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Laos, Southeast Asia – a mellow experience
Laos has only been open to tourists for about 20 years. It’s a remote country, and one of the poorest anywhere. Yet when you visit Luang Prabang, a 10 hour bus ride north of Vientiane, the capital, you might think you were in a tourist town anywhere in the world. Development has come quickly, more restaurants, craft and clothing stores open each year. It’s changing the culture rapidly, but it’s not a natural progression at all, but rather a distortion. I was always aware of my wealth and the poverty of the Laoatians as I passed their stores or they served me in a restaurant.
It was, however, a highlight of our Laos experience. Luang Probang is beautiful architecturally and there are many interesting things to do there. We walked a lot as we always do, took a 2 hour sunset cruise on a huge boat on the Mekong River with only 7 tourists on it (made friends with people from Malaysia & Norway), spent a day hiking to a magnificent waterfalls & biked around (well Don did, I walked).
Our hike took us through two indigenous villages – a Khamou one & a Hmong one, they live close together in harmony. I’ve never visited remote villages anywhere before & the basic standard of living there was like something one would see on a National Geographic show. The Khamous build their houses up a few feet on stilts, while the Hmong ones are right on the ground. They farm & do a few crafts such as dolls & lampshades that they sell in the village & in town, & make rattan.
We spent a little time in Vientiane before & after LP, it’s a busy, working city of a quarter million on the Mekong River; other than a proliferation of restaurants the tourist effect on the town seems somewhat insignificant.
Prior to that we spent a few days at an inexpensive eco-resort an hour north of Vientiane that we were lucky to find through a travel magazine. It was called Rivertime, & the name was very apt. Sitting on the floating restaurant down the hill from our cabin, on a tributary of the Mekong, or taking a boat trip on a barge balanced on two long boats, one could imagine staying there forever.
The Laos people are lovely, very mellow seeming, their energy & the atmosphere in the country is beautiful.
My next blog installment will be about Malaysia.
