Luang Prabang

Dec. 9

The 6 hour car ride from Muang Khua to Luang PraBang went according to our plan agreement, which is a surprise in itself. I thought for sure he would pick up a few more people as it is pretty unusual to travel in this country with empty seats!! In fact, he only stopped about 30 minutes for lunch at a local street restaurant where we had rice and chicken. I did pay for his lunch which wasn’t that much and a way of tipping him.

In Luang PraBang, we(Thanh and I) tried to have the driver drop us off at the guest house I had found in guide book. But the driver didn’t seem to be able to find it and rather than waste his time and gas, I told him to just let us out. It was about 3 pm, so plenty of daylight and I thought we could ask someone, which would save us from walking around too much, plus carrying our bags. We found a coffee shop by the Mekong river, and relaxed for a bit. Then, Thanh asked someone and he told me to wait while he looked for the guest house. So off Thanh went, and I thought he would be back in about 15 minutes or so. Well, I waited, and waited, and waited. After about 45 minutes, I was thinking this isn’t good. What could have happened? I did have his mobile number, but that was all. Finally, he returned. He never did find the guest house we had chosen, but did find another one. In fact, he had checked out several, trying to get a good price. They were all about 8-10 USD. But the one we stayed at was on a main street, with a nice big room, two beds, cable TV, and a decent bathroom, plus a good lock on the door.

Luang PraBang is a UNESCO world heritage site. This is probably the one city in Laos that gets the most tourists. There are a number of Pagodas and Buddhist monks that live here. Monks are generally young men or boys that devote any number of years being a monk, then go back to regular life. There was a National Museum that I visited to that was very interesting, which contained lots of art, photos, furniture, and artifacts from the early history of Laos. You have to take your shoes off more in Laos almost everywhere. For example, in the guest houses, your shoes stay outside. I always worry that someone might steal mind, but they most have small feet. Ha!

On one of the main streets, there is a night market. This market is several blocks long and every night they setup. They sell most everything, from food to clothing to jewelry. And you can bargain too. But I just like to look for a bit. The crowds of people, lots of other Asians from Japan or Korea, seemed to checking out the market.

One night, we walked through the buffet night market. Food sitting out in pots everywhere, even a vegetarian buffet area. Well, we finally decided to eat a small corner street stall. They cleaned a table for us and ordered some pork and rice, and vegetables-not sure what kind, but they were green. The food was ok, but the flying ants disturbed me. I kept knocking them off my arm and trying to keep them off the food. Unbeknown to me, Thanh was almost out of Kip-Lao money. So then he tells me this after we have ordered the food. I had tried to use the ATM machine early, but I couldn’t get any money, but I thought I had enough. I could use my US dollars, but better to save them for backup. Thanh did have some VNese Dong, which he then went to change for Lao Kip. Again, I waited for him to come back, not knowing exactly where he had gone or when he would be back. Now, I had eaten the food, so I had to sit there until he got back. Now, the people in Laos are pretty laid back. They just let me sit there without asking me about paying or taking up space for others. Thanh did return with Kip so then we paid and walked back to the hotel.

Earlier, when I tried to use the ATM, a young woman tried to help me. She spoke good English but looked Asian. I then asked her where she was from. She said USA. Portland , Oregon. Smalll world!

I will write about my one day of trekking next... I wrote this after getting home. 


Dec. 8-9

Dec. 8-9
In Muang Khua, we found a guest house that was near the river. Well, actually, the whole town or village is near the river. Not sure of the population, maybe 1,000. When we checked into the guest house, we just ask the price, look at the room, then agree to stay. Next they hand you the key. You never sign in, or do they ask for your passport. Nothing! Very different than Vietnam. And we stayed two days, then we have find them to pay. Very laid back. The room was ok, about $8 USD. The only problem was the rooster crowing to his friends, starting about 3 am. Other than that, the whole town is very very quiet. You can walk though the whole area in about an hour. On game, they like to play is a French game with a cue like ball. You throw or roll the ball down a gravel like alley or lane, trying to get close to a center pin. I would call it a cross between bowling and horseshoes. Maybe closer to horseshoes.

We had dinner with a Polish couple that we met on the bus. Actually, we ate with them in Diem Bien too. They were going to take the boat down river the next day, but I wanted to stay another day, so I haven’t seen then since, but she took my email, so hopefully I will here some day.

The next day, I checked out the slow boat ride to the next town, in route to LuangPrabang. The way this works is several people go together, and so that keeps the price down generally. But then sometimes you have to wait several days before you enough people. I didn’t really want to do that, so we later found a private car who wanted to defray his costs of driving back to Luang Prabang empty. At first he wanted to charge $35 but then agreed to $25 which was a great deal. I was actually afraid it was too good of a deal.. It turned out fine.

The countryside here is mostly mountains everywhere. I not sure of the name but roads all go through the mountains or over the mountains. The terrain is full of trees and greenery but I haven’t seen many animals or birds. A few rivers. Where there are small villages, then are located right on top of the main road. I am sure many people get hit or killed by the traffic. The traffic isn’t heavy, like in Vietnam, but moderate. One thing is they don’t honk their horns much.

