Le Roux's Travels: Laos

Laos – Part 1:

Slow Boat: We crossed the Mekong from Thailand into Laos to join one of the most unorganized queuing systems I’ve ever encountered. Angers flared as people either jumped queues or had their passports collected by border officials while standing at the back. It was chaos. Our company herded us to a shop (assuming a brother’s or uncle’s) where we had our money exchanged and from there a different shop for lunch (assuming a sister or aunt) before finally boarding our boat. The slow boats were actually faster than I expected and fitted with comfy car seats – no need for all the pillows people bought upon recommendation by the Lonely Planet guide!

Being in such close proximity to other people made it easy to find new travelling buddies. Jenna and Danielle were two such friends! We spent our time on the boat taking photos, drinking beer, chatting, relaxing or sleeping. It was nice seeing village life along the river with water buffaloes lying in the water, pigs and goats running around the river banks, fishermen throwing their nets and buck naked kids having fun by swimming and rolling in the sand. It was also interesting seeing women panning for gold or collecting river weed.

Pak Beng: Other than hotels and restaurants there wasn’t a lot happening in Pak Beng. It served its purpose as a halfway stop, but that was about it. I kept expecting to see tumbleweed rolling down the dusty road or a lone horseman with chaps and chewing tobacco challenging me to a gunfight. That didn’t happen although I did find the only bar in Pak Beng (advertised as such) where I was over the moon to discover that they played rock music - I could even choose my own songs from YouTube! After hearing Bob F**king Marley 24/7 while in Thailand it was a nice change to hear something else. I was surprised when we were asked to leave the bar at 11pm as apparently the set curfew dates back to the war when people had to be home at a certain time. I’m not sure why it still applies but I came to learn later in my travels through Laos that there were many loopholes when it came to either drinking or drugs like opium or weed. I had breakfast the next morning with a beautiful view over the Mekong River before boarding the boat for the final stretch to Luang Prabang.

Luang Prabang: I found it a very nice city as it was clean and had bustling colorful markets. Most buildings were old French Colonial and built on an arrow head piece of land dissected by the Mekong and Nam Ou rivers. I could see why couples found it so romantic. Another traveler actually described the city to me as one popular for either “nearly weds” or “nearly deads”. At the time I was hanging out with Jenna and Danielle (who I met on the slow boat) and we decided to visit the Kuang Si Waterfall Waterfall the next day. The water had a brilliant turquoise color that almost seemed to glow. We all took many photos and had fun swinging from a rope attached to a trees and crashing into the water. Randomly, there was also a bear sanctuary where we could see Sun Bears and learn about the cruel methods used on them to extract bile. It also left a bitter taste in my mouth…

For sunset we decided to have a picnic next to the Mekong armed with a cheap Lao whiskey, coke, ice, chips and fruit. The chips flavors amused me as we found “Hot Chili Squid”, “Hot and Spicy Crab” and “Baked Bacon Cheese with Seaweed”. Due to the burning (rice fields etc) at the time there was a lot of smoke in the air which made for beautiful sunset shots. After our picnic we decided to have a few drinks at the much hyped about Utopia Bar. It was a great place to have a beer while lying on pillows and enjoying the view over the river. When the bar closed at 11pm we joined the crowd to go bowling until 3 in the morning! The bowling was yet another one of those crazy loopholes where people could carry on either drinking or smoking weed – crazy! It was very amusing watching the people trying to bowl as most could hardly even manage to stand at that stage…

The morning after, we all felt a little rough from the night before but went ahead and hired bicycles to visit the weaving and paper making village. The silk scarves woven by the women were simply beautiful, to say the least and I was very impressed. The girls were even more impressed and booked a weaving course for the following day. The next day we all awoke early to see the procession of the monks. Even though it was touristy, it was interesting to see how the orange robed monks came out in a straight line with their jars for collecting food from either tourists or religious supporters. I felt upset though when I saw a young homeless girl kneeling in a prayer-like position and begging for food from the monks. Her face was a portrait of turmoil, with emotions ranging from sad and angry (at the photographers) to happy for receiving food from the monks - I had to walk away...

