So sorry I haven’t blogged much. I had intended to write about each country I visit, but time and energy is lacking when you travel like such a crazy person…

Laos has been my favorite country by far. “Save the best for last” like they always say. It was one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. A lush tropical rainforest covering magnicifant mountains. And hte people were lovely as well. More skeptical of the ‘falang’ (foreigner) than those people of, say, Cambodia, but still, once away from the tourist hotspots you were sure to hear ‘sabaidee’ (hello) from a mother or two sitting in the shade.

First, I have to tell you about how we got there. This trip was just me and Alex… our German friends were headed south to the beach. Alex is my ‘Asian brother from another mother’ from Singapore. So, we said goodbye and left early in the morning from Siem Reap, Cambodia and took a bus to the Thai border arriving around 9am. From there we took a tuk-tuk to the Aranyaprathet (the Thai border town) bus station. It was GREAT because we were the only westerners (Singapore is almost western :P). That makes things more difficult because we don’t speak the language and services aren’t catered to us. BUT a thousand times more authentic, and for me, more enjoyable. For one you aren’t being pestered by a thousand people trying to give you a ‘good deal’. And two, you meet actual Thai people along the way. Living their real life that isn’t centered around tourism. And I LOVE that. That is what I travel.

So anyway. The people we met were all incredible and helpful. When you don’t speak a language, you learn a few standard ways to make the point you want to make… including gestures, inflection in your voice, even so much as taking out paper and drawing. Always so funny. We took a few buses to other cities where we connected to another bus. Because the only direct bus to Nong Khai (the Thai/Lao border) were full. Actually, we booked a ticket, and the ticket man had us wait for like an hour and told us (rather, motioned) he would show us the correct bus when it arrived. But, when it arrived, it actually only had one open seat instead of 2. The driver thought it was the funniest thing. I was a little frustrated, but we just laughed with him. Such a jolly man. And they helped us get on a different bus to connect through some more cities. It was funny because we ran into that driver at at least 2 more stations along the way where we changed buses, but he and his bus stopped for a bathroom break, and he just though it was so funny. We laughed each time we saw each other.

By the time we neared Udon Thani (probably the next big town until the border Nong Khai an hour away), it was getting dark. And we realized the border would be closed. So we would have to stay the night in either Udon or Nong Khai. At that moment, a really nice Thai girl named Jane who works in Bahrain, got on the bus. She spoke english really well and just started talking to us. We told her we needed to get to Nong Khai to cross the border. She was so helpful. She leaned forward, tapped the driver on his shoulder, and asked him in Thai to make sure we get a tuk-tuk for a local price to get to the next bus station (we needed to change bus stations also). He agreed. So nice. Well… in the meantime, we decided that maybe we should just stay the night in Udon and figure the rest out in the morning. She agreed that it was the best idea and suggested that we get a cheap hotel near the station.

She tapped the lady behind us and asked if she was familiar with anywhere for us to stay. (In Thai of course). In that conversation, she found out that the other lady was also headed to Laos. She was half Lao/half Thai. Jane asked her if we could sort of follow her to Laos. She agreed. Though we spoke no more than 3 words of any of the same language, she was incredible. She went out of her way to find a hotel that night that had 3 vacant rooms. She got a tuk-tuk for us in the morning to take us to the station. She bought us dinner. What? She bought US dinner? We should be buying her dinner as I see it. The next morning, she went out of her way to make sure we got into Laos ok. She even waited while I got my visa at the border! Andddd she took us all the way to the station in Vientiane where we could catch our next bus (which was a 40km drive out of her way!)!!! Wow.

From Vientiane, we took a bus to Luang Prabang, where we would spend our time in Laos. What a bus ride! Let me tell you about this bus ride! First, it was a local bus – meaning there’s few foreigners – again, ALWAYS my favorite! Though we did meet a cool Indian guy from Dallas. Now, I knew that this was an 11 hour bus ride. But I didn’t know that it was an 11hr bus ride through mountain jungle forest and villages. And let me add that a good number of Lao roads aren’t paved, and the ones that are… feel like they’re not. But INCREDIBLE views. Totally worth it. But, let’s just say I had some intense heart burn by the time we arrived at midnight.

A cool Lao guy who was around my age sat next to me and shared some delicious Lao sweets that he bought through the bus window. Every time you stop, Lao villagers come up to the bus with things like fruits and candies and sometimes even cow heads to sell.

The city of Luang Prabang was quite amazing. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage city for it’s historic temples, culture, and its picturesque location along the Mekong River. Laos used to be a French colony, so there’s still a lot of French influence. We had some delicious French bread, baguette sandwiches, crepes, and coffee.

