Sardines - Folded and Packaged

Hello from the beautiful jungles of Northern Laos (pronounced Lao), in the French-influenced town of Luang Prabang. We just arrived yesterday, July 3rd and still cannot believe we are traversing the beautiful and untouched landscape of Laos. We took a 2-day slow boat ride from the northern Thai border at the city of Chiang Khong. This would be known as the scenic route for sure. The 2-day trip is a typical package deal for travelers in Northern Thailand looking to visit the more subdued, less touristy mecca of Laos. For $46 US, you are picked up in Chiang Mai by air conditioned grey mini bus, with 12 other crammed touristas and driven to the Thai Laos border 5+ hours away at Chiang Khong. This is where we got our first glimpse of the 12th longest river in the world, the Mekong. We got our first night's dinner and accommodation paid for as well as a skimpy little omelet & toast the next morning. Oh, and the Tang-like orange juice which I passed on thank you very much. We also started the Laos VISA process with a gentleman who said he did this everyday and then took our passports away with him for the night. Uh oh. It also was suggested we purchase a pillow for the boat ride for 40 baht (~$1.25US). Fine, I bought a blue one with crisscrossing stripes and Stacy one with little fish on it.

We were taken the next morning to secure our coveted passports and VISAs for Laos. We were dropped off at the river's edge and pointed down to the water. O-K. A throng of us whities looked at each other and shrugged as we were hustled into small 'long tail' boats and ferried across the brown Mekong River. Again we were directed by an unassuming fellow who moaned 'VISAs' and pointed to the right up some stairs. Our names were called out after a short wait and we paid our $35 in US greenbacks for our VISAs but more importantly got our passports back in our possession. Funny, we had to come all the way to Laos to see the US dollar again. Still unclear as to why?

Again, we were herded into a cluster and asked to board a pickup truck covered taxi. Our turtle shells (back packs) were heaved on the roof and off we went, inland so it seemed. But, aren't we taking a 2-day BOAT ride on the river that was back...THERE!? Stacy reminded me to just surrender and that is what I did as again our passports were taken away and we waited at an outdoor restaurant with dozens of other confused but patient travelers. We got the documents back and were directed again by grunt and finger point down to the water's edge where we stood in a bulging line of back pack-wearing youngsters and walked across a precarious plywood plank onto our boat. We were finally aboard the vehicle that would house us for the next 7 hours or so.

I think our relief was a little premature as we found our seats to be upright wooden benches, barely wide enough for 2 of us and definitely NOT deep enough for even one of my butt cheeks! But, glad we got those pillows, because ewowe! We dumped our luggage in the back engine room and settled in with the other 130 or so travelers. I knew this sitting situation was not going to last because my back was already aching. I remembered what cousin Matt had told us when he took this ride and how he sat in the rear with the luggage. It was a little more CO2 than I like to inhale but was far more comfy. Another guy followed me back there and we laid on the floor leaned up against a number of bags. 5 star all the way!!! I napped & read a while while Stacy conversed and made friends up front. The beautiful Laos jungle passed us by as we meandered our way down the river. It was truly a sight to see. Lush green jungles, mountains, the occasional buffalo & kids wading along the shore line. We felt we were having the real SE Asia experience! It was surreal. Thank god I was feeling better and my flu bug was kicked. Not the place to be going feeling like crap.

We were heading deeper and deeper into Laos and further into the jungle. It was an incredible feeling to be floating down the same river so many of our countrymen had 4 decades ago, probably with sniper fire all around. Laos was the victim of one of the most intensive bombing missions ever in the 60s & 70s with over 540,000 bombs dropped and 30% of those never exploding! So that means there are some 180,000 UXOs out there buried in the jungles. They have some retrieval programs going, but it is a slow go. Despite the discomfort and junk food we had to snack on, the experience was something special for all of us. We drank water and ate Oreos and chips - mmmm. And lucky we had those as what you brought on board was what you ate. The word 'Concessions' was lost in translation somewhere along the line!

We finally arrived at our night's destination, a tiny village on the river's edge, called Pak Beng. We balanced our way across another scary plank and made it to land. This was a one-road village, lined with ramshackle guest houses and merchants selling more junk food (dont think our stomachs can take it anymore) and souvenirs. We found our place for the night with a large room, king size bed, no creatures inside and a private bath. Fine and time for a shower!

The bathrooms are funny in SE Asia. The rooms tend to be all tile and have a sink and toilet like you would hope. The shower is not a separate space however and definitely NOT enclosed! It is just a movable hose with shower head and when it comes time to use it water gets everywhere. It is key, if you brought your own toilet paper with you, to put it up high and out of the way somewhere because its bound to get wet! The toilets are typically accompanied by a smaller, kitchen sink-like hose & head. So if you do not have TP, no worries just give a little arse spray and all is clean...and soaking wet! I have become accustomed to the butt spray, Stacy not so much. To each their own!

We went out for dinner and met up with some older folks we had seen on the boat. They were some of the only people NOT younger than us by years! And they seemed to be having a fun time. Good company indeed! A couple from just north of Sydney, Craig & Louise, a Belgian lady named Charlotte and another nice lady from Northern California, who is a teacher at Menlo College, & who I know Momma Conlon would love!

We laughed a lot & enjoyed some Laos Koy Buffalo (minced meat, rice noodles, lemon & chili) and mashed potatoes. Craig & I were both excited about the prospect of mashed potatoes!! We drank a number of BeerLao & the ladies drank red wine. The waiter brought by some lao lao which is a rice whiskey for us to try. We laughed and talked about about future & past travels, before going off to sleep.

We found out in the morning that a younger female traveler from our boat & who was staying at our place was robbed of her ipod last night. Yikes! Do we have ours?! Yes. We ate some tasty pancakes (much like the delicious ones in Indo) and walked around town. The rain had joined us and brought with it the low white clouds that complete the mental image I have of the region. The vegetable market was going on just up the road from our guest house and we took a quick look before going to board the boat at 8:15am. We were on a larger boat today, but I think they were consolidating 2 boats into one. We scouted out our seats - today we would be on the floor against the front walls next tot the flip flop area and believe it or not that was prime real estate. There were dozens of chairs with backs but the thought of lying on the floor sounded much more comfortable to us. We attempted to maintain our little rectangles of space as more and more travelers boarded the boat and wide eyed, wondered where they were going to sit. The boat seemed quite overfilled and soon we were lying everywhere, head to foot, foot to back, you name it, we were packed in however it was going to work. Some were in the very back with the engine, others overflowed to the captain's chagrin upstairs into his wheelhouse and sleeping area. Stacy found a spot up against a dresser and between the chain steering column. We posted as best we could and made nice with 6-8 floor lovers around us. We played some cards, read and tried to sleep in the spaces available. This day, it was raining quite a lot and the beautiful low clouds draped the hillside jungles and it was like you see in the movies. WOW! It was breathtaking and believe it or not, much more comfortable than Day 1! I think everyone figured out their system and even though most of us were lying on the floor, we weer comfortable. Many people were drinking warm beerlao and most were reading. There was even a dining room table in the back where several games of poker were going on. Wacky!

The scenery was marvelous however and made the trip quite enjoyable! After about a 7 hour journey into the beautiful country, the boat pulled around and we disembarked in Luang Prabang. It is a great little town with amazing French architecture but mixed in with historical Laos temples, cut in between 2 intersecting rivers and nestled in a valley with mountainous jungles all around. We are soaking it in as much as we can. Time to get out and enjoy it!