Three things I forgot in the last post. One, the power in Luang Prabang cuts out randomly for random lengths of time. One day, part of the town didn't have power for five or more hours. Maybe that particular one was due to the storms that have been hitting the area, but the power would cut out at least once a day even on the sunny days. Two, I was a bit in a funk when I was writing the last email. I don't really know why. It was after hanging out with the elephants. I came home and practically passed out, only to be awaken by my "take malaria pills" alarm shortly there after. When I woke, I was in a fog and a bad mood, but that mood lasted the rest of the night and I tried to avoid seeing anybody I knew. On the bright side, the next day the "boss" of the coffee shop allowed me to download music. I walked away with about 600 songs. Most hadn't heard, and a lot is jazz (there are a few gems but I will be deleting most of the jazz). I've gone through about half and am deleting about 1 in 8 songs. The third thing was that I found out that I will most likely not being receiving $1,000 of which I had budgeted into my trip. It involves a friend back home whom I lent money to. I don't know all the details or all the sides of what has transpired so it's not fair for me to speculate on here. Suffice to say that a combination of job loss and legal problems will no doubt put paying me as a last priority. I hope this not to be the case and I want to trust that this person can get their act together enough to pay me before I come home. It would be a bummer to have that issue waiting for me upon my return.
OK, now to the reason for this post -
I am in Huay Xai, a typical boarder town. I guess you could say that Savannakhet and Vientiane are boarder towns as well, but they don't really look or act like them. Huay Xai is a bit more typical and what I mean by that is that boarder towns generally are run down, ugly, and usually you need to use a little bit more caution with safety and security. Huay Xai isn't as bad as others I've been too, but it definitely has those elements. All throughout Laos I have felt very safe (with the exception of being outside the casino in Savannakhet late at night - I was with a bunch of travelers that wanted to go cause it was the only thing open past 10PM. I wouldn't have gone if I wasn't with them), but here, as I walked around today, I felt uncomfortable in a few areas of town. As in, I won't be going there after sunset.
The reason for me being here was to get a spot on the Gibbon Experience. I had talked to about a dozen people during my time in Laos that did it. Every single one said that it was the best thing they had done in SE Asia. That's not exaggerating their reaction; it was the best. It's a bit pricey - about $250, but it sounds incredible. So, regardless that I'm low in funds due to the above, I am going to do this and scrimp a bit in Europe (hopefully, the friends I've made will shack me up). Usually, you need to make reservations in advance (up to 6 weeks) and I did try to email them a few days ago without getting a response. So, basically, I came up here hoping that maybe there were cancellations and I could, being only one person, sneak in. My visa runs out on the 7th and the Gibbon Exp. is a three day venture, so I had planned trying every day to get a spot up till the 4th of July. If I wasn't able to get a spot, no loss, Huay Xai is on the way to Chang Mai, Thailand anyway.
I took the slow boat on Wednesday from Luang Prabang. The alternative is a long ass bus ride or a speed boat. The speed boat is more expensive, uncomfortable because the seats are wood, it's not covered, and there's no bathroom, and lastly, it's really dangerous. It's a shitty little wooden boat going up a river with no visibility and you are supposed to wear life jackets and HELMETS. I've heard some unverified horror stories about them. So, they were out. I decided against the bus because with all the rain, there are a ton of land slides. A couple I talked to on the elephant trip had taken a 12 hour bus ride that in reality was 22 hours of clearing out slides and debris and assisting other drivers ahead of them while the Laos people just sat around amused. No thanks. As it turned out, the slow boat, while taking 2 days, was quite nice. The seats were minivan seats that had been removed and put on the boat and there was a bathroom (nicer than the ones on the Amazon boats). Plus, with the exception of one brief storm and a couple "rapids" (they were hardly a class I), the boat didn't rock back and forth, allowing for me to sit along the side and soak in some rays.
I loved the boat, highly recommended. In fact, all my boat travel has been wonderful (even the craziness of the Amazon boats) and I recommend water travel when possible. It does stop at towns along the way to let people off, and at a town over night whose name escapes me. I think it's called Pak Beng, it's almost exactly half the distance in between Luang Prabang and Huay Xai. The town's sole purpose seems to be to take in people traveling in between the two cities. It isn't very nice. Although, I did have a lovely dinner with some travelers - a Dutch girl named Marin and I think a brother/sister duo from Montreal, named Tom and Victoria.
The next day, it was back to the boat and up to Huay Xai. I had hoped to get to the Gibbon Exp. office before it closed, but totally walked right by it and didn't find it till about 10 min. after closing. I grabbed a room (most here suck) and convinced a couple other people from the boat to stay at the hotel I was. The three of us decided to have dinner together. The girl was a Korean university student named Say, who spoke little English. We did find out that she is going to school for TV entertainment with the goal of being a host on the Korean version of QVC. The dude, Pat, was originally from England, but had been living in Perth for some time. I found him fascinating. He had been an oil engineer, mostly platforms, for the last 30+ years. His job allowed him to travel extensively and sometimes live in really incredible places. He had many, many stories of his travels. Like how he bought a land rover in South Africa and, accompanied by two NZ chicks (too bad for him), drove out into the Savannah. This was in the 70's, so they were alone for two weeks. The way he described his experience was, "I'm not Christian, but I felt I had experienced Genesis". He also had been to Argentina during an oppressed time. To the Amazon. To SE Asia. Most of his what he felt his best stories were from the 70's where travel was much "wilder". Also, being a platform engineer, he told me that the accident in the gulf wasn't an accident. I didn't follow the technical jargon, but the way he put it was someone pretty high up had to make the conscience decision to avoid safety and engineering protocols. I now from my own studies in industrial accidents for my old job that BP has a history of ignoring safety protocols, so this came as no surprise. Pat really wanted to buy us dinner and I could tell it meant a lot to him to do so because we reminded him of younger him.The next day I woke early and waited outside the Gibbon Exp. office. I was told there was no spots for today and that I was to return at 10AM to find out whether they could sneak me in another day. As it turned out, I was able to aquire a spot on the 3rd. So, after tomorrow, I will be zip-lining around and sleeping in tree houses in the jungle. Don't expect to hear anything from me till I get to Chang Mai, probably around the 6th of July.
Later peeps, super excited about the Gibbon Experience
Tip: Don't lend money to friends
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