Paradise

PHOTO ALBUM - Palau Penang (Malaysia)

PHOTO ALBUM - Berastagi and Danau Toba

Our path from Thailand to Indonesia was to consist of a train ride from Bangkok to Butterworth, Malaysia, where we’d take a ferry to Penang Island, spend a couple days on the island, then take another ferry to Sumatra. There were only two uncomfortable issues we ran into on the 24-hour train ride from Bangkok to Butterworth, Malaysia.  We woke up in our comfortable bunks after a fairly good night of sleep except for the fact that the air conditioning was running full-blast and the place felt like a refrigerator.  I faired ok, but Elise remains temperature-challenged and froze.  That was issue #1.   Issue #2:  After a not so tasty and overpriced dinner on the train the night before, we elected to not purchase the overpriced breakfast and otherwise rely on the vendors roaming the train.  Little did we know that after the last stop in Hat Yai, Thailand after a lone fried chicken vendor passed through (for some reason fried chicken didn’t sound that good at 6:30am), the dining car would be disconnected after crossing the Malaysian border, and no more vendors would come aboard the train. So after we passed through the normal border check and received our passport stamps, we had to fast for the rest of the morning until the early afternoon.  If I could describe Elise(while travelling) as an animal, she would be a squirrel.  This is because before every train or bus ride, she is so fearful that there will not be food available when she is hungry that she goes rummaging through convenience stores to stock up on snacks just in case.  I give her a lot of grief for this because up until this point  because there is so much available food in southeast Asia, that all you have to do is stop when you’re hungry, turn left or right, and there will be food to purchase in some form (convenience stores, roadside street vendors, fruit stands, restaurants…everywhere).  But this time was different and next time I will not say anything when the squirrel wants to bury a lot more nuts for a train or bus ride.

Immediately after crossing the Malaysia border, we could clearly see that we left the land of Buddha and entered one of Islam.  Over the landscape we could see the domed tops of many Mosques and many women wear the head coverings.  We arrived in Butterworth about 24-hours after we left Bangkok, quickly raided the only street stand between the train and ferry terminal for food, then boarded the passenger ferry to Georgetown.  Georgetown is on the island of Penang and a major trading port back in the British Colonial days with quite a bit of history.  It has always been a place that has a good melting pot of cultures:  ethnic  Chinese, Indian, Malay, Europeans.  It turns out this means interesting architecture, high standard of living, and absolutely incredible food.  We received a free flyer explaining many types of local food and where to find them.  The streets were lined with vendors so basically we could graze all day tasting unbelievable food for dirt cheap prices. Our mouths are still watering thinking about all the fried noodle dishes and soups, Chinese steamed buns filled with savory veggies and meat, and cendol, this funky dessert made with shaved ice, beans (like kidney beans), green jellies, and coconut milk. We stayed in Chinatown, which also happens to be very near “Little India”, where one night we splurged on an large Indian meal of Chapati and several curries recommended by our friendly servers.  Everyone there is fully fluent in English so it was very easy to get around. 

We hiked to the top of Penang Hill for some exercise and good views, and did a walking tour of Georgetown.   On the walking tour we decided to visit a local Mosque and were greeted by a very friendly man who gave us a free tour.  He explained some of the basic principles of Islam and explained how it is an extension of Christianity (we are all descendents from Adam; and Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed are considered prophets of God), and of course stressed that Islam is intended to be a peaceful and non-discriminating religion which has billions of members – not a religion like it is practiced by the relatively smaller group of fanatics in the world who have caused friction with Western countries.  We were given a heartfelt invitation to learn more about Islam, even to join, and were presented a copy of an English translation of the Quran.  This was much like any invitation I have heard to join any Christian church.  It is easy to be lost in the stereotypes caused by negative media and violence in the world so it was nice to have this very open, friendly, and educational experience.  My only complaint about Muslim countries so far:  the beer is three or more times the cost of the rest of Southeast Asia.  In Malaysia, it is very heavily taxed and four to five times pricier.    

