Lao

“I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move." (Robert Louis Stevenson)

Going from Cambodia to Lao turned out to be a very long and frustrating trip. First and foremost I would advise taking a different route (Lao to Cambodia or Thailand to Cambodia, etc.) because the Cambodia/Laos border is not often used and there is only one overland option (Veun Kham/ Dom Kralor).  We were supposed to get picked up at our hotel at 5:15 in the morning but the bus was almost an hour late. Then we changed buses and had the luxury to be on a nice cool bus for a few hours. Then came the mini bus…17 people…we were all in hell. It was really hot and terribly uncomfortable for about 2 hours. Then the majority of the people got off and the rest of us continued on. The driver turned on really loud music and pretended not to understand us when we asked him to turn it off and then started driving like a mad man. It was delightful. Around 5:30 we got dumped at a bus stop. Were we changing buses again? No, the Cambodia/Lao border closed at 5pm and we needed to stay the night (in Sung Treng). Seriously? R and I were told the trip would take 12 hours and the girls who were with us (C from Sweden and M and N from Holland) also heard it would take 12-15 hours and we all heard we would be in Lao by the end of the day. In other words, we got scammed so we would spend money on a guesthouse. We were all hot, tired, and pissed off. It would have been fine if they had been honest with us but this was a very unpleasant surprise. We reluctantly went and found a guesthouse, ate some dinner, and passed out.

The next day (Thursday) we got to sleep in until 7! Then we met up with the 3 girls and went to the bus stop to get on the bus that would hopefully take us to Lao. The bus was supposed to come at 8:30 so naturally we waited an hour (but had the entertainment of a guy playing DJ with terrible American club music). Finally we got on the bus and about an hour and a half later we were at the border. Prices vary slightly for a Lao visa depending on what country you are from (if you have more than 1 passport look up which is cheaper beforehand because R could not use his other passport because he had used his USA one for Cambodia and had to use the same one). For Americans it is $35 for the visa but then everyone has to pay $2 for the departure stamp from Cambodia and $1 for the stamp for Lao (apparently ink is expensive or they just want to screw you a bit). $38 later we got dropped off near the ferries that would take use to Don Det (Si Phan Don or 4,000 Islands). We had to pay for the ferry (it’s really cheap but again the place we bought our bus ticket said the ferry was included and again they were wrong), which was annoying, but then we were off. We got to the island and quickly found a room, ate, and got in the water! We met some people staying there and made a plan to go tubing with some of them the next day! That night after dinner there was a knock on the door, a guy from Canada we had met in the water earlier. His girl friend (who we had met as well) was sick, they had smoked some weed and she was now completely freaking out. She eventually fell asleep and was fine. We also met a couple people who smoked and were totally ok, however, be aware that there is a chance of getting pretty sick.

We had a really long and really good day on Friday. First we went on a long bike ride with C to the Somphamit Waterfall. The ride was absolutely beautiful! We saw lots of animals (we got in the water and petted the buffalo) and got more of the sense of local life in Lao. When we got to the waterfall we were really hot and tired but the sight was still amazing. I have never been to Niagara Falls but this was pretty cool to me! We took a lot of pictures and then a Thai tour group came over and they wanted to take pictures with us, which was really funny! We got in the water (in a little pool nearby) before biking back, which was very refreshing and cooled us down. We got back around 12:30 and then had a quick lunch before we went tubing! We went with C and S (a guy we met yesterday) and 4 other people he was with. It was cheaper with more people (20,000 kip each, a little under $3) and we got beer and a cooler and were ready to go! It was a blast! I highly recommend it! We floated down the river for about an hour and then had to “pull over” because it started to thunder and lightning. We ended up in a little house with a bunch of local people. The kids were really excited and the people were really nice about letting us stay. It was one of those magical travel moments that could never be planned (that obviously makes it even better). The sky cleared and the rain stopped and we went back to the river to finish our tubing adventure. It was a little after 5:30 when we got back to shore and we were all exhausted. Sleep followed very quickly after dinner.

Saturday was a relaxing day in which I read and chilled out all afternoon and then watched the sunset. We got bus tickets to Pakse for the next day and watched a movie at night. Our bus wasn’t until 11 so I could actually pack in the morning, which was nice. We took the ferry off of Don Det and then got on the bus. It was about a two and a half hour drive with the air con dripping on me a whole lot. After the bus we got set up at the Lankham Hotel and immediately showered (I had literally sweat through my shirt and shorts…delicious I know). Then we spent the late afternoon and early evening at a great café (Kafe Katuad) drinking coffee shakes and enjoying the wifi. After that we got crappy take out and called it a night.

On Monday we got breakfast at an awesome place called Bolaven and after went exploring. First we went to the river front near the bridge and visited the Wat Luang Temple which “is deemed as the most beautiful temple in Pakse. It is also where Wat Phabad, the Buddhist Monk School is located which includes studies in English, business management, and cultural studies. Rumour has it that Lord Buddha left his footprint here, at Wat Phabad, the biggest and oldest temple of Pakse.” After we went to the local fresh market/mall but it was a bit too Western and unorganized so we ended up just wandering through. Then we wanted to find the Dao Heuang Market but we didn’t realize how long of a walk it was. The actual distance was not the problem, but the heat was. When it does not rain the heat truly horrible. It can get dangerous extremely quickly (walk in the shade and drink a ton of water). But we did make it and what a sight it was! The market is massive with a food section and a kind of everything else section. We saw a lot of fish and meat (which was interesting for me because there was not much of that in Nepal and India) as well as every domestic product you can imagine. What was really interesting though was the lack of harassment. I am so used to be jumped on the minute I walk past a shop but because no one speaks English, not only did I not get bothered, but when I actually wanted to look at something they were reluctant to help me at all. Before we got to the market we had wanted to take a break and get a fruit shake at one of the dozens or little restaurants we kept passing. But we could not get help. No one could understand what we wanted. In Nepal this was normal (people not knowing English) but at least I knew enough of the language to communicate what I wanted. I wasn’t frustrated, I was interested. I thought back to last year when I was working before I left for this journey (but knowing I was going) and trying to be more sympathetic to people coming in and not knowing a lot of English. I remember thinking “this will be you soon so try to be patient like you will want others to be with you.” Nepalis are so friendly and really made an attempt to try to understand me, but here I did not feel that. In my opinion, most of the Lao people I have been around have not been unfriendly, but they have not been overly friendly either (with exceptions of course). We eventually tore ourselves away from the market (it was the smell of meat and fish that really did it) and went back to shower and be cool for a minute.

Tomorrow we will go back to Thailand. We will take a bus and cross the border into Thailand by land and then have an overnight bus into Bangkok. I will have a couple days there and then be off to Bali! This is the last leg of my journey (I will go to Israel after Bali but in my eyes that is more of a vacation for me as opposed to traveling) and I am really excited and freaked out about it. I am trying not to think about it too much or stress out but it is hard to comprehend that fact that sometime next month (I haven’t bought my ticket from Israel to the States yet) I will be back in the States, back home. So for now I will just try to have these thoughts in the background of my mind and have the foreground be filled with thoughts of fruit shakes, beaches, and airplanes.

Signed,

In Transit and Transition