Another 2 months gone? I’m now in Luang Prabang, Laos . At my last contact, I had just left my 2nd meditation retreat in Thailand and had started on my spiritual path (or so I thought). I’d planned a one-night stop-over in Bangkok before heading north to Chiang Mai and some of Thailand’s countryside. However, my one night became 10 as I spent my days sleeping and sightseeing and my nights partying with farangs (Westerners) and locals.
I did manage to make it as far north as Ayuthaya (1st stop on the train above Bangkok) where I easily spent a few days delighting in the town’s beauty and history. The town is built around a 650 year old temple and city ruins! And managed to acquaint myself with some of Bangkok’s better ganga – brought up by a regular. After another indulgent stop in Bangkok, myself and a Thai woman (tour-guide by trade) took an overnight bus to Nong Kai, on Thailand’s border with Laos. There I discovered my tourist visa had actually already expired about 2 weeks earlier!
WARNING: Although I’d paid for a double-entry 3 month tourist visa to Thailand (bought in Australia), they will only stamp a 2 month visa into your passport when you arrive, which you still have to extend the extra month in Thailand. I didn’t realise this, so had to pay a 2400 baht fine (about A$100) as I crossed the Friendship Bridge into Laos.
We found a cheap dorm in Vientiane for only US$2 per night (cheap for Vientiane!). The guesthouse had a great atmosphere and we stayed over a week, loving the beautiful old city with it’s mud streets and cycle rickshaws. Lao women still wear the traditional sarongs, even in the city. As soon as we left Vientiane the sights became more and more amazing.
With a small group of backpackers heading in the same direction, we took a 4 hour crowded public bus to Vang Vieng, for a stop-over before going to Luang Prabang further north. Vang Vieng is currently booming, with guesthouses being built in every available space. However, the market still carries an old-world charm, where you can buy fried rats or live frogs (if you’re up early enough!).
Before arriving I’d been told to check in with “The Shoe Man” in the market for any drug dispensary needs, where I managed to buy almost an ounce of buds (just handfuls in a plastic bag) for 10,000 Kip (about AU$2). Grass is so cheap in Vang Vieng it’s mind-blowing (literally) but RIZLA are unheard of, so if you do enter Laos, bring sticky rolling papers with you, even if you don’t smoke – they are worth a mint in bargaining power.
Under the suggestion of a curious Pom, our gang headed out to one of Vang Vieng’s copious opium dens to “try something new”. We then spent EVERY evening in the den until we clawed our way further north.
NOTE: A warning to those interested in smoking opium in Vang Vieng; despite the town’s apparent lawlessness, drugs ARE illegal and busts do happen. One night we were in the den, we each had to pay up quickly and were silently herded through back yards as the police were out the front.
However, on another occasion in the same den the police came straight in and arrested everybody in the room – 6 Westerners included. The tourists were handcuffed and led to the police station where they had to pay a US$250 fine the next day to get their passports back.
Of course, there are plenty of other things to do in Vang Vieng including caving and tubing down the river. Inner tubing is actually quite dangerous and frightening in places but otherwise is a perfect day spent – floating in the sunshine down a muddy river, seeing naked Lao children playing by the shore.
There’s an old lady in town who’ll rent you an innertube for the day for only 2,000 Kip – just look for the “Marijuana Shake” sign and the big pile of tubes. I tried one of her shakes one day and totally lost my hold on reality; hallucinating for quite a few hours.
The bus trip to Luang Prabang took almost 9 hours but went through some of the most beautiful scenery I’ve ever seen! Deep green mountains tipped with clouds and bright paddy fields for miles. You can ride on the roof of the bus with the luggage if you choose, but you’d want the weather to be nice.
Luang Prabang was named a World Heritage site a few years ago and is a
charming mix of modern Lao and hill-tribe lifestyles. The two main tourist attractions (other than the 32 temples in the city) are a waterfall and the Pak Ou Caves, the latter of which we visited our 2nd day there. Antique Buddha images have been placed in the caves, none of which are particularly interesting, but the fun began when we went across the river to a small Lao village for lunch.
After eating, we walked around the back of the village and happened across a group of Lao men spending their Sunday afternoon passing shots of Lao-Lao (home-made rice whiskey) and sharing fish-head soup. We were invited in so HAD to partake of both (to refuse is considered quite rude), being vegetarian, I faked eating the soup – especially since it was looking at me.
Myself and the only other woman in the room (another Westerner) had the task of pouring shots and passing the glass. There were definite rules involved in the drinking game, one of which is that the drinker is allowed to halve his shot into another glass, which the pourer (myself or the German woman) had to drink with them. Needless to say, after about 2 hours everyone in the room was completely shitfaced, and we staggered back to our patient guide at the boat, for the beautiful hour long journey back down the Mekhong.
