Australian traveller, Mark Lane, journeys
through Thailand and Laos
ABOVE:
Buddhist monk, Thailand
Saturday,
14 September 2002
Just been in Thailand for 2 days now, after a long
day of travel from Darwin - Brunei - Bangkok. Had
to be at Darwin Airport at some stupid time, 3 am,
and arrived finally in Bangkok probably 18 hrs later.
Brunei wasn't too bad, but not entirely exciting,
great Malay - Bruneian food for about $2. The highlight
probably wandering round a village that is build
on stilts above water for a few hours, won't spend
the 40 hrs planned here on the way back. The houses
varied from nice wooden houses to rusty tin on a
burnt out wooden shell and everthing in between.
The water was filthy and I expected to see a few
three eyed fish, but no such luck.
Bangkok was initially disappointing, after LP
describing it as dirty, with heaps of traffic and
people I was dissapointed to see orderly traffic,
with everyone obeying the road rules more or less,
nothing like Malaysia, let alone India where if
you can drive down the wrong way of one way street
to cut out a traffic jam you will. Also pretty clean
as well, so don't know what all the fuss is about.
Though my throat is getting a bit sore now 2 days
later from the polution. The only real excitement
on arriving was bargaining a price with the taxi
drive having worked the scam of getting a taxi from
someone out at the arrivals area, and then arguing
about going on the toll way.
Am staying near Kho San Rd which is a street mentioned
in the book The Beach with a Scot and a Swede who
I met in Darwin and Brunei respectively. It really
is the Mc Donalds of backpacking. It could be a
market area in Syndey, Brisbane, Singapore or wherever.
Backpackers with designer dreadlocks, sunglasses,
clothes and backpack. And it offers everthing from
Fake Oakleys and Tag watches to Egg and Bacon for
breakfast, ...oh and you might find some Thai food
on the menu.
If you can manage to escape here though Bangkok
is quite a bit of fun. The people are genuinely
friendly, and go out of their way to help, the Dubah
type food stalls are great. Pad Thai noodles and
the likes for less than $1.50. There are more temples
to see than even a japanese tourist would photo
graph, so have ditched the lot. Spent the day wandering
around some of the old city and catching a few buses.
Had lunch in this great little dive which was full
of military men singing karoke. They all take it
quite seriously, no ribbing or anything like you
would expect if whites did it, and everyone just
carries on chatting or eating until they get the
mic. One of the Officers took us under his wing
and translated the menus as I think we where probably
the first whites to visit the place.
ABOVE: Bangkok street scene
ABOVE: Playing draughts with bottle tops, Chinatown
ABOVE: Thai spices
We had to see the red light district to see what
all the hype was about. It turns out it was all
just hype. The whole area was full of markets and
touts outside bars trying to get you in with a full
list of what was on offer to watch. Looking in there
where women in bikini's swinging themselves around
some poles and walking on table. In all i think
you would see more on a beach in aust, at least
in the main bar.
I am escaping all this in 24 hrs thank goodness
and hope to see some real Asia. I received my 30
day Laos visa (I hope, as i have heard there are
scams around) today and will catch the train up
to the border on Sat evening and will be in the
capital Vientianne by Sunday. Have no plans as yet
as I have been told their is still alot of rain
and flooding up there. Will hopefully get some more
info once I am there. If all else fails I will end
up back in Thailand.
ABOVE: Floating market
Wednesday,
18 September 2002
I am in now in Laos, in a town called Vient
Vieng or something spelt like it, about 120
north of the capital Vientiane. The capital
was really just a large village, but 200 000
people or more, I was told 2 million but it
couldn't be true. Spent the time with a Canadian
guy. After spending so much time in BK I reallyd
didn't want to hang around as I wanted to
get out into the country.
We hired a scooter rickshaw type thing and
saw some sites for the afternoon, a pretty
rush tour of the town, Buddah park, the large
Pha That Luang, the nation symbol of Laos,
a large gold coloured column thing plus a
few other temples and the likes. GOt into
a big arguement with the driver. Lucky the
opinionated Candanian took the brunt of it
all.
