Still, I needed to get out of Bangkok as quickly as possible. The first thing I did the next day was book a bus to Vientiane Laos. Then, the backpack thing. Then, a couple new books. I've been looking for The Celestine Prophecy
based on a recommendation from Golden, and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I didn't find either. Not that they aren't out there, just that when you go to a book store or whatnot, the books are stored happenstance. It is quite frustrating trying to find specific books as I'm sure you can imagine. However, there is something to it. In a way, it allows you to find things you weren't sure you were even looking for. I ended up picking out Dan Brown's new one (see book review below) and Into the Wild
. I didn't know I was looking for them, but as I was looking for those specific ones above, they were the books that vividly stuck out.It was a night bus again. They are never fun. Never. No matter what, they always are doing something that doesn't make sense for a bus you are supposed to be sleeping on. This one decided that even though we left at 7PM, dinner should be at 12:15AM. That means it totally fucks up your sleep. I didn't even bother going to sleep beforehand. Another thing that they like to do is turn out all lighting at 8PM. This is when they decided you need to sleep, although no white person coming out of Bangkok has been going to bed prior to midnight the entire time they were there. The last thing that this bus did, which many do, is play loud Thai music. Thankfully, this one was just the drivers speakers, but I was close enough that even with earplugs it was still quite loud and annoying.
Oh, Valium here is over the counter and stronger than in the states. I haven't bought any, but two guys on the bus provided us some needed humor on a tiresome trip. One Brit in particular was handling it quite poorly. When we stopped for food at midnight, he was visibly disoriented and tried to get on the wrong bus. Thankfully, the Thai guys with the bus company were nice guys and not only saw to it that he got on the correct bus, but later filled out all his Laos visa docs, had them process it, and almost practically carried him over the boarder. This guy was still disoriented when we arrived at 9ish in Vientiane (that's over 12 hours after I'm guessing he took it).
During dinner, I ended up talking to Chris from NZ. He knew of a good place to stay in Vientiane, but we couldn't check in because we were to early. With the exception of a 3 hour nap I took, we ended up hanging out the entire day. First, we had a couple beers at 10AM, then after said nap we met up to eat and have a couple beers, followed by meeting up with some Laos people he had befriended during a previous visit, including a girl he was sorta dating when he'd come to Vientiane. This girl ended up taking all of us around to a few places that night. The next day I saw Chris back in the bar pretty early. I realized that even though he is only a couple years my Junior, he is still very much in party mode. He was a nice enough guy, but I had no interest in that lifestyle.
I decided I needed a couple days to decide what my plans were. In the meantime, I found that the cafe next door served excellent real coffee (ie drip coffee, not espresso). I also rented a bike and went to see some of the national monuments. The symbol of Laos is a Golden pyramid, but when you get close you'll see that it needs a lot of restoration.
You'll notice as I write about the places I've been, there isn't much to say. That's because there isn't much to Laos in the excitement department. That's not why people come here though. If I were to write a slogan for Laos it'd be, "Sleep and Smile" and maybe throw a beerlao in there. People go to Thailand cause of the beaches, the food, the diving, the cool/cheap things to do, and the anything goes attitude. People go to Laos to chill out, meet really great people, and not spend hardly any money. It is is conceivable to spend $15 a day here for everything.
I took a bus to a place called Kong Lor village, which has a massive 7km cave nearby. I shared a bus with 5 other travelers - three from Germany: Jo, Sonja, and Max, one from Holland: Martha, and one from Spain: Ima. If you haven't noticed, I've gotten extremely good with names. For those that have known me a long time, you'll remember that I used to be terrible with names. I am a numbers and visual information person. I could remember a face from a brief encounter years back and usually place the person, but a name of someone I met 3 seconds ago? I don't know why I've gotten better at it, I just have. And it's not just that I've been working on it, it seems to have happened virtually overnight a few months ago. The most I've done so far is a group of eight off one round of names. Though, I have to say if it's a hard name in, say, Thai, I won't register it. Forget it. Back to the story... In normal fashion, the bus took a few hours extra to get there, so we couldn't go to the cave that day. We all divided into twos and split rooms. I shared mine with Jo. I think out of all the people there, I got along with Jo the best. Plus, I found out that Jo was from Munich and I told him I was aspiring to make Oktoberfest this year, to which he gave me his info and told me he show me the ropes from a local's perspective. Or, he'd show me the best tents and how to get into them without a table reserved (you have to reserve a table almost a year in advance now in the best tents).
