Our next adventure took us to the Laos countryside, zipping around on a moped in search of waterfalls on the Bolaven Plateau and wandering the iconic city of Luang Prabang, a buddhist community nestled in Northern Laos.
The Bolaven Plateau is a gorgeous tropical zone with waterfalls and coffee plantations perched in the clouds. On our motorbike, we passed village after village, kids waving and chasing after us. Brooms, baskets, axes, machetes, matts, etc. lined the streets for sale beside thatched two room houses. The area felt like one big jungle, with cloudy mist and drizzle contributing to the feeling. A half-day round trip from Pakse and just off the main road were Tad Champee, Tad Yuang / Gniang, and Tad E Tu waterfalls, with few people and lots of nature. At Tad Yuang we followed a steep path on a rickety platform to return soaked to the bone, happy as could be after seeing such an awesome sight, full after the long wet season. Regardless of size, setting or intensity there is always something primal about waterfalls. Perhaps it's the journey and sense of destination.
We stopped for lunch at a coffee shop with the most delicious coffee, banana shakes, and fire roasted bananas. We toured the ten hectare coffee plantation with the owner, a Laotian who lived in France after his parents fled the war and returned in retirement to start a plantation. We learned a lot about coffee and saw examples of Arabica, Robusta and French coffee plants. It's always a goal of ours to learn while traveling, and usually it's learning about food or drink. =) The trees need a mix of shade to bear fruit, such that larger trees are planted in between the rows. Arabica grows fast and are cut every six to seven years, while a single coffee season is nine months. The seeds are collected in October / November, field dried for about a week and then shipped to a roasting plant.
That night we made it back to Pakse around 6:30 and enjoyed a traditional Lao dinner at our guesthouse, including egg omelet filled with ground pork, veggies, and spicy sauce, and a glass noodle soup with dill, cilantro, chilies and chicken that was quite spicy. Our host invited us to join her neighbours’ lottery party (they had bought tickets and were hoping to win), where they were sitting in front of the house on the sidewalk drinking beer and eating. Some fun attempts at translation and we were a hit, particularly when they found out we were married (a great surprise apparently). After the food ran out we headed to a bar on the banks of the Mekong to listen to acoustic guitarists play Lao classics about land, love and loss. It was an interesting evening with good company. We even got to eat super deep fried cow skin, oh yeah.
The next afternoon we headed to the airport for our flight to Luang Prabang, only to find the airport closed. We walked around and finally found the Lao Airline ticket window, where we were informed that our flight was indeed canceled (why hadn't we responded to the badly written one-line email informing us that the flight was canceled??? Yup we thought it was a hoax too). Our new option was to fly the next day through Vientienne (with 3.5 hour lay over) to get to Luang Prabang. This put a wrench in our plans, but nicely enough the airline offered to pay for our hotel in Pakse and have a driver pick us up the next morning. So with nothing left to do, we drove back to Hotel Pakse, got a room and made the best of free internet access. Jazz took the opportunity to get a wonderful Lao massage (one hour for $4.50) and a two hour manicure and pedicure for $5. Not bad!
We made it to Luang Prabang no worries, and found our guesthouse next to the Palace Museum. We explored a few streets before heading to Toui Café for dinner, with a tasty fish laap (traditional Lao dish with minced fish and garlic and spice). Prices were a bit steep versus Pakse but it's more touristy so there you go. We browsed the night market, lit by dangling bulbs and friendly people. A different experience than Beijing, where you ended up feeling like the merchandise. A good bit of the typical southeast asian variety, and plenty of opportunities to buy a few presents for folks (wood boxes, plates, bed covers, purses galore, carvings, baskets, statues, jewellery of all sorts, spirits, sling shots, shirts, pants, skirts/dresses, hand made, stuffed animals, magnets, lanterns, wall hangings, paintings, books, whiskey with and without critters inside, etc.).
