Laos is really beautiful. All the mountains with sectioned off areas of farming on steep patches with little huts to hide from the sun, the huge rocks jetting up from the mighty Mekong, its very lush and mountainous similar to NZ but about one and a half hell of a lot hotter. Its actually not too bad, some cities ive been holds the heat in the concrete so you cant get away from it, day or night. There are no 7-11's like Thailand (where they are EVERYWHERE) so no dependable escape from the heat for a quick breath of freon and no dependable fixed prices to gauge your ripped-offedness.
One noticeable thing is the peoples demeanor. Time after time I see people just sitting and staring blankly. Not quite like the physically tired and thought exhausted stare Ive seen in the western world, they dont snap out of it when they move or when you talk to them, they just continue in slow motion. Its kind of like a patiently waiting for not
hing type of thing, they arent really doing anything externally or internally, which isnt so much of a bad thing except it doesnt seem like they are engaged with being there. It probobly has something to do with Laos continuing to be a large part of the golden triangle, it being the poorest of SE Asia, and being so isolated historically through trade and geographically landlocked. Althou, they arn't always so passive with life. A lot of the time they are playing like children regardless of age. Its great to see grandparents, parents and kids playing in the river at afternoon bath time.Another thing ive noticed is how they treat foreigners, not as much through interest, like Thais, but more judgmental (even more so (x10) in north Vietnam). Ive heard theories that its because of being charged with socialism/communism from China and the Soviet Union. I dont wanna get to deep into all this, mostly because I know so little about it, but its understandable striving toward a classless society, where all is equal, but it seems, currently, to be at the expense of creativity and individuality. I havent seen much creativity and the people seem more judgmental of people who are different, people who look different (aka, having a silly mooostache).
Luang Prabang
When I first got there I noticed alot of butterflies but didnt think too much of it, later, when visiting a silk shop, reading how the silk was harvested I figured it out where they all came from.
Spicy Laos was a hostel I stayed at. Got to meet alota B-packers I hung out with. They also give a discount to a couple people to help out by hanging out with customers and organizing events or trips to bars/dinner/to the night market, etc, because they are fluent in english.The manager speaks very good english and gave talks on basics of Buddhism and on some history of some of SE Asia languages and history of territories .
ie:
The Emerald Buddha (w/bone-of-Buddha inside) was a prized possession in SE Asia that he told us about. I visited alot of the temples where it has stayed but didnt realize the connection till he explained it to us.
The Emerald Buddha has been to India then Burma then Sri Lanka to save it from Burmese civil war, then it was being shipped back to Burma when it was lost at sea and ended up in Cambodia. After Thais captured Ankor Wat in the 13th Century, they took the Statue to the capital, at that time, of Ayutthaya.
Then it was moved to Chang Rai where some monks of the Lanna people in northern Thailand hid the statue inside a stucco Buddha figure to mask its significance. It was rediscovered when lightning struck a pagoda, knocking the statue to the ground, cracking the outer casing and revealing the emerald Buddha. The Buddha was moved to Chiang Mai in 1468 where it was kept at Wat Chedi Luang
The little green guy was kept in Chiang Mai until 1552, when it was then taken to Luang Prabang, then the capital of the lao kingdom, and moved to Vientiane a couple years later to the new capital.
In the 16th century a Thai General captured Vientiane and returned the Emerald Buddha to Siam and placed it at its current resting site at Wat Phra Kaew. (The grand palace (Wat Phra Kaew) was too $$ so I didnt go, but thnx Wiki for the pici)
The General later became King Rama I of Thailand, the great (x 6) grand dad of Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), the current king of Thailand.
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After LP I kept heading toward the far north by boat and bus to hit the boarder of Vietnam. Boats where slow, dependable and beautiful. Buses where fast, undependable and beautiful.
They would overload the bus with people and furniture and chickens and luggage and produce,
then take 4x4, unsealed roads with constant construction leaving at 4am to try and minimize the construction delays. Id been traveling with a group of people across the boarder and we planned to leave together the next day on a 10 hour bus ride but i had to stay with the toilet. So they left without me and after meeting up after a day of rest they told me about their 26 hour endurance ride covered with mud from helping push the bus through mud, breaking down in a village for 6 hours (where they lost half of the passangers because they didnt trust the driver after a full day of drinking to continue on), a night "sleeping" in the crowed broken down bus, and finally getting to the final destination 26 hours late. It was kind of a bummer I missed such an adventure, maybe next time. And this type of occurrence is no surprise when the driver is hitting a water bong while driving...
But no problem, it was alot of fun hanging out with the mountain people while waiting. And some amazing views!
