First Impressions of Laos
Arrived at Khoun and Khone’s about 2.30pm on Wednesday
afternoon after a 24-hour journey of about 5000 miles, including a 6-hour wait
in Hanoi airport. It’s not that I have anything against Hanoi as such, but the
airport seats are not particularly comfortable, the toilets are basic 1960s
style with chipped handbasins, no hand dryers and all a bit grubby. And of
course we were dog-tired, having hardly slept for 16 hours or so. We didn’t
want to doze off and miss our plane to Luang Prabang so took it in turns to
walk round the departure lounge. Fortunately we are both blessed with patient
temperaments so were not irritable by this stage!
And Vietnam was surprisingly chilly – cloudy and grey. The
area around Hanoi we flew over was completely flat, with little villages of
strangely tall, little box-like houses, often three or four storeys high.
Our flight to Luang Prabang was in a prop-driven plane with
capacity for about 100 passengers, though only half full on this occasion. It
only takes just over an hour but the scenery and climate change dramatically in
that time. As we flew over Laos for the first time we could see the famous
steeply wooded green hills – as if some God has crumpled up a piece of green
tissue paper, as someone described it. Only slightly alarming when you’re in an
aeroplane and realise that the pilot has got to find enough flat land somewhere
down there to land!
We made it. And the heat hit us as we left the plane. About
30 degrees, blue sky. Into the immigration service for our visas and lots of
form-filling - $35 each for the visas plus $1 ‘service charge’ – to pay the
eight officials who each had to handle our passports in turn – checking,
stamping, passing to another booth, checking again. At last we were free! And it was wonderful to see a smiling young
Lao boy outside the door, with a sign saying “Harriet” in large letters!
This, we later discovered, was Bo, nephew to K&K. He led
us to the famous jeep in the car park. How was a 12-year-old allowed to drive,
we wondered? It transpired that Bo is older than he looks!
Bo drives us to town and back in the old US army jeep –
MASH style!.
The ride to K&K’s took about half an hour along dusty,
bumpy roads lined with tin shack style shops as seen all over the world. The
airport is north of Luang Prabang and our destination was to the south of the
city so we went round the outskirts and over the Nam Khon River, stopping briefly to buy some water. There was very
little traffic on the roads, mainly motorbikes, girls with umbrellas on bikes,
and a few motorised rickshaws. As we got further out of town the roads became
rougher, climbing into the hills, with woods on either side, past construction
sites, the new football stadium, hotel complexes and local market.
Trevann and Bo head off to buy water, leaving me in the
jeep to fend off the rabid dog that instantly appeared!
We turned off the road at the welcoming lights of Khone and
Khoun’s bungalows and were met by Mrs K. The six bungalows dotted on the
hillside are wooden one-roomed thatched huts, eachwith stone bathroom at the
back and balcony on stilts at the front. K & K bought the land about 10
years ago and built the site from scratch, using reclaimed materials wherever
possible. It gives a gather for meals and guests are invited to have food and
drinks whenever they like, cooked by Mrs K.
K & K are both city folk originally, but they like the
countryside and have learnt the skills of building and gardening as they’ve
gone along. They have three children and a couple of nephews staying who help
with the guests. They are very proud of what they have achieved – and it’s
justified.
Our bungalow faces west across the green valley, surrounded
by thickly wooded hills. The afternoon sun floods the balcony with warmth.
View from our balcony.
Sunday 9th Dec 2012
No electricity again this morning. I had hoped to get a
shower and wash my hair early but here I am sitting in my pjs still at 10.30.
At least the mist has lifted. When I got up at 8 the valley was filled with
cloud and you couldn’t see the hills on the other side. When we had no
electricity yesterday morning we asked Mrs K whether it went off regularly. She
was evasively vague – “oh sometimes, weekends, I think they are working on the
line up the valley ...” Hmm, I’m not convinced that it doesn’t happen every
weekend. Not to worry – bo pan nyang.
Yesterday (Saturday) we didn’t leave the site, apart from a
short walk in the late afternoon. We strolled up the dusty red road towards the
village (Ban Na Det), past farmers working in the fields. Occasionally, shiny
four by fours sped past, but most of the traffic is motorbikes with local lads
or girls, or farmers going down to town to the market with green stuff in
baskets.
Beside the road are the ubiquitous wooden,tin-roofed shacks
with inevitable dog outside – fortunately so far they have all been peaceable.
On the right, a steep slope falls down to the river in the valley bottom. This
is obviously the laundry area. The houses down there all have lines of clothes
drying outside and on the banks of the river women were washing clothes.
Ban Na Det village.
People greet us as we walk past. Sa bai dee! The children
stare. One boy spotted us and excitedly called out to his family “Falang! Sa
bai dee!”
As we reached the village itself we found a small temple. I
think Bo said later it is a Hmong temple.I wasn’t sure of the etiquette about
sitting there.
Hmong village temple in Ban Na Det.
This temple is no where near as grand as the ones in town,
but it is clearly cared for, richly decorated in red and gold.
Going back to Thursday and Friday, we had our first trip
into town on Thursday afternoon for a few hours. Bo drove us down in the jeep
and dropped us off outside the post office, arranging to pick us up again at
5.30. It’s a bit frontier town like on the fringes. Lots of tuk-tuks and
motorbikes. We bought a map in the first likely looking “tourist information”
shop we saw, and started to get our bearings.
