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14 February, 2006 Phnom Penh, Cambodia to Vientiane, Laos and to Luang Prabang The first real glitch of the present trip occurred today but was not bad. The Vietnam Air flight up to Vientiane was late getting off and I only had an hour to catch the Lao Airlines flight out. By the time I cleared customs and immigration that Lao plane was long gone. I found a trolley that would carry my luggage from International to Domestic terminal. The way was dark and the Vientiane airport is not very big. No Problem. Arriving at the Domestic terminal, it was very quiet and was shutting down. The plane had been gone for 40 minutes. No problem, just come back tomorrow at about 11:00 AM and a seat would be arranged. This is not America and when a plane comes in late, the Airlines is sorry but no free room or meals are arranged. Just the “We are sorry!” with a shake of the head. I did not even stop to ask for the “I am sorry?” but headed back to the International terminal and the taxi stand. Of course, one is over charged because there is only one taxi available and it barely runs. The old man driving the taxi has probably been working since sun up to find riders. Here I am. No bed here, only mosquitoes. Off we chug into downtown Vientiane. We stopped at two guesthouses before finding one with a room. I asked for one close to the airport but soon learned that everything in Vientiane is close to the airport. The room is fine and I get ready for bed. Not a hard day in terms of energy expended but one with a bit of stress to finish the day. No problem. And then I noticed that the room had many mosquitoes buzzing around. Most hotels will spray for the bugs when they finish cleaning. This room had probably not been used for a while and the bugs were there. I tried to kill the mosquitoes with well placed swats but to no avail. Either I am growing less agile or the bugs are growing faster. So, I dressed and returned to the lobby. The clerk looked around and found a can of Raid and handed to me. Back up stairs, I blitzed the room with killing aerosol spray. I would have to fall sleep in the fog but that was better than being bitten all night. The morning brought no obvious bites but a mosquito or two still buzzed the room. I am taking malaria pills so no problem there. Dengue fever and hemorrhagic fever are real problems here but probably will require many bites and are usually found in children. A pretty good night’s sleep came after all the messing around.
15 February, 2006 Vientiane and to Luang Prabang, Laos Up a bit late as I had little to do. Headed back to the airport with hopes of catching one of the planes leaving for Luang Prabang. One plane would leave at 1 PM and another at 1:30 PM. The last flight out is at 6:00 PM. The first was full but the second had room. These are small planes so they fill up quickly. Lots of tourists were heading this day for the highlands. Arriving in Luang Prabang, I teamed with a Britisher to hire a taxi for the trip into the city. He went one way and I went to the Le Tam Tam Hotel on the main street of the city. Had to bargain for a cheaper rate which I did. $14 a night for AC room. No TV. The hotel next door was $40. Le Tam Tam has a very nice café and is located just across the street from a small day market selling crafts. That night I would find that the entire street would be turned into a night market selling all kinds of tourist stuff. With the late arrival into Luang Prabang and the search for a hotel, the night had arrived as did the market. I walked this main drag and found a good looking café and had a good meal of hot curry washed down with Beer Lao. Back along the 4 block long street crowed with tourist purchasing the crafts, I went. On this night, I would buy nothing but I did check prices and tried to see if anything fit my fancy. You have never seen so much woven material in your life laid on the ground. Silk, silk and cotton? Not much wool is found in all the clothes of Laos. Local ethnic groups make a living on this trade and almost every house has a weaving place. Pocket books, purses, hand bags, shawls, table cloths, bedspreads, all hang from the walls along the street or from racks that have been carried in on the family motorcycle in bags made in China. Lao sellers are very different from those in Vietnam in that they do not hawk the wares but wait for you to ask. They are not pushy but gentle and kind in their dealings. They do not raise their voices even a bit. They still trade and bargain but not so forcefully.Again, I start this first night with a price that is a third of what they ask. Then we meet somewhere. But tonight I am only testing the waters so no problem on buying.Am off to bed a bit early and will read before I sleep. I have a Dan Brown book to finish and have found a store that trades books two for one for my others. No mosquitoes tonight.