Our goal on this trip is to travel on the ground (by bus, train, or boat) as much as possible.  Not only is airfare generally more expensive, staying on the ground provides more interesting cultural experiences and we see a lot more of the countryside.  So the reason we visited Penang (other than the food) was that it is a path to Northern Sumatra, Indonesia.  There used to be a ferry from Penang to Medan but we were hearing rumors that it had recently been cancelled.   We confirmed that this was the case (it appears that high gas prices finally caught up and made flying a more economical option).  So we booked a cheap flight on a budget airline and flew into Medan, Indonesia.     

Medan is a dirty, crowded city with not much to see.  So we crashed at a guesthouse one night and got out of town immediately the next day.  After more than a month in steamy, hot weather, we were anxious to get somewhere cooler so our first destination in Indonesia was Berastagi.  In the highlands of North Sumatra, it is pleasantly cool -   comfortable during the day and  jackets needed at night.  There are two nearby volcanoes and we figured there would be no better way to start a visit to Indonesia than to climb one of the thousands of volcanoes in this country, the most seismically active area of the world.  We climbed Mt. Sibayak (2094 m) and enjoyed sunny weather, incredible landscape views, and close-up looks at the many steam vents as the mountain is venting a sulfur-smelling mixture constantly.  On the way down we stopped at hot springs which was very near a geothermal power plant -  both of course fueled by the volcano.  The climb was very nice and a nice change from the recent super-muggy hiking we had been doing in Laos and Malaysia.  We are also finding out that the people of Sumatra are some of the most friendly and helpful we have encountered yet.  There are very few tourists and we feel like celebrities walking down the streets with all the hellos and being stopped constantly for pictures.

Next we moved on to Danau Toba (Lake Toba).  We originally planned to stay three nights but that turned into a week because it is paradise.  If there is a place on this planet designed for Elise and I, it is Lake Toba.  This gigantic turquoise-blue fresh water lake was formed by an enormous sunken ancient volcano caldron.  It is about 3000 feet above sea level which means low humidity and perfect warm temperatures that I would describe much like the summer in Colorado or eastern Washington.  Surrounded by mountains and littered with coconut palms, there is a huge island in the middle of the lake which is the size of Singapore.  We had a lakeside room for slightly less than $6 per night with a balcony overlooking the lake.  We sleep perfectly each night listening to the wind-driven waves crash into the shore.  For us it is like the perfect beach destination without the negative stuff that comes with it:  humidity, the dirty feeling of salt water caked to your skin, sand dragged into your room.  The people are extremely friendly.  We have spent the days relaxing, motor biking the beautiful scenery around the island, visiting and soaking in the nearby hot springs, swimming, reading, and hanging out with the friendly staff who play guitar around the campfire at night. 

The first motorbike ride we took was an adventure around the island.  We found out this is an exhausting trip that takes all day over some pretty crappy roads (10am to 6:30pm with only a stop for lunch and a few photo breaks and short rests).  However the scenery is amazing and it was well worth the trip.   We were hit by an afternoon rain storm and had to duck quickly into the nearest roadside shop where the locals were waving at us to come in.  While trying to park the motorbike, I lost traction in the loose dirt and we took a spill falling over in front of the many bystanders.  After hearing loud gasps and chattering in Indonesian (probably talking about the idiot westerners who cannot ride a motorbike) we picked up the bike and embarrassingly expressed that we were ok and that there was no harm done (to us or the bike).  We then were wholeheartedly welcomed in to sit out the rain with a group of mostly old men who were playing chess and having a few drinks of the local brew which in English is called “jungle juice.”  The best I can tell, it is a liquid that is naturally alcoholic and harvested directly from palm trees.  Very little English was spoken with this group, but our presence and participation in drinking the jungle juice appeared to be much appreciated.  One old man told Elise that she is very beautiful.  Of course I agree, but for some reason my response was, “jungle juice make everyone beautiful!”  This must have translated fairly well because they thought  that was pretty funny.  The man who told Elise she was beautiful even wanted to buy our drinks and would not let us pay!  The rain stopped and we continued on barely making our way back to the guesthouse before dark.            