There’s a lot of Buddhist monks here because of all the important temples. It is often said, in Lao and Thai culture, that every man should be a monk at least once in his life. So there’s many. A lot of younger boys join (i dont know the correct word) for the education and to learn english. Monks aren’t allowed to spend money or buy things, so early in the morning, as the sun is rising, you’ll see them walking in groups with baskets to accept food from those willing to give them.

Luang is in a valley surrounded by mountains, so as you can imagine, the view is incredible. We got to watch teh sunset from the hightest hill in the middle of the city. (There’s a video on facebook). We took a long boat ride along the Mekong to some sacred caves and stopped in a village that specializes in their rice whiskey that they put into bottles with cobras and scorpions.

We also hiked – well, more like climbed – to the top of a huge waterfall. I say ‘climbed’ because for the majority of the time, I had to put my camera away and use my hands along with my feet in order to not die. And you know that when I have to put my camera away… well this means business. We waded waste deep through the river at the top, less than a foot away from dropping off the edge with the falls – with only 2 beams of wood protecting us from getting swept away. The current was really strong. The kind of storng when you finally get your foot to a rock, it sort of suctions down to it until you try to move again. Luckily we made it across. 😛

We spent a lot of time just … sitting and relaxing along the path beside the river. Drinking some delicious coffee. Watching the people pass by. It’s actually quite a romantic city. Quiet. Peaceful. Relaxing. Fresh air. Great views. Great food. Not excessively crowded. Alex decided he needs to bring his girlfriend, Pauline, back here… and I told him it was mandatory.

I got a fantastic foot massage and Lao massage (like a Thai massage – a lot of stretching and bone cracking) for less than $5. Alex went to the museum. I’ve seen too many museums.

I loved watching this game that I’ve come to call ‘shoe bowling’. It seemed to be the gave that every boy LOVED to play. Basically you take off your shoes – almost always flip flops of some sort – and try to knock over a plastic cup – or a stack of them – just depending. Everyone takes turns throwing shoes. I watched a dad playing with his son for a while. Though I wanted to, I didn’t have the boldness to ask them to teach me. But it seems like a pretty decent mix between horseshoes and bowling.

Such a GREAT city. Seriously one of my favorite places. I would love to go back someday. Only, I would love to get a little outside of the city and spend some time with locals… so that just means I need to make some Lao friends somehow 😛

The bus ride back was crazier than the first. For starters, the old Lao guy sitting behind me consistently hawked up lugies and spit them out the window for the full 11 hours! SO GROSS. And, he definitely got some spittle on me at one point. EW. I wanted to cry. But it was so ridiculous that I just laughed. Really? REALLY? I wanted to die a little bit.

Now, here’s the other crazy thing. Remember how I said earlier that the whole bus ride was through mountain rainforest? So, then, what do you do for the bathroom? GREAT question! On the way to Luang, we stopped occassionally in small villages that would let us use their squat hole for a small fee. Well, the ride back was different.

I had to go pretty bad at one point, and before I knew it, I felt the bus coming to a stop. Now, that could mean anything from we’re picking up another passenger on the side of the village road, we’re putting a satellite on top of the bus, we’re loading more bags of corn or rice or live chickens into the bottom of the bus, we’re stopping to let a pack of water buffalo cross the road, the driver is buying a snack from the locals, or really anything. But I hoped that it was a bathroom stop… Also, Alex and I are the only non-locals on this bus. Which basically means we’re never entirely sure what’s happening. And that’s fine – it adds a fun amount of adventure and surprise. So, you do a lot of watching and observing people to figure out what’s happening. 

I look out my window and see several guys (including the driver) hop off the bus and start picking and immediately eating some kind of green fruits. Hm. Ok? So maybe he was hungry and then saw the fruits and stopped? I’m still hoping for a bathroom. Next, I see several man turn away from the bus… and I realize they’re peeing. So unfair! Girls can’t do it that easily! We need a place a bit more… hidden. I looked for somewhere that might be a suitable place. No luck… Being in the middle of the rainforest means that the moment you step off the road, you’re immediately standing in thick grass/plants/weeds/trees at least waist high. Who knows what’s lurking around in there? I was debating with the idea of sucking it up and trekking through the brush to pee, when I see several Lao women doing just what I was thinking. That gave me the boost I needed. ‘Screw it’, i thought, ‘when you gotta go, you gotta go’. I felt so… indigenous. Ha.

We made it back and were able to cross the border back into Thailand where we took an overnight bus back to Bangkok where we arrived this morning.

I leave early tomorrow for Hong Kong and then fly home from there Tuesday!