a i m l e s s

I constantly remind everyone of how the ‘universe always delivers.’  And how about this.  Just as I am a bit tired and lonely of traveling alone… I oh-so-randomly run into a comical and friendly foreigner.  Here is how it happened. 

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Arriving in Laos, I noticed a 10 degree temperature drop.  Thank goodness for the mountains!  I’m amazed to see children outside during sunlight hours and adults working various jobs during the usual Vietnam five-hour-heat-siesta.  It’s possible to sit in the shade without losing two liters of sweat per hour, AND it takes at least FIFTEEN MINUTES for the ice in your drink to melt.  Woohoo!

My skin was melting off in Hue.  The lack of electrical stability left the whole city just sitting it it’s own perspiration for about 3-4 hours daily.  There’s no way to cool down; the electric pump that powers the sink/shower is also out-of-order.  Yes, there’s a beach.  But for me, simply imagining the 13 km ride in the headache-causing brightness is sure to cause sudden death.

You’d be surprised to experience beaches with Southeast Asian people.  Most avoid the beach, swimming, and being outdoors any time the sun is in the sky.  On Cat Ba Island, Danny and I noted the Vietnamese tourists would swim at 6 am on the east end, then move to the west end as the sun reached over the first mountain, and by 7 am they were out and back to the hotel.  Around 5 they returned to the beach and swam in the small patch water immersed with shade.  It’s interesting to compare this to, especially, New Jersey’s beach going habits.  No wonder as a child I hid away from the piercing hot in the back of my dad’s truck, with my nose buried in some book.  I simply couldn’t understand why everyone put themselves in such tremendous discomfort!  And it’s called vacation!  Hah!

So, peripheral thoughts aside, yes.. Laos.  So far I’ve only rode the 240 km from Savanhaket to Pakse.  I intend to follow the Lonely Planet – Biking the Bolvaten in the next few days, then head south to Si Phon Don… 4000 Islands on the Mekong.  (Side note:  I LOVE THE MEKONG.)

I’ll continue to update this page as the universe and my brain power allow.

July 23:  Savanhakket to Lakhonpeng (120 km)  Why, oh why didn’t I stop in Paksong?  There were about five guesthouses along the main road, food stalls, internet, etc.  But I’ve been on this “PUSH YOURSELF TO THE LIMIT” kick, and as I glided down a little hill into Paksong, I told myself, “Just another 30 kms!”  The day was hot, but broken by bits of shaving-cream clouds that I raced, and slowed, in order to follow beneath.  Mile markers passed by like gravestones.  Roadside shops and vendors were becoming less and less frequent.  Village homes were built from wood and bamboo, though I noticed quite a few larger size wooden stilt houses in the middle of construction.  (I only noticed because I considered passing out there for a few hours of the strong mid-day sun).  After noting a particularly small mechanic shop, I started to climb a small hill… downshift… breathe… and PSHIOP!  That’s what my tire said to me when it blew out.  The tube blew right through the outer tire, and with my tire (and ego) totally deflated I walked back to the mechanic’s shop.  Kindly, he patched me up.  He was a little hesitant to put the same tire back on, but chopped up an old tube to carry me over to Pakse (or so he thought.)  After chatting a bit, and practicing my very limited Lao, my new mechanic friend suggested a town in only 30 MORE km that would surely have a guesthouse.  I thanked the man, paid him the cheap 5000 kip (<1$) and headed out quick, noting the sun’s position in the sky (getting low, gotta hurry.)  20 km of hills later; I am miserable.  28 km of hills later; I am tired, hungry and miserable.  I stop for some sticky rice and grilled fish-on-a-stick; guess what, I’m in the guesthouse town!  Good news!  Only, there’s no gueshouse here!  Huh?  Five more ks, on the right.  The sky is purple with rainclouds, the sun is setting quickly to my right.  What feels like 8 or 9 ks, and zero guesthouses later, it is finally dark.  I take out the bubby flashlight and continue on, asking every lit residence for directions.  Finally, 8:30 pm, I arrive at my ‘guesthouse’ which is actually a Kareoke bar with rooms in the back, for couples to… you know.  “Get to know each other better.”  So I rent a ‘room’ which is really a bamboo shack that has no protection from the pumping kareoke, nor does it stop my many child admirers from peering between the bamboo poles and whispering, “Hello?” all night long.  But, the good news is, there is the possibility of a shower.  I wrapped myself in a big bed-sheet and dumped water all over me, Lao style, with a crowd of peers pretending not to watch from the bar.  Yes, the outdoor shower is in view of the bar.  Lovely.  I turned on the broken fan that wouldn’t rotate, I laid in my itchy sheets (ants!) and passed out before 9 pm.  Slept like a rock.  When my alarm went off at 5:30 I couldn’t be happier to get out of there!