Our favorite restaurant is Joe’s Café, just down the street from our guesthouse (Mas Cottages), where we have been enjoying home-cooked meals (Indonesian-style taco smothered in guacamole, gado-gado, a very good chicken curry, and barbeque wild pork) and great conversation with Joe and his family.  We continue to be stopped by locals and asked to pose for photographs or practice conversing in English.  The schools from Medan and surrounding villages are sending kids on field trips to Lake Toba with an assignment.  The kids are to strike up conversation with tourists to practice English.  We were asked to sign sheets with our impression of how well they did and any recommendations obviously to prove that they actually did the homework.  This was fun at first but also became overwhelming and time consuming one day because there seemed to be hundreds of kids and Elise and I were the only tourists walking the street.  Great idea by the teachers though.  Apparently Lake Toba had a lot more tourists in the mid-nineties, but has very few these days.  Rumor has it that there used to be some airline flights that brought tourists to Medan from Malaysia or even Europe that no longer exist.  Whatever the case, in my opinion Lake Toba is a completely underdeveloped and underutilized tourist destination.  In other words:   Perfect.

It is time for an update on the overall logistics plan for the remainder of our trip.  As Elise mentioned in the previous blog post, we are now over half way through the year and having trouble fitting everything in we want to do.  We continue to be amazed at the amount of time we spend  planning, re-planning, prioritizing, cramming, adding, deleting, and engineering this trip to maximize the value of this trip to us and fit in as much as possible.  Before we left, we were questioned by many people back home about the duration.  “What are you going to do in Asia for a whole year?” and “If you are planning a whole year, why are you just staying in Asia and not seeing the more of the world?” were a few examples of questions we were asked.  I can now honestly say that two years might not be enough to see our original planned line-up of countries (Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Indonesia, China/Tibet, India, and Nepal).  We, of course, added Myanmar (Burma) to the line-up back in February which compressed our schedule.  But now that we have arrived in Indonesia and see what it is like and realize how large it is, we had to make some tough choices.  While we can technically still afford one month in each of Indonesia, China, and India, still hold on to seven weeks in Nepal, and be back in the US for Thanksgiving, that scenario just feels too tight.  Indonesia, China, and India are all very large countries, and only a month in each would not do them justice.  After such great experiences so far in Indonesia, we know we want to stay longer.  We also know China will be more expensive and somewhat of a hassle for us because there’s not a great way to get into India without another flight or a long journey overland through Tibet to get to Kathmandu, where we could get an India visa and then travel overland into India. While we would love to see Tibet (and still possibly can via an excursion to/from Nepal), we figure without spending a lot on flights, we’d use up half our visa to get in and out of Lhasa, and wouldn’t see much else of China. India is a must-see for us on this trip.  Because of these reasons, China has been on the bubble for the entire trip - in and out of our planned itinerary.  We finally decided any visit to China for us will have to wait until another time.  It also appears we can solve the getting-the-India-visa problem by going first to Sri Lanka and getting it there.  So, here is the new plan:  six weeks in Indonesia, two weeks in Sri Lanka, six weeks in India, seven in Nepal.  Top that off with a week on a beach (or maybe another visit to Lake Toba, Indonesia) on the way home  to unwind - and then it will be Thanksgiving and time to visit family at home.  That is the plan for now – still subject to change pending whatever logistical challenges we run into, or something better we dream up along the way.

Attack of the Leech

PHOTO ALBUM - Muang Ngoi & Muang Sing

As Brian wrapped up the last blog post, we were in Muang Ngoi, a small village only accessible by boat or walking trails that has no electricity save the generators they run from 6-10 pm every night.  The village pretty much consisted of one dirt road surrounded by the river on one side and farmland elsewhere.  The green-covered limestone karsts scattered throughout SE Asia surrounded the countryside. It was pretty idyllic – I think in the high tourist season this place is pretty popular, but it was extremely quiet while we were there.  We found a pretty sweet riverside bungalow that had an entire wall that opened up to the view and a couple hammocks in the room.  Our days were spent reading in our hammocks and taking hikes out to the nearby villages. Given that up until this point, all we had pretty much done in Laos was relax, more relaxation time didn’t seem all that necessary, but given the upcoming week after we left Muang Ngoi, I’m really glad we came here first.

