17 December 2008 - Leaving Laos

Leaving Laos
17 December 2008

Saturday 06 December had arrived so quickly. It was the day that we had scheduled for our return home to Thailand. I had seriously considered staying longer but my credit card had expired and Duang's family was expecting us back on Saturday so we kept our plan.

We had arranged for Jone-nee's dad to drive us to the bus station. We had purchased our tickets to Vientiane the night before to prevent any problems in the morning. Right on time our transportation along with Jone-nee arrived at the hotel.

When we arrived at the bus station, I discovered that our "tickets" from the night before were more of a reservation and I had to go to the counter and confirm the reservation and pick up the actual ticket.

We boarded the 45 passenger VIP bus for the 9 hour trip to Vientiane. The passengers were mostly Lao with about 6 foreigners in the mix. Some Lao people came on board as we exited the bus station. They sat on the floor in the well entering the bus. I suspect that the driver was earning a little extra cash from these people since they had no tickets.

As we settled in to our seats at the front of the bus for the long voyage down the mountains to Vientiane I noticed a young man, perhaps 20 years old, standing in the aisle next to Duang. He was dressed in typical Asian youth clothing - blue jeans, sandals, baseball cap and sweatshirt EXCEPT for the AK47 gun concealed beneath his sweatshirt! The gun was strapped over his shoulder underneath the loose fitting garment with the barrel peaking out at the bottom.

I was aware that there had been some problems with bandits along Highway 13 in the past but I was not aware of any recent problems. The young man was calm, well groomed, and well fed so I suspected that he was not a bandit but most likely a private guard or undercover policeman or military man. As I observed him (closely) for the remainder of the trip, I became more assured that he was a guard - he stayed at the front of the bus even when some seats became available in the back, he kept his focus on the road ahead and along the sides of the bus, and there was an ammunition clip in his weapon.

Upon returning home I did some checking on the Internet. On May 24, 2007, the US Department of State issued a Public Announcement regarding security concerns in Northern Laos. There had been reports of sporadic fighting and movements of Lao military forces and unidentified opponents in the Vang Vieng area. After one year I guess there are still some concerns.

The "unidentified opponents" are actually Hmong fighters. These fighters are remnants from the CIA's secret army of the 1960's and 1970's. After 40 years these soldiers and now their sons are still holding out. Part of their struggle has spilled over into America - California to be exact. One of the Hmong leaders, a powerful legendary general from the CIA era, was arrested in California last year on charges of conspiring to overthrow the Lao government.

We arrived in Vientiane safely but not without our moments. The long and winding road that we slowly ascended the mountains to Luang Prabang, was the same road that we rapidly drove down on Saturday. Whereas on Monday there had been very little traffic on Highway 13, there were many more trucks on the road. These trucks were heavily loaded, and attempting to save their bakes so they were slow on the descent. These trucks were heavily loaded and underpowered so they were slow on the rising portions of the road.

It did not matter to the bus driver. He had a large and load horn. His frequent use of the device kept us safe from the oncoming trucks, cattle, motorbikes, children, adults, and bicycles that we either overtook or encountered even on the many, many blind curves. The trip back to Vientiane took one hour less than the trip up. Most of this time savings can be attributed to the talents of our "skillful" driver.

We have all been told that in certain human activities "Size does not matter". That may be true for some human activities but it does not apply to driving in Laos especially on mountain roads. If you are big enough and have a large enough horn, the rules of the road do not apply. You can pass anywhere you choose to. You can drive as fast as you dare which turned out to be much faster than I would have dared. You however must liberally use your horn to inform the world that you were coming through!

In addition to the harrowing scenery whizzing by our window, the monotony of the trip was broken up by the sights and sound but fortunately not the smells of two women who became motion sick. One young woman was sick for at least 4 hours. The little pink plastic bags that were passed out at the bus terminal came in very handy as well as the Handi-Wipes that I always carry in my camera backpack.

About three hours outside of Luang Prabang, Duang had to go to the toilet. Toilet? What toilet? To paraphrase a line from a famous movie that is often quoted "Toilets? Toilets? We don't need no stinking toilets!" There was no toilet onboard the bus. Duang asked someone in Lao and the person told the bus driver. He pulled over almost immediately - despite the fact that we were on a blind curve. Duang was quickly joined by about 6 men and 5 other women disembarking the bus. The people scattered along both sides of the road seeking their own little spot. The men due to their plumbing, basically went to the edge of the road, turned their back to the bus, and took care of business. The women, in general sort more private locations. In general - there was one older woman who was either afraid of what might be in the heavy vegetation or more experienced in these matters, selected a spot about 20 feet from a man, turned her back to the bus, hiked up her skirt, and did her business. Duang was shyer and headed deep into the bushes. When she returned, I noticed that she was heavily covered with grass seeds. These were seeds that get transported to new areas by attaching themselves to animals and people with barbed coverings. We spent at least the next 5 minutes laughing and pulling all the seeds off of her clothing.

After 4.5 hours, the bus stopped for lunch which was included in our ticket. We had another good meal. I noticed some of the Lao men drinking something out of a fish shaped glass bottle. The bottle was rather fancy with textured scales on the surface. I asked if it was Lao Lao (Lao white lightening). That was all it took. They immediately offered me a drink. I accepted and downed the shot in one gulp. It was just as bad as anything that I have drunk in Thailand. I did appreciate their kindness and the experience.

On this trip we experienced some different food and drink. For as long as I have been in SE Asia, it was on this trip that I ate my first banana pancake. They are delicious. We drank Lao Hai at the Khmu New Year Festival.

Lao Hai means "jar alcohol" in Lao. It is a rice wine served in an earthen jar. The drink looks and tastes very much like sake. We drank it out of a gallon sized ceramic wide mouth jug through either thin vinyl tubing or long reed straws with other people. After we became acquainted with the village headman, one of the jars was placed before us on our table. I enjoyed drinking the stuff although I did have to force myself to ignore the flies that kept landing on top of the fermenting mash in the jar. At the celebration there did not seem to be any age restriction on drinking Lao Hai. I saw children as young 12 years old sucking on a tube out of the jar. I got a picture of a 14 year old girl reacting strongly unfavorably to her swig of Lao Hai!

Our lunch at the Khmu celebration included laarb, a mixture of shredded meat and chilies. The meat was cooked but in Isaan I have eaten it several times where the meat was raw. At a wedding, I helped prepared the raw meat by using a heavy knife to chop the beef up to the point that it became a paste. Sticky rice is dipped into the laarb and then eaten.

There was also another dish at the celebration to dip our sticky rice into - Jaew Bawng. Jaew Bawng is made out of chilies and dried water buffalo skin. Jaew Bawng is very tasty - musty, hot, and a slight hint of sweetness. I got so enthusiastic about it that I ate one of the chunks in the sauce - a hunk of skin. That was not so good. The texture was slimey and it tasted like what you would imagine water buffalo skin would taste like. I washed it down with a healthy swig of Lao hai and did not repeat that mistake again.

Our trip to Laos was over much too quickly. It is a beautiful land with a very good hearted people. There is so much to see and experience there. There is so much that we will return. Hopefully we will return soon.