July 24:  Lakhonpeng to Khong Sedon (55 km) – Popped my flat, but beautiful scenery!  After my second visit to the mechanic, I realized I was more tired than I was on the previous day.  My muscles were sore, my head was exhausted, but somehow I made it to a beautiful Wat on the shores of the brilliantly beautiful Se Don river.  I set down my bike and sat to meditate awhile in the shade.  The kids must have sniffed me out, they found me within minutes.  They totally respected me, and whispered only one, “I love you!” before I opened my eyes and played with them for awhile.  I rested in my real guesthouse for the entire afternoon.  The power went out (ahh, I thought that only happened in Vietnam!) for about an hour so I was left sitting in the shade breathing with every blow of the wind.  Ahhh.  And, to be totally honest, I felt lonesome.  Wishing I had a companion to share this totally amazing experience with, in the moment.  To laugh with, and sweat with.  Yea.  Alas, “Khoy gnang pen sot.” – “I am single, traveling alone.”

July 25:  Khong Sedon to Pakse (70 km) –  The scenery today felt much more vibrant.  The slant of the sun lit the fields and trees in a way that they contrasted the blues of the sky amongst the brown worn wood like a painting.  Revived from last night’s seratonin-firing-synapses, I felt the first twenty or so Ks falling behind me without a care.  I sang the morning away, mostly Bjork, “All is full of loooooove, it’s alllll around youuuuuu…” Then, “psssst...”  My rear tire is telling me secrets?  No, it’s getting flat.   Same problem, new day.  I fixed it myself today, patched and reinflated within 20 minutes.  !!!  I couldn’t wait to arrive in Pakse to find a few tire.  The rest of the ride was my mind primarily asking  “Is my tire flat?” “Is my wheel falling off?” “Should I stop that truck and ask for a ride?” “Is my left knee broken?”  (We’ve been having some issues, me and lefty.)  I attempted to hitchhike three times, finally figuring, it’s not meant to be.  So I rode the final 25 km with a sharp knee sensation and every so often a hisssss from my tire (just letting me know I still haven’t solved the problem!)  I OM DOOM DURGA’d the crap out of the bike, and somehow safely landed in a mechanic’s shop within two hours.  He gave me a serious rear tire; it’s all knobbly and thick and heavy… but I think this is good for two reasons.  First, it will better support the 13 kgs of crap I’m toting around.  Second, it looks super hardcore!  BONUS!  I’m here in Pakse, and just ate Indian food.  I’m gonna go check out some temples and wander for a bit before having dinner by the river and to sleep early.  Tomorrow, to the waterfalls!

Laos is a mix of old and new.  Tradition and commercialism.  Lust and religion.  Tourists have only been visiting this country for less than 20 years, it so amazes me how traveler villages have sprung up in so many places around the country.  It’s easy to get taken aback by the beautiful natural surroundings, and instead of submersing yourself in the ‘real’ culture, to sit back and write about it in an air-conditioned PCbong.  For foreigners, this country is a paradise.  Everything is cheap; dinner is less than a dollar if you like noodle soup.  You find yourself arguing with tuk-tuk drivers over 40 cents to take you across the city.  There is very little pollution (still, thankfully) and many international NGOs working to protect the natural areas and wildlife.  It seems for the most part, foreigners who stay here care, unlike various places I saw in Thailand. 