16 February, 2006 Luang Prabang, Laos Today is a time for exercise. Just down the road of the night market is the entry to the hill (mountain) overlooking the city called That Phousi. Here are located a stupa and shrine to Buddha along with other photographical structures. The 350 steps up are pretty steep. One arrives at the top sweating in the early morning sun. The view of the city and the Mekong is very good. Lots of people are also climbing. Met a fairly large group of Canadians at the top. They climbed up and went down the same path to the street. I looked around and found a path leading out the opposite direction and took it. It went by another stupa that hid a carriage of a large howitzer left from the Pathet Lao times. No barrel but the carriage. The path down lead to a huge, recently constructed, reclining Buddha and further down a cave with several smaller Buddha statues. The smell of incense indicated that this is an active place of worship. Further down is a wooden platform with a concrete structure built over a stone cavity. The sign proclaims that this is the footprint of Buddha. With a little imagination, one would make that leap. On the door to the platform is a request or English speakers to stop at the school located on the path below and volunteer to talk to the English learning students each night at their seven o’clock class. I decided that I would go. Coming back out onto the main street, I made a left hand turn heading back towards the hotel. Along the way, I noticed a sign advertising a group going to the Plain of Jars on the 19th. Come by and see if you want to go said the sign. In I went and arranged for my trip by boat up the Mekong to the Pak Ou Caves and gave a $15 down payment for the $60, three day trip, to Phonsavan and the Plain of Jars. The group right now was small and consisted of two people and myself. The tour needed at least four to make it profitable. I should check back on the evening of the 18th to make sure of how things would go. Sounds good. I stopped next door at a bakery café for a dish of fried Lao noodles. I like the food here in Laos but still am missing my squid dish from Cambodia. Lao food is blander. Maybe just like the people. Though the clothing colors that the ethnic groups wear and make is surely not bland. Following
my dinner, I headed back past the school and to the end of the road
where the Nam Khan River meets the Mekong. The Nam Khan flows clear and
fairly clean into the muddy Mekong. Along the banks of both rivers the
locals have started temporary gardens that are filled with the lush
green of growing vegetables. The tables of LP are served by this bounty
and it brings money to many Laotian homes. Later in the year when the
monsoon arrives all this will be covered with many feet of water. I climbed down the steep bank to the water’s edge. Finding a few rocks in the clear water, I checked them for benthic macroinvertebrates. Sure enough, there they were. A couple of flathead mayflies clinging to the rocks. Fairly clean water is the story. I also found caddisflies, snails, and several other species of mayfly. I thought that I could get back to collect and save some of the organisms but never made the trip back. On the way down the Nam Khan to the Mekong, three lithe, brown ten year olds were playing in the water. They would swim out to a set of rocks in the river and then ride the fast moving water around the rocks to hurdle down the river a hundred yards to a quiet spot where they could repeat the maneuver again. Such fun they were having. One tourist woman said that they were bad boys and skipping school. Probably so, many Laos people do not send children to school but need them for work to help support the family. In any case, the sounds of their laughter could be heard above the sound of the river as I walked along the bank to the confluence of the two rivers. Here at the confluence was a sandy bank filled with umbrella stands that could be rented to the tourist who wanted to bask in the sun and swim in the river. This is one time when one wishes that he had a partner in travel. Going swimming and watching your possession at the same time is not an easy thing to do. It was hot so I settled for the shade of an umbrella and a cold Beer Lao. On a hot sunny afternoon, this is a good option for a sweaty hiker. After the stop, I headed along the shore and down the Mekong towards the city center. I was finally stopped by the steepness of the riverbank and had to clamber back along the slopes to a spot where the city had brought concrete steps down. I climbed up the steep steps to the street that follows along the high river bank and runs parallel to my hotel street. Actually, the entire town is situated along three long parallel streets. So following this river street would lead me back in the direction of my hotel. About halfway down my riverside trek, I came across a shop run by two old men who spoke no English. Not one word did I hear. The front of the store was covered with old baskets and cowbells. Nestled in on corner was a collection of crossbows. They were very dirty. How much? I held up the bows that I wanted. Mister raised two fingers on each hand and I said yes and handed over the $4. He wrapped them in newspaper so that I would not have the dirt on my clothes or hands. Nice thought on his part. I tried to bargain for other stuff but he would not go down. Finally, I headed back to the hotel showing off my new finds. These bows still have the strings and I, hopefully, would be able to find a way to take them apart and clean them before placing them in my luggage. Needless to say, I did get much attention by both the locals and the tourists and many stopped to ask what I had collected. And they asked what I would do with these. Of course, they will go on my walls when I can find a clear wall on which to hang them. I may give one to my daughter as she likes my treasures. I will clean them and see. So that afternoon, late, I returned to the hotel. I had been gone all day and seen a good bit of the city. The crossbows went on the top of the wardrobe and I hanged drying socks on them for another day before the cleaning time came. Such a treasure for me. I would hope to find arrows some time later as the old boy had none.Dinner tonight was fried noodles with vegetables and pork along with vegetable fried spring rolls. Add a Beer Lao to that and one is very full. A good day. Tomorrow the boat ride up the Mekong At 7 PM, I stopped at the Vat Siphout Monastery and the Buddhist High School for a try at working with the kids in English. I did get a chance to teach a bit but because I was the final one to work, many got up and headed home. I must have been wonderful? Many of the monks must walk and hour or more to their abode for the evening. No problem. The English teacher, a monk, is working on a library and wanted to show that off. I went in. Monk Khaonoy said that the library contained 500 books and at that moment less than a hundred were shelved. But from his smile and convincing manner, I expect that he will quickly add to the library. I gave him $20 to help the cause. No English books, only those in Sanskrit, Lao or Thai. Not many books like we know. No pictures. He said that all the books were out being read and that his students loved books. I wished that I could have helped more as I love books too. And I love Khaonoy’s passion. That is the key. Without that passion the dream will never happen or be filled. I will remember him and his library.