Upon leaving Muang Ngoi for Muang Sing, a town within spitting distance of the China and Myanmar borders, our travel itinerary looked something like boat – minivan – bus – guesthouse – bus – tuk tuk – bus – tuk tuk. We were at 6 different bus stations in 2 days, every bus was small and overpacked, and the bus and roads were in terrible condition, resulting in at least one person hurling out of the window periodically throughout each bus ride.  Upon finally arriving in Muang Sing, I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed – I think I was expecting a mountain town, and Muang Sing was, well, just a town.  However, we were here for trekking,  and along with Justin, a South African traveler who made the journey with us from Muang Ngoi to Muang Sing, we found a promising two-day trek soon after we arrived in town, which we would embark on the following morning.

The first day of the trek had been described to us as a lovely forest hike on the way to an Akha village, where we would do a homestay for the night. If the clouds were high enough, we were supposed to have great views of valleys in Muang Sing and China. In reality, “Lovely forest hike” is probably an appropriate description during the winter, when it’s cooler, drier, and breezier in northwestern Laos. However, I believe we are officially at the start of the rainy season, which means it is hot, muggy and raining much more frequently than it was when we started our trip 6 months ago.  The trail itself, which was steep, muddy, and had terrible footing, had not been traveled in about a month, so our guide, Puon, was bushwhacking the way for us with her trusty knife…everyone fell at least once, and my hands, arms, and ankles are still covered in scratches and cuts from all the surrounding brush we were fighting through. There was absolutely no breeze, so we were soaked through with sweat, and to make the experience even more pleasant, we dealt with leaches attacking us along the way. It was not the most comfortable hiking experience I have had, and after we came out of the forest, I was quite relieved to hear Puon say that that was the last we would see of the forest.

As we neared the Akha village, we did have views of the surrounding valley…of which many of the trees that should have been covering the hills had been slashed and burned. It kind of looked like a scene out of one of those apocalypse movies.   Our guide told us that the Chinese were paying the Akha village for the privilege of clearing the Akha land so rice and rubber trees could be planted.  This is probably happening throughout Laos - in return for all the infrastructure and monetary support China has been providing Laos in recent years, it seems they’ve been given free rein to log the country as they please…we saw quite a few logging trucks on our journey out to Muang Sing. Although China may feel like the great benefactor to Laos now, if they continue giving up their land, this arrangement may not work out so well for Laos in the future.  At the rate it appeared to us, it will not be long until the forests are completely gone.

We arrived in the actual village around mid-afternoon and set up camp in the home of the village chief. Puon had told us that the 30 families in the village had moved to their current location only about a year ago, in order to be closer to the river. This seemed reasonable, although when I was told that the only toilet in the village was the “nature toilet” , the fact they were so close to the river became a little disturbing, given this is the source of their drinking water (and ours, for the next day).  One of the first things I noticed after we arrived was that Akha women are not nearly as conservative in their dress as Laos women.  Quite the opposite, actually – many were walking around the village bare-breasted or with a bra only, which was quite shocking to see after 6 months in Asia, where bare shoulders are a rare sight on a woman. Given the heat, though, you can hardly blame them.  After relaxing for awhile, we went to the house next door to watch a ceremony taking place to ward off bad spirits (since one of the village women was ill). We walked in to a roomful of people, young and old, watching a group of about 5 men and women in their traditional dress, gathered in a circle chanting. It was a mesmerizing sound – a man always started each round, and the women would join in with different words in different tones, but it blended in an odd way. This went on for awhile, and during all the chanting they brought different objects into the circle that clearly were meaningful to the ceremony in some way, including a chicken (it crossed my mind that the chicken was about to be sacrificed, but luckily for the chicken and my stomach, this was not the case). After awhile, the chanting got more frantic, and soon one of the men started jumping…then after he stopped a woman started jumping…and soon another joined her. They’d stop, then their legs would start shaking, like they were in a frenzied state, and they’d start jumping again. A woman lost her skirt while jumping, objects were getting pulled off the walls and rafters (they were holding onto them for support), and the floor was vibrating so badly that cups and stools were tipping over. Everyone watching started laughing whenever anyone started jumping again, which kind of makes me wonder what was inducing this frenzied state…eventually they calmed down, and went back to sitting in the circle and chanting. We left soon after, although the ceremony went on for quite awhile afterwards.