The village of Kong Lor is very tiny. There is no store, no gas station, and don't even think about an ATM. There are a few home stays and two guesthouses with restaurants attached. They are so trusting in Loas, that we didn't even pay for dinner till we asked to pay as we checked out in the morning. We woke at about 7:30AM to see the cave. Everyone wanted to get out of the village to Savannakhet that day, but I was debating on whether or not I wanted to stay another night or two, to go to another town to arrange a moto and do what's called the "Loop", or go back to Vientiane. I figured I'd decide while we were spelunking. When we got to the cave, we were a bit lost on what to do. Jo was quite concerned with organizing a tuk-tuk back to town for after the tour, but the Laos guys thought he was confused. You take a boat into the cave and they thought he wanted one of those, so when he'd say tuk-tuk they'd exchange looks and then stare at him. I tried to tell him that it was fruitless, but he kept trying. Eventually, I convinced him that'd we'd get one easily when we got back from the boat cause that is how they knew things to work. By the time we were organizing a boat, it started pouring rain and they wouldn't take the boats out till it let up.
As it does, the rain stopped after about twenty minutes and off we went. The cave is a limestone cave that is 7km long and connects one village to another through the mountain. I've never been in a cave where you connect out the other side. Inside the cave, you putt around in boats that have two Laos people and three tourists. Bring a headlamp if you have one. Even though the guides have them, it's still really dark as you go by boat. There is one section you jump off at and walk where it's lit so you can seem some stalactites/mites and columns. Exiting the cave on the other side was my favorite cause you come out surrounded by jungle and giant cliffs. A Canadian couple that ended up joining us in the tuk-tuk later and I enjoyed the cave, but the others were complaining a bit that it wasn't spectacular. I mention that so that you don't go expecting something and having it turn out to be opposite. It's a big long cave that you take a boat through to the other side (and back) of a mountain in almost total darkness. If you don't like the sound of that, it's probably not for you.
In any case, there was a large tuk-tuk waiting for all of us when we got back. We picked up our stuff and at that time I decided to go see about renting a moto. The tuk-tuk took off trying to catch up to a bus that supposedly left already. It never caught up and ended up taking us to another town three hours away so that the group could catch a bus to Savannakhet. Along the way, I tried not to listen to Max and the Canadians: Alexa and Pat, talk about the worlds problems. I usually find that people either talk about them from a western perspective of how to fix them, which means they don't understand the people and motivations, or they perceive problems that in my opinion don't really exist. Max (German) kept talking about how most solutions revolve around the poor and uneducated. I got the sense that he was classist because he seemed to equate poor and uneducated with dumb and unmotivated. That's a very easy thing for someone who has had money his whole life to say. These are the people who feel societies faults the hardest, and when it comes to a point that they feel is too far... Well, expect a revolution. Being that he didn't seem able to put himself in their shoes, he couldn't see that just cause they are poor and uneducated that they may be quite happy. One of the things I've noticed the most and heard from fellow travelers, is that those who have the least give the most. And generally, just cause they don't have a formal education or many material possessions, they are still happy (sometimes more so than those that have those things). It is difficult for most of us (even I have to constantly remind myself to open my mind) to think that someone who is poor or who didn't get to go to school could possibly be happier than us. I mean, they have nothing and we have everything.
