I’ve noticed that rural areas are kid areas. I think it has something to do with a lack of vehicular traffic and the atmosphere in a small community. Hampi was the first small place where we saw a ton of kids everywhere. Joylani theorized that since cars weren’t allowed in town, parents let their kids roam freely. This was also the case in the villages we trekked through in Nepal. There was no danger from vehicles, plus there’s a lot more trust in a small community. So toddlers would be walking around alone or in pairs, or sometimes, you’d see a whole pack of little ones. Nong Khiaw is also a kids village.

This morning after breakfast, Joylani and I took a walk to some nearby caves. It was about a 20 minute walk east of town, along the main highway (in Lao, that can be read as: a paved road with a motorcycle or bicycle every few minutes). It was a nice walk; scenic and quiet. As we walked, we overtook two little girls walking by themselves. The bigger one had her arm around the other and they sang a popular Thai pop song over and over, as well as giggled as they walked. As we turned off the road towards the caves, they turned too. Then a little boy started walking with us too, saying “Saaba di!” We climbed a few stories of stairs to get to the cave which was pretty high in the cliff side. Inside, there were a ton of kids, all around 10 or younger. The funny thing was that there weren’t any adults, just dozens of kids. We explored the massive cavern a little bit, but not too much as we didn’t have a light. It was actually a hiding place for the Pathot Lao (Lao Communists), before they came to power in 1975. Then we came down from the cave and walked with the horde to another nearby cave. This one was a super narrow tunnel winding deep into the cliff. Joylani started to go in and then turned around, which left me at the mercy of these little kids and their lights. They screamed and laughed all the way down until the end of the tunnel cave. It was really fun, but kind of scary because it was pitch black around every turn. A couple of them asked for money afterwards, but most of them just kept running through the jungle after we turned to go back to town.

girls on the highway

cave

This afternoon, I went fishing with the son of our guesthouse owners. Last night, he had us sign in, asked our names, said nice to meet you, and then, “Hey you want to come fishing with me tomorrow?” So today, he and I walked a few minutes down the road, then through some fields to a tributary of the Nam Ou river. We were fishing with throw nets, just circular ones with chain links attached all around the border. He gave me a quick tutorial on how to hold it and throw it, before we waded in the cold water and started throwing. We would throw, then walk over to it, pull it in, then walk upriver and repeat. We were fishing for little fish, just 3-5cm, as that’s all that was in these waters. We fished for about an hour and a half. He caught about 10 or 12 and I caught zilch. This and my Maldivian fishing trip has really discouraged me from fishing- I’m no good. This time, I blame it on my casting. Even with his perfect casting, he only caught a fish every 3-4 throws. Needless to say, my net did not hit the water in a perfect circle everytime; more like once every 5 times. Eventually we went back to the village and he cooked up the dozen small fish, which we ate whole with rice and papaya salad. It was a fun day with the kids.

this is a really rustic massage place (see sign)

Our plan to leave Luang Prabang today was foiled by my own stupidity. As we packed our bags last night, Joylani asked if I had my passport. No, I didn’t. After searching everywhere, we deduced that I had either forgotten it at the bank (where we exchanged money earlier that day) or I had lost it (anywhere). So I woke up really early this morning, in hopes that if I could retrieve my passport then we could still catch the boat to Nong Khiaw. I checked the bank which was closed. I waited around until its opening time and even ate a bowl of soup and checked again in case it was opening late. Still, it was closed and I assumed it was closed for New Years, like the other bank in town. Then I stopped by the Tourism Police Office, where a police officer who probably partied too hard on New Years Eve and was still kind of slow kindly told me nothing had been turned in. Figuring nothing could be done until tomorrow, I trudged back to the room. Joylani had everything packed and ready to go, in case I found my passport. But no luck. I showered and then we went out for the day.

View of LP from Wat Phu Si

As we walked through town, we passed the bank I had just come from, but now it was open! Even better, they had my passport! But it was now too late to catch the boat, so we still had a day to kill. I say kill because I don’t find Luang Prabang all that exciting. I will say its nice and I will say that I’m a bit hypocritical as I’m currently sitting in café, drinking an expresso, and writing. But I recognized Luang Prabang the instant we arrived, even in the late-evening darkness: a tourist town. Not so much a backpacker hub, but a little motif town carefully manicured for tourists, like Carmel or something. Its ultra clean and litter free, the roads are nice, all the architecture matches, and there’s just as many middle age Europeans milling around as Lao. Its one of those places that’s nice to see for a day, but not much longer.

town

some off shoot of the Mekong

One of my favorite parts of our time here was exploring on bicycles yesterday. Its amazing how different things are even just 5 minutes outside of the town center. The roads deteriorated quickly as we rode out and soon we were on the only paved (and heavily potholed) road; only the main highway was paved and all the other streets were rock and dirt. Motorcycles, scooters, and pollution were everywhere too. What happened to the peaceful little town? The buildings changed from French colonial cubes with shutters to crooked bamboo or wooden structures. I say it was my favorite part of our time in LP, because I feel like we saw real LP that day. Its not like I enjoy seeing poverty and underdevelopment, but I am interested in seeing the realities of a place rather than have it tailored to my tastes. Passport in hand, we’ll head north tomorrow, where hopefully we’ll be able to see even more of real Lao.