There’s a game we’ve watched being played all over SE Asia, which is like volleyball except they play with a small wicker ball using only their feet and head.  Brian has wanted to try this for awhile now, and as luck would have it, some of the older village boys were playing and invited him to join. He didn’t fare too badly, from what I observed…his first few attempts at handling the ball were a bit comical, from my perspective and judging from the laughter of his teammates. But he picked up the technique pretty quickly,  and managed to stay on for 3 or 4 games. Meanwhile, as I was snapping pictures of the event, the younger kids in the village were shyly eyeing the camera. I’d hold it up to them, and they’d giggle and run away, then they’d come back again and wait for me to do it again…eventually they seemed to really want me to take a picture, so I did…and then suddenly every village child was doing everything they could to get their picture taken (and of course, run to look at themselves on the camera screen right afterwards). As kids seem to never tire of this game, it could’ve gone on forever except eventually we had to stop to go have a delicious dinner of chicken, soup, and rice, cooked for us by Puon. The chief joined us after awhile, and brought with him a jug of Lao Lao rice whisky. Puon told us they drink Lao Lao with dinner and breakfast to clear the stomach in preparation for eating. After the shot he gave each of us at dinner continued burning in my esophagus for longer than I would’ve liked, I wasn’t too disappointed that the bottle did not make an appearance at breakfast the next morning.

After dinner, Puon led us down to the river for much needed showers. As I wrapped the skirt she gave me around my body and waded in, I was reminded how lucky I am to be able to take a real shower in privacy every day.  We’ve seen all over Laos how the women bathe like that in a river or just out back of the house with a barrel of water.  After our “showers”, we headed back up to the chief’s house and received traditional Akha massages, which were absolutely divine. I’d like to say that after the massage, I had the best night of sleep ever, but it wasn’t so…the chief stays up quite late smoking opium, and seems quite chatty while he does so.

The next day we set out on a much nicer trail, hiking from village to village out in the open rather than through the forest.  We had lunch with the chief of another Akha minority village along the way. He had been chief of his village for 12 years, which was pretty impressive given he was only 34 years old.  He had 4 young sons, and was hoping for 2 girls in the future. To ensure it would be so, he was enlisting the help of Puon’s mother, who had a medicine for his wife to take to make sure she had female babies.  It cost 1.5 million kip (about $187); if his wife had a boy after taking the medicine, they didn’t have to pay. Sounded to us like Puon’s mom has a good little racket going…although just from our perspective.  We ended up waiting out a rainstorm over lunch, so we spent a couple hours in the village. The conversation got really interesting when they started asking how much corn and rice and other fruits and vegetables sell for in our markets in the US. You could see the wheels turning in both Puon’s and the chief’s heads as we gave them the numbers, which were much higher than what they can sell corn or rice for in Laos. Puon started hatching a scheme where she sends us rice, and we sell it at the market in the States and split the profit 50/50…if only it were that easy!

Despite the crappy hiking trails, the leaches, the dehydration, and the heat, this was a pretty cool trek. Our guide shared a lot of good information about Laos and all the tribes and villages we went to, and had lot of questions about where we come from, so it was a great opportunity to compare cultures. The ceremony we witnessed was probably something we’ll never get an opportunity to see again, and how often do you get to take whisky shots with a village chief or share lunch and a conversation (through a translator) with a chief and his son?  The experience was definitely worth the 2 days of travel it took to get into Muang Sing.

Of course, all good things must come to end, and it was time to make our way back to the Thailand border. We said goodbye to Justin, who was planning to head even further out into the middle of nowhere in Laos, and took a two hour bus to Luang Nam Tha, where we rested for the day, ate some delicious northern Lao food, and enjoyed our last Lao massage. The next morning we caught a bus to the border, and proceeded to experience our smoothest border crossing yet. There were no scams, no lines, and no bribes to pay…it took less than half an hour from the time we walked up to Laos immigration and exited Thai immigration, and that even included a boat ride across the Mekong.  Then as icing on the cake, we were able to catch a VIP bus from the border all the way to Bangkok that same night. I normally dread overnight busses, but after all the Laos busses we were on, this Thai bus was like heaven on wheels.