We both went out for a Lao massage and sauna
for $5 and $1 respectively. I still have the
bruises from the cups they put on you back.
Vang Veign is a nice little village on the
edge of a river, surrounded by steep mountains
that rice from the flat rice fields below.
Spent the day riding around and exploring
caves in the area with a Lao girl, who is
friends of a NZ guy I met on the bus here.
It is so nice I will probably spend another
day or two here before heading north again.
The food is great of course and everything
else is fine. Staying at a hotel by myself
for $6 a night with hot water, so a bit of
a luxury. Went out for dinner tonight with
the NZ guy and an american. Had rice and chicken
(you cannot be vego up here), and a large
bottle of beer for $3. The NZ guy according
the the Lao girl is a pedophil, however you
spell, or at least likes young men, he has
apparently come to seem a lady-boy, as they
call them he met on his last trip. All that
aside he seems a decent guy to have a beer
with.
ABOVE: Buddha Park, Vientiane
ABOVE: Monks at wat (temple) in Vientiane
ABOVE: Village children near Muang Sing
ABOVE: Decorative hat, woman in Muang Sing
Wednesday, 2 October 2002
Well, am well and truely in Laos now. Internet
access is not exactly what you call available
in this country, and when it is usually both
painfully slow and extremely expensive. For
that matter apart from one or two cities even
electricity is only on in the evening, let
alone telephone. Briefly I have just done
a loop in the North of Laos from Vientiane,
through a few towns and then up to a place
called Luang Nam Tha, where I did a three
day trek. It was great, wandering through
rice fields and jungle. We stayed in local
villages at night. THe villages are really
quite basic in a lot of aspects from bamboo
houses and water drawn from the river and
of course no electricity, and some women walking
around half naked, and then you go to the
village leaders house and he has gold teeth
(a sign of wealth) a a VCD player and a big
TV.
As I may have said already Lao people are
just great. They are really friendly and really
giving when they really don't have much to
give. It is traditional to have Lao Lao, rice
wine in a lot of places with meals and even
just visiting people. It is hard to say no
to these people so you end up having two or
three shots of this 45% rocket fuel before
even lunch some days. The bottle usually has
something floating around in it. It mostly
looks vegetable, no animal yet. Still it does
ease any sensation you have of aches in your
body and you don't feel the heat and humidity
so much for a while. Travelling around here
is terrible to say the least, and the cost
of travel varies according to the time it
takes, not the distance, so when you have
to pay as much for a 100 km trip as a 300
km trip you know you are in from one hell
of a ride. Some roads are more pothole than
anything else and you can end up sitting in
the back of a truck with bags of sugar and
rice, breathing fumes for 4 hours.
ABOVE: Field of Jars site, Phonsavan
ABOVE: Remnants of war, Phonsavan
ABOVE: Sparrows for sale at the market, Phonsavan
Phonsavan
I have just flown in from Xeing Khuang province,
and the capital Phonsavan and am now back
in Vientiane before I will head south tomorrow.
I gave up getting a bus after a 36 hour trip
there including a truck, two buses and being
rescued finally by the French Red Cross, who
incidently couldn't speak French, who bought
me lunch and dropped me off at a Guest house.
Xeign Khuang was heavily bombed by the good
old usa and the landscape is marked with craters
of different sizes. You basically don't wander
of the tracks unless because of mines and
unexploded bombs. Laos was more heavily bombed
than Vietnam and Cambodia, and Xeing Khuang
was the most bombed of them all and it had
parts of the Hoi Chi Minh Trail. We hired
a flamboyant guide with all the latest designer
western clothing and visited what is called
the Plain of Jars. Large vessels up to 6 tonne
in size, thought to be 4000 yrs old. Quite
amazing. They are still trying to work out
what where for. Bombs had been dropped in
and around them so many where damaged, plus
the Americans stole quite a few. The largest
site was near a VC bunker and there was a
fair bit of damage. A few hundred metres away
there is a current millitary base with ancient
looking Russian Mig planes and tiny anti aircraft
guns dotted around the place. You kind of
get the feeling that the Laos army isn't up
to much. Course they still have a few mine
fields around it so you can't just wander
up and take a photo.
