Laos - part 4

Monday 9-4-07 - My last day in Laos and I had grounds to cover. As stated in my earlier blog, on the previous night, the Lao receptionist at Joe guest house and I have decided on my best plan of attack in the interest of both time and cost. So, just after 8am I checked out of Joe guest house and caught a tuk tuk for 30,000 kip to Laos' national monument Pha That Luang (Great Sacred Reliquary or Great Stupa) with a stopover at the Scandanavian Bakery for some yummy French pastries. I was the first visitor to Pha That Luang that day and for a good 15 minutes (my guess) I had the Pha That Luang all to myself before some French tourists turned up. This structure was a breath of fresh air from the many Wats that I have visited in the past few days although it was certainly no where near as shiny gold as portrayed in the pictures. Only the first two floors were open to the public which was a bit disappointing. However, I still ended up spending half an hour at Pha That Luang before catching a tuk tuk to the Talat Sao (morning market) bus station for another 30,000 kip at around 9:11am. The night before, the Lao receptionist at Joe guest house had told me that I needed to jump on bus number 14 to get to Buddha Park. I had also asked him to write down the names Buddha Park and Friendship Bridge in Lao for me. Here I was at the bus station waving my piece of paper with Buddha Park written in Lao on it. I was directed to bus number 14 which was a minibus while the other routes were all serviced by big buses. The minibus was packed and as I was one of the last to board, I had to stand. There was another foreigner on the minibus, he's a European headed for Friendship Bridge. At this point I still wasn't sure whether this minibus would take me to Buddha Park but I trusted the Lao receptionist back at Joe guest house. Buddha Park is located 24 kilometres south of central Vientiane. About 30 minutes into the minibus ride, we arrived at Friendship Bridge where most of the passengers disembarked. At this point, I shoved my piece of paper with Buddha Park written in Lao on it in the driver's face and he said in broken English that he would take me there. The further away we were from central Vientiane the worst the road conditions became. The road was unsealed with lots of potholes, it was a bumpy ride to say the least. It was another 15 minutes before the minibus pulled over at the entrance of Buddha Park and I happily paid the driver 4,000 kip (had I caught a tuk tuk, it would have costed me US$15 return to central Vientiane). I again found myself the only one at Buddha Park at this particular time. Buddha Park was smaller than what I had envisaged but the Buddhist and Hindu sculptures there were interesting. I spent 40 minutes admiring the sculptures before catching another number 14 minibus headed in the opposite direction (i.e. towards town) at approximately 11:44am. I arrived at Friendship Bridge just after midday. The Lao currency (kip) cannot be exchanged outside of Laos and I still had 30,000 kip in my wallet so I spent them on 7 cans of coconut drinks (6 cans at 4,000 kip each and 1 can at 6,000 kip) at the Lao border. It was another 45 minutes before I completed formalities at both sides of the border.