 We arrived in the Mo Chit bus station at about 5 am with plans to head to the Indian Embassy to apply for our India visas. Of course, the embassy (or rather, the office where they’ve outsourced all visa applications) didn’t open till 8:30, so we hung out in a coffee house at the bus station till about 7, then made our way to the office via Skytrain. Upon arrival, we found out they only issue 3 month visas now instead of the 6 month visas - a recent change not documented anywhere on the embassy websites. Unfortunately ,this timing doesn’t work for us, as by the time we plan to enter India the 3 months would mostly be over, but we asked about applying anyway in case there was a 6 month option. There is, but it requires you to go through an interview at the embassy, with documentation explaining why you need 6 months instead of 3. And since that isn’t enough beaurocracy, they also said that rather than filling out the visa application at the office, we had to go to an Internet café, go to their website, fill out the form online, print it out, then bring it back to them.  Seriously?  What does this visa processing company actually do?  Needless to say, it was wasted trip, and we’re going to have to figure something else out for our India visas.

After leaving the visa office, we finally got to our hotel around 10 am, marking about 27 hours straight of transit, and have spent our time in Bangkok catching up on sleep, running errands, and enjoying delicious Thai food.  Since we were in Bangkok, and the movie takes place in Bangkok, we decided we had to see The Hangover 2 while we were here…it had its moments, but wasn’t nearly as good as the first one (not that we had high expectations). We head out today on a train that goes through the Malaysian border, with plans to spend a couple days in Pulau Panang before catching a ferry to the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. We started looking at how we’re going to spend our next month in Indonesia, and are already overwhelmed by the possibilities.  Thirty days will not be enough.  We’re now six months in to our trip –  half way.  And we seem to be struggling to fit everything in…    

  

Chillaxin'

PHOTO ALBUM - 4000 Islands, Vientiane, Vang Vieng, Luang Prabang

We crossed the border into Laos and then headed south to 4000 Islands (Si Phan Don) via Savannakhet and Pakse, both of which were really nice towns that we were really only in long enough for dinner and a walk along the riverfronts. We spent three days on Don Khon island in Si Phan Don, which is a unique area of the Mekong where the river is flattened out before a series of waterfalls resulting in a ton (well, supposedly 4000) islands in the river. We spent our time walking and riding bikes on the dirt roads and trails on the island among the rice paddies and stilt houses, visiting the waterfalls and beaches around the island, enjoying the riverside restaurants, and reading books on the porch of our bungalow.  Brian really enjoyed the hammock on our bungalow’s porch.  The highlight of the three days was probably the boat ride we took out to see the Irrawaddy Dolphins, an endangered freshwater species of dolphin that has pods in the Mekong in Kratie, Cambodia and around 4000 Islands. We hired a rickety boat which weaved us through little islands and rapids to a viewing point in the river where we could watch the dolphins surfacing for air (from a fair distance…spotting them was half the game).  From where we were watching, we were as close to Cambodia’s mainland as we were to Laos’…it seemed like we could just swim there if we wanted.  We enjoyed a beautiful sky on the boat ride back as the sunset.  

After 4000 Islands, we made our way up to Laos’ capital, Vientiane. This has definitely been the quietest major Southeast Asian city we’ve been to. Not much traffic, not many people, and probably more temples than high-rises.  Usually I wouldn’t call our experiences in the city “relaxing”, but I’d have to say our couple days in Vientiane were pretty chill. We walked the riverfront, went to the Laos Museum of Natural History, and toured a temple that had an impressive number of Buddha’s, even compared to all the Buddhas we have seen in SE Asia so far (they claimed there were over 10,000). The most interesting part of our time in Vientiane was our visit to COPE, an organization that supports victims of unexploded ordinance (UXO) by providing artificial limbs and rehabilitation.  Laos is the most bombed country per capita – the USA dropped something like the equivalent of one load of B-52 bombs on this country every 8 minutes for 9 years during the Vietnam war. Unfortunately, many of these were cluster bombs, and it’s estimated that as many of 78 million of those bombs didn’t explode upon impact. They still have not been able to clear all the UXO even today, so over the last 40 years civilians have been the victims of these bombs. Apparently a lot of the bombies are colorful and may look like a toy to a kid (you can imagine where that’s going), and they also discussed how there is a lucrative market for scrap metal in SE Asia, and whether it’s ignorance, or willingness to take the risk, a lot of people are people are maimed or killed either in the search for scrap metal (bombies buried along side other scrap) or actually attempting to take apart the bombies for scrap.  Although a sobering subject, we learned a lot, and have found yet another cause in SE Asia (clearing UXO!) that we want to support.