You have to have a massage while you are here,
you pay up to about $2 us d for about a 50
min massage. I have had a few basic (as in
the primitative sense) massages, one which
was pretty well just little girls grabbing
hungs of flesh on you back and legs, before
cracking your toes and fingers, not really
relaxing but they at least seemed to be having
fun, but the rest haven't been too bad.
ABOVE: Woman cutting grass
ABOVE: Sunset by the river
ABOVE: Rice harvest
ABOVE: Monks crossing the river
ABOVE: Woman with cows
Friday, 7 October 2002
Lao in many ways is similar to India in terms
of travel and doing things, but with out the
filth and dirtiness of India. The people are
just really nice, and always have a smile
and helpful. You always tend to get someone
on a bus that gives you sign language about
stopping for food and the conductors always
stop at the place you want to get off when
you give them the name of the place you want
to go. The country side is nice too spectacular
in places but it is definitely the people
that have made it a good experience. yea my
birthday passed by without a fuss. I think
i had a Beer Lao at night, which I would have
had anyway. Actually I spent half the day
on a nightmare bus journey and had to sit
next to a fatguy, got a rip off tuk tuk at
11 pm at night as had no choice and stayed
in a dirty hotel so nothing that memorable.
Friday, 11 October 2002
Hi, Well reality is now beckoning. I left
Laos yesterday and now am in BKK after pretty
well 24 hrs straight travel a boat, two trucks,
two tuk tuks and a train later. Ended up getting
a 3rd class seat on a train overnight to BKK
with another fellow traveller as 2nd class
was sold out. We thought of going 3rd class
anyway, which would have been a mistake, and
it was anyway, if that makes sense. Still
it only cost $5.50 Au for the 10 hr trip.
The people trying to sell food in you face
at 2 am was included in the price apparently.
I spent my last few days in Laos down in an
area call Si Phon Don, or translated, 4 thousand
islands, a kind of delta area of the Mekong
river at the border of Cambodia. Stayed on
one of the larger Islands in a bungalow made
of bamboo and grass right on the edge of the
river. It was really nice. COuld just ly in
the hammock by the coconut and watch the boats
go by. Nothing much else to do apart from
wander around, talk to stoned backpackers,
eat and drink.
The trip down there was interesting. In this
bus with hardly anywindows, the rest broken
or taped up. Half the seats where attached
to the floor by one nail on only one side,
and rocked around, others tied down with electric
cord. The usual suspects on the bus, chickens,
pigs, old toothless ladies, hippy old couple,
breastfeeding mothers... I had to put my bag
over the hole in the floor in front of me
for fear of loosing a eye or some other vital
organ from a stone being flicked up. We of
course had the traditional flat tyre, which
was replaced by an equally bald tyre.
The road was actually quite good by Lao standards,
pretty straight, flat with the odd pothole
that could swallow a bus. As you pull into
villages along the way you get swamped by
women a kids selling all sorts of life cooked
on a stick, shoving it in your face. The usual
protocol judging by what the locals do is
you grab a stick, finger and prod the dead
animal, do the same with a few more dead animals
before making your selection. If you are luck
you have bought something that has only been
handled by the last four buses passing through.
Still I haven't been sick, so can't complain.
After eating or drinking your beverage you
just dispose of it out the window followed
by a few hearty clearing of the throat and
spits to remove any remains.
Was going to go to a place call Apatpeau where
you can go along the Ho Chi Min trail, and
hopefully see some wild life that the locals
haven't eaten (apparently tigers, rhinos,
elephants), but got warned off by a few stoned
brits as a waste of time. The elephant trek
got called off as it has a fungus, which no
doubt it a common occurance. The only choice
i has left was to head towards what we call
civilisation in BKK. Planning of trying to
go diving somewhere around here, but it may
not be a possibility, as only have a few days
left now.