17 February, 2006 Luang Prabang, Laos I arrive at the tour center at 8:30 AM for the trip that will take all day. We will be back at about 4:30 PM and will visit the Pack Ou Caves and two villages. One is the whiskey village and another is the Paper village. The trip up the river is taken in one of those long skinny boats that are typical of ones found all along the Mekong. This part of the Mekong, I would discover is very shallow during the dry season that we are ending. By April the rains will begin and by June the Mekong will be flowing full and be 20 to 30 feet higher. Now we would have to watch the channel and stay in the middle, just like one would do on the Illinois. This Mekong channel would, however, not have those brightly painted green and red buoys. Rather, dirty white flags are placed in the water to mark the boundaries of deep water. On the rocks that frequently fill the river are concrete markers that reach far into the air, reminding all of the floods to come. The trip up the river took about two hours. We stopped at the whiskey village on the way up river and the paper village on the way down. These are ethnic villages founded and run by one of the many ethnic groups of Laos. They still sell the woven materials and handicraft but this village found out that people would purchase their homemade rice whiskey. They had a still at the head of the steps from the river. It cooked the rice and the finished product was being taken off the 55 gallon drums. Cold water from the river was the condensing agent. I tasted a bit and I can say that it is nasty. Much like any rice whiskey, like sake, this clear brew is both strong and powerful. They sell various sized bottles from big crocks (10 gallons) to small half pints. Some bottles they fill with snakes, scorpions, and other deadly critters to make the mixture weirder and nastier. Being my environmental self, I lectured the entire group of ten tourists that buying this contributed to the demise of the critters of the forests. Some people do buy as the liquor and critter filled bottles are found throughout SE Asia. I believe that I have a picture. Next stop is Pack Ou Caves. Two caves are found here that have been Buddhist relics from many centuries. The small village takes entrance money and sells things in trade in trade for taking care of the cave and its dock. This cave is typical of the many Buddhist cave shrines in that it is filled with many small Buddha statues. No history is available on the cave other than by knowing the cultural design o the statues. Raids in the past have either caused the caves to be emptied of things of value or the cave fell on hard times and the wooden statues rotted and the clay ones crumbled. No problem! The daylong trip up the Mekong is a once in a lifetime event and one can only enjoy the scenery and the workings of the locals as they search for a living. One of the livings is to collect the water plants from the river bottom. These are washed and sent to the cities to be served as Mekong sea plants. I never looked at the plants but decided that they were probably not algae but rather one of the filamentous water plants that we also have growing in the US. I did not get around to dining on them but noticed that the menu at the hotel listed this delicacy. Fishing lines were visible all along the river. They are usually in a row showing our or five bobbers made from varieties of materials including plastic jugs, raid cans, and bamboo pieces. I confirmed the nets by watching lone fisherman pulling them up to remove small fish they have captured. I believe that they will take any fish that is caught as one sees fish of all sizes in the market. No frozen fish here as all are fresh or are kept alive until they are taken to market. Villagers also have planted temporary gardens on all of available bank space along the river. Vegetable patches are everywhere with lettuce sprouting bright green and bamboo sticks marking the dark green of bean hills. Cabbage can be found and other vegetables that closer scrutiny would have identified. The women tended these along with old boys that were too tired to get into the forests. We never did stop in any areas to enter the forests to see the men at work. I guess that is for another day. The trip back down the river took about half the time that the upriver trip took. We stopped at the paper village. Here all villagers that were not involved in farming, worked at making paper products from banana leaves. They make books, paper with leaves and flowers pressed into the fiber, lanterns of many designs, picture frames and many more designs. I decided that paper was too heavy and purchased none. Did see a very different snake coming up the steps to the village! It was green with a red head. The villagers did not seem concerned and the children looked at it and went about making paper. I looked up the snake later in Vientiane and came up with either a Coral Snake or a Krait. Either is very, very poisonous. Yet the color did not match the books pictures in the Thailand Snake ID book. It could have been one more closely related to those in China or Vietnam. Our location was on the border of the Thai boundary for such critters. I took a wide birth around the thing and by the time I finished looking at paper, it was gone. Not a problem for me. I arrived back in Luang Prabang right on schedule at 4:30 PM. I dropped by the shop where I had collected the bows but the old boy was gone to the market. The son said that they had no arrows so I did not come back. I will look for arrows in another place. Checked email and hit the café for dinner and a cold Beer Lao. You might have guessed that there are very few different beers in Laos. I have seen only four different Beer Lao and one Carlsberg. I collect those on the first days so my beer label hunting has not done well. A special transportation one sees on the Mekong is the Longtail-Boats that carry a half dozen people up and down the river each day. Each boat is about 15 feet long and can hold about six people and their gear. The motor for the boat is a truck engine mounted high on the back of the boat. A long extension holds a screw propeller and this all extends from the rear of the engine into the river. The boat forms a long tale wake and goes like hell. 190 miles in six hours! Everyone going along wears a life jacket and helmet. The boat roars up the river at full speed, not only making a mighty wave but a roar also. You can hear each boat for miles. 15—20 go up or down river each day. No one says much about safety but the safety equipment tells you something. Like any speed device these missiles move by quickly. As one of these passed, I looked all over our boat and could not find our life jackets. We go slowly and the river is quickly shallow. The big monsters of the river are the commercial carriers. These too are long and thin and must not have much of a draft as the river becomes very shallow during the dry season. It takes two to 3 days to cover the river that the longtail boats cover in 6 hours. But they take paying passengers. Take books. They are unlike our Illinois barges in having the prow and stern built into the air like a dragon boat. The cargo area is surely as high as our barges but the width is a third. I can tell you, however, that the upstream bound Mekong river barge does leave a wake. Such a good day on the river! Time for good Lao Curry and a Beer Lao.
