Laos blew me away.  I partly expected this - no one who has ever traveled there has not fallen in love with it.  It is a place where time has stood still, a place where you could not even visit until 5 years ago, so the people there do not yet know how to work the tourists; there is an innocence that is amazing.

 

There are no faxes, there are hardly any cars - when you take a walk in Luang Prabang you only hear bicycle bells and roosters.  And the buildings are amazing - they are decaying, but the French colonial influence stands out.

 

Luang Prabang is full of Buddhist temples and there are monks running around everywhere.  Every morning around 6:00am, people come out to give alms to the monks - you can give rice, fruit, whatever.  Just no alcohol or meat.

 

Even though the monks are vegetarian, no one else is!!!  There is a night market on the one main street in town (which of course has no traffic lights or stops); at an alley off the main street you can eat like a king.  There are probably 50 food stalls set up - you find one you like and eat anything you want for $0.50.  One night we sat at a table where a woman had about 20 things on offer - she fills up your plate, and when you are done if you are still hungry she refills it with whatever you ask for.  And they always give you free tea.  (oh - the "we" was me and my new partners in crime - Harly and Dick from Vancouver...)  Another night we sat at a noodle soup table - a woman and her daughter loaded the bowl full of noodles with vegetables and your choice of pork, beef, chicken, or fish... and then an 8 year old girl brings you a beer...  Other stalls had meatballs (god only knows what kind of meat), chicken feet (feet, not legs!!!!), pig face and pig feet (just cut off and grilled), insects, fish, and god knows what else - some of those stalls you obviously blow right by!!!

 

We met up with a couple of other people at a huge waterfall in the jungle.  This waterfall is about 300 feet high and had many levels.  There was a pool of water right under the main waterfall, and we went for a swim in it.

 

There was a woman from England and she was hanging out with a New Jersey guy - they took a motor bike to the waterfall and wiped out in a village of about 100 people.  All the houses are on stilts, and in some of these villages they have never seen a white person before - and so everyone was really surprised when an old woman comes out of her bamboo hut with gauze, antiseptic, and wearing rubber gloves!  This obviously created a commotion in the village, and everyone, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandma and grandpa come out to look at the injured white people and to help care for them!

 

Another day I took a 1967 Toyota Corona to a spot about an hour north of Luang Prabang on the Mekong river.  Then a man on one of the bamboo boats pushed me across the river with a big stick, and I went exploring in some caves where there were a couple hundred Buddha statues.

 

I flew Lao Airlines to LP, and, despite US State Department warnings, I opted to fly them to Vientiane instead of taking the bus (the bus is a nightmare - they stop for huge snakes sunning on the road, there are all kinds of animals on the bus, and it takes 12 hours)...  (oh, and they just finished paving this road a year ago!!)  It was the same plane as the one for the flight from Thailand, and, not surprisingly, the same two flight attendants!!! 

 

Vientiane is the capital and biggest city in Laos - I think there are a little over 100,000 people there.  There were no bars until a few years ago - there were hardly any restaurants - and the only accommodation was frumpy and used by diplomats from the few embassies in town (many countries do not even have a diplomatic presence in Laos).

 

Because of its small size, you see the same people over and over.  One night at a nightclub (you should see what a nightclub is in Laos!!!!) I met a woman who owns a sauna, and then saw her again the next day.  I met some other people through her - after a couple of days one of the guys invited me to his family home for a meal before I left Laos.  They picked me up at my hotel on a motorbike, we went down some dirt roads just outside the city, and we pulled up to the family's stilt home (made of thatch and bamboo - the Aunt and Uncle lived in a main room, and everyone else had a small bamboo hut attached to the cinder block Aunt and Uncle home).  We went to the market and bought live fish and vegetables plus some beef (probably two pounds of an excellent cut of beef for under $2!!)  Then I got to see Lao cooking in action.  The uncle takes the four fish (who are jumping around trying to save their lives) and crams some lemongrass and scallions down their open mouths. Then, without further adieu, he puts them in this metallic trap and throws them on the flames, eyes, fins, and all.  They then cut up all the vegetables and chilies, cooked the beef into some kind of Northern Lao dish, and we all sat around a big table.  You scoop some fish into a leaf (or cabbage), then add chilies, tomatoes, cucumbers, lemongrass, and other selections onto the leaf, fold it, and down the hatch.  It was delicious.

 

Then the men taught me a Lao custom.  Everyone around the table drinks from the same glass.  They had Lao whiskey, homemade rice wine, and Lao beer (the only beer available in Laos).  As soon as one guy takes a drink (anyone can start this), the glass is refilled fully for each person and passed around the table.  You must drink the full glass each time it comes to you - to say "no" is to say you are not a friend and is very insulting.

 

So, needless to say, we were lying on the ground laughing our asses off by the time this meal ended, and I had an experience I will never forget...

 

I hired a guide for a day and toured around the city.  This country is just starting to rebuild...  And the people are hopeful for their future.  I cannot wait to go back.

 

Hope everyone is well! 

 

Steve