On the Way to Thailand and Laos

Welcome to my first ever blog.  Seems a lot easier than toting around a journal book.  Right now I'm sitting at home with less than 48 hours before take off.  The journey starts around 10 AM on 11/11 with a flight to Seattle, after which I layover for a few hours and head to Seoul on Asiana Airlines.  I like Asiana because they're part of the Star Alliance, so I get United miles, lower airfare and much more legroom (all of Asisana's economy seats correspond to United's Economy Plus, the difference being that United charges around $400 more RT for the extra legroom).   This will be at least my 10th time flying from the West Coast to Bangkok, but it's never easy.  Total travel time will be 23 hours, but the good part is that I arrive in BKK just after midnight, so it'll be dark and time to go to bed after I take a 45 minute taxi ride to the old airport, where my next flight will depart from the following morning.

Chiang Kong, Thailand

Serious 3AM jet lag in Chiang Kong, a Northern Thai border town on the Mekong.  Can see the hillsides of Huay Xai, Laos just across the river.  Border opens at 8AM and will take ferry across followed by a 3+ hour bus ride to Luang Namtha, the next destination.  LNT is famous for its hiking and other wildlife adventures (no, not THAT kind).  If I put more stock in omens, I probably wouldn't have left Eugene since the trip over could have gone a lot better:
1. Alaska lost parts of my reservation to Seattle and it took 1/2 an hour to complete what should have been a two minute check in.  Not exactly a stress free way to start a trip.
2. Computer problems which dogged me all the way through Eugene, Seattle, Seoul and Bangkok.  Finally resolved.  Weird glitch in Windows 8 that requires I open my computer to all networks on a public router...huh?  That's exactly what you're not supposed to do.
3.  About 1/2 of my meds fell out of a new container.  There must have been a leaky bag in the overhead and the pills formed a big blob that at first I thought was a Halloween cookie.  Sinking feeling when I realized what it really was, but meds are reasonable here in Thailand and you can buy most without a prescription.

Flights weren't bad.  Decent grub on Asiana for coach class and not too many screaming babies. Sat next to an old Korean guy who didn't speak English.  Perfect.  Watched the excellent To Rome With Love (Woody Allen's latest) and revisited Dog Day Afternoon.

Arrived in BKK at 1AM and grabbed a cab over to the "old" airport from which my next flight to Chiang Rai would depart.  Nice to travel at 75MPH in BKK!  Stayed at the Amari, which was previously too rich for my budget; they dramatically reduced their prices when the old airport closed, but the quality is very good and now they've got some business besides Chinese tour groups.  Arose early for my flight to Chiang Rai upon which I was surrounded by four screaming kids.  Jet lag is like a bad hangover and screaming kids are not an antidote.  Fortunately, the flight was only an hour.  Got a free ride into town on a "corporate" songthaew (a pick up truck with bench seats in the bed) with a bunch of drunk lower management types.

Then onto the dingy bus to the border.  Really beautiful 2.5 hour bus ride with the sounds of Tame Impala, Coltrane, Donald Harrison and the Beatles.  Playing a lot of the heady stuff and watching the rice fields and wats go by.  Two people puked, but that's about par for the course over here.  I guess these folks either have bad stomachs or just don't get out very often.  I understand it's going to get worse in Laos.

Got into town around 5PM, or just before nightfall.  Staying at the Green Inn, which I just about blew up by mistakenly plugging a 110v surge protector into an outlet (I thought it was a dual voltage protector) and came out of it with a blackened hand.  Well, that'll wake you up!  Out to dinner and the first place I passed was a Mexican joint...in rural Thailand?!?  Passed and instead had a rather meh! meal in a Thai joint, saved only by the Magnum bar I ate for dessert.  The Magnum was about 1/2 the price of my meal, but twice as good.

Luang Nam Tha, Laos

Finally a chance to slow down a bit after what has seemed like three days running at full speed.  Got up early to cross the border from Thailand into Laos and almost missed my bus due to Laotian immigration's strange process of allowing tour groups to go to the head of the line (some bribery from the tour group leaders, perhaps?).  After a mad dash across town, made the bus with less than 5 minutes to spare and embarked on a 3:45 hour trip that was slow, but pleasant thanks to the beautiful scenery and an engaging conversation covering the state of the world with a seatmate from Munich.