18 February, 2006 Luang Prabang, Laos This was a slow morning. I read and finished the last of my books. Had four. Finished the Dan Brown book. Deception Point. Had read it before so reading it went real fast. Washed some shirts that I would let air dry. Am down to only two t-shirts and some others. Will leave more clothes behind in Vientiane. I have only had clothes washed once this trip (One dollar a kilo) but should have done more. I wash everything worn that day each night and alternate with another set. When I am tired of that set, I switch. I have not worn two pair of long pants and one pair of shorts. Will wear one of those long pants home as airlines and Illinois can get cold in early March. I also decided that this was the time to wash the cross bows. The hotel has very hot water. First, the dismantling of the bows into three pieces. The string must be gently removed so that it does not break. That was tricky and made easier when I wet the entire bow and allowed the string to soak up water. It stretched. A crust of filth covered both bows as they must have hung in smoky buildings for a long time. They were dirty. I rinsed and washed with hot water until little dirt came off. Then grabbing an old pair of jockey shorts, I scrubbed. Most of the grime came off and I laid the bow parts on the high cabinet to dry. Another story!! Down town, I stopped and traded books: two for one. Then, I booked a trip for a visit Kuang Si Falls. This falls is located about 18 miles outside of the city on a dirt road. It takes a bit of time to drive. We parked, paid an admission, and walked to the falls. The locals sell crafts and food along the way. Arriving at the falls, one can quickly see that the water is different from waterfalls in our part of the world. The pools are lined with a crust from the extensive amounts of salts in the water. I wish that I had my water testing kits. The water was cloudy too. The falls themselves were quite high. Of course, this is the dry season and they are probably reduced in size by a third. You can climb some paths and arrive at the top of the big falls. I estimated that climb to be close to a hundred feet. Am not climbing this one! So I headed to the side of the water and found a stream just a foot wide. I pulled out my forceps and collecting bottle and went to work looking for benthics. Found some stoneflies and mayflies so I know that the water may be full of salts but some good critters love it and live in it. Of course, my bending over and looking attracted a stream of questions. I just did the Dr. Bob thing and told them what I was doing and how I could go to any moving water in the world and give that stream or river a grade based on the critters that I found. This falls received and A-. Talked to people from all over the world. I was probably wonderfulJ In any case, I have added some critters to my stock and will check them out when I return to IL. I kept telling everyone that my daughter always says that she can tell her dad on any beach or river because he is the only person who can be seen constantly bending over. I guess that this old boy’s beer belly is not to restricting. The land around Luang Prabang is hilly to mountainous so any drive is interesting. The mountains are primarily karst or limestone. Caves are everywhere. It makes sense that the streams are filled with salt solutions as they must flow through the limestone formations. The minibus dropped us off at the market near the hotel. I dropped off camera and other things and headed in to the city to find out about the trip to Phonsavan and the Plain of Jars. It was a go! I paid the extra $45 that I owed and returned to the hotel for dinner and repacking. Crossbow and arrows went into the luggage. Shirts, shorts and other things had to go. Went through everything and found some pens, gum, key-chains and t-shirts that I no longer wanted to keep. These I took and walked down to Monastery. Finding the Monk, I handed him all. I had some calendars from the Bank of Edwardsville along with a dozen pens that I had carried for a month and a half. All of these would be good for Buddhist education. All the young boys gathered around and looked at all. The calendars were the kind that one sticks to the desk. They were fascinated. The three packs of gum took little time to use up. Our peppermint gum is very strong by Lao standards. I do not even know if they have peppermint. I do know that exclamations came out for the first few chews. The gum and calendars went to the students. Monk Khaonoy kept the pens and placed them in his room. I love seeing the person first experiences with a key chain that comes apart. They fancy the idea that with a push of the fingers, one keychain makes two. My luggage is a few pounds lighter. And I am ready for the morning trip to the Plain of Jars.
19 February, 2006 Luang Prabang to Phonsavan, Laos The minibus picked me up at 8:30 to begin the long drive over to Phonsavan. The roads are pretty good for SE Asia standards but every few hundred feet one finds a curve. The curves range from gentle to switchbacks and from steep to gentle inclines. The trip would take almost eight hours. We stopped once during the morning for the bathroom. No toilets just bushes. The two ladies were discrete. We stopped about half way for a bowl of noodle soup. The driver’s friends owned the café. The highway across has become a main street for settlement and is lined along hilltops by rows of bamboo houses owned by various ethnic communities. Places where water flowed from springs were particularly well populated. On some of the flatter places, good sized settlements were forming. Some were adding water lines to bring the water closer to homes. In others the women and children made the daily trip to the pipe sticking out of the mountainside. You can imagine the waste removal system as the back side of the house extended out over the drop-off side of the slope. The local women sat before the houses preparing food. Children were much in evidence. Many of the very young were naked. Pants must come at two or three years old. Sandals much later. Chickens, ducks, turkeys, potbelly pigs, goats and cows all added to the activity. Children usually waved at the vehicle and we waved back. The first guesthouse was new and full. The next was also new and practically empty. Ten dollars a night with TV. No AC as the city of Phonsavan is high on a plateau and much cooler than other places. Yes, we climbed and curved a bunch today. Found an Email café but gave up on emailing as the process was so slow. Had Lao Curry dinner and hit the sack. Hanging on is hard work. Tomorrow the Plain of Jars.
