Thailand: Pai to Laos: Luang Prabang

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Dear All,

It always amazes me how a series of non-events will lead to a surprise ending. I am often saying "'If I didn't go to that totally dull and empty city, I would have never met such-and such." SE Asa is a playground for tourist rotating through a circular tunnel of tourist traps where some go clockwise and others counterclockwise and, eventually, you meet up with all of those people you ran into in the start. I find that the chill out factor of these counties has such a great pull to glue people to one spot that it becomes inevitable that you we'll run into someone you met days or even months ago. A warm return of friendship as absence makes the heart grow fonder. Pai was my first example of this phenomenon.

I had made my way to Chiang Mai by bus from Khao San Rd. On this bus, I bumped into Hila, the girl that called me immature without provocation. I ignored her for the trip seeing as it was pointless to waste my strength on confrontation. I didn't realize then that this type of meeting, meeting someone in the south then by chance seeing them in the north, was such a strong influence to SE Asian travel. The bus dropped us off and she went on her way. I passed the time in Chiang Mai with some good people, two of which came with me to Pai, Ana and Kristin from New Zealand - a pair of girls who proved to me that long term travel is possible with another person if you both are compatible with each other. I have travelled with many people but haven't gotten along with some but their sense of compromise and egalitarianism showed me that this life is possible. Together, we all went up to Pai.

Pai is a backpacker haven. Take cheap accommodation, cheap food and a fantastic live scene with some excessive drinking and beautiful scenery and you have Pai. The locals that live there are some of the most welcoming and friendly I have experienced in this part of the world. The House of Glass, one of our favourite chill out places, offered an all you can eat buffet and, since we didn't finish all the food, the wonderful owner offered to feed us for free the next day for lunch. The hotel owners gave us two free beers just for being a large group of people in their hotel. By night, the bars opened to either open mike nights with various folk tunes played by long term staying musicians or by a funk band at Beebop which was the only place that had dancing. The three of us partied with a crew of three other Canadians, Alana, Jarrod and Lee, one Aussie, Chris and one Brit-Pole, Marisha - whom we met on the bus down. This small crew of travellers clicked together like Lego and we toured and travelled together for as long as we could. It brings me back to a time of partying in Pushkar with a fantastic crew of kids. It brings me back to Goa and the wonderful time I shared with Charlotte. It brings me back to an old conclusion: It is not about the place, it is about the people. This portable community that came with me to Pai made this city one of the most memorable I have had. Other than a waterfall and a hot spring, there is little left to do but socialize. Before 3pm, the streets are empty as the citizens, local, long and short termer's, find shelter from an unforgiving sun as its monsoon heat makes commuting unbearable. The restaurants during this low season are eerily empty and I began to see the desperation of the local economy as little business is being done. The city is about tourism and with most guest houses already shutting down for the big rain, the people are moving out to find new forms of income in different places. Pai is a small place, easy to walk around and hassle free. There are no tuk tuks and no touts. The party starts as the night sets into place and doesn't end until the sun takes over. With few option on where to go, a backpackers has their night planned for them before the even wake up the next morning from their previous night's drunken stupor. Dinner at random restaurant - Beebop - Bamboo Bar. It's just as simple as that. The crew and I rented motorcycles and headed to the hot springs. I spent a lot of time talking to some foreigners who are either retired and living in Pai or in their youth finding their place in the world but they all came to the same final conclusion - Pai is a very special place.

I sadly said goodbye to Chris, Jarrod, Lee and Alana - some of the friendliest people I have met and then, two days later after extending my time in Pai by an extra day, I left Ana and Kristin behind while they enjoyed the mountain side and the sweet funky sounds. Thanks guys for such a good time. Oh and as for this circular tunnel theory, I met Hila again, one of the disadvantages to a small world.

I returned to Chiang Mai for an extra day as well. I don't know why I stayed as long as I did there but I guess these old bones of mine are slowing the pace as I feel the end of my trip approaching. I travel less and chill out more. That is what this country is about but this was one of those unnecessary steps. Originally I was supposed to return to BKK by June 21 to meet some friends and get a new passport so I was planning only 13 days in Laos instead of 15 but things have recently changed. My friends aren't going to be there, one of the difficulties of co-ordinating meeting people across four countries. I still haven;t been able to meet up with Ralph, a long term traveller as well who has also helped me to set up a website. This circular tunnel theory isn't perfect.

I left Chiang Mai and headed to the opening to the Golden Triangle - a historical route where opium travels through SE Asia and into China - to a city called Chiang Rai. I heard very little about Chiang Rai via word of mouth but since it split my trip to Laos more conveniently, i decided to go. This became my second unnecessary step. This is a boring town with little to see and do except some interesting Chinese influence. I slept early that night wondering if I had wasted a day that could have been spent in Laos seeing, as before, I had a schedule to meet. Now, as all my planned are up in smoke, I realize that I had more time to cruise around. This is all part of the fun isn't it? I left Chiang Rai early the next morning to catch the first bus to the border.

I haven't mentioned much about Thailand's infrastructure, city planning and culture as there is little to mention. The country developed so fast that all the cities of any economic significance all have the same physically appearance and style. Some beach side cities have a little more open space and Bangkok, of course, has some uniqueness to itself being the iron fist of the South East but the other places I have been like Krabi and Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai all are the same. I assume the hill tribes villages are somewhat different but my disbelief in ethnotourism holds me back from going there. Thai culture is difficult to connect to as the people are either shy or uninterested in communicating their culture over. Again, only long term exposure to them would open your eyes to their lifestyles. The people of Laos are even harder to relate to as they are even more shy.

