Mekong region in 1997: Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia
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This airplane of Lao aviation was my first contact with Laos. I don't know what exactly the „dry ice effect" is, but basically, it looks as if you have the clouds inside the cabin. While some people thought something was burning, I was quite relaxed because I had read about it. When the dry ice effect was over, the inflight personnel served Beer Lao. To the left, a smaller Y-12 Chinese aircraft where every piece of space is used for cargo. |
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I
thought I had seen my share of waterfalls - I didn't go to Kuang Si Falls
outside Luang Prabang for days, even though everybody recommended it. Then,
I gave in, hired a moto, drove through villages and - to my own surprise -
found Kuang Si (the friendly Lao made up for my lacking sense of
orientation). It immediately became my favourite place on the planet. At
about 3 p.m., the few travellers that were there had left. I wrote in my
diary: „I arrived in paradise". Then I took off my clothes and took
a bath in one of the three pools. Then I changed my plans and did the same
thing again. If I found paradise, why move on, I thought. I had very
interesting conversations with the Buddhist monks (below) who invited me
to bath with them that day. |
A woman I met on the way to Kuang Si. Note how the child is watching me. |
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There is only one
bridge over the Mekong so far - it's a beautiful, mystic river, and still an
important mean of transport. On this cargo boat, I wanted to go from Luang
Prabang to Huay Sai. Minutes after this photograph was taken, the thunderstorm
that was developping in the background took off. Trying to climb down, I slipped
and fell into the brown, warm Mekong. My boots were ideal for swimming, and the
passport as well as 1'100 US $ around my belly helped a lot. The river took me
downstream, while the boat went on upriver. I didn't know whether anybody saw me
falling down. I swallowed a lot of water. It rained like under the waterfall. I
could barely see the boat. Should I try to get rid of my boots (for this I would
have to let my money belt fall down) and try to swim to the shore, where there
was nothing except tropical forest? In this almost unreal situation, I decided
to wait a few minutes, maybe the boat would turn around. And if I survive, it's
better to also preserve the identity. Finally, the boat turned, safety came a
few very long minutes later with a big bamboo stick. Back into the boat, I had
to dry three years Lao salary worth of travellers checks.
Due to the heavy rain, we had to spend the night in a remote village (a few
bamboo hats) where nothing reminded me of the 20th century. When you sit on the
„toilet" two metres above the ground, the pigs are already waiting
downstairs, and it's a matter of seconds until your biological garbage is
re-integrated into nature. The next day we arrived at Pakbeng, where there were
even generators running from 7 - 10 p.m. Later in Vientiane, a local travel
agent was shocked to hear my story and confirmed: „You could have died!"
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in Muang Sing, near the Chinese border, cold beer is only available during
generator times from 7 to 10.30 p.m. But beers are not why you go to Muang
Sing. You go there to visit the early morning market where numerous hill
tribes come down to sell their products - legs of cows and turtles, for
example. Some people come here to smoke opium - welcome to the Golden
Triangle. |
Quite a few travellers stay for several weeks. While you could make a point that there is nothing „to see" that makes a stay of more than two days necessary, that's not what Laos is about. Go to Thailand. |
This is at the other end of Laos - near Pakse, where I went to the Khmer ruins of Wat Phu - by boat again, a passenger boat this time. In Southern Laos, I had the strange feeling that I was not so welcome like in the rest of the country. Somebody told me it's because of the strong Vietnamese presence - but maybe this is only a prejudice. The Lao are amongst the friendliest folk on the planet. If you go there, do remember to smile and keep saying „Sabaii Dee".
| Next Part: Cambodia |  |