Found a very nice room in the center of town for only $12.50 a night.  A/C, TV (no English channels), soso wi-fi (which is a lot better than I experienced in Lao nine years ago when it took up to 15 minutes to download a single email) and quiet.  Not too many tourists make it up here, so the town is relatively unspoiled, but not lacking in services and decent places to eat and drink.  Took what seemed like forever to get a SIM card, but a very nice local at one of the trekking agencies put me on his motorcycle, drove me over to the correct vendor and then interpreted for me.  The process involved cutting down a standard SIM card and making it into a mini-card.  Pretty low tech operation using standard household scissors, but it worked and now I can wander around on the other side of the world and never miss an email imploring me to send money to Nigeria.  I guess this is progress???????

With only nine hours of sleep covering roughly 3 days, I turned in early, but not before downing a couple of delicious Beer Laos and eating the best pork larb ever at the night market with a huge amount of sticky rice, a green papaya salad and one of the local sausages (hey!  I hadn't eaten all day) all for around $4.

Forest Trek Nam Ha Wilderness

Khmu Woman at Work

After shopping at a few trekking agencies, chose a forest trek from an agency operated by a New Zealand couple.  This trek involved heading into the jungle about an hour tuk tuk ride south of town in the Nam Ha protected area.  The Laotian government has done a great job setting aside large areas for National Parkland.  I was fortunate to be able to team up with Monika from Munich (the cost of treks here decreases exponentially based on the number of trekkers in a group) and after the tuk tuk ride to the forest with our guide, Noi, we were joined by another local guide.  The idea is to share the costs of the trek with local villages and local guides  While the treks are a bit pricey at $40+ per day, at least most of the money goes back into the local economy.  The first part of the trek involved visiting a Khmu village.  The Khmu practice an animistic religion and derive their income from a large rubber plantation (owned by the Chinese) as well as subsistence agriculture and forest gathering.  Because it was a workday, the only folks in the village were elderly or very young.

The guide, Noi, spoke excellent English and pointed our various plants and provided samples.  Who ever thought anyone ate rattan?  Also enjoyed samples of wild galangal root (used in Thai and Lao soups) and bamboo shoots.  Because of a bit of a late rainy season, the trails were very slippery and full of leeches.  I saw numerous leeches crawl right through my leather boots (how do they do that?), but they turned out to be neat, responsible wildlife, leaving neither marks nor blood.  If I hadn't seen them, would have never known they enjoyed old white man blood.  The trek was arduous and lasted roughly six hours, with a lot of uphill.  I was completed exhausted and having trouble keeping my balance on the downhill, falling several times.  To add insult to injury, on one of the falls my trekking pole slipped out of my hand and thwacked me across the eye.  I'm sporting a bit of a shiner today.  We barely got out of the forest before nightfall and had to endure a rain shower which made the descent to the river even more dangerous.

Trekking Guides

Back to town dead on my feet, but managed a couple of beers and some superb Laotian pork belly at the night market before collapsing into sleep.

The Long and Winding Road

Jumped on the bus first thing this morning for a 3 hour trip from Luang Namtha to Muang Long.  But first I should mention a fantastic meal I had at the Minority Cafe, a nice little place hidden away from the main drag.  While they serve a lot of the usual fare, they also specialize in authentic tribal dishes and they do them well based on my experience with rattan soup (who imagines eating rattan?  It's not bad and somewhat in the family of bamboo shoots, but with a smoother texture), sticky rice and jaew.

The Long Road

Guesthouse in Long

View from the Long Market

Downtown Long

The bus was packed, but it was a lovely trip across the mountains into the most westernmost area in Lao; the last 20 or so miles were on a dirt road, so this place is pretty remote.  As I write, I'm about 50 miles S of the Chinese border and 20 miles NE of the Burmese border.  I'm the only paleface in town and I guess I've been a bit of an attraction based on the pointing and giggling.  This town is part of the heart of the Golden Triangle and seems very prosperous; while I make no insinuations, there's still apparently a lot of drug smuggling and growing in this area.  Our bus was stopped by the Lao version of the Federales, but I was the only one questioned and all they really wanted was to see my passport.  The town of Long is quite lovely, surrounded by mountains and also is the confluence of two rivers.  I've set up a six hour trek for tomorrow which will cover both forest and hilltribe villages.  The guide came over earlier and he was quite drunk, but it is Saturday night and he's a young dude; I hope he's not too hungover tomorrow.