The next two days we walked Luang Prabang and visited a handful of Buddhist temples and the monks' quarters. We always tried to catch the eye of a monk to gain permission to enter and to take photos. A lot of the monks are young boys just having left home. They are shy but friendly and we felt honoured to be there. The temples are amazing, even if you're not familiar with Buddhism. They are works of art and its a privilege to see them. We'll let the photos speak for themselves. Make sure to click on the photo to link to our Flickr page, where we have ton more photos of the temples and monks.
We also visited the Big Brother Mouse house where foreigners can chat with young Laotians for two hours (9-11am) in English to help them learn the language. We got to chatting with four guys about their lives compared to ours. They were happy but face challenges that mean they grow up early, like expectations on marriage and familial duty. Interestingly they didn't mind tourists, and one boy wanted to be a tour guide to show tourists the best spots. Kind of reminded us of our guide in Mongolia - proud of his country and wanting to share it.
Lastly, we made sure to experience one of the unique treasures of Luang Prabang, the monks' daily pre-dawn ritual of walking the city for alms. Every morning at 6 am they walk the streets with a container for rice, filled by Buddhist practitioners as they kneel on the street. Any extras that the monks can not hold they give to others who might need it. The monks and the people who support them are the real treasures of Luang Prabang. As a tourist, they deserve your respect and consideration. When we watched and photographed them that morning, we made sure to kneel and face them. During the day we took photos from a distance or from behind. If someone looked like they didn't want their photo taken, we didn't take it.
Luang Prabang is a wonderful town, even if it is developing a main stream tourist feel (at least in the histrocial part, leave that behind and you are back in south-east asia). It is still unique, relaxing, affordable and filled with wonderful people. By far Laos was one of our favourite countries. We loved it and would be happy to return, for the people, the landscapes and the food.
Next up, North Thailand. And if you've made it this far, below are a few things we learned about Laos culture.
- People like to play the lottery (2 times a week) and almost everyone participates.
- Laotians drink their beer with ice cubes.
- Laotians are very conservative and running around as a woman with a tank top does attract attention. Wearing a T-shirt that covers the shoulders is better, and shorts should be closer to the knees rather than above.
- Laotians do not approve of public displays of affection and it takes a lot of beer to loosen them up.
- Don’t ever show someone your feet (it’s disrespectful) and don’t touch their heads (this is the highest center of spirituality for them).
- It is also respectful to crouch down a bit if you are walking by someone who is seated and has their head at a lower level than yours.
- Saying “sabadii” for hello should be accompanied with folded hands and a slight head nod/bow. People do this, why wouldn't you? You're in their country... Don't make a show of it, but a slight nod is appreciated.
- People take pride in their personal appearance, and are always clean looking (with relatively nice clothes and clean shaven).
- People like to pass the time by watching TV (soap opera style shows are on all day), playing cards after dark (sunset around 6:00PM), singing karaoke at night at bars, and playing volleyball and/or hackie sack during the day.
- They use ovaltine for chocolate (milk, on bananas, etc.).
- Toilet paper is used as tissues.
- Most Lao boys become monks at one time or another, but can decide if they want to stay. Poorer families do send their sons regularly since it guarantees that they have food and get some education while they are in the Buddhist monasteries.
- Kids go to school starting at 7 years, and end at 18. But in the country-side this may not happen because of lack of funds for uniforms/books or the kids are needed in the fields. In the city though all kids go.
- Marriage used to be at age 18 for guys, and 13-14 for girls although that is changing (in the cities for sure, where now 18-20 for both is common). Also the hill tribes have different customs, it used to be that 18-20 year olds would kidnap a girl to be their wife and the girl had no say (if she didn’t like the guy she could cry or try suicide which apparently happened). This is changing as hill tribes become less isolated and more integrated with main stream Laos.
- Generally families have 4-5 kids, but it is not uncommon to have as many as 10 (one of the guys we talked with at Big Brother was the youngest of 10…)
- The Lao people we met tend to think their government is good. It is not too corrupt and does build bridges/roads for people. Also they have been trying to help with the education problems of the poor.
- You should eat “Orlam” great traditional Lao soup dish.
- They bargain but not as crazy as in China (2-3x not 10x).