Later, while the girls were doing their weaving course, I rented a bicycle to visit the food market where I saw many odd looking fish, vegetables, roots, barks, spices, insects, fruits, caged birds, etc. I’ve always loved visiting markets while travelling as it is a great place to see weird and wonderful things and for taking photos. From there I hired a boat and crossed the river to see one of the “abandoned temples”. I discovered that the temple wasn’t that abandoned after all when a doorman stopped me and demanded I pay 20 000Kip just for entry. At times it felt like the locals tried to squeeze every last penny from us tourists. At least I enjoyed a scenic view of Luang Prabang from across the river.

The rest of our time in Luang Prabang was spent either sitting at one of the many restaurants, relaxing or savoring their traditional food like Khai Pen (flat fried river weed sheets), Jeow Bong (sweet and spicy chili), Olarm (typical Laos food with jungle plants) and Laap (usually minced meat with onions and raw vegetables, flavored with peppermint). “People watching” was also a good way to spend time – it’s not every day you see a scooter drive past loaded with a dad, his son and mom sitting sideways while breastfeeding her baby! I had fun times in Luang Prabang with Jenna and Danielle and was sad to say good bye to them when we went our separate ways. Jenna had a slightly weird travel plan due to her injured ankle so when I headed to northern Laos they went south instead.

Nong Khiaw: I felt like a canned sardine sitting in a small tuk-tuk truck (Sawng Thaew) which transported us from Luang Prabang to Nong Khiaw. Upon arrival I realized I had to draw the money I needed for my trip upstream but little did I know there were no ATM’s in Nong Khiaw! I was getting stressed as I clearly didn’t have enough money to support me for the next few days and upon speaking with the locals I was told there was no way of getting money as the nearest ATM was back in Luang Prabang! Luckily someone knew of a way which was a cash-back option at the Riverside Hotel – I got lucky and drew 2 million Kip just to be on the safe side. Nong Khiaw itself is a small town sitting next to a river in a deep valley with towering limestone cliffs. Rock climbing was a possibility and I was tempted to stay and climb but then I saw an advertisement with a picture displaying a very rusty chain used for an anchor. No thanks, time to head upstream.

Muong Ngoi: It only took only one hour to get from Nong Khiaw to Muang Ngoi. While our longboat’s engine roared through rapids we sat back and enjoyed the views. Reaching Muang Ngoi I could immediately see why so many travelers end up staying for a long time. Not only did it have great views over the river and mountains but for the 1^st time while in Laos, I experienced the “Lao PDR” (Lao Please Don’t Rush!) nature of the people. It was like stepping back in time and I had to constantly suppress my western “on-the-go” mentality and force myself to sit back and relax. There was no shortage of interesting and random things to see either, with ironic scenes of kids playing on an old bomb shell or a chicken walking on a table looking at the plates where it will lie one day to daily life with women beating river weed to make Khai Pen, fishermen weaving nets and men playing pétanque. Muang Ngoi is any photographers dream as God knows, I took many!

My 1^st night there I was invited to join a party where a pig was spit barbecued. Things got pretty messy when people started drinking locally made laos laos whiskey. In the small villages the locals brew their own “laos laos” which is extremely strong and I’m sure it has caused many people to either fall over or do other dumb things. That night I was more of an observer and witnessed people rapidly regressing from, first being vertical and energetic to being horizontal and static, in a fairly short time. Drunken people watching is a favorite past time for me and that night the swaying mob most certainly didn’t fail to entertain!

Waking all fresh the next day I decided to hike to one of the small villages and stay for the night in a home stay. Hiking around Muang Ngoi is easy and safe – I would even recommend it to lone female travelers. The hike along the mountains was easy enough passing streams, rice fields and many doe eyed water buffaloes. At first I passed through Ban Ha where I saw most of the villagers partying hard. Apparently another “farang” girl was leaving town the next day after spending 6 months in the little village and the chief organized a leaving party for her. Seeing how drunk the people were and with any rational communication failing badly, I decided to move on to the next village.