20 February, 2006 Phonsavan, Laos – The Plain of Jars This place in Laos is one of those memory places from childhood reading that you have wondered about but never ever thought that you would visit. The Plain of Jars is a spot in that memory from a history book that I read in junior high. It is a place of dreams. And I am here. Who would have imagined? It is also connected to my time in the Army. I read papers about our bombing of this area and now would really be confronted by that reality. It is said that more bombs were dropped on this area of Laos than all the bombs dropped on Germany during World War II. I can tell you that thirty plus years later the bomb craters are still there. So there are two stories of the Plain of Jars. One is the ancient story of the Jars and the conjecture by historians about how they were created and for what purpose. Another is the story of the French and American Indochina wars and the rain of bombs that fell on this place and still hold the local people in their metallic grasp. The Plain of Jars is formed like a saucer with the mountains surrounding the area. On 60 locations around the saucer are located sites that contain the jars of ancient Laos. These jars are stone vessels made by unknown people who, historians think, used them in a funeral process. The material used to make them is sandstone. A quarry, with abandoned and unfinished urns, was found a 100 km from the Plains. They think that elephants were used to bring the huge vessels over land. No big rivers here. Thousands of jars can be seen. However, bomb remnants and live bombs buried underground have made touring dangerous. Three sites have been made bomb free. We would visit these three places, Sites 1, Site 2 and Site 3. Quite original names. Arriving at each site, one will see a number of huge signs in three languages, French, Lao and English. Each sign would offer instructions: Stay within the markers. Those markers were squares—half white and half red. The white side is the safe side. Your eyes cannot help but follow down the path. You can die on the red side. How I love to wander around looking. Stay on the white side. The path heads up hill and down to the jars. They are huge. Bigger than me and can hold a human easily. Only one has a marking on Site 1 and that is a human figure. No markings of any kind. Lids have been found but only very few. Mystery is everywhere. And the bombs! Coming over here, we stopped for lunch at the halfway point. Begging at our stop was a young man with both hands missing at the wrist. New stubs. Not those of long ago. I remembered and stayed in the white area of the squares. All around one could see the bomb craters, like indented pimples. Most had trees growing in the center. Good place for trees. The seed fell in and any water would be concentrated by the crater for the trees use. Not a good place for people. At the bottom of each crater could be a bomb. Poor people of Cambodia, taking a chance, searched for those bombs. They could sell the metal and feed their families. One of my newly made Laos friends has bomb and grenade parts that he openly uses as ash trays. In all cafes in Phonsavan, one can see bomb parts. Big ones, small ones, bombies are the small ones. People die each year as bombies surface in the fields during planting. Kids die too when they find bright yellow bombies on excursions to the wild or fields. Kids play with them. Kids die. Moms and dads die. Every one in the Plain of Jars has a story. Most of the bombies are American. We are not doing much to help. I am sad. And am afraid to explore? Long, our guide, told of coming to Site 3 one day and was warned not to come up to the top of the ridge. We found a bomb. He had guided many groups to that spot and had stood there under that tree explaining to people about the Jars. He had been standing on a 500 pound bomb. Many times. It was gone now but he remembered. Long is Hmong. He is a good looking and articulate young man. He is going to do well. He has an uncle, a Hmong, living in Minneapolis. Long does not talk openly about the bombs but he will talk when asked. He sticks to the path within the white parts of the squares. More sites will be open next year. For more information on Bombies and bombs, an organization call MAG is the international expert. You can also find many good pictures by searching Google or Plain of Jars. Join me. That night, after a shower, I joined Long for an hour long video made by the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) about Bombies and the bomb problem. I am bothered by this problem and would not want my grandchildren have to spend each of their days in the specter of this horror. These are American bombs, dumped by the millions, on these Lao people with whom we have never, I repeat, never been at war. We are guilty of an inhumanity to the Laotian people. And I cannot understand why they are not angrier at us. I feel far more guilt by a hundred than they show or feel anger. Good dinner at the restaurant. Some more things to think about? Especially, the ten hour ride to Vientiane tomorrow. Enough thinking or tonight.
