laos trip report, part ii: into the plateau…

The second day of my trip to Laos I began making my way to what is actually the least populated area of the country. I would later find out that in this area of Laos, less than 4% of locals were ethnic Laos, with over 97% belonging to various hill-tribes, who I would encounter often on my journey. I really recommend the fantastic Wikipedia article regarding this province (and focus of much of my Laos travels for this trip). It has very good information about the area, and gives great information on how the hill-tribes are perceived by other “more civilized” people.

Speaking of the area I visited, I forgot to include my customary map of where I went so you can gauge where I was in the world:

I went to the southern part of Laos. Other than Si Phan Don, this area is not very heavily trafficked, and I got a nice picture of remote life, away from tourism, in Southeast Asia. It is worth noting, however, that even though I was almost as far away from the beaten path as you can get, there was still one guesthouse in the larger towns I stopped at for the night. The area is most famous for the Bolaven plateau and its stunning waterfalls (which you will, of course, get to see through my photographs). In retrospect, I would absolutely love to spend a full thirty-days or so in Laos, going from the top of the country to the bottom. On my itinerary would be a big loop from top to bottom in Laos, hitting the Bokeo National Preserve Gibbon Experience, then Luang Prabang and the lovely waterfalls near it, then Vang Vien for tubing and caving and fun, then the Plain of Jars by Phonsovan, then farther south to spend a few days on the Bolaven Plateau, before chilling out on Si Phan Don. Sometime along the way I would hit at least 1 three-day trek with Green Discovery. I write this as much for myself as anyone else, but if you’re going to Laos, I suggest you take the time and make this full journey.

Anyway, I started my trip about the plateau by checking out one of the many waterfalls:

The natural beauty of the terrain here is really breathtaking. Mountain streams are everywhere, with clear, fresh water and large clean stones and boulders. Everything felt so brisk and clean in comparison to Bangkok, it was just very refreshing.

This is a picture of one of the many schools I saw and gives you an impression of the overall plateau view. I saw so many kids walking to school (I believe I already related my stories of their delight in seeing me!), I sometimes wondered how there could be so many happy kids running around.

I then stopped at another waterfall on a whim. It wasn’t even on my map, and turned out to be very nice. Here’s a view of the river feeding the falls. You’ll notice there is actually a lone monk wandering around in the photo. Strangely enough, I actually ran into him about an hour after I took this photo and found out he was Thai. I conversed with him with the little Thai I had and he was very pleased to speak Thai with me.

Here is the beautiful view looking down from the top of the falls. These grassy canyons and basins were just beautiful. Yes those are people!

Here’s the falls from down in the basin.

And the falls in their entirety:

Later on in the day as I wandered, I decided to take a chance and stopped at a school that was being let out. The kids were all lined up (in order of height—see photo), and going through military-like positions of attention and at-ease. I motioned to the teacher to see if I could take pictures and he smiled big and encouraged me. Here they are, in front of their flag of Laos on a bamboo pole. I should mention that oftentimes I would see the Laos flag flown hand in hand with the hammer and scythe—what a strange sight! You can see the schoolhouse in the background.

The kids sang the anthem as they lowered the flag. Adorable!

Here’s the bunch leaving school. You can see by their distance that the kids were afraid (though amused) of me at first. I motioned for them to come over so I could get a photo with them. None would get near me, until a lone boy (the bravest of the group), stood next to me for a picture. More and more kids gathered until I had a good group.

They warmed up to me:

The kids would often have me stand up straight and then mark their height next to me, amazed at my height. This was true of adults as well. In a small market I visited, I was made to stand for about 5 minutes while different townspeople compared their height with mine (I’m only 6’2”). They motioned to my skin often and pointed to my freckles and eyes. They were also incredibly kind and warm—an older lady motioned for me to come over and eat some rolls with her. I did, and they were delicious!