Our next stop in Laos was the now internationally renowned  Vang Vieng.  Apparently once a lazy riverside tourist destination where you could go for a relaxing tubing ride down the Nam Song river in the midst of some of Laos’ most beautiful scenery and rural culture, it is now absolutely not a destination to experience the local cultural aspects of this country.  Rather it is a very interesting place to get to know the culture of a very common ethnic group in the world today:  the twenty-something-Western-drinking-and-partying tribe.  This ethnic group is very common on the college campuses and bar districts of America, Canada, and Europe, but has also migrated in mass numbers to this one random destination in Southeast Asia.  Here, this group has mixed itself with the entrepreneurial spirit and economic drive of the local Laotian people of Vang Vieng.  We were very impressed with the Laotian’s exploitation of these Western-partiers and the income generating machine they have created out of a lazy river.    

Here is the scene:  A beautiful riverside town surrounded by huge limestone karsts and mountains.  The town is now a booming village lined with guesthouses, bars, and restaurants.  Most restaurants are equipped with multiple flat-screen TV’s that play Friends episodes non-stop (a few are now showing The Family Guy).  Young twenty-somethings roam the streets in swimsuits and bikinis (nice!) despite all of the signs asking everyone to cover up with respect to the local culture (ok, not that nice).  (Note:  In case you were wondering, Elise was not admiring the bikinis.  Rather Brian continued writing this blog entry at Vang Vieng…)  You rent a tube for the day and a tuk tuk takes you to the drop-off point in the river where you then proceed to float down the river that is lined with bar-after-bar, most equipped with loud music, rope swings, diving boards, water slides, volleyball nets, mud wrestling pits, etc.  Despite the fact that we are married thirty-somethings, we had see what this was all about.  At a minimum, the people-watching was going to be spectacular.

Since the crowd doesn’t hit the river until the afternoon (hung over from the previous day), we picked up our tubes after lunch and headed out.  Here is the first example of the Laotian’s exploitation of the western drinking culture:  the cost of the tube.  The sticker price for a day’s tube rental is 55,000 kip ($6.90) and includes transportation upstream.  Sounds reasonable.  Then – in theory – you float back to town and return your tube.  Here is the “fine print:”  the tube rental is 55,000 kip if your return your tube by 6pm.  You have to pay an additional deposit of 60,000 kip ($7.50).  If you return your tube after 6pm but before they close at 8:30pm you get 40,000 of your 60,000 kip deposit back.  They say you have to return your tube that day so I’m assuming if you miss 8:30 you lose the full deposit, but I’m not totally sure what happens then.  I went to college for engineering so I should have been able to do the math and known that  a 6pm tube return is clearly impossible when you are talking about a two to three hour float down the river and add a bar scene in the mix.  8:30pm had to be nearly impossible as well, but we were blinded by this unique international cultural experience of which we were about to partake and therefore overlooked those details. 

We were dropped off upstream and ushered towards the river and loud booming music of the nearby bars.  Immediately before we reached a bamboo bridge that took us across the river to the first bar, we were greeted by a young Laotian whose appearance made him look like he might be a Bob Marley wannabe.  He was handing out free shots of Lao Lao whisky.  After crossing the bridge, an Australian kid gave us another shot while helping to promote a club in town that night.   And that is how our Vang Vieng tubing experience began.   There are no scandalous details worth providing in this blog post.   It was really just one big bar and party that we probably would have enjoyed more 10 years ago.  But we did have a great time in the sun on the river watching inebriated westerners be washed down on tubes from bar to bar, and hanging out with a few of the more mature participants of the tubing experience.  One major disappointment:  no one was using the rope swings I had heard so much about and was looking forward to.  The rumor had it that someone had recently died and the government very recently banned them.  I looked on the internet and cannot yet confirm that story.  However, I am not surprised that there are likely some safety issues as the rope swings were ginormous and looked dangerously fun!  Given the combination of a swift current, shallow waters, binge drinking, and available drugs, I can’t imagine the amount of injuries or deaths that occur.  Maybe tubing Vang Vieng is nature’s way of weeding out the weak members of our Western society.

