Living it up hard(ly) in Laos

My 11 days in the People's Democratic Republic of Laos can't be summed easily.  They were fun,  chaotic,  disappointing,  loud,  and heart warming.

Let me begin by telling you about my bus journey to Luang Prabang from Vang Vieng.

I booked my bus from my Vientiane hostel,  so several days in advance.  I booked both buses (to VV and LPB)  in a deal and chose the times.  On my day leaving VV, I was due to be picked up at 2. Only at 2.10 I was told (well actually not me,  another girl and I overheard)  that it was coming at 3. When it did come,  there was confusion over my ticket and the driver had to ring someone,  and then drive to the office to show that someone the ticket. 6 of us are in this mini van from the hostel and for a bit I start thinking this is all of us until we pull up on the side of the road with another mini van.  There,  all 5 of us and our luggage are piled into the second mini van which already has 6 people in it.  We finally set off with driver number 2.  Luggage is in all the aisles, and it moves with the bumps.  My foot is nearly squashed by a rolling suitcase.
An hour into our journey (2 hours and 40 minutes into when I was supposed to be picked up)  we have a stop.  I come out of the bathroom to see the first driver having a cigarette and talking on the phone.  And driver 2 says "6 people,  other bus. "

So I get back on the original mini van.  20 minutes in our driver picks up a local to take him 10 minutes down the road, who gives him money for the lift.

The rest of the journey was uneventful, stopping once in the middle of nowhere and being dropped in Luang Prabang bang on 8pm.

Rewind.  Vientiane. On my flightfrom Bangkok I was in the row with one other girl and we spoke briefly.  Later,  she walks into my dorm room.  We went for food and the next day I went with her and two others to the COPE Visitor Centre.

I had no idea that Laos was the most bombed country in the world per capita.  As part of their war in Vietnam,  America bombed Laos and Cambodia along the borders to prevent the Vietcong from getting supplies and aid.  2 million tons of ordnance dropped;  30% remained unexploded.  Once the war had finished, these Uxos became a fatal legacy that Laos had to deal with.  The COPE centre helps people with disabilities caused by uxo, as well as other amputees.
One video of two parents describing how their son died from playing with a bombie was heart breaking.  Seeing the work COPE are doing was heart warming.  America's "secret war". I'm ashamed that I had no idea.

That night some of us went to the night market tonight wander around.  We watched a bunch of people dancing to Little Mix and CNCO, with an electrical storm brewing in the background.  Free vodka at the hostel that night was lethal.

And then I got sick.  Like,  horribly sick.  I knew exactly what it was because I had it in Rio.  I spent a day and a half in bed or in the toilet.  Then I got on a bus to Vang Vieng and went to the hospital.  A steady diet of rehydration powder and some pills that might have begun with B for 3 days and I finally start to feel better. My last night in Vang Vieng I requested plain spaghetti and you should have seen the confusion on their faces.

My last day in Vang Vieng I went tubing.  This infamous activity is the only reason I came to this country. Perhaps if I hadn't been sick I might have enjoyed it.  Perhaps if I hadn't been alone I might have enjoyed it.
Perhaps if tubing wasnt spending 3 hours on a dirty river with nothing to do but drink, I might have enjoyed it.

I had two drinks,  at the first and second bars.  But after that second drink I wanted to go.  So I got back in the tube and set off.  I made my arms ache from paddling.  I tried paddling forward, backward, even on my front.  At one point some small children held on with me but I don't think they were interested in helping me.  They found it funny to swim beneath me

Once I'd sung the Jurassic Park theme song a few times,  and thrown up a couple of times,  I was ready to get out.  And it took probably another hour to get to the end, with furious paddling (8 strokes, 4 rest).

I came back to my room,  I got in the shower,  and I cried.  I sobbed.  I sobbed hard.  I skyped my nan and I sobbed.  I listened to my favourite song and sobbed.  Here I was,  yet again,  broken.  Broken because I am broken and damaged and I don't enjoy the same things other people do.  Broken because nothing ever seems to fit.  Broken because I don't fit.

Skyping nanna helped.  I curled up and finished Daredevil.  I went and got my plain pasta.  I watched some of France 24 on the telly. As is often the case when discussing Israel,  people were shouting.

In my morning,  I was glad the only lasting reminder of my misery was a slightly sore patch below my eye from crying.

My hostel in Luang Prabang was an experience. Gingerly following the receptionist through the dark,  she unlocked a huge padlock and let me into my room.  I booked another private room because Im still sick and coughing and I don't want to keep people up.  The hostel is by the river,  so the bed is encompassed with mosquito nets.  I have a resident gekko who doesn't seem to want to talk to me, and a resident spider in the bathroom who has moved from the floor to the wall in 12 hours.  I sit on the toilet with my legs up in case he starts walking towards me. I named him Freddie. I had a moth lounging on my pyjama top that I took off during the night because I sweat through it.

I got the free tuk tuk shuttle into town from the hostel that they do every day at 9.40. That's an interesting way to describe the vehicle that took us, which looked more like a wind up car a child would get for its birthday.  We got a lot of stares.
I spent the morning in a cafe, had breakfast and lunch there,  and waited until it stopped thundering.  I ventured to the Royal Palace,  but didn't wait around for it to reopen,  and instead got a tuk tuk back.  In the evening I walked down the road for spaghetti.

I woke up and Freddie my spider was gone.

I got the shuttle in again today,  and this time went to the Royal Palace.  My favourite room was the centre hall decorated with glass mosiac pieces. I read the story of Prince Wensarat along the walls of the corridor.  I don't understand why a guy that became a hermit with his family and then gave away his kids and wife to randomers is the stuff of legend.  Was he just so selfless?

I climbed up Mount Phusi next.  At the bottom of the steps there are women selling small birds in wicker cages that you release at the top for luck.  I struggled and ultimate decided not to buy one.  I wanted to,  I wanted to buy them all so they were free.  But it felt immoral to support what seems like an unnecessarily cruel practice.
The climb wasn't long,  and the view was nice;  I can see why people on TripAdvisor recommend going there at sunset.

I had a mango juice,  and a plate of spaghetti,  and I walked back.  I chilled at the hostel listening to the hammering and sawing.  Everywhere there's work going on.  Everywhere I've been in Laos something's being knocked down or built up.

My last stop is Vientiane again tomorrow,  to get my flight to Phnom Penh the day after.  Between me and Cambodia is a 12 hour bus ride and a short flight.


I'll finish up by going back to my journey VV to luang Prabang.
My breath was stolen when I suddenly looked out at the countryside and saw its beauty.  Perhaps because I was in the safety and comfort of a van as opposed to the rubber ring of tubing,  but I was stunned by all the green.  The trees,  big and small, and the grasses in clusters.  The fields neatly tended by people working hard even as the sun went down.  As we climbed higher my ears popped and the sheer scale of nature's work got harder to ignore. Looking back at the hills we had surmounted, we crossed over and laid out in front of was a blanket if green,  with a slithering river winding through it.  The driver had his window open;  I thought I could smell eucalyptus.
I'm really not one for nature, but for a moment this country was beautiful and second only to my favourite country: New Zealand. That's one hell of a thing to achieve.


11th - 20th May,  Vientiane,  Vang Vieng,  Luang Prabang, Laos

Read: The Dark Tower - Gunslinger.  I think the first ever Stephen King novel I've read

Watched: Daredevil season 2. The Rain.  Evil Genius.

Ate: not a lot.  Spaghetti.  Falafel and Mango French toast in a lovely cafe in Luang Prabang.

Drank: a lot of water, some with rehydration salts.  Also a ton of Sprite which is not good for me but helped my tummy.