Next I will try to write about my one day trek....Say a special prayer for my father... he is not good..



Dec. 4- Bus Ride from Vietnam

Dec 4

I know I am behind. I think you will understand after reading this.
Friday morning, we left Diem Bien Phu, Vietnam for Laos by bus. The ticket cost about $4.50, and it was supposed to be about 6 hour trip. At the hotel in Diem Bien, the receptionists told us it was difficult but I “thought” she was just uniformed or trying to get us to stay in Vietnam, after all this border has been open for more than 2 years..

The bus was scheduled to leave from the local station at 5:30 and because we hadn’t bought our ticket yet, we needed to go early. We bought the ticket and saw that there were only 2 others signed up to go, even though it was a 26 passenger bus. We found the bus, got our seats and stored our bags inside the bus. This bus was really more like a shuttle bus at the airport and was already filled with many boxes. I thought maybe they don’t worry about the number of passengers because they are hauling so many boxes. Well, unbeknown to me, this was only the tip of the iceberg. More passengers began to come and more boxes. Soon, not only were there lots of passengers but tons of boxes-I am not exaggerating. Finally, can some heavy machine parts. Now some of these were put inside and above. If any of these rolled or fell, hitting you, it would be “curtains” for sure-no safety. The back of the bus sagged so low I thought we would never get out of the station. What had a sign on for now!! It look like a death trap for sure.

Around 6 am, we pull out. Now it is 35 KM to the border and road is paved but single lane. The bus seems to be holding up ok, but I can hear things rolling around. There are 4 other tourists passengers on the bus too, who I had met last night, but we really couldn’t talk because of how we are sitting. Going to the border, even thought I thought we were beyond saturation, along the way, I am thrilled to see the driver, stopping at every local village, finding new passengers and boxes. There is no Limit!!

The road to the border gradually gets narrower and narrower, but the bus chugs along. Then one local colorfully dressed woman starts to go into hysterics. I am not sure what she is saying but I learn that she has left her passport or legal paper work in home, so now she wants the driver to turn around. Wow! The bus driver make a calls-yes, he is using this cell phone while driving.

We arrive at the border. I am now sure how this will go but I got my Visa already so it should be a breeze. Everyone gets off the bus and into a line where a VNese immigration official is pressing some sort of temperature instrument to the passengers forehead. He is checking for swine flu!! No one is sick, and I am not sure what they would do if anyone was sick. I guess they just deny them entry.

This crossing go fairly smoothly as we are there only business. I talk to the immigration officers who have nothing to do-bureaucracy at its best!! One offers to exchange my VNese Dong money for Lao Kip. Of course this is all under the table and at a good rate for him. But I do it as we need some local currency. Now, I have to start thinking about costs in a different currency. Always some adjustment. The bus and passengers go about 6 km where we go through much of the same rigamarole(??) except that this time the border officials scan the bus for “terrorists materials”. I am not sure how they would get anything out of this “sardine can”... but luckily, that isn’t an issue. A Lao official tells me that it about 6 more hours to Muang Khua, which is my end destination, which turned out to be fairly accurate but that only tells one small part of the story.

This last 6 hours were the most horrendous of any bus ride I have ever been on. I know my guardian angel was working overtime and beyond. I thought I could easily die. Many times I just wanted to get out and go back, even though we were in the middle of no where. The road was really a gravel path, constantly climbing through a morass of heavy green landscape with no signs of life. Sitting next to the window, I could see only mountains and jungle. The obstacles on the road were always a challenge too. Sometimes the bus would just ford across a shallow stream because there was no bridge. One time, we had to all get out and walk across a suspension bridge, while the bus driver drove through empty. Luckiy the suspension bridge was not too high or difficult, otherwise I would have been stuck there. Ha!! Of course, the bridge did sway, and I saw some of the thin planks cracking from the footsteps of a fellow passenger ahead of me and he was much lighter in weight than me. Ha! So, I crossed with gingerly and praying the whole time. Another time, the bus stopped because of a landslide and there was a bulldozer clearing a path. We must have sat for over an hour. Finally, the road was wide enough, so the driver proceeded slowly and carefully(thank god he was a good bus driver) I really wanted to get out and walk but I didn’t. The road seemed like soft clay and bumpy but we inched forward, swaying all the way. I thought someone just sneezing would put us over the edge-And I mean edge-because, from where I was sitting , it was straight down. Death for sure. No one on the bus was speaking. My silent prayer mantra was racing in my head. I think I have used up all of my 9 lives on this trip.

As we continued to drive on, the road seemed to always continue to climb. I thought it would never end. Finally, we there was a decent, with some small villages along the roadside. Sometimes the driver would stop to load or unload people or boxes. When we got to our destination, there was suppose to be a ferry to take up across the river, but for some reason no ferry. We then had to use this long boats which worked ok.

I was now at Muang Khua, which is only a small village, but few guest houses. More about this later..

I hope everyone is good. Special “Hello” to my Father.. I am praying for you. Love Roger