Lovely Laos

I arrived in Laos a week ago not knowing what to expect. I’d been given a list of names of places to see by people who had been here before me, and had been told that Laos was a beautiful place, but also a place that you don’t need to spend a lot of time in. The majority of people I had met who had already travelled through South East Asia said that if it was a choice between coming here and going to any of the other countries in the region, Laos was the place they would have been most willing to have given a miss. Of course there was the minority opinion who said that Laos was stunning and that I should definitely go there, but that was only the minority.

When thinking about my eight weeks in SE Asia, my original thoughts were to spend a week in Thailand, head from there to Vietnam and Cambodia, in no specific order, and then see if I had any extra time for Laos before heading back to Thailand for a week and then off to Australia. The belated realization that Chinese New Year and the Vietnamese Tet festival would cause Vietnam to shut down for a week or more at exactly the time I was planning to go, in conjunction with a new plan to meet up with my friend Dominique in Cambodia in mid-March meant that Vietnam and Cambodia would be pushed off to later in the trip, and that Laos, the interim country, ended up becoming an option again, at least for a week or so.

After spending two weeks in Thailand, a week more than originally factored in, I decided to fly to Luang Prabang from Chiang Mai in order to save me the time and exhaustion of either more than twenty hours on local buses, or the two day slow boat adventure down the Mekong River. The theoretical plan (because I never really plan anything properly while traveling), was to spend a few days in Luang Prabang, to head from there to Vang Vieng, notorious party town located in gorgeous surroundings, and after a few days there, to make my way to Vietnam. Of course the best laid plans often fall by the wayside and after finding myself on a seemingly endless search for a room during the previously unknown about Chinese New Year insanity that is the busiest time of year in Luang Prabang, I finally managed to find one of the only rooms available in the area, and just crashed, with no thoughts of anything further.

My first night in Luang Prabang was incredible. I met a really nice couple from the US at my guesthouse and went with them for dinner at the food market that is set up every evening in an alleyway off the main city road. The narrow alleyway is filled with all kinds of street foods, including the famous 15,000kip (less than $2 US) vegetarian buffets, where you can choose all you want from a huge variety of dishes, as long as it all fits into the provided bowl. Chairs and tables are set between the stands to accommodate the hungry patrons. Piling our bowls high, we were directed to a table and had enthusiastically started to tuck into the myriad of cooked vegetables and varieties of rice that we had crammed into our bowls when all of a sudden the heavens opened and it started to pour with rain. The surprise downpour caused all kinds of panic in the outdoor market, especially when all the electricity went out and the tarpaulins covering some of the heaped tables started to sag with the weight of the water. Amused and wet, we turned on the flashlight apps on our mobile phones, directed them towards our plates and continued eating, choosing to wait out the rain and see what would happen. After the big city feel and predictability of Thailand, this situation felt like heaven to me, as I finally felt like I was back in familiar travel territory. Of course the irony that on that day I had finally decided to leave the umbrella I’d been lugging with me for the past two months behind, wasn’t lost on me and I prayed that the downpour was a one-off occurrence. The rain subsided, candles were lit and finally the electricity came back on. We finished eating and made our way to the row of fruit shake-crepe-and-sandwich stands on the main road for dessert, finishing off a fantastic evening with shakes, crepes and chats into the relatively-late hours of the night.

I had started off my time in Laos on a high, and as is unsurprising with me, followed the high with a major crash the next day. After spending most of the day unsuccessfully trying to get to the waterfall, one of Luang Prabang’s main attractions, and trying to avoid the overload of Chinese tourists who had invaded Luang Prabang for the Chinese New Year, I crashed with exhaustion and ended up in the blackest of black moods, escaping to a riverside café with working wifi to chat with friends, in the aim to pull myself out of my mood, which, from experience, I knew was only temporary. I had valid reasons for being in that mood. Traveling, while awesome, involves a lot of moving from place to place and then time to recover from all the various form of transportation. It’s a chaotic lack of routine, getting used to different types of food, different types of people and different surroundings, almost on a day-to-day basis. This lack of routine in itself becomes something of a routine after a while, but it can have disastrous consequences, especially for someone like myself who is used to routine, especially when it comes to food and exercise. In the past few months I’ve managed to put on quite a lot of weight and my skin has been extremely bad, mostly due to bad nutritional choices, many of which have been beyond my control. My feet have been causing me trouble for months and I’ve been getting crazy blisters almost every time I try to do any type of exercise, irrespective of the shoes I wear. This means that any type of trekking has become out of the question, limiting my ability to head off the beaten track and also to do proper exercise, making me unable to counteract the weight gain. While most of the time I’m resigned to these facts, knowing that I’ll be able to get back on track either in Australia, where gluten-free food and healthy eating options for gluten-intolerant people are readily available, or when I’m back in Israel, at other times, it becomes more difficult. When I’m having a bad day, which believe it or not can happen when traveling, just as it does in every day routine life, these issues can sometimes become overwhelming. On those days, like that day, after almost four months on the road, I start to become desperate for some type of routine and normalcy, craving some type of purpose and the need to feel useful to someone or something.

I thought about volunteering. I thought about giving up traveling for a while, staying in Luang Prabang and finding myself some way to keep myself occupied, to get into some type of routine for at least a few weeks. I thought about heading straight to Cambodia, finding some type of volunteer project to keep me busy for the next month and a half, and then going straight from there to Australia. I even spoke to my friend Anna in Cambodia and asked her about volunteer opportunities in Siem Reap. Anna, a 52Frames friend who I have yet to meet in person, having herself travelled on and off for almost eight years, had some sound advice for me, which I chose to follow, abandoning the volunteering idea, and deciding instead to change the way that for some unexplainable reason I had been viewing my time in SE Asia. For some reason I’d been looking at my time in the area as an interim period between my travels in India and Australia, probably because I’ve been spending time planning my trip there instead of focusing on the present. It was time to relate to the next month or so as an exciting entity of its own. I needed to make a switch and learn to give myself a break and to not feel guilty about being idle once in a while, and just to enjoy this time, with the knowledge that it would be over all too quickly.

