Laos DIY
The trip originally included Northern Laos and then a relaxi period at Khao Lak, Similan and Surin islands to be decided following the last minute feelings.
Because of the tsunami, I changed my plans, and I switched to Northern Thailand area.
In short: I loved Laos, I did not like Thailand at all !! Ethnicities and the landscape are more or less the same, the difference is the level of tourism commercialization, Laos is a less visited country, perhaps because it’s less developed. Sailing on the river that marks the border between the two states, in some places, I was impressed by observing that on the south side there were concrete buildings, electricity wires, signs of civilization, on Laotian side absolutely nothing!
Perhaps it is also a bit my fault, because after having realized that Thailand is more exploited, I should have chosen off the beaten tracks excursions. I guess that to find something authentic in the area of Chiang Mai / Chiang Rai you need at least 2 or 3 days trekking. You can be sure that everything reachable in one day, on a paved road, it will be a tourist trap.
Negative mention for the airline, El Al, preferred because it was the least expensive. If I knew in advance what happened I would have spent 100 Eu more for one of the competitors.
A few others and I, all those who did not have a reservation, made by themselves or by a tour operator, are searched and controlled by paranoid agents. I am followed all the time by a kind of sheriff, even in the bathroom. I am submitted to a Kafkaesque interrogation, they cannot understand the fact that I have a ticket to Bangkok, and a Laos Lonely Planet, luckily I have a reservation at least for the sleeper train from Bangkok to Nong Khai, otherwise they would have crucified me. Maybe they were alarmed by the stamps on my passport, some related to countries not in good relationship with Israel, but this is not a good reason.
El Al, never again in my life.
I land in Bangkok at 14:30. The cheapest method (and fast if you arrive at the right moment) to get downtown is to take a train from the station which is right opposite the airport, following the signs on an elevated pedestrian bridge across the highway. The cost of a third-class ticket is 10 baht. On the train I start talking with a Thai man very fluent in English. After explaining what I’m doing here, he is a bit surprised about my decision to visit Laos, since it is a “poor country where there is absolutely nothing to see” .
I take possession of my berth in an air-conditioned second class wagon, 678 baht, on the 20.45 express train to Nong Khai. This turns out to be decent, and the air conditioning not even necessary.
With a combination of tuk tuk + bus + tuk tuk I reach Vientiane.
Visa procedure at the border takes about 30 minutes, and it is as easy as drinking a glass of water.
I take a room at the Orchid Guesthouse, 13 USD. In the afternoon I visit the Buddha Park (admission 5,000 kip + 2000 other for camera). A tragedy to get there, I am on a public minibus, no one speaks English, I ask if someone can indicate me where to get off, but nobody understands me, and I have to manage by myself. Later I go to Wat Pha Kaew, 5000 kip,
and to Wat Si Saket (nobody asks me money)
Vientiane does not impress me much
I sleep here one night only, in the evening I eat along the river. There are only candles as lighting, they bring me a big freshwater fish, but there is so little light that I cannot even take away fishbones decently. When some beggars pass among the tables, I give them a piece of my meal
12/25/2004
With a tourist minivan, 160 baht (here every currency is accepted, euro, dollar, kip, baht) I arrive in Vang Vieng at 14.30. I find a very nice guesthouse, Khem Song, $ 3, with spectacular views.
The village is small, from the tourist area, a sort of Khao San Road in miniature, it is easy to get to the part where the locals live
The scenery is lovely, a river bordered by rounded limestone formations, in the midst of rice fields
At the Dalavan Restaurant I get acquainted with a German girl, and we decide, for the next day, to rent bicycles.
The cost is 10 thousand kip
12/26
We explore the countryside, stopping at the village shops,
We are surrounded by children who then ask us a lift running behind us and sittling on the rear fender
Unpaved and dusty roads
And some really peculiar bridges
We visit the Phu Kham caves (5 thousand kip). They are about halfway up the hill, to reach them there is such a steep trail that in some cases we have to climb
There I understand why many guys I met in Vientiane had torn shorts.
At the base of the hill there is a body of water where you can bathe, diving directly from the branches of trees like Tarzan ropes, and then huts on stilts where settle down and rest. A very pleasant and relaxing environment
In the caves some statues of Buddha are located, we can go anywhere, even in troubles, there are no compulsory paths, in spite of the safety standards.