Where most of the problem comes from is when they see us with all these things and throwing money around when traveling or on TV, and they don't understand the differences in our cultures and the sacrifices they'd have to make to have all these things - things they have in abundance like time and what comes with it: ability to enjoy much of the little things we can't, time with family creating strong families and amazing children, etc. Because we are wealthy and can't understand their world, we assume that ours is the one correct way to live. But it isn't. There are many, many ways and most cultures have a way that works well for them already in place. I employ people traveling, no matter what type they are (see travelling techniques) to tread lightly and if they encounter want, try to show them what we have to give up for material wealth. What I mean by tread lightly is to not wildly spend money. I don't mean you can't have any fun or occasionally splurge, just be discrete.
The most complained about thing from travelers is when a place is spoiled by westerns. Let me be totally clear, it is impossible to leave no trace in traveling. You will always leave a footprint. Your goal should be to leave as small of one as is possible. This will help preserve a culture's independence (and thus why you want to go in the first place) for as long as possible.
Though I've gotten wildly off track on my soapbox, this will end up applying later to a discussion I had with a Savannakhetian. Lets get back to the story for now and you'll see what I mean when I get there.
When we got to the place where I could either organize a moto or continue by bus south to Savannakhet, I felt the "push" to go with them. I rationalized it as it is the rainy season and renting a moto would be expensive and wet, and that I enjoyed these guys company and wanted to go with them. However, I felt that I should go with them. So, I did. When we got to town, out come all the LP's that people can't live without, to which the Canadians shared my views on. We followed the LP to a place that was not only much further than the LP said it was from the station, but was also no longer in operation. Surprise, the Lying Planet was up to it's old tricks. We ended up walking to a place nearby cause it was getting late for Laos (9PM) and things would be closing soon. The place was a dump, but we were all too tired and worried about missing dinner, that we settled. Jo and I split a room again for a total of 35,000 Kip ($2 each).
We skipped showers for the moment and found one place still open for food. If you come to Savannakhet, know that almost everything closes at 9PM. You may find a bar outside the downtown area (about 5 square blocks) open till 11PM. The group decided they'd move on in their separate directions the next day because they felt that there was nothing to this city. I decided I'd switch guesthouses and stay a few days. I didn't want to have come down this way just to turn around the next day.
The next day we all parted ways after finding a really great little cafe. I told Jo I planned on his expert local suave for Oktoberfest. Then, I found a guesthouse for 40,000 Kip ($5) a night that was infinitely better. I walked about the downtown area. Savannakhet is a strange place. It was a French colony, then housed Chinese and Vietnamese. There are many buildings left over from the French, all of which are crumbling. They are pretty cool to see, but get old fast, no pun intended. The downtown area is along the Mekong, which is pretty wide at this point. Thailand is on the other side and this is one of the larger boarder crossings with Thailand. My first impression was kinda that this place had nothing to it other than a few old buildings. But it grew on me over the next couple days.
That afternoon, I had a conversation with a monk student, Leen (I think), who was charged by his monk to plant a tree. He, as well as some other Laos people, stopped by to check out the Phalong (what they call us whities and is not disrespectful). He spoke some English so we chatted a bit about nothing in particular. I felt like helping them with shovelling some dirt for the tree, but he wouldn't let me. I figured it would have been disrespectful, so I didn't push. I was hoping I'd run into him again over the next day or two, but never did. It was threatening to rain, so I headed for a tiny public plaza along the river that was covered.
As I was writing in my journal, another Laos person started talking to me. Phalongs are local celebrities here - everyone wants to talk to you and you get people following or rubbernecking. Kids love to shout the only English they know at you, "hello" and "fuck you" though I don't think they really understand what it means. Everyone says "hi" in Laos or just smiles at you. Anyhow, this guy starts talking to me as I'm writing. What seems like just another conversation with the basics of where, what, how long, etc. turns into a really in depth confusing conversation. After some high school girls leave he dives right into what he really wanted to know; why westerners are like they are about sex, drugs, appearance, money, and some other stuff. Also, it begins to rain too hard to leave so this interrogation into western society lasts over a half hour.