I crossed the Thai border town of Chiang Khong in one giant swoop, easily crossed immigration and ferried over to Laos, the land of cheap living and even more chill out. There is even less to see in Laos as there is in Thailand. Tourist come here to do little by shop, read, and relax by smoking the easily accessible wacky tabacky and the deadly opium which has funded this country for hundreds of years. Unlike Thailand's aggressive war on drugs, Laos is more laid back and only infrequently do tourist rumour sing stories of police arrest for possession which eventually leads to a US$200 fine and deportation at worst. Thailand has a life imprisonment policy for being caught smoking a joint. This is why many young tourist come here to have themselves a chemical holiday. I found myself at the border and to my surprise I met Wakako and her boyfriend Kent. Unplanned, I met them on the way out of Laos as I was on the way in. If it hadn't been for those unnecessary steps in Chiang Mai and Rai, I would never have met up with my old friends that I met in Myanmar. Circular Tunnel. I decided to check into a hotel to talk to them instead of taking the slow boat to Luang Prabang that morning. This is a two day boat ride with a night in an empty town called Pakbeng down the Mekong river. The second option in the speedboat, a six hour journey. I spent some time talking to my good friends and getting some advice on the place. We all headed down to the speed boat ferry to find two Laos businessmen waiting to get across to Luang Prabang that day. It was 2 pm and I though that the boats only left at 9am. In a manic panic I rushed back to my guest house, screamed at the landlady to get half my money back, said a quick goodbye to old friends that I am happy to have seen again and took the trip by speed boat. Who would spend two days on a slow boat? Seems boring, well, I learnt later that it is a sort of right of passage to Laos to take this slow boat to or from Luang Prabang. The speed boat has a reputation of being very dangerous but, at the time I didn't know this. It is too bad for those who heard this rumour. Though we did wear life jackets and crash helmets, the speed boat was great fun and a huge rush as it ripped down the luxuriously green Mekong River with its thick jungle bush clinging to limestone cliffs that all lined the banks of this rocky river. Where the river became reflective like a mirror the ride was smooth but when a muddy current disturbed the smooth peacefulness of the rushing waters, the ride became bumpy and the speedboat skipped like a flattened rock thrown by a child. It was a rush which turned to concern as the sun began to set. A six hour ride would mean that we would dock by 8pm but by 7 it would surely be nighttime. Just as I had resigned to sleeping in the boat for the night and finishing the last hour of the trip during dawn, we arrive in record time - 5 hours from departure. We must have been high tailing it downstream. I rolled into Luang Prabang, found a fairly vacant hotel and wandered the streets.

It is true that the people of Laos are more pleasant than the Thai but that is only because they are much more shy. Maybe it has to do with the war or the oppressive government or the recent introduction of tourism but no matter what, the Laos People are very nice. Laos itself should better be called Thailand #2. The people look the same, everyone watched Thai TV and speaks Thai and all the products available are mostly Thai and the rest are Chinese. It seems that very little is produced here except agriculture where 85% of the population live. There are two exceptions: baguettes and coffee. This is the first time I have had real bread in a long time thanks to the French's previous occupation of Indo-china. The world famous coffee here is served thick with little milk as little is available. I often drink it as ice coffee where, like the Thai, the bag is filled to capacity with ice and then the coffee fills the spaces between the cubes. The Thai and Laos love their ice and would never drink water without it unlike the Chinese who often drink cooled down boiled water. As well, there is Beerlaos which is the only manufactured product that originates from this country and the T-shirts with it's logo are available everywhere. This city which is obviously much poorer than its equivalent in Thailand, is made for shopping and a night bazaar that appeals strictly to tourists shares much of the appeal to coming here. There is a magnificent waterfall that towers 50 feet above a cold crystal blue swimming pond and a trek that treacherously leads to the top is open for the brave like me. Once again, as I made my way up and through the waterfall, the rain poured down on me in big chubby droplets reminding me again not to trek in the rainy season. I stayed the day at the waterfall enjoy what little sun escaped through the great cloud carpet.

On my first night in, as I wandered the streets for some authentic Laos cuisine, I bumped into Alana, Jarrod, Lee and Chris. A wonderful surprise and satisfying the criteria of my Circular Tunnel Theory. If I hadn't taken the speedboat to Luang Prabang, I would have never had met up with my old Pai crew. We laughed again and enjoyed one more night of fun which I hope to continue in my next city Vang Vieng where I will stay there for a good week making plans.

I want to note to everyone that I am feeling the wear and tear of travelling. Though I have only been on the road for 9 months, one month sitting in Goa, I am feeling like stopping for a while may be in order. I am becoming less and less interesting in adventuring and exploring a find myself just doing nothing to pass the days. Maybe it's because there is very little of interest to shock me - no crazy Indian style cities and no Sky Burial. I have several plans in the works. I will stay in SE Asia until late August then head to the Burning man Festival for two weeks in the US then I will find a new home in Tel Aviv but will tour the country for a month but I may start my Middle East adventure in Beirut or Bahrain. I need to do some research first and see how I feel. Travellers toughest decisions are often simply where to go. What do you think?

Be well,





Oren Jalon
World Traveller

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