I was the only foreigner at the bus waiting area just past Thai immigration. I was waiting for a bus to Udon Thani airport, approximately 60 kilometres away. I was told back in Vientiane that there are buses every hour but no one knew for sure. The taxi drivers at the bus waiting area were trying to convince me to catch a taxi to Udon Thani airport for 600 Thai baht and won't stop hounding me. I declined their offer every time. My thinking was that I would only catch a taxi at the last minute (i.e. if a bus to Udon Thani airport hasn't arrived by 3:30pm). Until such time, I was willing to sit tight. After 30 minutes or so of waiting and constant pestering by the taxi drivers, I became bored. A Thai lady and her young daughter (under 5) happened to sit next to me (we were the only females at the bus waiting area) and she had in her hand a ticket. Out of curiousity I asked her if she was waiting for a bus and where she was headed. She advised that she was waiting for her husband to come back from Laos. Apparently, her French husband only has a visitor visa and so needs to leave Thailand every few months and re-enter in order to obtain a new visa. And as they live in Udon Thani, the Lao border provides the easiest and cheapest alternative. I explained to her that I was waiting for a bus to Udon Thani to catch an aeroplane. She offered to give me a lift to Udon Thani city centre for free (from where I can catch a tuk tuk to the airport). I made a split second judgement call and took up her offer. The taxi drivers, upon seeing the Thai lady talk to me, approached her and started conversing with her in Thai. I guessed that the taxi drivers must be telling her to convince me to catch a taxi to Udon Thani for 600 Thai baht. However, the Thai lady never responded to their comments and later she confirmed with me that they indeed asked her to try to convince me to catch a taxi. She thought the 600 Thai baht fare was a bit steep too and good on her for holding her ground and not doing as the taxi drivers asked. Not long after, the Thai lady's husband crossed back into Thailand. As it was around 1pm, the French requested that we have lunch before driving to Udon Thani. I had no objections as I had a few hours to spare. We had lunch in a restaurant next to the car park where the family had their car parked which was located approximately 50 metres from the bus waiting area. I elected not to eat anything as the restaurant didn't look too hygenic. The French had fried rice while his wife and daughter didn't have anything as they had previously eaten. As they had nothing to drink, I took out the cans of coconut drinks from my backpack and offered it to them and which they accepted. They must have thought it was a nice gesture because instead of dropping me off at Udon Thani city centre as originally agreed, they dropped me off at the airport! (I must say this - The kindness of strangers has never failed to amaze me. I am often told that I trust people too much but when you have experience human generousity like I have, you really cannot not have faith in people.) It was only 2:50pm and the check-in counters weren't open yet. My aeroplane to Bangkok ended up being delayed for 1 hour so I didn't get to Bangkok until after 8pm. (While on the aeroplane, I spoke to a 13-year-old Thai girl who studies at an international school in Vientiane because her father works there. The school only has 200 odd students and she's the captain of the basketball and another sporting team. She told me that she'll be attending Tufts University after high school. I asked if it was Tufts University located in Boston. She advised that she did not know but believes it's located near Harvard. I asked her why she was so certain that she would attend Tufts University and she said that because her father went there and she's Thai. I asked her why being Thai had anything to do with it and she said that she would be a foreigner and universities like to accept foreigners.) From Bangkok's new airport, I caught the free shuttle bus to the bus terminal. I didn't know which bus to catch, all I had was a piece of paper with my dad's friend's address on it. So I proceeded to the information counter with my piece of paper. The guy behind the counter couldn't help so he passed my piece of paper to his colleague sitting next to him. The lady read the address, looked up, muttered something in Thai to her colleague (the guy) and raced outside. The guy was left to tell me that the bus I needed to catch was pulling out of its parking space and the lady was going to try stop it. Luckily for me, the lady was able to stop the bus, otherwise, I would have had to wait another hour for the next bus. On the bus I asked the ticket lady about the stop I need to get off and she said that she would tell me when we get there. Approximately an hour later, at around 9:45pm, I reached my stop. Another female passenger also got off at this stop. She asked where I was going and I showed her my piece of paper with the address. The bus stop happened to be right outside a 7-11 and a guy (who had a motorbike) and his friend happened to walk out of 7-11 at this time. They came over to see what we were discussing. I showed him the address I need to get to and he said that he knows where it is and would take me there. He would come back to the 7-11 later for his friend later. So, I jumped on the back of his motorbike (my first ever ride on a motorbike and I liked it) and a few turns later, I got to my destination. I got off his motorbike and thanked him. At this point, he held out his palm (for money). I protested as he never said anything about money before he gave me the lift. He said 10 baht and I, not wanting to engage in an argument over 10 baht, decided to pay him. My dad's friend greeted me inside the house. He asked me if I got to his place by catching a taxi. I replied no and proudly told him about my rides on the local bus and motorbike. He was impressed. I settled down and thought that was it for the night. But no, it was only 10pm and my dad's friend asked me if I wanted to go to the night markets which of course I did so off we went. As it was Monday, most of the night markets were closed but we did end up going to one that was open. Bangkok is full of life after dark which is great to see. Got back to his house at around 1am. The next day I caught my scheduled Air Asia flight back to Macau before taking the turbo jet back to Hong Kong arriving home just after 7pm. This concludes my 4-part series on my backpacking adventures in Laos.