Lao is not very developed. Paved roads are not very extensive, nor are the transportation networks. Getting from the far-flung border town of Huay Xai to Luang Prabang involves several days of riding buses along unpaved roads. Thus, it wasn’t a difficult decision to buy tickets for the two-day boat ride to LP. We got to the pier (if you can call a bunch of boats lined up on a muddy shoreline a pier) early and were actually the first ones on the boat. We did have to wait two and a half hours, but it was worth having “good” seats for the next eight-plus hours. I put good in quotes, because all the seats were closely-spaced hard wooden benches with upright backs- we just picked a bench closer to the front and moved the bench a bit to give us plenty of leg room. I really enjoyed the boat ride. The river is brown and green gentle slopes rise away on either side. The banks alternate between rocky banks and outcrops and sandy flood banks that would be beaches. I say would be because the sand is cultivated with vegetables- sweet peas, corn, etc. I didn’t know you could grow much in sand, but I guess the Mekong nourishes the crops. Besides these little plantations there were other signs of life. Men check their fishing lines and cast nets from their small boats, women wash clothes, and kids swim in the water or jump and flip off the rocks. In the mornings and evening, the banks are filled with groups of men and women bathing in the river. There wasn’t really any wildlife, unless you count one watersnake we saw slithering across the rivers surface. The boat stopped every few hours to let some Lao off at their village.

our boat

sandy banks with crops planted

rocky banks showing high-water lines
Last night we stopped and spent the night in Pak Beng. It’s a one-street village and owes its economy to the fact that its halfway between Huay Xai and Luang Prabang. The small place was only guesthouses, restaurants, and dry-good stores- without the daily boatload of travelers, it’d be no better off than any other village. We ate dinner with a couple of Americans on holiday from teaching in Shanghai and then returned to our guesthouse for an early night. We woke up early again today; Joylani to secure some good seats and I to buy provisions for the day’s journey. We left a bit late, but the motor stopped only a few minutes after departing. We just drifted with the current for a few minutes, while the crew was shouting amongst themselves in Lao. The rudder was useless in the strong current and it became apparent that we were going to slam into a rocky outcrop on the right-hand bank. While they all yelled at one another, two of the crew ran up to the bow and began stripping all their clothes. The first one down to his briefs grabbed a rope and dove into the river. He swam perpendicular to the boat, although the current was moving him downstream at the same speed as us. When he reached the rocky bank 20 or 30 meters away, he climbed up on the rocks and pulled the rope tight against a pillar of stone. Just in time too, as we watched the slack rope rise out of the water and snap tight. It stopped the front of the boat and the back swung around until we had done a 180. Stopped against the current, the crew pulled us in to the riverbank and worked on the engine for an hour or two. I passed the time reading, before I decided to hop out and take a few pics of our stranded vessels. When I saw another boat like ours coming down the river, I scrambled down from the rocks and onto our boat in anticipation of the chaos I could see about to erupt. After two mornings of claiming and defending seats, people went crazy when this new boat pulled up parallel to ours. Everyone on our boat migrated to the side next to the new boat and began throwing their bags in. No need for planks or ropes to get across, people were climbing out of the windows to step or jump across; old ladies, kids, even Joylani Scarcity of anything can make people selfish or territorial, but I’d never seen it like this before. The other thing was that our new boat didn’t have any benches, so people were jumping in, sitting down to claim their floor-space, and then strategically arranging their bags or stretching their legs to defend it. Once all in, we looked like a boat people.

crew member that jumped, swam, and roped us to a rock

our new boat
Except for the occasional rapids, the portion of the Mekong we’ve been on yesterday and today has been extremely flat. Although debris in the water indicates that the water is moving quite fast, the surface is glassy and smooth. But the glassy top layer hides the turbulence beneath. Circular ripples and swirls appear from nowhere, giving the water the appearance that sometimes follows a waterfall or a boat’s wake on a calm day. But one of the coolest things are the many whirlpools we pass. Besides the thin vortexes that peel of my kayak or canoe paddles, I’ve never seen anything like them and certainly never naturally occurring like these. Joylani says the ride is kind of boring, but I’m content to stare out at the famous Mekong or admire the green hillscape of Lao. And that’s exactly what I’m going to do now, until we get to Luang Prabang.