Huay Xe: Reaching the small town of Huay Xe it felt again like stepping back in time witnessing bamboo huts on stilts, people cooking over fires and animals roaming around freely. I saw women bathing in sarongs underneath an open-air tap while the kids ran around naked. Many houses had a rooster sitting on a perch underneath the roof which I only later realized they use for cock fighting. I also saw many hunters coming back from the jungle carrying their homemade front loader rifles and traps. Killing animals and trapping is illegal in Laos, although that didn’t deter any of the hunters I saw along the way. Most of the villagers are very poor and have little to eat so it was no surprise when I saw a hunter scorching the hair off a wild cat over an open fire - it was obviously going to be his dinner. The kids on the other hand were beating a terrified lemur with a stick. I felt sad for the little thing and had to walk away as it is simply part of their everyday life.

My host (the chief of the village) finally turned up as he was also present at the same farewell party I saw in Ban Ha. He was a very friendly and charismatic host and fun to be with. Another 3 travellers turned up after getting lost and we all had dinner together. The chief kept filling our glasses with “laos laos” while telling us stories and how it is common for them to eat dog. According to him dog is a delicacy which is both tasty and expensive. I opted for the vegetarian meal that night. Originally I was only going to stay for one night but the chief suggested that I could hike a loop passing through many various villages and take a boat back at the end. I decided to ignore the warnings about hiking alone in the mountains without a guide and do it anyway. How hard could it be?

I quickly found that sleeping late was not a possibility in a small village due to the crowing roosters, grunting pigs, barking dogs and funnily enough loud party music played by the carpenters. I was up early and had breakfast of omelet, sticky rice and coffee. While having my breakfast I noticed the kids walking to school with their hands full of sticky rice and singing their school anthem while the headmaster raised a flag. It was good to see that even in remote villages kids had the opportunity to get an education.

Nam Tap: Leaving Huay Xe I joined up with a family hiking in the same direction. It was very hot and we hiked up a steep mountain, stopping every now and then to get our breath back. I offered them water which they gratefully accepted and was rewarded with warm smiles. Along the way we passed two young men with a rooster sitting in an artfully woven basket. They were on their way to town hopeful that their rooster was going to win a cockfight. After 3 hours of hard hiking we reached the very small village of Nam Tap where the family stopped to have lunch. They invited me to join them sitting around a low table on even lower chairs while having food unknown to me wrapped in banana leaves and served with sticky rice. Water in that village must have been scarce as all the kids were very dirty. Another thing I noticed was a foot operated “mill” they used for grinding seeds. It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.

After lunch I said good bye to the family and gave them some money for my portion of lunch. We then parted ways. From there I hiked to a new unnamed village also perched on a mountain. At first I was slightly unnerved by the way the unsmiling, almost hostile looking people openly stared at me. A quick transformation took place however when I smiled at them and waved. That was usually an immediate ice breaker that caused them to smile back and say hello in return. It is amazing what a simple and friendly smile can achieve! In the village I passed a group of men fixing guns and machetes using a fire and hand operated fan to melt and fuse the metal. Most of them were nervously glancing at my camera and when I asked if I could take a photo they flatly refused. There was an air of suspicion so I decided to move on. It was only later that I learnt they could get jailed for possessing illegal guns (i.e. their homemade front loaders) hence being extremely suspicious and camera shy.

Q-Hat: I had to hike down a steep mountain and halfway up another to reach Q-Hat. Originally I wasn’t going to stay there but upon receiving very bad directions off a local, I got lost. I trekked up another steep mountain and ran out of water. By that time it was getting late and my feet were dragging from sheer exhaustion and dehydration. I found and ate a few berries along the way although that wasn’t enough to quench my thirst. When I arrived at the top of the mountain I could neither see nor hear any signs of life, like barking dogs or crowing roosters.

As I was lost and out of water, I knew I had to backtrack to Q-Hat and stay for the night. By the time I reached the village and found a home stay I was thirsty as hell and downed a hot gassy can of coke in record time. I had to laugh when a boy stole my empty can of coke when I turned my back, only to kick it away angrily upon discovering it was empty. While sitting there a small boy walked past and stopped to stare at me with wide eyes and open mouth. I smiled and said “sai bai dee” (hello in Lao) causing him to start crying and to run away! The kids there sure weren’t used to tall white foreigners with big noses.