21 February, 2006 Phonsavan to Vientiane, Laos The guy from the local tourist office picked me up at 7 AM and made the drive out to the edge of town to the new bus station. This is the first new one that I have experienced and by far the nicest. I guess that you would have to know why. Phonsavan is a new town that did not exist before the Vietnam War. The old town was completely destroyed by the bombs. This new town grows daily and with each new bomb found and each new crater filled expands beyond the few streets that we walked. The two hotels that I experienced are so new that they still smell of fresh paint. The bus left at 7:30 AM bound for Vientiane. We would stop around Kasi for lunch. Bus fare was $8.50 on a VIP bus. Only four tourists road on this bus with the rest Laotian. And the bus was only half full. I could have slept as I had a seat to myself. Sleep is not easy on a continuously curvy road about half of which was backtracking across land covered two days ago. Eventually, around Vang Vieng the road straightens. We have arrived in the Mekong valley. The road still is slow because now we run into people and vehicles. This morning when we started, I do not think we met another vehicle for two hours. And we met few during the remaining hours. Meeting the road from Luang Prabang meant much, much more traffic, especially the big trucks. I turned in my sleep that night. Arriving in Vientiane, we boarded a bus for the city. I had gotten the name of a hotel from a traveler that I had met on Site 3 the day before. Actually, I met him and he was at the bus station this morning. He had stayed at the Monkol Hotel and gotten a $30 room for $15 in his time at the Capitol City of Laos. I would try it out and here I am. It is located right on the banks of the Mekong but a good ten blocks from the heart of the city. Not a lot of tourists here. Many Thai businessmen stay. You can look across the Mekong and see Thailand. The hotel is OK, nothing special, just OK. They let me use the computer to type because not many people use it as their Internet access is very slow. The hotel is an interesting combination of tourism and old Laos. Cold Beer Lao though. It is close to the airport but so is all of Vientiane. I will stay put and eliminate any stress from moving. The walk does me good so hiking each day is the plan.
22 February, 2006 Vientiane, Laos Started the day by trying to get thing organized for my departure. I am feeling the end of the trip coming and want to make it smooth. So the first stop must be the Vietnamese Embassy to figure out what to do about the Visa. I walked out of the hotel and bargained with the tuk-tuk drivers to take me to the Embassy and then to the Talat Sao Day Market. And back to the hotel. Two dollars. That is fine? The first stop at the Embassy proved to be somewhat futile. I needed entry visa to Vietnam for one day. NO! Cannot have for one day! You will get 30 day visa and cost is $50. No other option. OK! The attaché suggested that I talk to Vietnam Airlines. He was very nice. Back to the tuk-tuk and over to the Airlines that is located in the Lao Plaza Hotel’s second floor. I changed my ticket out on the 27th from early in the morning to early evening. It seems that one cannot stay in the terminal of the Airport for over 24 hours. I think? It is not LA or Heathrow and may even close at night. I will know the 27th because my flight to Hong Kong is not until 11 AM on the 28th. Will know what is happening by the 28th at noon. I may be an old man in political Or I may be happily on my way to HK and the USA. What would you do? Not to worry as I have no visa and cannot get one so we shall see how the international air flight rules play out. Making that decision, I headed for the Day Market to see what needs to be purchased. Row after row of weavings are available. The colors are beautiful and I know nothing. Wall hangings are suspended from walls and separators. The silk that makes the weavings is locally grown and the weavings are hand made and take much time. Scattered around the hall are products that can be used in weaving such as portable looms and the thread. Silver articles are there but not as many as in Vietnam. The second floor of the structure is filled with gold jewelry for the locals and not the tourists. The price of gold is up and so is the cost of the jewelry here. This is nice stuff that one buys for his wife as both an investment and as a sign of love. Unlike America with one big store, each person has a stall with a front of just a few meters. Hundreds of individual jewelry stores were represented in this building. I assume that families have sold golden jewelry in such a market in Vientiane for centuries and their customers have known those people or as long. In SE Asia, small business is really king! In any case, I purchase a few ethnic scarves/belts and a shoulder bag for myself. From this day, I would abandon my camera case and carry only the bag. Kind of hippy like. Good bag and made by Hmong. Leaving the Market, I followed my map to find a couple of the City landmarks, the That Dam, the oldest stupa in the city and the Fountain at Nam Phu Square. I have never seen the Fountain working and the Stupa is falling into disrepair but they are major landmarks. I also found Joma Bakery and Coffee Shop and would make a daily stop to have an iced coffee. They use purified water to make their ice. I have not had much ice nor any tap water for two months as one cannot trust the water and I surely do not want to be sick. So far so good. On the way past one of the Monasteries, I saw a sign or the Sangha College. OK, I thought. I am here in Vientiane for six days so maybe I can work with an English class here too. I talked to a couple of monks with creditable English and they took me back in the campus to the location of the English teacher, Monk Kham Lha. He was gone to another monastery. I chatted with a couple of monks and they practiced English and I learned about their life. Most are from big families and volunteered to become a monk to help the family. They can stay as a monk after so many years or can return to becoming a layperson. They have a choice. The bright ones can receive a pretty good education during their time as a monk. Not an easy life but their life in a small rural farming community must not be easy either. Most seemed happy but I would suspect the unhappy ones would not be talking to me. In any case I set up an appointment to Meet Kham Lha the next day at 12:30 PM and continued to walk home but this time along the banks of the Mekong. At least once a day, I have eaten the fried vegetable spring roll made in the hotel. I am served a great peanut sauce. The spring roll comes with an assortment of veggies but I have trained the staff to bring only cucumbers and tomatoes. These are fresh from the garden each morning and are delicious with the peanut sauce. A long and potentially important day has just passed.
