Chiang Rai and Laos

Careful, this is going to be a long one!

We began our journey with a brief trip to Chiang Rai. My business there was to be a part of a 2 day information campaign, where we informed and answered questions about the EducationUSA program. The first day included an afternoon "open house" where we gave away a lot of info and talked to 20 of so people about the program and various aspects. For the majority of the afternoon we were accompanied by the American Foreign Service officer, who I had happened to have lunch with a few days earlier regarding his job, and the Consular General for Chiang Mai. We were invited to the official opening of a very swanky hotel in Chiang Rai, where the American Consulate hosted all the American citizens in the area for consular services and free wine and food. Needless to say, we enjoyed ourselves on the massive campus of the hotel, which included a monster fire-pit right next to the river. The next day I joined my colleagues at a middle/high school where we gave a lecture/informational workshop to about 60 kids. My part was to give a 1 hour presentation on the TOEFL test they will have to take. Although it was a little uncomfortable, all in all it went fine.

clock tower in Chiang Rai at night.
bus to Chiang Khong

After eating a quick lunch at a pro Thaksin (ask me some other time) noodle joint, Katie, Chris and I headed off to the bus station. Our destination would be Chiang Khong, a border town next to Laos on the Mekong river. We found a rudimentary hostel for under $10 for three of us. The process to cross the border and get a boat to Luang Prabang, our destination, is a three step one. First, you have to go through Thai customs, which is infinitely easier if you grease the border agent's palm a little. Once you've done that and have crossed the river on a small ferry (read: tiny narrow boat) and you have met your respective British friend Gareth, and have lost your umbrella, you need to go through customs and immigration in Laos, where you get oodles of stamps in your passport. You then get a ride (read: walk with your new British friend) to the boat dock (see picture) where you pay the man, show your passport 38 more times, spend too much money on basic necessities, like food and water for the 7 hour boat ride, get on the boat, fight for a good seat (which nobody did much to their chagrin) and wait. You wait more. Then some more. The boat, aptly named a slow-boat, then shoves off with cargo, foreigners, domestic-ers, etc.

slow boats

For seven hours, you float down the Mekong surrounded by vast jungles stretching unimaginable distances, occasionally drifting past a village of 6 buildings, locals doing various life-activities, whatever they may be at the moment.



Eventually, after making Canadian friends, you finally reach a midpoint town in your journey: Pak Beng. Pak Beng is a one-night town. Upon stretching your cramped knees on the shore, you are barraged by a million people trying to get you to stay at this or that guesthouse. It is all rather random, and the only way I have successfully staved off these people is by speaking to them in exclusively German. When they cannot communicate, it is easier for them to find a new target. I knew that degree would come in handy!
Once you have successfully found a place to stay with your British and Canadian friends, you look for dinner, but not after first grabbing a few Finnish friends to come along with-- hey, the more the merrier, right?
The next morning you wake up at 7 so as to get a good seat on the boat, again (behind the driver on the flat section--more room to stretch the legs) and brace yourself for another 8 hours. This time you play cards, and do pretty much nothing. Your day is briefly paused by a surprising spectacle, namely the driver of the boat pulling over to a sandbar, jumping out, running down the beach and taking his clothes off. On first impressions, you may think he had an "emergency", and needed to clean himself, however you are wrong. You realize this when he dives under the boat headfirst with a meat cleaver. Most of the boat is watching this crazed lunatic in his underpants attacking the bottom of the boat from the sandbar. He emerges from the water victorious, his prize in hand, his enemy defeated: a piece of bamboo that had wrapped itself around the propeller.


rest stop for naked boat attack

At another brief stop on the river you pick up more domestic-ers and their cargo: baskets full of chickens, ducks, and turkeys. These are haphazardly tossed on the roof of the boat (see picture) to be haphazardly tossed back to land later.

chickens in baskets

You then arrive in Luang Prabang.
Luang Prabang is a tourist town, so there are a myriad of guesthouses of varying quality and price, not always commiserate to each other. You walk down the street, a veritable possy of 2 Fins, 1 Brit, 3 Americans, and 2 Canadians all in search of different types of rooms, yet looking in the same places. After a general realization that this wont work, you tell everyone where you'll be tomorrow at noon, and you go along your way. Eventually, after walking through most of the city, you find a friendly couple from Mississippi, who give you a tip on where to stay. You find the place, shower, then head out for the best dinner in South East Asia.

The idea is rather simple: give the customer food, let him/her cook it his/herself. The way this happens, is-- now stay with me here-- a table with 9 tiles on the top (3x3) has the middle tile removed, revealing a hole in the middle. In that hole is placed a clay bucket filled with coals. Upon this bucket is placed a metal grill of sorts. The middle area is domed with small holes cut into it, the outside area turns back upwards, like the brim of an old fashioned hat, creating a trough at the bottom of the dome. In this trough is placed broth, noodles and vegetables, while the top is adorned with various meats including water buffalo. You are now in charge of refilling the broth when it gets low, cooking more vegetables, eggs, and the meat. Do-it-yourself Hibachi!


The next day, after you get slightly lost due to incomprehensible maps and a change of venue, as the last guesthouse you stayed in couldn't do 3 nights, you meet your aforementioned motley crew and find a place for lunch. You spend the day slowly losing various bits of the group to other activities, find yourself on the top of a mountain (hill) in the center of town with a temple at the top offering magnificent views and crazy rocks and caves.

mountain (hill)

You meander through the quaint streets until you run out of streets, which happens quite quickly. The next day you wait all morning in the rain before choosing not to go on a boat tour of the caves north of the town. Instead you walk to a distant part of town to a local weaving center, which does everything from growing the plants, to making the dyes, to growing the silk worms, to spinning the silk, to dying the silk, to weaving the silk. This place is also the home of the best coffee is Laos, and quite possibly SE Asia. You decide to buy something substantially more expensive than usual due to the unique and self-sustainable nature of the business, which is, consequently, extremely well run. You then spend the rest of the day in cafes and restaurants, generally being lazy and enjoying the fact that you are supporting locals.
After you leave town you realize that this is a communist country, and the attitude of the people, at least in comparison to Thailand, is quite different. People do not have the drive or the push about them to really haggle with you, to really ask for your business--although it can be a nice break from the more intense Thailand-- it is somewhat sad. It seems people have conceded.
A short flight will bring you back to a country you are now calling home, which a month ago seemed as foreign as chicken foot soup.




Airline magazine quote (no, seriously- quote) "Whatever, Vientiane was burnt down and abandoned for more than 100 years. Old saying; Vientiane was abandoned and remained as a small hill of the wild dog's excrements. It is said the present of Vientiane is only the half of its former time."

What that means I have no idea, but I'm curious about this dog's excrement thing ????