The rest of the kids in the village were keeping busy target practicing throwing rocks either at each other or at the many animals roaming around. If not throwing rocks at the animals they were beating them with sticks. It seems like animal cruelty is a favorite pastime for the kids…The adults on the other hand kept busy either by working or noisily hawking phlegm – I had to constantly watch my step! The old women chewing on a red bark were especially bad as they spat out bright red blotches all over which looked like blood! I really liked my stay in the quaint village of Q-Hat. When I finally quenched my thirst it was time for a much needed shower underneath the communal tap sharing it with water buffaloes, dogs, ducks, kids, chickens and pigs.

My landlady made me a delicious bamboo soup with herbs from her own little garden which she had prepared over an open fire, above which hung a barbecued rat. My soup was served with sticky rice, a chili sauce and hungry audience of five piglets, one dog, one cat and a chicken. Even though I was feeling sorry for them, they weren’t getting any of my meal! I was ravenous after a long day hiking through the mountains and wolfed my meal down after which I was ready for bed. Sleeping, however, wasn’t an option as the only television in the village was in the chief’s house next to my room. Many villagers came over and it seems that watching television was a serious affair with angers rising due to the injustices being displayed on the soaps. I was kept awake by loud commentating, angry shouting, whistling and general “ooh’s and aah’s”. When that finally stopped the pigs, ducks, dogs and premature cocks also voiced their opinion, making sleeping pretty much impossible.

Breakfast was an omelet served with sticky rice and a much needed coffee after which I took off for Hat Sapuey making sure to ask various villagers which way to go - I wasn’t up for getting lost again! While hiking along the ridge I was rewarded with beautiful views over the mountains. I descended into a white cloud and made my way down a valley where I reached a small river and gained a few unwanted travelling companions. Even though I walked fast, four leeches somehow joined the ride and latched onto my feet. At the time I wasn’t sure how to get rid of them and decided to cut them in half with a pair of scissors which seemed to do the trick. I was having a good morning that day and felt happy and carefree while taking in the scenery, sounds and smells coming from the forest.

At one point I passed a hunter who seemed nervous seeing me as his dogs were not far behind. He indicated that the dogs were going to attack me and that it would be best to lie on the ground in a fetal position. It was a little late as the dogs suddenly turned up, though luckily didn’t attack the “farang”. Relieved, I hiked the last stretch over a mountain to finally reach Hat Sapuey next to the Nam Ou River. As my only means of getting to Muang Ngoi was in a boat I bartered with a fisherman to take me back. Not enjoying the fishy smell but definitely the view I finally reached Muang Ngoi where I spent the rest of the day chilling, eating and watching the woman beating riverweed into sheets while sprinkling sesame seeds, garlic and tomato slices on top.

Muang Khua: I left Muang Ngoi the next day taking a 5hr boat which snaked its way through the mountains all the way to Muang Khua. We were only 2 people on my boat so I could stretch out while watching the view. Another boat followed us which had Alexie (French girl) and Elke (Belgium girl) who I ended up traveling with for a while. From the boat I could see many water buffaloes lying in the water, fishermen, bamboo huts, and naked kids swimming or rolling in the sand. Reaching Muang Khua I teamed up with the girls and we made our way to a recommended guest house. The family we stayed with was very friendly and we joined them for dinner of omelet, fried morning glory and sticky rice. Our host kept plying us with shots of “laos laos” and not taking “no” for an answer! There was not much to do in Muang Khua other than watching the traffic traveling noisily bumping over the loose wooden panels of the suspension bridge. We only stayed one night and left early the next day.

Phongsali: To reach Phongsali we had to board a local bus which was a very interesting experience to say the least. The bus was kept together with wire, gaffer tape and mercy from above. It took us 11 hrs to reach our destination driving along a very dusty and windy road. The bus was overloaded with large sacks and boxes stuffed in the aisle and underneath seats leaving very little legroom, especially for my long legs. I bought a dust mask when we stopped in a village along the way as it was getting hard to breathe with all the dust! An old couple next to me threw up in plastic bags for most of our journey. Along the way we passed small villages where I could see bare breasted women working and naked kids running around while the bus had to constantly dodge chickens, dogs, water buffaloes, ducks, cats, dogs and pigs. All throughout our journey I could see the locals collecting plants for making brooms. Apparently the Chinese buy it off the locals for dirt cheap. I was very happy when we finally reached Phongsali well after dark.