23 February, 2006 Vientiane, Laos This is monastery and temple visiting day for me. Most of the ones that I wanted to visit are located on the main drag of Vientiane. That street is called Settathirat Street and it is a one way street beginning at the Three-headed Elephant, past the statue of King Settathirat after which the street is named and out through the city. I will walk it many times in my stay here. 1. Wat Hai Sok 2. Wat Mixai. 3. Wat Ong Tu and Sangha College 4. Wat Pra Keo 5. Wat Si Muang 6. The statue of King Sisavang Vong is very near Wat Si Muang 7. Wat Sisaket
During my walks, I checked into some of the antique stores and found a couple of masks from local ethnic tribes. I then emailed Harry to see if he wanted to pay for a mask that I found. It was kind of pricy but I did not find too many masks in any of the stores. Actually did not find any so these are either rare or fakes. Will see what Harry says about paying $50 for a mask. You know he was here in Laos during the 70’s as a Peace Corps volunteer and has fond memories. His son, Doug, was here also a few years ago as a short time volunteer. I may keep the mask. It is nice. Had my afternoon iced coffee at Joma and stopped at a corner market a block from the hotel for a cold beer that might be a bit cheaper. It was cheaper but the lady running the market was also finishing a weaving on her loom. The loom sat under a shelter in the fence-enclosed compound. I drank the beer and watched her finish. The piece cost me $8. Her husband came home and we shared a beer and talked. He is part of the mine removal project that has been removing mines placed throughout the country during the Pathet Lao and Vietnam Wars. Such a mess this country is with all the unexploded ordinances. In any case, he had been working in the field with the actual mine removal for quite a while and finally was in a supervisory role and for the last five years stationed in Vientiane. He would retire within five years and hopefully, without loosing any body parts. I have the 2005 report of the XO Corporation and he gave me a badge. We talked a long time and I have stopped by for a chat and a beer each night since. I told him that he was very smart in having chosen this spot on the Mekong to purchase a house and to open a market. He will have a very expensive spot as the tourist industry continues and the streets are paved. Like any bright man, he gave all the credit to his wife. She laughed and said something in Lao. They are proud of the place and will do well.
24 February, 2006 Vientiane, Laos I read until noon and then headed over to the Lao Museum. This museum houses some of the treasures of the ancient Lao people. At least it has a few that have not been packed off or ruined by bombs and mines, or crushed by the hands of the Pathet Lao. One section is totally given over to the BS of the present Communist leaders. Propaganda at is best, just like in Cambodia and Vietnam. All justification for making these countries some of the poorest in SE Asia. Only Burma, Myanmar, is worse off. Thailand, ancient aggressor to Laos and Cambodia, followed capitalism and is a commercial giant by their standards. The Thai Baht is the informal currency of Laos along with the dollar. I did get some locally made jewelry from the Museum gift shop. I was oversold by a half dozen lovely Laos ladies who had nothing else to do but take the money of a “Wealthy” American. Across the street from the Museum is the new Lao Cultural Center. It was empty outside but on the inside was very busy. Advertisements were promoting the crowning of the Lux Soap Queen the following day. I tried to purchase a ticket but was told to come back on the 25th at 6:30 PM and I could get one and attend the show. There would be much dancing and beautiful Lao girls, one of whom would be selected the Lux Queen for 2006. OK! I will return. I walked back towards the hotel and had a beer with my mine removal friend before heading down the Mekong Road for dinner. A single fellow was at a table having dinner and I asked if he would allow company. No Problem. His girlfriend was getting a massage and he had biked here and was having a bite before getting her. His name was Dorus and he and girlfriend were on a six month tour of SE Asia. He is a Hollander. I ordered a seafood soup and rice and waited. This soup was hot and spicy but filled with mussels, crab and shrimp. Those hot green peppers can hide in the dark. But I did have a cold Beer Lao to cover the warmth and a bunch of napkins to mop off the sweat. Gourmet’s delight over white rice? And across the Mekong the lights of Thailand twinkled.
