part 1: so our journey started out last week with a scenic 3 hour van ride to chiang rai, thailand for work. but i did not have to work at all! luke did a couple presentations, while chris and i got to explore the city. it is a pretty small place, so we managed to see most everything in the day and a half we spent there. there was an amazing gold clock tower, workers hanging up lanterns for the loy krathong festival, and a cool park by the river. at the river we saw some crazy elephant statues, a sand digging expedition of crazy thai proportions, and a cute little thai boy in a batman costume! on the way to the river and back we walked down a perfect, quiet little southeast asian neighborhood road.
later that night we found out that we all were invited to a party put on by the u.s. consulate at the swanky brand new la meridian hotel. mom, you would have freaked out to see this place. first off, the party was hosted by a california wine company so we got free wine and fancy appetizers. the place is brand new and right on the river. they have a swanky bar and restaurant with really cool modern furniture. then we walked around outside through the jungle, fountian, swimming pool, bondfire, outdoor bar, riverside paradise. there is a sidewalk that walks over the fountain too. it was too dark to take pictures, but just picture the fanciest hotel you have ever imagined, and put it in a tropical paradise, and you've got it.
after going out to dinner we explored the night market in town.
the next day chris and i went on a wat tour. the coolest one we saw out of the bunch was wat phra kaew. there was a big beautiful teak building that was more like a museum than place of worship. it had these really amazing acordian books made from palm leaves with wooden covers. they were really long and skinny and contained prayers and spells. one larger one had numerology charts and formulas. inside the temple that was up a steep staircase was a series of amazing paintings. they depicted the story of the emerald buddha and how they had to fight off those trying to steal it and all the parades and celebrations they held for it. the paintings were very flat, but depicted many layers of people and activities and amazingly decorated elephants. they are my favorite paintings so far in thailand.
at the bottom of the temple staircase was a little pond, and in it were about 10 species of turtles! including these crazy looking prehistoric dino turtles that had soft shells and really long necks!
part 2: after lunch we were ready to leave chiang rai for chaing kong thailand, on the laos border. the only way to get there other than hiring a taxi, was to take the local bus. so we did. no ac and all thai people except for us. i thought it might be uncomfortable and sketchy, but it turned out to be super cool. we stopped at a bunch of little village neighborhoods to drop off and pick up people. and it was not as hot as i anticipated with all the windows down. the scenic ride lasted 3 hours. thailand is so green! it was dark when we got to chiang kong, but we walked up the one road town to find a guesthouse. we found a cheap half decent one and then got some dinner. after dinner, we walked to the river - yes, the mekong! crazy! - and looked to laos at night. i could tell that it was different than thailand even from across the river in the dark.
part 3: journey to laos
after a delicious breakfast at a wonderful little restaurant - i has museli with yogurt and fruit! - we set out for the ferry to laos. our wonderful waiter told us that the departure dock was not too far up the road so we decided to hoof it there. this is where the adventure starts and anyone who needs constant cozy creature comforts should turn back.
at the departure dock we had to wait in a rather slow line to get an exit stamp. i impressed the customs guy with my thai and a respectful 'wai' or bow, so i had it easy. then we made our way down the sandy slope of a dock to the 'ferry'. i use this term loosely, because we actually took the skinniest, longest, hard wooden seat boat across the mekong to laos. this is were we met our first friend of the journey, garreth from wales. we then got out, and headed for customs. we paid our fee, got stamps, showed our passports to 45 different people, bought some overpriced snacks and drinks for the boat, bought cushions (thanks for the tip garreth!!), and walked down the one road town of huay xai laos to the slow boat dock.
i use the term boat dock loosely too. you see, laos has had a rough history and is still really really poor. no western stores, no seven elevens, just families with stacks of stuff on their porches to sell with chickens running around alongside. the simplicity of it all is kind of beautiful. and everything, everything is done by hand. so the boat 'dock' was actually just a road that lead to a sandy slope that slid right into the mekong. we bought our ticket and waited around a bit. there was a slew of long skinny boats all tied up next to each other on the edge of the river. the 'dock' had a skinny little plank of wood to climb over onto the boat. so we got on the boat early and sat in the front - on a tip we overheard at dinner the night before. up front is it much less noisy and there is 'leg room'. bear in mind the slow boats were built for cargo not people...so wooden benches it is. we waited and waited at the dock and saw lots of busy lao workers unloading all sorts and sizes of packages off of 'cargo' ships, which were just actually the same skinny motorboats that we ferried across on. skinny little boats everywhere! truely a sight, i hope you can get a little sense of it from the pictures. so as we are sitting there for about an hour and a half waiting, we nearly start melting in the sun because it is about 11:20 before we take off. but once we get going there is an instant breeze. and there were not really any mosquitoes. here are the slowboats. grandpa, i am not sure if you would approve of their seaworthyness, but then again we made it!