He grouped all white people into Europeans, so every question was "why do Europeans..." One thing about Laos people is that they don't really care about things. This continues into conversations. What we'd consider tacky to talk about with a stranger, they don't. Some specific funny questions I got was "why do Europeans shave their genitals?" "Why do they not where underwear?" "Why do they have sex so easy?" (as in promiscuity) "Why do they love drugs so much?" "Why do they come here to have sex with lady boys?" and some others I forgot. He told me about a European girl he had sex with a few weeks ago in detail. He wanted to know my experience and why there are differences between girls of different ethnicities. I didn't have a lot of answers for him, but that didn't matter. A lot of what he wanted to know was in the sexual department, but there was deeper things on his mind. There were two things that I think were particularly troubling him.
One, was "why do they come here to have sex with or marry our women?" He even had a guy ask him to find him a Laos woman to have sex with. He didn't outright say it, but his eyes were saying it, "this is fucked up, please stop". I say, I have to agree with him. I couldn't provide an answer. I think it is a bit fucked myself that people go with the sole purpose to have sex with someone from a specific country or ethnicity. I can't really explain why it bothers me, but I can totally understand why it bothers him. I think it's a bit like they are hunting for a head to hang on their wall. The people are materials for collecting, not people. I know we can argue that it takes two to tango, but when you listen to why he believes that these girls "give it up", it really seems one sided. The way he describes it is that they see it as "a way out". Sure they are using the man, but it's like saying the gambler is using the lottery. They are banking on a one in a million shot that anything comes of it. The other part of that is the old men who come to find a wife. That's even more fucked on levels I can't even begin to literate. I don't have a problem with people who come and end up fucking or meeting someone that they end up marrying, it's the pre-intent to do so that is disgusting.
The second thing that bothered him was western, esp. travelers, ideas of friendship. He told me how he made some friends in Vang Vieng and they never wrote him any emails or anything. He was visibly hurt by this. I was going to try to explain how many westerners view friendship and the possible reasons for it, but it was a bit complex even for me. FB gives a bit of insight into this. If you look at most profiles (ignoring the friend whores, who get some sort of validation from having as many "friends" as possible), people have many friends and of these many friends, they speak to about 3% on a regular basis. They may speak to about 10% on rare occasions, but never speak to the rest of the 90%. I do the same thing so don't think I'm getting high and mighty. I'm using this as an example of how westerners view friends. We have an elite inner circle, followed by an small amount of people we will talk to if need arises, then the rest were what travelers know well, friends of the moment. These are people that we spent time with, maybe even had a real bond with, but that we know and they know, that we will likely never speak again even though we exchange info. There are people you meet that you have a real connection with and may fall into the 10% category above. Very very rarely, there's even the 3% person (I don't think I've met one of those yet), but 90% will fall into the friends of the moment. You may laugh, you may cry, you may do things with these people you wouldn't do with your friends back home, you may spend a very special bond, but you will probably never talk to them again. And you'll know it during that info exchange ritual too. Now, try explaining that to someone whose English isn't good and doesn't have any understanding of western culture. I'm probably the first person he asked about such things. The only thing I could come up with was that we have very different cultures. I had noticed something unusual in his behavior too. He kept a physical distance from me. He spoke quietly, so I would have to take a step closer to hear him. He'd very casually step away after I started answering him. It was subtle though. I ended up "chasing" him for about ten feet before I noticed and would back away as I answered. He did this the entire conversation and I think it had something to do with the friends thing.
Bringing this back to the above request I made, I tried my best to explain that the cultures are very different. Esp. when he was talking about certain things like money and family values. I did my best to ever so subtly explain that in order to have and do these things we give up a lot of things and that he is rich in things that we are not and want to have. However, do to our sacrifices for material want, we gave up those things, as would he.
