A few words on culture…
Wednesday, November 29th, 2006Presently, I am Vientiane, the captal of Laos. I am here to figure out how to get my Vietnam visa and how to get out of Laos, which is more painstaking than you might think. The people are happy and well-educated, there is a thriving gay community, as in most SE Asian cities. But first, some generic constistencies that have for better or worse influenced my travels…
Hotels have cost from $2.50 to $6, if you are travelling with another person, the figure tends to stay around $3 to $4. Most times with the cheaper places, you will have a shared bathroom, hot-water showers if your lucky, maybe 60% of the time. And sometimes the “hot-water” will be lukewarm and you just have to deal.
All bathrooms, whether private or shared have basically the same configuration. Sink on the outside, toilet and shower in the same room. The showerhead is removable and hand-held, perched directly above the toilet. If you are showering, you are always doing so no more than 2 feet away from the toilet, in the same room, all the while sploshing the seat with clean water.
The toilets are usually western style, but some are only a foot off the ground so it depleats the purpose, you have to squat anyways. For some reason in Laos, rather than Thailand, the western toilets have been high enough off the ground to have a good sit and relax, when in Thailand taking a seat is out of the question unless you want your knees by your eyebrows.
The toilets, besides on rare occasions, operate their flush on gravity. You must take a bucket from the basin beside the toilet, and pour fresh water to make all the “jewels” float downstream through the tubes. The plumbing is too fragile to take toilet paper, so if you’ve had the good fortune to bring some, you have to throw it away. If you didn’t bring it, there is always a little spray-hose to help ring you out fresh and dry, which is a very religious experience. A spirital enema if you will.
People from Laos and Thailand evidently love rock hard pillows, and they will be sure to share their pleasures with you. It is like sleeping on your 9th grade Biology textbook, and it is no fun. The mattresses are usually hard as well, but tend to be softer than the pillows.
An oversized bottle of Beer Lao is 70 cents, any American candy is $1, any native asian candy is 30 cents. An hour on the internet is $4 in very rural places, $1 in big cities where the competition is fierce.
It is hot as hell everywhere, I generally do not wear long sleeves, and to have your feet exposed through sandals does a great deal to take away unwanted heat from your body.
I was reading somewhere that Lonely Planet’s Southeast Asia guides are the best-selling, which is why I’m seeing so many tourists. I talked to one guy today who was thinking coming to Laos would be like “some sort of Indiana Jones shit” but when he arrived he realized it was more like spring break. To get off the beaten tourist path is difficult, there have been tourists, and a lot of them, in every city I’ve visited.
Hope that paints a picture. I’m looking more towards an 18 hour bus ride to Hanoi rather than 1 hour in a small plane. I’m dreadfully afraid of small planes, especially when Lao Airlines doesn’t release their crash records, although I hear they’re getting better. But Hanoi is close, just as soon as I can get my visa. Cheers all.
bumwaiter