part 4: slow boating down the mekong
you know the feeling when you learn about the rainforest in third grade and imagine it being the most amazing place on earth, or when you watch a special on tv about the most fascinating places on earth to visit, like the pyramids or stonehenge? well i think that the mekong river is one of those places. even after hour 14 on day 2 of the ride (7 hours the first day and 8 hours the second day), i was still amazed by the constant jungle everywhere and mountains and green and green and green and rocks in the river and little villages of 6 houses every half hour. there was a bit of rain and also these crazy whirl pools that sucked the boat around a bit. we stopped at a couple villages to drop off and pick up locals. at one of them, about 10 little kids ran onto the boat trying to sell us beer and pop and chips and pineapple.
after the first 7 hours we got to the town of pakbeng. this strange little town only exists to house the people who come by on the slowboat. the minust we got out and walked on the snad hill we were bombarded with kids trying to carry our bags and people trying to sell us their guesthouses. ahh!!! we successfully ignored them and wandered up the hill with our new boat friends - garreth, bry and sean from vancouver and miles and ville from finland. we spent our one night in the one night town. one weird thing about the town - actually it is so weird in general - is that the place is in the jungle so it has to run on a generator. so the power in the whole town goes out from 10 pm to 6 am! luckily i brought my headlamp and garreth bought candles, so we could hang out after the blackout.
the second day we managed to get the good front seats on the boat again! although this time our 'seats' were actually on the floor and our cushions were a little more squished, but it wasnt too bad. we played lots of cards with our new friends. we heard it might be 10 hours but it was only 8! two exciting events happened on the second day first we got some new passengers at one stop - in the form of chickens and turkeys and ducks in basket cages that were tossed onto the roof! at a second stop, our captain pulled over onto a desolate beach (not a village in sight), jumped out of the boat and started running. at first i thought maybe he had a bathroom emergency. but then he stripped down to his undies and jumped into the river! everyone got out to watch. turns out some bamboo got stuck to the rudder and he was down there ripping it off!
these were our seatmates in the front of the boat.
one other sight on the mekong is the appearance of fast boats. and they are just that - fast. and apparently pretty dangerous because of all the rocks in the mekong. and soooo loud! they buzz by and all the passengers are wearing helmets and life jackets (unless of course they are locals!) and their luggage is strapped to the front of the cockpit. this form of transport is not recommended, and it seems like it would be pretty easy to lose your luggage...or hearing....or a passenger!part 5: luang prabang, laos
everyone was quite excited at the sight of luang prabang. yes we were quite ready to get off the boat! we walked up the hill with our new crew of friends and started looking at guesthouses. there are many in LP because it is a world heritage site and gets a fair amount of visitors. we ended up splitting up the group because it was a bit complicated with so many, but we agreed to meet the next day for lunch. we walked quite far but found a nice place that was only available one night but took it anyway. we then proceeded to eat a most delicious dinner - lao bbq!!! so good! the tables all have these pull our tiles in the middle where they bring you a bucket of hot coals and then a little bbq pan to put on top of that. then they bring meat, veggies, noodles, and broth. the waiter cooks the first round and then you are on your own to cook the rest. we did this two nights in a row because it was so delicious and fun!
we walked around a lot on the first day just exploring. there was supposed to be a bamboo bridge across the mekong tributary, but it turned out that the monks were just beginning the building process! over near there there are tons of little farms scattered along the rich silty soil. they have little ramshackle bamboo fences around them and huts made of bamboo and banana leaves. it was so beautiful and perfect, just how you would imagine rural southeast asia from a history book or a postcard. there were some chickens roaming around too, just like everywhere else in laos! we then walked up the hill/mountain in the middle of the old town and explored the wat and little temples all the way up to the top that are scattered about amongst huge rocks. there was a great view of the little farms and the rivers and a big bridge and a golden chedi across on the opposite hill. mmmm.
the second day we though about going on a boat trip to the nearby cave temples. but it poured and poured for the first half of the day. so instead we went to this weaving center that i saw a flyer on. it was quite far in the rain but worth it. the place is really beautiful and right on the mekong. we were given a tour and the guy explained to us everything about silk making. they harvest the silk worms and then take their cocoons, which are really just a long line of silk. by boiling a bunch of cocoons in water, they are able to turn it into a string to use for weaving. before they weave they dye the silk with all natural dyes that they grow right there on the grounds. then the 22 villagers that they employ weave the silk into beautiful things. they are paid per piece so they can work at their own pace and they are also paid a fair wage. the prices are higher here than at the markets, but it is so cool that they do it all at the center. they also have classes.
on our last day we ventured to the airport on a tuk-tuk truck-truck hybrid. it is only 4 km from town but really out in the sticks. we ended up getting their way early because we had seen it all in LP, so we played lots of cards at the restaurant across the way. then we ventured into the one gate airport, walked outside and into our propeller powered lao air plane, and flew back to chiang mai. the ride was only and hour and the plane was only 1/3 full, but we still got lunch! what service!
tidbits: all the women and girls in laos wear traditional skirts with regular old tshirts. it is an interesting mix of new and old, which is what is seems laos is becoming.
i think that americans are the only ones who say laos in a way that rhymes with mouse. everyone else we met calls it lao which rhymes with cow. i guess it is a french name after all. lao also refers to the language and the people.
No comments:
Post a Comment