang was 6 hours of mainly second gear stuff, winding across mountains and Hmong tribal villages perched on their crests – mostly forest, but with large tracts slashed and burned. The windy roads even had Jade feeling car sick! This ancient 14 th century capital at the confluence of the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers and nestled between mountains has a mix of French architecture and a remarkable number of Lao gilded Buddhist Wats (monastries). But our arrival was dominated by the water festival – Pi Mai and the ritual cleansing had the streets in a frenzy of water and powder throwing and polish smearing. This hectic time of year resulted in us not finding reasonably priced accommodation and Tipperdee proved her worth as we stood in a central road along the Nam Khan for the next 2 nights while Rein booked into a single room just across the road. This was just the place to enjoy the spicy Lao national dish lap - a minced meat salad with garlic, mint, lime, shallots, eggplant and loaded with chillies!

The 15 th of April we joined the fun after the Miss Lao costumed parade, getting ourselves completely soaked as we tried to soak everyone around us with massive water pistol guns to using just any container available. Great fun, especially for the kids and Dane behaved like a mad man, ducking and diving between the people as he targeted them with his watergun! The pedestrianised night market signed off a perfect day with exposure to local arts and crafts. But this water craziness goes on for 6 days so the next day we did a 30km trip south to the beautiful Kuang Si Waterfall where we could climb the 60m limestone formations to the top as the water spills through a series of green pools – with Dane jumping or swinging from ropes into the icy waters. We also had interesting insight into the endangered Asiatic black bears from a German vet, Ulri. The night we strayed from this busy area and a few kilometres off the road we found a perfect spot in the bush. Near midnight we were awoken by 6 confused armed locals who tried to communicate something to us, but the language problem again soon saw them on their way.

The 17 th of April was Dane's 10 th birthday and his excitement had been building for the last couple of days already. Armed with his presents (guns from us – that he chose, and the complete series of Rocky from Rein) he was very pleased with himself! We returned to Luang and finally dragged ourselves to some sights. Wat Xieng Thong, built in 1560 is one of S.E.A's most colourful and richly decorated temples with the Sim (main sanctuary) and red chapel housing the usual numerous Buddha statues and even a royal funeral chapel with a massive chariot. We celebrated Dane's birthday with squares of gorgeous chocolate cakes and the blowing out of candles, then popped in at Wat Mai to observe the ritual bathing and worshipping of Pha Bang (Holy Buddha image).

Sad farewells the next morning as Rein headed back south and we continued 220km north on more winding mountain scenery via tiny Nong Khiaw. We decided that we'd seen enough caves and rivers and headed west, camping at sunset high up in the mountains. The twisted road deteriorated and the next 170km to Luang Nam Tha took 6 hours, but through great rugged mountains, jungle and countless primitive villages where hill tribes stared blankly at us. Our final night in Laos was spent in the comfortable Manychanh Guesthouse enjoying the last of the local cuisine. Our final sight-seeing was a visit to what is called ‘ethnic minority' villages in the Nam Tha valley – a bit of off roading to the Nam Dee village and the Lentan people and then the black Thai's at Tong Dee village. Really a step back into the dark ages with their simple wooden dwellings and glimpses of them sifting grain or weaving on wooden looms.

The 20 th we continued west via great Chinese built roads and more magnificent scenery to the Thai border at Huay Xai. We spent our last kip on foe and $30 dollars later a short vehicle ferry across the Mekong had us back in Thailand !

Laos 's relative isolation, topography and lack of resources has bred a people with an authentic culture, incorporating Buddhism and spirit (phi) worship into everyday life. They are calm, gentle and well woven communities who really live off the earth – and maybe all males should spend a stint in a Wat as their males do!

Khob Chai (thank you) Laos , and laa kawn (goodbye).