25 February, 2006 Vientiane, Laos First thing after morning coffee was to bargain with the tuk-tuk driver for the trip to Buddha Park. Cost me $10! After finishing the drive, I was dropped me off to visit the Patuxay Monument. I walked back to the hotel from here, stopping at the market for one last time. On the way out to the Buddha Park, I heard a beeping of some horn and looked around and there was Dorus, my Dutch friend from last night’s dinner. I had talked about Buddha Park with him and he decided to see it too but had rented a motorcycle to make the 25 km trip out. I bumped slowly along in the back of this ancient Tuk-tuk while he buzzed past ahead of me. We would talk again at the Park and would meet as we both stopped to visit the brewery headquarters of Beer Lao. Saturday, today and the brewery is closed. I could have taken a tour on Friday had I known. Slow on the beer thinking but have all the labels anyway. Did get a couple of pictures to add to my memories. The Buddha Park is formed around a set of concrete structures that show every possible view of any Buddha figure. The main statue is a reclining Buddha. There are also huge crocodiles, elephants, dragons and others. One dome with the tree of life on top is filled with concrete images of the Hell obtained for not living a good Buddhist life. One entered through a small hole that was covered with an immense grinning mouth. A series of stairs led you up to the roof of the structure or down into the center and images of pain and suffering. I banged a shin on the rough concrete so am suffering some of the pain for my years of the good life. Finishing up the tour took only about an hour. The concrete figures are bunched in a rectangle and a larger park was formed around them. All the structures were constructed during the fifties and early sixties. The monk that made them wanted to show off his brand of Buddhism. People come to worship and both monks and nuns could be seen in the park. Monks in orange and nuns in white. I decided to have a cup of tea before starting the bumpy, hour-long drive back to the city. One table had a couple of ladies in white waiting. I sat with them and offered to buy them tea. They were Buddhist Nuns. They thanked me for the tea but neither could speak English. After a few sips of tea, one the Nuns pulled out a Lao/English translation book and we began the conversation. One was 49 and the other 56. Their dinner came and looked good so I ordered the same thing as the youngest had, a soup. I invited a young couple to join us. She was from Germany and he from Holland. They were traveling for a year and had been to South America and now SE Asia. Lunch was great with all of us sharing the translating book and asking questions. The older nun finished dinner with her concoction of beetle nut and offered us some if we wanted. I had tried that mess in India last year and wanted no part. The younger nun asked about my beard that has now grown quite bushy. Lao men do not have many facial hairs so this was a wonder. I moved over and took the hands of each and let them feel my beard. They giggled and commented in Lao. I am not sure if the comments were good or bad but they will remember old fuzzy face. We departed and I headed back to Vientiane. I do like the noodle soups of this area and could eat them every day. The variety in the soups is incredible. Lemon grass is an ingredient that we all should adopt for our soup dishes. The Patuxay Monument was my next destination. This is a smaller version of the Arch de Triumph of Paris. Formed of steel and concrete and a bit dilapidated, the viewing area is seven stories above the street. I climbed to the top and took pictures. What a difference two month of walking and climbing makes in one’s ability to reach the top. I am in much better shape today. GOOD! I stopped again at the Talat Sao Day Market for a last bit of shopping and then walked back to the center of town for my iced coffee and finally my Beer Lao at the shop. I had a set of spring rolls for dinner and took a quick shower before heading up to the Cultural Center for the evening Lux Soap Queen Beauty Pageant. I arrived at the Cultural Center a bit before seven and asked to purchase a ticket. NO tickets left. Now what? I walked up to the security line and explained my problem. I had a chance to buy tickets the day before but they told me to come back. I explained again in slow English. I tried to look pitiful and sad. After some consultation, the head security lad motioned me forward into line and I was in the hall. Inside the hall, all the doors were jammed with people, mostly young, trying to get into the auditorium. What a line! Just as I came up, a fellow with a huge bag of recording equipment came up to the line and was allowed through. I pulled out my camera, held it high, and followed the man with the bag, right behind him and close. The guard waved us both through. I was inside! But not a seat was available. I found a spot on the floor near one of the cameras and sat. The show kicked off just a few minutes late -- 7:40 PM. The Lux Soap Queen crowning was beginning and I was present. Twenty lovely Lao ladies from all over Laos were competing for the $200 in prizes and a chance to reign for two years. And probably a lifetime supply of Lux soap. I sat through two repetitions of Lao ladies putting their best foot forward and found that there would be no swimsuit competition. I cannot imagine a Queen crowning with out swimsuits. I must be in Laos? I took a couple of final pictures of some of the contestants and headed back to the hotel. Enough is enough? The final award was made after 11 PM. I was home about 9:30, much past my bedtime. I watched the winner’s installation on TV. I saved the cost of the ticket by my bumbling --$2.50. Another story! Yes?
26 February, 2006 Vientiane, Laos Worked on the e-log until almost 11:30 AM. Also finished up a few last minute postcards. Postage out of Laos for cards is almost $.85. Expensive! I did not send many but wanted to drop these few in the mail box at the post office. With that done the tuk-tuk driver dropped me by the Catholic Church. It was a delightfully clean and well painted structure. The two masses this morning had standing room only with a couple of hundred plus at each session. I talked a bit to a couple of the laymen after taking pictures. Lao has few Catholics, maybe 40,000. Buddhism is very strong. I have only seen one other Christian Church in the city. An older Lao lady was quietly saying prayers with her Rosary in the cool quiet church. No smell of incense that is present in all temples. Walking home today, Sunday, is a different experience. Laotians take Sunday as a day off and businesses are closed and the streets quiet. This is very different from Vietnam and Cambodia where they slow down a bit but not much.
27 February, 2006 Vientiane, Laos Today I am finishing of this log and getting it out to you. At four this afternoon, I will hire a tuk-tuk for the drive to the airport and will board the plane for Vietnam just before six. I am on my way home and will give you a final analysis and comment next week. It was a good trip for me and I hope the stories that I have sent back have entertained.
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