Notes from the Road

Following my excursion to Phonsavan, I once again boarded those rickety buses and followed that thin black line snaking up, over and through the mountainous northern part of Laos. This time my ultimate destination lay further to the south and after five or six hours the road started to flatten out. I was headed to what many call the ultimate tourist destination in Laos - Wang Wien. It's reputation for attracting those on the backpacker circuit is the stuff of legends as is the attraction which draws those tourists - tubing down the Mekong. I arrived and decided that my body had suffered enough and I would treat myself to a nicer place, in particular one with a nice bed and a nice river view. Wang Wien, located right on the Mekong river is nestled into a valley and off to the west are some spectacular limestone cliffs which are littered with caves. I procured a room on the fourth floor with a view of the cliffs over the river and the rice fields in the distance. The views of the sunset (and the softness of the bed) were well worth the cost of the room. Day 1 in Wang Wien was travel and relaxation. The following morning I woke up and continued to enjoy the spectacular views and the wonderful bed until they forced me out at noon. I switched to a cheaper place just downstream and proceeded to explore town and several of the surrounding caves. After several hours of walking, another massage was in order. I never made it to the Mekong to go tubing, but I did enjoy a couple relaxing days in Wang Wien doing nothing but eating, reading and sleeping. After the hectic and incredibly busy past week, it was much deserved.

I jumped on yet another bus and snacked on a sandwich en route to Vientiane. I ended up spending most of the afternoon driving from Wang Wien to Vientiane and along the way I noticed several things. As we got closer and closer to the town, the electric lines and telephone poles became more and more like the telephone poles in Thailand – cluttered with wires. A tangled mess. There were wires looped around each other, hanging low across the road, wrapping around the pole, stretched through the trees and intermittently connected to the houses through what appeared to be a simple and exposed connection. This was a change from the country that I had seen up until that point. The telephone lines had one or two wires connected to them, if that. There was a stretch that I remember as I traveled from Phonsavan to Wang Wien that had the poles but was conspicuously lacking in any wires connecting the poles. Speaking of lines, as we got closer to the city, more and more lines appeared on the streets. Until Vientiane, there were no lines on the road. It was a free for all (not that lines make much of a difference). I arrived in Vientiane without much hassle and made my way to a guest house were I procured a room which was followed on by dinner and sleep.

I awoke refreshed the next morning and had breakfast at a little restaurant before walking around and taking a look at several of the temples around town. They were interesting, but nothing spectacular or impressive. Following that, I went to the National Museum and walked around there for a while. It was more interesting, but was a bit repetitive. I did enjoy the constant referral to America as being the ‘American imperialists’ or some other fun reference. It was comical how overdone it was. I then headed to lunch and had myself a Swedish pizza in honor of the Swedes I had met earlier on. It wasn’t much different than a normal pizza but it was good pizza so I couldn’t complain. A quick trip back to the guest house and then I was off to the Buddha Park, a collection a statues from various stories in Buddhism, Hinduism etc. It’s quite unique and very interesting. I only wish I knew more so that I could interpret the images. I knew a few, the Buddha was obvious. Ganesh was there as was what I thought to be allusions to Shiva. I was proud to be able to identify Indra riding atop Erawan, her many-headed elephant. And that pretty much wraps up the highlights of the day. Vientiane is a nice town, but there's not a lot to keep one occupied.

The following morning, I talked to my Mom and Dad for a while in the morning before heading out to walk. My cell phone had come with me and the other day I had noticed that if I was close to the river in the right spot, my cell phone would get service. So, I gave my parents a call and let them know that their son was doing alright. I walked pretty much all day after that phone call which was nice and something I really enjoyed doing. That’s something I haven’t done enough of this trip. Walking has always been a big part of my travels and I enjoy the peace of mind that exists when your walking in a new place with no real destination or intended route. It's a wonderfully blissfully free feeling. My agenda for the day included the Laos Arc de Triumph, which isn’t very triumphant. It was built from American-donated concrete, which was intended to build a runway. Instead they built a monument to the Communists victory over the Americans and their allies. They (jokingly) call it the Vertical Runway. You can climb up to the top. On several of the upper levels, they have shops inside selling tourist items. On top there are views of the city, none of which are very impressive. It’s approached by a wide road with lights down the middle – very European. After that it was to Phra That Luang, the national symbol of Laos, which wasn’t impressive. There wasn’t much to it other than what one sees in the pictures. It was a bit worn down. There were no paintings or other significant items. It was simply that ubiquitous missile-shaped structure. Then to the Unknown Soldiers Memorial, which again wasn’t impressive. I’ve noticed that there’s not much to see in Laos. I guess most people come to Laos to go hiking or do other nature-oriented things. They do have a lot of nature. They are actually one of the most pristine of the SE Asia countries and have a lot of undeveloped/untouched wilderness. That is due to several factors mainly bombings and insurgencies but also a relatively sparse population. They also have a lot of Beer Lao, so drinking is another good thing to do. I came back into town and spent several hours on the internet updating the blog and then headed off to the bus station were I wasn’t able to get a seat on the bus (it was full) and had to wait an hour. After that, I got on the bus and was later joined by a Canadian man traveling through SE Asia. We endured immigration together. As with my entrance into the country, my exit from the county had some hints of drama. I purchased a ticket that took me from Vientiane, Laos to Nong Khai, Thailand going across the Friendship Bridge built over the Mekong River. The bus stopped on the Lao side of the river and I went through immigration - a couple quick looks at the passport and my pretty face and with the thud of the stamp I was officially out of Laos. We all then climbed back on the bus for the short trip across the bridge. Departing on the other side of the bridge we looked out at a swarm of people - no they weren't there to welcome me back into Thailand. They were all trying to get into Thailand as well. We promptly got in line and took up our places in the queue. Shortly after getting in line, the hostess on the bus approached us and said that they bus was leaving. Judging by the length of the line it would have taken us at least 30 minutes to get through immigration and the bus along with our bags was leaving shortly. We thought about grabbing our bags and figuring out a ride into the city after immigration only to discover that while we were one side of the border, our bags were on the other. No dice. The hostess tried wheeling and dealing and eventually found a solution to our particular problem. There were many immigration officials manning their posts to check the papers of those crossing the border in a personal vehicle and the number of personal vehicles crossing at that moment was small so she had us walk through immigration impersonating a car. It actually worked. We got our passports stamped and a smile from the immigration official who found our method of beating the line fairly humorous. And with that my trip to Laos had come to an end but there were still adventures to be had in Thailand before heading back home.