However, all this would pale in comparison the adventure that would soon befall me.

laos trip report, part i: halloween, 2007

I had the opportunity to have a rather reflective Halloween this weekend, as I planned to be stuck on a train to Ubon Ratchatani, from where I would head to Laos. My plans were quickly changed right off the bat as I went to the train station and was told that no trains were running. I was naturally suspicious and so checked in about nine different places and all sources confirmed the unfortunate news. Some said accident, some said strike, but the point was, I couldn’t go via train. So, I hoofed it to the bus station where I got an overnight bus. The bus ride was pretty excruciating, but the lady next to me was nice, and spoke a small bit of English. I asked her if she knew about Halloween; she said yes. Short conversation, but I guess I was happy that he at least knew about it.

The one highlight of the trip was a very strange occurrence in the middle of the night. I woke up at about 3 a.m. and noticed that the half-moon and stars were very bright. This was particularly striking to me because I was so used to the sickly stars of Bangkok, who struggle to penetrate the thick blanket of smog that smothers the city. The strange occurrence, however, was not just this ability to see the stars, but rather, the fact that no sooner had I looked up as far as I could from my bus window, I saw a bright shooting star! Amazed, I stared for a few more seconds then turned back to the bus, mouth slightly agape. If there were a bystander who was to write a screenplay based on my life at this moment, it would have been entirely cliché. It seemed to me that I had looked out the window far too short a period of time to be lucky enough to see a shooting star, and to a movie audience it would have seemed entirely cliché. Perhaps it would go something like this:

Scene 97:

[The scene fades from black to open in the back of a bus facing forward. Many black-haired heads gently sway slightly above their seats as the bus rocks. A solitary dirty-blonde head rises over the rest, and turns to look out the window.]

[The reflective individual slowly brings his eyes to the sky.]

[A bright shooting star streaks across the sky.]

[The shooting star is shown again, this time with the camera on the boy’s face—the reflection of the star is captured and reflected in the boy’s blue-green eyes.]

[Mouth slightly agape, and seeming a little more satisfied, he turns in wonderment back to face the seat ahead of him.]

Nobody would even believe that movie! Its crazy to think that it actually happened! Not entirely sure why I wasted so much time with this story, but I just thought it was funny. Moving on!

After crossing the border the next morning I began to see how different Laos was from Thailand. I rented a scooter and started off to the south. I was going to try to spend just a little time at Si Phan Don (4,000 Islands) before heading off to the Bolaven Plateau. I headed south from Paxse by scooter and encountered rain, which hindered my progress slightly. However, I was also welcomed by extremely warm and friendly smiles and waves from EVERYONE I encountered on the road. Many school children were walking home, and they were all ecstatic to see me. Everyone waved, some blew kisses, and all gestures were accompanied by cries of “Sabaidee!” or “Hello!” I couldn’t believe how nice everyone was. When the rain started, I pulled over to put on my poncho, and a Laos man bid me to come into his house and take shelter from the rain until it blew over. I thanked him very much for his generosity but decided to brave the rain anyway. I made it to the large island a little before sunset and decided to stay there. A nice Lao man ferried my scooter over for 20,000 kip ($2), and I quickly found a great guesthouse for 40,000 kip ($4). The river was very beautiful and reminded me of the Mississippi a little. On the island I made some friends from America; one of the girls’ job was to translate comic books from Korean to English. There was a terrible storm that night, with intermittent power shortages, but it was a really nice relaxing night for me. The storm reminded me of home, along with my musings on Halloween the night before.

I had a fantastic nights sleep in my nice but… quirky guestroom. The video will explain:

In the morning I rode around the island before heading back across the river to go up to the Plateau. Again, many kids walking to school, all nice. Lots of rice, and cows, and cow-like animals, and chickens, and ducks, and goats. I would get very used to these things before the end of my trip.

I wish I would have had more time at Si Phan Don, I saw nothing of what it has to offer. I think if I go back I would like to spend 3 days there before moving onto Bolaven. Nevertheless, I knew adventure awaited me on the Plateau… and I was entirely correct…