The Lonely Planet itself defines the Laotian hospitals totally deficient by Western standards, and after passing close to the Vang Vieng one I can not blame the authors. The nearest decently equipped hospital is in Chiang Mai.
The river running through the city is the destination of many tourist attractions, relaxed sailing with butt stuck in the hole of old inner tubes, and noisy night parties with drugs.
Completely unaware of what is happening in the world at that time, no TV and no newspapers, at dinner time I begin to get calls from company colleagues. Imagining troubles at work, I ignore them. When I receive this text message “How are you – where are you” by one of my best friends, who knows well how much I hate to use mobile phones on vacation, then I start to think that something could go wrong and I say “why?” . A subsequent SMS announces what happened, so I write to my mother not to worry. This will not calm her down. For her, there is not much difference between Laos and Phuket, until the time I am safe back to Pinerolo!
12/27
My first thought is to have breakfast in a bar with TV, and in front of the CNN reportage I have a first idea of the mess which happened.
With another tourist minivan (7 usd) I arrive in Luang Prabang.
The first guesthouse where I settle, Phetmanitong Guesthouse, $ 6, a bit out of the center, is horrible, so the next day I move to Souk Savath, same price, but just behind the market. The main street is full of temples, the monks are talking to tourists to practice English.
in the mornings it is always chilly and foggy, but at 11.00 nearby the sun arrives, and I feel better
in the evenings, it’s full of stalls which sell food and souvenirs
12/28
Day trip to Pak Ou caves, with thousands of Buddha statues
12/29
I decide to take a public night bus to Luang Nam Tha, to save time (56 thousand kip). The bus, which leaves from Vientiane, it’s already packed when it arrives to Luang Prabang, and nobody gets off. So I have to stay all night sit on a plastic stool in the corridor, in close contact with dozens of other passengers, intent to eat oranges and spit the skins and seeds all around.
12/30
At Luang Namtha with a collective pick up (15 thousand kip) I go to Muang Sing, close to the Chinese border. The only shops here sell goods useful to local people, household type, there are two restaurants, and no agencies. They have built some hotels, thankfully, I settle in a bamboo bungalow which does not seem very suitable in a mountainous area, Phou Lu Guesthouse ($ 6). Anyway they have some new woolen blankets, and at least at night I’m not cold. From the Tourist Office I book a day trip to the villages around, populated by ethnic minorities (10 usd), I only have a day available and hope for something authentic.
12/31
The tour will not disappoint me, even if our guide is a young boy whose skills are questionable. He puts us a lot of pressure, I imagine he wants to come back as soon as possible in the afternoon, in order to get ready for the New Year’s Eve celebrations. I can’t say how much we walked, watching at the tourist office topographic maps it seems the shortest loop was 17 km, but I am not sure to have walked so much. The fact is that we reach a real Akha village, which seems out of the world, shrouded in a mist which projects it even more back in time
Close to civilization or not, the fact is that the inhabitants seem totally unfamiliar to relate with Western tourists. The proof is when we say to the guide that we would like to leave a small donation, and they ask us 10 thousand kip (one Euro). We think at first they mean 100 thousand kip, and then 10 thousand kip each (we are four in total, an English couple and another Italian from Rome) but they confirm 10 thousand kip in total, and then ask if we can give some postcards of our cities (one wall of the hut which hosts us is carpeted with postcards from every corner of the world).
We feel a bit like scroungers, but as a matter of fact we do meet their requests, the Akha seem satisfied with their 1 Euro donations, so we can’t feel guilty.
We are hosted by the wife of the head of the village, and her smallest child, and eat in her hut. She is dressed with a traditional hat covered with silver coins, as well as all other women doing household met around
They chew betel and spit red colored saliva, which seems blood. Nobody insists to sell us anything, in fact, they have nothing, but yet it seems they live well and happily. When back home, I will send to the tourist office some postcards to be delivered to the village, I hope they did it ..
It’s therefore logical that, later in Chiang Rai, I will get shocked by the way the local Akha and Lisu approach me.