Laos - part 3

Day 4 in Laos - The Pak Ou caves are located approximately 25 kilometres from Luang Prabang. The slow boat to the Pak Ou caves was supposed to depart at 8am on Sunday 8 April 2007 (Easter Sunday) but as I had expected, it didn't leave until it was full which didn't happen until after 8:30am. On our way to the Pak Ou caves we stopped at the whisky village which was unimpressive. Just like the Tat Kuang Si waterfall yesterday, the Pak Ou caves were a disappointment. The only interesting sight at the Pak Ou caves was kids selling rights to release caged birds (which I am certain if released returns back to the cages come dinner time)! I arrived back in Luang Prabang just before 1pm and went back to the guest house to pack my bags. My travel buddy had gone out but I had forseen this situation and had pre-arranged for her to leave the keys with the guest house owners on her way out on this particular day. Afterwards, I went to the remaining two buddhist temples that I haven't visited earlier on, Wat Aham and Wat Wisunarat (Wat Visoun) before going back to Wat Si Bun Heuang to say goodbye to my new monk friends. I then headed back to the guest house for my backpack and a tuk tuk ride to the Luang Prabang airport where I saw a red moon.

I arrived back in Vientiane at around 6:30pm. I previously planned on sharing a tuk tuk with other people for the ride from the airport back to town but opted for a taxi ride for the bargained price of US$2.5. I requested to be dropped off outside Joe guest house which is listed in Lonely Planet. I paid US$5 a night for a single room with a window facing the street and shared bathrooms. I settled down in my room before completing formalities at reception. While filling out the mandatory guest form, I learnt from the Lao at reception that the owner of Joe guest house is Australian. And while I had the Lao's attention, I explained my intentions for the following morning to him and asked for his advice. I want to visit Laos' national monument Pha That Luang (Great Sacred Reliquary or Great Stupa) and Buddha Park in the morning before going to the Friendship Bridge and then on to Udon Thani for my flight back to Bangkok late afternoon/early evening. The Lao was extremely helpful and offered me a few options. In the end we decided on the best option for me both in terms of time and cost. I thought about having dinner in a French restaurant for my final night in Laos but decided against it given I was already over budget. Instead I returned to the same open air Mekong riverside restaurant (of sorts) that my travel buddy and I had dinner on our first night in Laos. I order a stir fired beef noodle (15,000 kip = US$1.6) and a bottle of Pepsi (3,000 kip = US$0.4). While I ate I wrote my postcards. Some time in the evening the owner of the eatery came over for a chat. He asked me how the noodle was and I said "so so" because the noodle wasn't to my liking as it had too much coriander, a herb I detest, in it. He asked if I was Chinese and I answered in the affirmative and then he started speaking to me in Mandarin and I responded same. He then asked if I was from Hong Kong and I said yes and asked how he knew. He told me that I spoke Mandarin with an accent. I then asked where he was from and he said Taiwan. I further enquired into his background and learnt that he left Taiwan because he could no longer stand the stressful lifestyle. He came to Vientiane, liked it and has been here for 7-8 years running the restaurant. He tried to sell me their homemade ice cream and I expressed concerns about the source of the water. He said that there's no problem as he eats them everyday and doesn't get diarrhoea. I reasoned that he's been in Vientiane for so long that his body is accustomed to the local water. However, I finally surrendered and upon his recommendation gave their coconut ice cream (5,000 kip = US$0.6) a try. Although it tasted quite good, I was still worried that I would end up with diarrhoea later in the night.