The most interesting thing I took away from this conversation though, was how Thailand and Laos feel about one another. I found out that the town across the river was part of Laos until "war 2". Now part of Thailand, I asked if they recognized themselves as Thai or Laos. He told me that Thai for sure. Thailand is more developed and they think of themselves as higher class. They apparently look down on Laos. So, the people of the town immediately starting thinking of themselves as Thai. He said they talk shit about Laos, even though it was not long ago that they were themselves. What I really liked was what he said next. "They talk down on us, but Laos don't give a shit. We proud to be Laos". I had to appreciate this point and I hope he was able to see connections to the other things we were talking about. He should be proud, Laos is super cool and the people are super cool. But more than that, be proud and happy with who you are. Be tactful, but proud. Every good person of every culture is the best person on earth.
The next day, I rented a bike and rode around the outer neighborhoods of Savannakhet. I highly recommend doing this everywhere because this is where the heart of most towns/cities is. Seattle is the same way. Downtown sucks, where the cool places are to go surround it - Ballard, Fremont, Greenlake, Capital Hill, U-district, Greenwood and Phinney, Wallingford, etc. These places have real character. That's the way most cities work. I know San Diego is the same way. Austin. Portland. Boston. Blah Blah Blah. It turns out that Savannakhet has a lot to offer if you look behind the veil.
Anywho, I'm on my way back north to Vang Vieng via Vientiane. I'll spend a couple days there. I might try to go to the Plain of Jars for a day. Likely, I will do the famous tourist activity of tubing the river, which is lined with bars, then spending a day recovering before moving on to Luang Prabang. Other than a book review below, that's all I got for yall. Later peeps.
Book Review: The Lost Symbol
. This new one by Dan Brown doesn't disappoint the Dan Brown fans. As in, it's classic pain in the ass Dan Brown story telling. I love and hate him at the same time. I hate how it takes him 40 pages to reveal one thing. It goes on and on slowly drawing out some piece of the puzzle. When I read it I go, "god damn it! Quick blowing smoke up our ass and out with it already. Knock it off asshole!" Plus, some of what he thinks is major plot twists or puzzles are predictable. One of the biggest plot twists in the book I had guessed about 3/5ths of the way through (and then had to wait 150 pages before he was finally out with it!).What I love about Dan Brown is he does his homework and isn't afraid to punch religion or societies in the nuts. Many things that references or reveals I never knew before. Things like the origin of sayings, symbols and traditions, or how historical people of mention had more to them then we are taught.
I enjoyed this book. I'd put it in between my favorite The Da Vinci Code
and the lesser Angels and Demons
(I know he has others, but I couldn't even deal with the absurdities of Deception Point so I'm ignoring them). It was cool cause it has a ton about the beginnings of America and a lot of the Masons and other societies. Though, he didn't sell me on the big secret at the end like he did with the other two books. In fact, it was a little bit of a let down finding out what the "lost symbol" was. And the main character seemed a bit too suspicious of everything given the secret at the end of the Da Vinci Code, which is referenced a couple times in this book.What I found particularly interesting about this book, is that much of it focuses a lot on atonement; or it's origin of "at-one-ment". At-one-ment being man's search for his relationship to the universe. I pondered a bit as I read it, why it was that this book really stuck out to me. I'd be seeing it around at the street vendors because it's a popular book, but I still felt a strong desire to read it. I ignored that desire until the bookstore, where it impressed itself on my conscience out of all the books there. It seems quite fitting that as I have begun my unwitting search for my at-one-ment, that this book would find (force) it's way into my hands. It even provides some ideas further reading in the story. I found myself really amazed with the Mason's beliefs and how close to what I've felt and slowly am putting together famous powerful people in history did.
PS. Ivy has agreed to do a guest post about her side of her time traveling about with me. I was hoping it'd be done prior to my next (this) post, but since it's not, they will be slightly out of order. Just keep in mind that it was supposed to follow Cambodia, Thailand, Ivy, and Jason/Angie
I love u Dylan......yo pops
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