Very satisfied, we return to Muang Sing, and consume our New Year’s dinner in one of the two restaurants. The night is cold and fortunately I brought a light windbreaker padded fleece.
Muang Sing, Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng have been the best part of my vacation.
1/1
Myself and the two English guys I met yesterday start our journey to Thailand. Before our tuk tuk takes us to Xieng Kok pier for 15 thousand kip, we tour around the local market, no other foreigners are there. The women wear colorful scarves on their heads
From Xieng Kok we go on the speedboat up to Huay Xai. It’s in this particular moment that I realize how the Thai side is rich and developed compared to the Laotian one.
At one point, the boatmen, to cheat us, would like that we get out of the boat, and take a bus, but we firmly refuse, if they do not give back our the money, and so they give up, discouraged.
In addition to myself and the English couple, another two Japanese, father and son, are on the speed boat. The very old gentleman is more furious than anybody else. His son tells us that he is eighty years old, and made war with the Americans. He starts to reproach the boatmen, talking for at least five minutes in Japanese, ranting and gesticulating, and concluding with “bad boys !!”. The boatmen are speechless because they belong to a society where the elders are highly respected, and so this blame, even if they do not understand a damn thing, is dishonorable. We Westerners remain speachless because for us it is just the opposite! I hold back laughter because I did not expect the final “bad boy”, it’s funny..
We arrive to Huay Xai and I accommodate for the night at Saybadee Guesthouse, 56 thousand kip.
In the city there are some colorful temples.
1/2
I take a ferry across the river, 20 baht, and then pay 15 baht to leave the country.
I am very poorly informed on the tsunami and I have absolutely no idea about the situation in Phuket, so I decide that for first I go to Chiang Rai, and then I decide.
I take a 65 baht bus and I arrive at 14.00
Lotus Guesthouse, 150 baht, seems to be a welcoming place.
Dinner at night market
I start to meet people with various injuries, mostly scratches and abrasions, bandaged or not. They are people who were at sea when the tsunami arrived, but they did not want to go home, so they changed their plans and moved away from the coast.
I go to the Tribe Hills Museum. I know they also organize excursions to the villages, and naively hope they are better than a travel agency. I book a tour for the following day, 1500 baht
3/1
The tour is a half disappointment. Damage !
1/4
With a 139 baht bus I reach Chiang Mai
I meet again the English couple of Muang Sing, I have an haircut by a local hairdresser for 3 Euro, she does a great job, I take another disappointing day trip, also including a tour on elephant back. Poor beasts, they have chains on their feet
I meet two Americans who were in Ao Nang (near Krabi) at the time of the tsunami, they show me a movie they took with their video camera. “Excuse me, but didn’t you run away immediately?” I ask. They do not reply. Unlike other video seen on TV, where the mass of water is a wave already broken, and frothy, here you see a whole wall of water, a building that advances towards the shore. It’s scary. If I were in their shoes, however, I would have not wasted time to make film.
Chiang Mai has some beautiful temple, and lovely gardens full of flowers,
The night market is a bit disappointing, because it is very expensive. Instead I make good purchases at the Warorot Market, which also sells tourist items and souvenirs, at lower prices. It’s smaller, though, and does not have the same variety of goods
Next to the night market there is a shop run by Indian (or Pakistani) which sells beautiful items of precious stones. When I hear other French customers appreciate all the stuff with belief (from their talks I understand they are jewelers) I decide to buy some necklaces and bracelets.
1/6
Return to Bangkok by train, this time in berth 2nd class without air conditioning (there are fans). The wagon is dark and in bad shape, but it’s ok
I take a public bus from Hualamphong station to the Royal Palace. Other passengers kindly show me where to get off. I see the dawn rising behind its roofs
It’s awesome as usually 
At the Phra Athit I assist at the monks morning alms
It’s funny I did not see the one in Luang Prabang, mentioned on all the guides (some people complain it’s too touristy) and it happens by chance to run into this ceremony in the Thai capital, which is less spiritual and more westernized in comparison.
In Khao San Road, an angular wall has been transformed into huge bulletin board where photos of deceased persons and missing ones are posted. There are flowers, plush teddy bears, notes. Here I realize what really happened