Laos - part 2

Day 3 in Laos - At approximately 8:45am on Saturday 7 April 2007, I headed out for a stroll while my friend was still soundly asleep. I spent some time at Wat Xieng Thong, Mekong river, Nam Khan river, Sala Pha Bang, Royal Palace Museum (Ho Kham) and statue of King Sisavang Vong. I returned to the guest house at 10:45am and to my surprise, found my travel buddy still in dreamland. I woke her up and we discussed our plans for the afternoon. We agreed to go to the Tat Kuang Si waterfall which is located 32 kilometres south of Luang Prabang. My friend wanted to go privately in a tuk tuk (US$15 return for up to 3 people) while I wanted to go in a public minibus for US$4 per person return. The lowest price tuk tuk drivers were willing to do it for was US$12 (i.e. US$6 each) but that was still too expensive for us so I got my way. In one word the Tat Kuang Si waterfall was unspectacular. To increase the attraction of the Tat Kuang Si waterfall, they added two enclosures in the vicinity, one for Phet (Indochinese tigers) althought we didn't see any and the other for Asiatic black bears. Against my better judgement I decided to follow my travel buddy go off the beaten track and trek to the top of the waterfall. Let me tell you, waterfalls are best viewed from the bottom! Anyway, it had rained earlier in the day and the earth was still moist. On my way down, I lost my footing and nearly rolled down the hill. Now I've got a 2-inch long scar caused by a tree branch on the inside of my upper left arm. I had planned to swim in the fresh water ponds underneath the waterfall but my brush with death turned me off. Back in Luang Prabang I wanted to check out a few of the buddhist temples (tourist attractions) that I still haven't visited but my friend wasn't keen so I alone went to Wat Hosian, Wat Pha Mahathat (Wat That) and Wat Manolom. I met up with my travel buddy for dinner and we discussed our plans for tomorrow. She will be spending a few more days in Luang Prabang while I will be flying back to Vientiane tomorrow evening. I told her of my intentions to go to the Pak Ou caves via slow boat tomorrow morning. She said that she wasn't interested so I went ahead and booked myself a seat on tomorrow morning's slow boat to the Pak Ou caves for US$4 return. Just like the night before, I ended the day/night emptying my pockets at the night market. I just couldn't help myself you know!

Laos - part 1

I'm back from Laos. I've got so much to tell but let's start from the beginning. There's no direct flights from Hong Kong to Laos so I had to go via Bangkok. I flew from Macau to Bangkok on Air Asia because they offered the best prices. My return ticket set me back approximately HK$1,200 and I landed in Bangkok on Tuesday 3-4-2007 at 11:15pm. This was my first ever trip to Thailand and I spent the night at one of my dad's friend's place. He picked me up at the new airport and I travelled in his relatively new air conditioned Toyota Crown to a carpark approximately 6kms (according to him) from his house because there's no parking in the vicinity of his house. Usually, he would then catch a bus back home but because I was carrying a rather big and heavy backpack, he decided that we would catch a taxi to his home. It was well after midnight so I was surprised to find his neighbourhood buzzing with activity. It turns out that he and his family lives on one of the streets comprising the wholesale market so it's like that every night. Given that his car was quite decent, his home was a shock to my system. His house was full of junk and rubbish (and did not have air conditioning or hot water). The next morning, I woke up to fresh congee (purchased especially for me) from the markets and he took a day off work to show me his city. Despite what I would classify as poor living conditions, he and his family were extremely generous to me and didn't spare a cent.

At 6am on Thursday 5-4-2007 morning, I met up with a Canadian girl from soccer and we flew on Nok Air from Bangkok's old airport to Udon Thani, a city in north Thailand located less than 2 hours away from the Friendship Bridge (Thai-Lao border). (This one way leg set me back 1,500 Thai baht.) From there we caught a mini bus (150 Thai baht) to the Thai border where we cleared immigration before hopping on yet another bus for a short ride across the Friendship Bridge to the Lao border where we each obtained an on-the-spot visa for US$30 (US$42 for Canadians) and one passport photograph (US$1 extra if no photograph). We caught a tuk tuk from the Lao border to Vientiane for 170 Thai baht. The official price is 250 Thai baht according to a sign at the Lao border but this guy offered to do it for 150 Thai baht (he charged us 20 Thai baht more because we asked him to drop us off at a specific spot). It was approximately 11am. We checked into the first guest house we came across because my travel buddy was extremely tired as she did not get any sleep the night before. It was called Phone Paseuth guest house. We paid US$15 a night for an internal twin room with air conditioning and private bathroom. At 11:30am, we had breakfast/lunch at the guest house restaurant. Afterwards we went to a nearby travel agent and booked Lao Airlines return tickets (for me) to/from Luang Prabang departing the next morning for US$120 + US$3.6 credit card charge. (My friend only booked a one way ticket because at the last minute she was able to get the whole week off work.) Then we hired bicycles for US$1 each and rode on the rather flat roads in town stopping at various places of interest including That Dam (Black Stupa), Talat Sao (morning market), Patuxai, Wat Si Saket, Presidential Palace and Mekong river. We spent more time than we intended at Talat Sao because we lost each other and did not discuss before hand where to meet should we lose each other. I waited by our rented bicycles because I knew they were the things that we would not leave Talat Sao without. It took my travel buddy a while to figure this out so I ended up waiting an hour for her. We had dinner at an open air restaurant (it was more a street food vendor with a nice sitting area) by the Mekong river. I didn't eat anything as I wasn't hungry but I did try the infamous Beerlao although it was a bit watery. Oh before I forget, Laos is Pepsi territory. Pepsi advertisements are everywhere and Coca Cola is virtually non-existent. Also, during my whole time in Laos, I never saw any glasses wearing locals, have they all got perfect or near perfect eyesight? What's the secret to excellent eyesight?