Trekkin' Like the Doo Dah Man

Akha Village near Muang Long

Another wild jungle trek, slippin' and sliddin' up and down a mountain.  At least I only fell once today and that was in the early going.  First part of the trek involved visiting an Akha village and meeting the headman while also checking out the village swing (an isolated area where young folks go to flirt; think of it as the mall back home) and the village gate (which is placed to ward off evil spirits from entering the village--we falangs must be careful not to cross through or touch the gate lest the spirits be awakened.  The penalty is having to provide an animal for sacrifice to once again purify the area).  These treks involve hiring guides and in my case one of them (Da) spoke English and the other was more or less the bushwacker/trail interpreter.  That still didn't stop us from losing the trail a few times, but I was told I was the first one to use the trail in 6 months, so it was somewhat overgrown.  Trekking in Lao so far has been most arduous due to late rains and general trail conditions.  Previous treks in the US, S America and other parts of Asia involved much more beaten paths.  So far in Lao, I've gotten pretty beat up with various cuts and bruises, not to mention really sore legs and feet.  Let's just say that training at home on asphalt can't begin to compare with what I've walked on here.

Akha Villagers

Lao Volleyball-No Hands Alklowed

Forest Lunch with Duck, Pork and Chicken Larb and Sticky Rice

My Guides with Village Headman in Center...You were expecting an Indian chief?

Greetings from the People's Republic of Lao

Eating has been a bit of a challenge here, given the lack of English.  I found a Chinese run joint across the street with an English menu, so I've been pretty much eating in only one place.  The food is really good, but not exactly Lao.  The Chinese pretty much own this place and the guide told me that they rent the fields to produce their own crops.  They've even tried to buy one of the mountains adjacent to town, but the government wouldn't allow it.  While this is a lovely, friendly little town, there isn't much to do but trek, so I'll be moving further towards the frontier tomorrow with a trip down to Xieng Kok, the northernmost Lao Mekong Port.  I'll be more or less off the grid for a few days.

Where'd All the Damned Tourists Come From????

Room With A View--Dan Neau 2 in Muang Sing

All Kinds of Food on a Stick in Lao

Had Never Seen A Turkey in SE Asia--Happy Thanksgiving

Pretty Nice Room for $8

Top of the Valley by Bicycle.  Just a few miles to China

Now This Made Me Feel a Lot Better

Back in Luang Namtha after my journey to the far West.  Due to a lack of a fixed, or even semi-fixed bus schedule, I decided not to go to Xieng Kok, but instead headed back N to Muang Sing, a town whose most prosperous days came during the height of opium cultivation in the area.  While it's still cultivated (Lao is #3 behind Afghanistan and Burma), everything's on the hush and the days when tourists crowded the town to seek out opium dens are long gone.  Sing was a bit of a disappointment, with aggressive hawkers and trash everywhere.  I did manage to escape to the countryside on a bicycle for half a day and that surely improved things, but this is a town I couldn't recommend.   Food at the old night market was pretty good, at least, especially after sitting in the Tai Lu restaurant with about a dozen other foreigners with no sign of service.  I left, came back an hour later and still no one was eating.  Later found out that they'd sold all their food, but didn't bother to tell the customers, instead selling beer after beer.  Happy to jump on a super-crowded mini-van back to Luang Namtha with a nice French lady and a couple of Spaniards, but a bit less happy to see that the tourist population seems to have doubled in Luang Namtha in the three nights I was gone.  I saw a couple of large tour buses, so guessing that this place is rapidly becoming more and more discovered.  The Minority Restaurant was closed, so joined the hordes at the night market where I had an entire spit-roasted chicken (they're pretty small free range birds here) for around $3.  Looking forward to another day of cycling tomorrow, then it's off to Oudemxai.  My impressions thus far are that I really like Laos and its people, but travel here comes with a price which includes numerous power outages, crowded buses and slow travel due to an evolving road system; if I had to pick one favorite thing, it would be the food.  While the cuisine shares a lot with Northeastern Thai (Isaan), there are quite a few dishes that seem unique to the country.  I didn't realize just how many different soups there are here; a good menu will list at least a dozen.  Loads of great greens and, of course, sticky rice and various dipping sauces.  A shame there are so few true Lao places to eat in the U.S. since I think this is a food that would be embraced if available.  Might make for a great specialty food cart