First job was to stroll along the
banks of the Mekong. As described, it’s brown and wide, with various
traditional boats tied up, waiting to take tourists up to the caves or temples
on the other side of the river. The boatmen call as we walk past, offering us
trips, but they’re not persistent.
We wandered all the way to the end of the peninsula – it’s
not far – stopping briefly to visit a lovely peaceful temple garden with two
golden Buddha statues.
Trevann pays respect to the Buddha
Turning right, along the Nan Khan River bank we stopped at a
cafe with local families eating meals outside in a paved area. The menu was not
particularly appealing “Congealed duck blood” or “duck intestines”. We decided
to stick to Pepsi. The ducks in question quacked in gratitude behind the wire
fence.
We thought we were now ready to brave the “main drag”
Sisavangvong. This is where the tourist cafes and shops are. It’s fine, not too
busy. I was trying to get to grips with the relative prices. Day to day
purchases in Lao are in the local currency Kip (“geep”). There are about 13,000
to the pound so you have to get used to dealing with big numbers. A bottle of
Beerlao is about 10,000 kip; a meal typically costs 40,000 kip.
For accommodation and larger purchases dollars are accepted
so we’re tending to think in dollars. We have a budget of 20 dollars a day for
the two of us to cover food, drink and incidentals. That should be plenty.
As we got to the end of Sisavangvong the ethnic Night Market
was starting to set up. Hill tribe families, mainly women and children were
taking up positions on the pavements, erecting gazebos and laying out acres and
acres of silk woven shawls, lampshades and slippers decorated with appliquéd
elephants. Hundreds of them. And they do this *every* evening!
Ethnic Night Market in Luang Prabang.
We bravely bought donuts from a street trader, giving her a
20,000 kip note instead of 2000 by mistake. She smiled and gave us the change
without complaint. In general, the reputation of the Lao people as friendly and
chilled out is borne out in reality. Waiters and shop keepers are patient while
we struggle to make sense of the money; children laugh at our attempts to say
hello or thank you in Lao, but not nastily.
The jeep was waiting for us as promised outside the Post
Office at 5.30, driven this time by Bo’s brother. “What’s your name?”, we
enquired. “O”. Hmm – could be confusing. O is much less chatty than Bo. I don’t
know whether that’s because his English is limited or he just is a quieter
chap.
Having seen the beginnings of the Night Market we thought it
would be good to go back into town that evening for a meal and to have a
browse. Bo didn’t seem to think it excessive use of his good will to ask him to
drive us back to LP at 7.30 so we assumed that would be OK.
Having studied the Lonely Planet guidebook for recommended
restaurants we chose “Kon Kai” on the banks of the Nam Khan. We walked through
the Night Market to get there. It was now up and running – stall after stall of
textiles and crafts. There’s almost too much – it’s difficult to choose. I
liked some festival trousers and asked how much. 80,000 kip (about 10 dollars).
Way too much but I thought I’d find out from Mrs K what would be a reasonable
price to bargain to. The Night Market is there every night so I can go any
time.
So that was Thursday. Back in the jeep at 10. And to bed.
On Friday Trevann started painting. I had hoped to check
emails but the internet was down so I had a pad grapaw (pork and veg with rice)
and chatted to Mrs K about families, life in Luang Prabang, drinking culture,
holidays etc. I like her. She’s quite “proper” – likes her children to behave
well – and she likes her dogs and cats. She looks after the business side of
K&K bungalows and does most of the cooking.
The communal eating area is a wooden open-sided structure
under a thatched roof. A counter divides off the kitchen area and a gate keeps
three of the four dogs outside. One dog is allowed in “She understands
English”, explains Mrs K. The cats and kittens climb up and sit in the rafters.
Various guitars are around, belonging to one of the boys. He and his friends
sit and strum from time to time. Or disappear into the building next door which
has a room with drum kit and tv for the children.
The path to our bungalow.
Friday at 6-ish we
piled into the jeep to find some food. It gets dark quite quickly at 5 o’clock.
We were looking for another recommended restaurant beside the Mekong but the
roads felt busy and the pavements disappear or are occupied by traders so it’s not
easy to stroll around aimlessly.
Eventually we decided on a random restaurant that looked ok.
It was. I had a huge bowl of chicken noodle soup for 15,000 kip. We’d had
enough by 8 and luckily the jeep was already waiting for us at the post office.
Brilliant. I like the windy, dusty, bumpy, slightly scary ride through the
dark!
Saturday morning I had planned to get up early, have a
shower and get on the internet to check my emails and be in touch with Holly
and Ben. Unfortunately I hadn’t reckoned on a lack of electricity! It seems
that at the weekends the electricity doesn’t come on in the mornings. Oh well.
A lazy day, with walk as described above.
It was great to manage to skype Holly and Ben in the
evening. Good fun.
When we got back, the cats had taken up residence on our
balcony.
Oh yes, discovered a great thing yesterday to make my life
complete – Mrs K’s pancakes topped with honey and bananas! Yes! I was starting
to fear that the Lao diet was rice and noodle based without sweet carb-based
desserts, but we’re OK now!
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