 We entered Laos by boat in the north, to a village called Huay Xai.  The village had guesthouses with kids who spoke fluent English.  They were used to having foreigners around, and one boy learned to play guitar by travelers passing through.  The prices of food and accomodation were twice what I found was normal for Lao (ahem, 4$) and we noticed many locals still chose to bathe and do their laundry in the river.  This was my favorite type of village though.  It was small enough to remember people’s faces after only a few days, and devoid of any big commercialized buildings or restaurants.  Every shop was family owned, and also served as a living room, motorbike garage, and PCbong. 

We found out about many other opportunities while in this village, one being the Gibbon Experience.  There is a French guy who, 7 years ago, raised money to preserve the Bokeo Jungle which is home to many families of gibbons (those skinny little monkeys).  In order to preserve the jungle, he came up with an idea to bring awareness and some tourism to the area.  He and some volunteers built tree houses in a small section of the jungle, cleared out trails leading around and through the jungle, and attached ziplines between platforms to allow tourists to access more of the jungle.  For a mere 200$ you can explore the jungle with guides and delicious Lao meals included for three days two nights!  We met some new friends named Dorien, Uland, Amy, and Griffin.  Together, we zipped, hiked, swam, and generally were in awe at the jungle and the project itself.  We didn’t happen to see any gibbons, the families tended to move away from the treehouse areas after tourists began visiting, but we did learn a lot from our guides about the plants and other wildlife in the area.

But I get ahead of myself.   Before visiting Bokeo jungle, we did a two dak ‘trek’ in Luang Nam Tha province, in the northeast of Laos.  Our trek, or hike, lasted about 7 hours a day.  We traversed rice paddies, big open fields, and into the jungle with vines and steep steep steep hills.  We ended at the Ahka village.  The Ahka are a very unique indigenous tribe that grows rice in the fields.  We had massages from some of the young Ahka girls, learned lots about their culture, and took a ton of photos of the kids and elderly while the adults were working.  I wasn’t sure if I thought being there was a positive thing or not.  The kids knew there was something out there they were missing, and I think after having lots of tourists visit their village they were changing their ideas of the world.  This is more a philosophical arguement though… would you rather know or not know?  In general?  Ah, I digress. 

We then headed to Luang Prabang, French-influenced tourist central with beauuuutiful limestone waterfalls just a bikes ride from the town.  I could have spent all weeks hiding out in the caves around the falls, why I didn’t is still beyond me!  There was nice tourist friendly restaurants and covered shopping areas around the town.  It was clean and taken care of, more so than any Lao place I had seen.  In the mornings the monks who live at the temples in Luang Prabang walk down the streets collecting alms (food to eat) for that day.  We joined the Buddhists in dishing out balls of sticky rice to the line of monks as they meandered through the pre-dawn light.  It was beautiful, and I wished I was more thoughtful to give them some fruit or sweets.  Most of the monks were under 18 years old, strangely enough, and I still am not sure if they really follow Buddhist precepts… I saw some novices hitting on girls and smoking cigarettes.

Next down south to the narrow and tall limestone hills of Vang Vieng.  This village is known for drunken tourists tubing down the river, then watching reruns of Friends in the many guesthouse/restaurants along the main road.  Though we did have one day of tubing debauchery, we generally prefered to explore the surrounding natural area.  Danny went rock climbing, we visited caves, and I volunteered teaching English at a local village school.  The landscape in this area was so magnificent, you have to see it to believe it.

 Now, in Vientiene, we have checked out the city, the temples, the buddha park, got our seafood fix at the river restaurants, and are heading off (just Bubby and me) to Phonsavan, known for the thousand year old stone jars that are about 3 meters high and weigh over a ton!  Then, to explore some caves the Lao people hid out in the 1960-70s while the US carpet bombed the areas they ‘believed to be housing communist forces.’  Two days until Vietnam for some snorkeling, fishing, boating, and caving in Halong Bay!

 Next on the agenda, the division of Rumianowskis!  Danny heads south to do some diving, meanwhile I find a bicycle and finish planning my Asia bicycle adventure!