That night we ate at a restaurant down the hill serving “do it yourself’ Korean Barbecues. An irritating dog barked at us throughout our whole meal and the woman there said it was because we are big, have long noses and smelled bad. I had a much needed Beer Laos especially after our shit journey and wasn’t feeling very happy when the barking dog followed us on our way back to our hotel. When it got too close and too persistent I had to introduce it to a rock - bull’s eye! At least the people made us feel very welcome and locals were the first to wave and say hello. There was not much to do in the town itself other than visiting the market and going for hikes. Old Colonial buildings lined many of the streets although so did flimsy shacks. Two agencies offered trekking although we decided to do our own hike. Alexie bumped into another traveler, Garth from Alaska, who asked to join us on our hike. Why not, the more the merrier…

Before leaving early the next morning, we stopped at the local market to buy sticky rice, fruit, nuts and other snacks for our trip. Hiking along we passed a village where they produce green lao lao whiskey. Unfortunately, we never got to see how it was made. Our planned journey included the following villages: Ban Khounsouknoy – Ban Chantern – Khounloungluang and back to Phongsali. We wound our way down the mountains seeing firsthand the slash and burn practice they use for farming which left whole sides of mountains completely bare. Every time we passed locals they would stop what they were doing and stare – it seemed to be a hobby of theirs. We had lunch (sticky rice with Magi Sauce) next to a stream where Elke fell over and got all her belongings drenched - I tried to not laugh but failed miserably! Hiking along after lunch we came to various forks in the road. Not seeing any locals to ask for directions we always chose the road that looked more traveled and got lucky – we reached the Akha village of Ban Chantern!

The chief was over the moon to see us because travelers meant money. Most of the villagers stared at us with shocked expressions on their faces as they obviously don’t see a lot of foreigners in their neck of the woods. There were many animals running around while the Akha women were beautifully dressed in their black dresses and hats adorned with silver disks and colorful embroidery. Some of the dresses had an opening in the front leaving one breast bare for easy access for a child. It was a very different world from what I’m used to. The chief was quick to give us locally produced tea which was soon followed by a bottomless clay jar of lao lao whiskey. He also took us for a walk around the village from where we could see a small school, kids, animals and women doing all the hard work. Near the school the chief suddenly turned sad and pointed towards sky while making hand gestures that were easy enough to understand. He was a young boy when his village got bombed by the USA and it seems like he lost a lot of loved ones. Chief was near the point of tears and I felt sorry for him although he did have some “medicine” to help with both the bad memories and aches in his joints. Opium is very common in the mountainous areas as it helps to fund a very difficult living although I think Chief smoked a lot of his profit.

That night we had dinner while Chief kept plying us with shots of lao lao. He showed us how we could dip our finger in the lao lao and set it alight on a flame - no wonder my head was spinning! After our dinner most of the village men came to join the party. The music system was rigged up and blared loud Lao music. Chief was dancing away and soon pulled out a “water bung” which many of them smoked. The women and kids were not allowed to join the party and when we asked him if they could join he actually spat their way. Women are seen as nothing and most definitely not allowed to join our party which was sad. Fuelled with opium and alcohol, Chief partied all of us under the table. One by one we retired to bed although sleeping that night was yet again difficult due to the noisy pigs and dogs. Dehydration woke most of us in the morning even though we drank all of our water during the night. Chief supplied us with tea to fill our bottles though that didn’t succeed in quenching our thirsts caused by all the lao lao from the previous night! We had breakfast of rice with various sauces after which we took off - Chief with a pocket full of money and us with a large bag of boiled rice and wrong directions…

Having had to retrace our steps, we lost an hour and a half by which time I started feeling ill. We went downhill but so did my health and soon body was trying to get rid of all food and water using every orifice it could find. I had the squirts while throwing up at the same time and all my joints ached like hell. I felt like I was dying and didn’t cherish in the fact that I still had to climb a steep mountain. It was slow going and I had to stop every few hundred meters to rest. I was very grateful when Garth offered to carry my bag and took him up on his offer. I reached the top white-faced after which felt like ages and as luck would have it hitched a lift with a truck to Phongsali. Back in the hotel I had a much needed shower and then went to bed lying shivering underneath two blankets. That was most definitely not a highlight of my travels. My friends left early the next day while I took another day to recuperate before braving another bad bus journey.