Six o’clock passed quickly and we had not really even tubed more than a few hundred yards downstream.  Around dusk, we decided that we should probably start floating back to town.  Not that the tube deposit was a considerable sum of money, but after a few whisky buckets and some of the most expensive beers in Southeast Asia, it felt wrong to lose the full tube deposit.  Immediately after disembarking, we could hear the faint voices of British-accented female voices pleading us to come join yet another party on the other side of the river.  We could not see the party or who was calling to us, but they sounded attractive.   I only provide this detail to illustrate how if you are a twenty-something year old single guy, this tubing experience probably could be construed (or perhaps misconstrued) as one of your greatest experiences of all time.  But of course I am very happily married to Elise for five years now and did not follow the mysterious sexy voices coming from the darkness of the other side of the river.  Rather we found ourselves floating in the pitch dark of night towards town. 

Tubing down the river at night in the middle of Laos was a very peaceful experience.  We could see the outlines of the massive limestone cliffs that were sparkling with the small lights of fireflies and lit up by lightning somewhere way off in the distance.  Every time we heard rapids coming close, it was a little nerve racking not knowing how big they were going to be.   But in the end they always ended up pretty tame.   As time ticked by, it started to become painfully obvious that the river was not moving fast enough to make the 8:30 return time.  Every so often we could see lights on the river banks ahead hoping it was town only to be disappointed  by more darkness afterwards. To make things more interesting, the lightning was now getting closer in a coming storm.   This brings us to the next brilliant exploitation of this whole scenario by the local Laotians.  Every so often a tuk-tuk driver would magically appear with a spotlight on the side of the river trying to sell an over-priced ride back to town.  After passing a few of these tuk-tuk offers up, we realized we needed to book the ride.  Luckily at this point we had run into a group of fellow tubers and were now travelling in a large floating island.  With strength in numbers somehow we managed to negotiate a fair price back to town.  I don’t think this particular tuk-tuk driver realized how much leverage he had on us:  how much were we all willing to pay to get $5 per tube of our deposit back?  With three minutes to spare, we rolled up to the tube rental shack and salvaged a few bucks back on the day.    

Vang Vieng was interesting to see, but from talking to those who have been there in the past, and from what we witnessed, it is completely out of control.  Tourists bused in directly from Thailand, walking down the streets in swim-suits like it is a beach,  drunken, injured from being drunk, etc.  Likely this whole scenario provides some good and much-needed income to the local town, but in our opinion, the situation is out of control.  We can tell this behavior by tourists has become the norm by the level of service we received there.  Rather than being greeted with a smile and enjoying some good cultural interaction in a beautiful setting, we felt like we were just tolerated by the locals.   It felt like spring break out of control in this conservative country.  We had a good time tubing, definitely enjoyed the Friends re-runs, had a great time exploring the countryside by mountain bike the day after tubing, and hopefully did not contribute to any of the cultural debauchery.  However, from what we read and hear, I think that for us, we would have enjoyed the Vang Vieng of  5+ years ago much more. 

We next moved on to Luang Prabang, probably the cultural capital of Laos and considered one of the most romantic destinations in Southeast Asia.  It is a beautiful city surrounded by mountains and on the banks of the Mekong River.  We toured a few wats (though at this point they are all starting to look the same), took a Laos cooking course, and visited a beautiful nearby waterfall complete with turquoise swimming areas, a rope swing, and an Asian Sun Bear rescue center.  And of course, enjoyed Laos massages.  In the cooking course, unlike every other course or activity we have done so far, we were not the only or one of the only American participants.  In a weird freak of nature, our cooking course had nine participants, all of which were Americans, and all engineers or with related degrees.  Elise and I were by far the oldest, though, as it seems like the average traveler age in Laos today is 23.  Definitely good to see a few more Americans out visiting the rest of the world.

Laos has been nice.  It is ultra-chill and a place where you simply relax.  However, we think it has changed in the recent years because, with the exception of 4000 Islands, we have felt a little like we are travelling in a tourist theme park.  We’re hoping to see a little more rural Laos and do some trekking up in the northern part of the country.  We spent several days in Muang Ngoi Nua, a roadless river village accessed by boat only and electricity from generators only from 6pm to 10pm.  That place was super-chill!  More on that and the rest of our time in Laos in the next blog post.