The next morning, we flew on Lao Airlines from Vientiane to Luang Prabang. We paid the prescribed US$5 fare for a ride in a tuk tuk/jumbo (I can't tell the difference) to the city centre. We checked into Bou Pha guest house on the main street following a listing in Lonely Planet. We had a choice of two rooms - a double room with a private bathroom for US$6 a night or a twin room with shared bathrooms for US$5 a night. We opted for the former. Needless to say, there's no air conditioning. In the afternoon, we walked the streets of Luang Prabang and in the process visited tourist attractions including Wat Pha Phutthabaht, Nam Khan river, Buddha's foot imprint where we spoke to a young monk who spoke great English (better than alot of Hong Kong kids his age in my opinion), Wat Aham and Wat Wisunarat (Wat Visoun). We watched as kids stood on the side of streets throwing buckets of water at passing vehicles. Apparently this was a Lao new year tradition although there was still a week to go before the Lao new year. We kept walking and at some stage, we didn't know where in Luang Prabang we were and had to catch a small tuk (maybe it's actually a small tuk tuk) for US$1 back to the main street where the road was beginning to close in preparation for the daily night market. Somewhere in the night market stretch of the road I again lost my friend. It was 6pm and I decided to wander further down the road while there was still natural light. I went to Royal Palace Museum (Ho Kham), Royal Theatre, Statue of King Sisavang Vong, Sala Pha Bang, Wat Pa Huak, Wat Saen, Wat Sop, Wat Sirimungkhun, Wat Si Bun Heuang and the Mekong river in fast fading light. At Wat Si Bun Heuang, I spoke to three monks while they flipped through my Lonely Planet guide on Laos (borrowed from my local library in Hong Kong). They told me that it takes 20 years of training before one can become a full monk. We swapped e-mail addresses. I then returned to the guest house where I found my travel buddy. By now it was close to 7:30pm. We had dinner at a neat fair priced restaurant located on the main street between the guest house and the night market before ending the day/night with a shopping spree at the night market.

excitement

My heart is pounding as I type this blog, I've lost my appetite somewhat in the past 2 days because I have been and still am filled with both excitement and nervousness about my week long trip to Laos beginning Tuesday. I am excited because Laos is a country that I've always wanted to visit and nervous because I'm worried about being bitten by mosquitos and contracting malaria, dengue fever etc. I am also dreading the long (12 to 18 hours each way) bus rides between Vientiane, the capital of Laos, and Luang Prabang. I quote 12 to 18 hours because although the bus rides are only supposed to take 12 hours, ALL stories from backpackers who have been there, done that suggest that without fail, EVERY bus suffers a breakdown or flat tyre somewhere along the way, there are no exceptions! And by all accounts, the roads are rough and even seasoned travellers get car sick and vomit.

I have been busy the whole weekend packing but am certain that when I get to Laos, I'll still find that I've missed something. I'll be taking anti-malarial drugs, a new experience for me and one which I'm not particularly looking forward to given the side effects include nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. Also, although I'll only be spending a week in malaria territory, I'll have to take the drugs for another 4 weeks after departing Laos. But I guess it's better than contracting malaria so it's non-negotiable. I've still got lots to do so I better leave it here but stay tuned for tales from my Laos adventure.