The next morning, I went out to explore the town. Camera in hand I did what I do best when my mind is uneasy and took myself and my camera out to nature. As expected, my jaunt along the beaches of Luang Prabang and the mighty Mekong River did the trick and a few hours sitting in a café editing photos and uploading a blog post helped relax my mind to the extent that the black mood disappeared entirely and I was able to start looking at the next few weeks with excitement and anticipation. As I’ve mentioned before, I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason, both when traveling, and in life in general, and this interlude was no exception. A chance glimpse into an ongoing WhatsApp Midburn DPW conversation acquainted me with a fellow DPW member (DPW are the people who build the infrastructure of the city for the Israeli Burning Man event) who is also currently traveling in Laos. Matan was in a place called Muang Ngoi, a small village on the banks of the Nam Ou River, accessible only by boat, which he said was gorgeous and a must-see. A photograph confirmed his words and I decided to deviate from my original plan and head there for a few days. I gave myself one last day in Luang Prabang to finally get to the elusive waterfall before heading off.

A word about the waterfall. The Kuang Si Falls are located around an hour out of the city, has a bear sanctuary on its premises, and is a place not to be missed, with gorgeous clear waters and a relatively easy hike to the top. I had planned to get to the waterfall on each of the three full days I spent in Luang Prabang. The first day I was promised a tuk-tuk ride which never eventuated. The second day I was supposed to go by motorbike with an Israeli couple and the girl’s mother, and to learn how to ride a motorbike at the same time. The girl’s mother got sick and that didn’t happen either. The third day was a repeat of both the first day and the second day. It felt like there was a conspiracy to prevent me from getting to the waterfall. Frustrated and wondering if I should just give up, I made my way up to the main street, departure point of most waterfall-bound tuk-tuks, to get a fruit shake and plan my next move. Sitting with my shake, I spotted a half-full tuk-tuk about to head off to the waterfall and jumped on, meeting two Aussie girls, a Canadian girl and a Brazilian guy in the process, and ensuring an incredible day at the finally arrived-at waterfall.

The day didn’t end at the waterfalls, and we all decided to meet up for dinner later that night, my last night in Luang Prabang. We decided to go for the heaped plate buffet, the place of choice for the street food experience, and something the others had yet to experience. After choosing from one of the many buffet options and heaping our bowls, we had just sat ourselves down to eat when all of a sudden I spotted a familiar face filling his plate at the same buffet table we had just been at. I looked twice just to confirm that I wasn’t imagining things. It was none other than Juan, the Argentinian guy I’d first met during Vipassana in Nepal, who I later travelled with, both in Nepal and for my first couple of week in India. My travels in India with Juan and Justo had been cut short for a number of reasons, but we’d all stayed in touch afterwards, even planning on meeting up in Sri Lanka in January, something that unfortunately never eventuated. The last I’d heard from Juan, he was in Burma, planning his trip to Japan and China, his last stops before heading back to Sydney, where he has been working for past few years. His plans fell through and somehow he found himself in Laos, arriving in Luang Prabang just two hours previously. Coincidental meetings often happen when traveling, especially when there are so many people doing similar routes through the same country, but this meeting was totally unanticipated and such a welcome surprise. Adjourning to the shake-crepe-and-sandwich stands for a dessert of rice-whiskey shakes, we all sat there until the street lights went off, talking and laughing. It was undoubtedly one of the best nights I’d had for a long, long time.

I left Luang Prabang the next morning, taking a nauseating minivan drive to Nong Khiaw, followed by a boat ride to Muang Ngoi. I’ve been here for three days now and I’m loving this little slice of paradise. Laos is gorgeous, at least the parts that I’ve seen so far. The people are friendly, the climate is great, and the morning view from my balcony of the mighty Nam Ou River and the surrounding mountains covered by clouds is just stunning. Muang Ngoi is a place to relax and unwind, with various options for activities including hiking to a viewpoint and visiting neighbouring villages and caves, all of which were enthusiastically recommended by Matan, and all of which I will have done by the time I leave. Muang Ngoi has been the perfect place for me at this stage of my trip, exactly what I needed. I’ll probably be here for another day or two before heading back to Luang Prabang and possibly to Vang Vieng, and I know it will be difficult for me to leave.

My next few weeks are unclear, with decisions to be made over the next few days. Last week during my Luang Prabang meltdown I made the decision to give Vietnam a miss, as I thought it would be too stressful trying to take in so many countries in such a short time, especially as I had a deadline of mid-March to meet my friend Dominique in Cambodia. Unfortunately poor Dominique broke her leg a few days ago, and won’t be joining me in the end, leaving the next month and a bit wide open. I’ve been starting to rethink my decision regarding Vietnam and need to do a bit of research before making any decisions. More time in Laos or a jump across to Vietnam? Laos is gorgeous and I could definitely see myself spending more time here, but who knows when I'll make it to this region again, who knows when I'll get the chance to see even part of Vietnam if i don't go now? I’m conflicted, but I’m sure that something will come about soon that will help me make a decision. I’ve seen over the past four months that travel always provides the answers, and I’m sure that in this case it won’t disappoint.