laos update

It's amazing how much happens in so little time when you travel.  I feel like I can't keep up with all of the incredible people and beautiful scenery that come our way. 
 
We are currently in Pakse in southern Laos, one of the most bombed countries in history.  We are passing time on the internet waiting for a bus north to Vientiane, the capital.  We are headed north to spend some time in the hills before heading back to Northern Thailand.
 
Our trip to Laos has been truly an array of unbelievable experiences.  We took an overnight train from Bangkok to the border and were surprised to find that the train arrived early and we were still snug in our sleeping car.  They proceeded to disconnect our car from the rest of the train and we were on our way to the yard when we got someone's attention and they pointed us in the right direction (only about 100 yards from the station). It was pretty comical.
 
When we asked about the bus to Laos, we got alot of blank stares until a cute little old man arrived to help us and loaded us into his pickup, gave us a short tour of town, including his house, and then delivered us to the bus station. We waited for a couple of hours, met some kind Thai people, and I watched a German tourist toss his cigarette butt down on the recently cleaned street in front of the station.  I wondered to myself if he does that at home or if he was just doing what the Thais do.  It was a little disconcerting.
 
Anyway, we got on the bus, which dropped us at the border, where pretty much no English was spoken and we handed them our passports and $35.  Then we went around the corner and they charged us another $2 for something else (extortion fee, perhaps).  The whole process took less than 30 minutes and we were on our way to Pakse, where we spent the night in one of the dingiest hotels yet.  For a whopping $3.50, we had a bare room which actually seemed pretty clean, but luckily it wasn't well lit.  They did, however, serve really tasty Indian food.
 
We walked around the quiet town and ran into a woman from Tucson, AZ, who has been living in Laos for 5 years.  She just opened a new restaurant, so we stopped in and chatted about Laos and it's history and places to go.  It was good to get a local perspective from someone who spoke English.  She told us that to rent her restaurant space, which was a two story house with a bathroom and kitchen, she pays $800/year.  Wow!!!  THis is a totally different world.
 
The next morning, we hopped a bus to the south to Don Khon, a tranquil little island on the Mekhong River, where we basically hung out with a sweet Lao family for a couple of days.  Papa and his three young daughters were very welcoming.  He runs a guesthouse and restaurant and loves to drink Lao Lao, the Lao national drink made of rice alcohol (pretty bad homebrew).  We arrived and he was getting his hair cut in his back yard, so Eddie and I jumped on the bandwagon.  I'm not sure what the haircutter's real profession is, but I don't think he's been through the Paul Mitchell Design courses.  But the split ends are gone and he made 50 cents off of each of us.
 
Don Khon has several beautiful Buddhist temples and some really quaint villages which are all accessible by bicylce.  We cruised around for the afternoon and watched children swimming in the river, ladies working in the fields and enjoyed sunset at a beautiful waterfall, Li Phi Falls.  It's name means spirit trap because during the war, many of the dead bodies ended up caught in the falls after floating downstream.  A bit gruesome to think about when it looks so beautiful now, but it's the reality of war, I suppose.
 
THe next day, we went on a boat tour with Papa to see the largest waterfall (by volume) in Laos.  It was a gorgeous cruise down the river and he took us to a little cove where he jumped off of the little wooden canoe and started on a "trail" through the trees, over the river, across some rocks to view the thunderous falls.  He sat down next to the river in several places and said a prayer, fed it some Lao Lao and then helped himself to some.  He was pretty adamant about us joining him as well.  Eddie was a good sport, but I had to pass as I couldn't really stomach the stuff.
 
We sat and enjoyed the beauty and tranquility for a while and then headed back to the guesthouse for a delicious dinner, more Lao Lao and Beer Lao.  By that time, Papa was more than half in the bag and a couple of French cyclists showed up looking for a room.  Papa just kind of looked at them blankly, so I took over and made sure they got a room and Papa had some more business.  They had started in Mongolia about 4 months ago and had some great stories to share. 
 
The next day, we reluctantly had to leave Papa and the sweet little girls and head north. But not before some wake up Lao Lao and well wishes.  Papa and some lady we'd never seen before came out and tied white strings on our wrists for safe travels and while Eddie was force fed Lao Lao, the lady, Phetamy, took me to her house down the road and showed me pictures of her family, introduced me to her children, put an old butterfly earirng in my ear and sprayed me with perfume.  Of course, neither of us could understand anything the other said, but her biggest concern was giving me her phone number so I could call her -- hmmmm....not sure how well that call will go over.
Anyway, I finally convinced her I really had to go and just as we walked out, Eddie was coming to find me not knowing if he ever would.
 
We finally got on the boat across the river and then the bus to Champasak, a really cool little village at the base of a mountainside temple called Vat Phou, one of the oldest temples in Laos and recently named a World Heritage Site.  Its original construction dates to the fifth century, but most of the ruins are from the 11-12th centuries.  It was first a Hindu temple and then converted to Buddhism later.  We got to enjoy it early in the morning before all the tourists showed up and it was really impressive.  Huge pavilions, a long steep stairway and a gorgeous temple in which sit three very old stone Buddhas.  I sat and chanted in the serene setting for a while and it was very peaceful.  THere's also a spring that runs from the top of the mountain through the temple.  Of course, they sell the sacred water (can't get away from the exploitation).  As we were leaving, all of the vendors were arriving to sell their wares, which I would imagine appeal to nobody but the foreigners.  At least the local people are benefitting.
 
One of the best parts of the morning was that we rented a motorbike to go to the wat and it was pretty comical.  Eddie has never driven one and the last time I did was when I was 10 and I drove it straight into the side of a house.  Needless to say, it was entertaining, but we managed.  We even stopped to help a couple and their baby who had a flat tire.  Eddie walked with the guy while I rode his wife and baby to the shop in town.   Luckily, she couldn't speak English so had no idea that her infant was probably better suited to drive the moto than I.  But everyone made it safely and we had tons of fun.  Eddie did a great job too -- I had to practice relinquishing control and let him drive, which was a good lesson for me.  I'm still amazed at the amount of patience this man has!
 
So, we left this am on a bus, ferry and bus to Pakse.  On the way, Eddie helped a cute old lady to the ferry and then we chatted with Chay and Noi, two young Buddhist monks who were on our bus.  They were practicing English and invited us to their temple in Pakse.  So we were dropped off at the bus station and then got a tuk tuk to the temple.  Fortunately, one of the men sitting at the food stand in the parking lot happened to speak English and just happened to be the English teacher for the monks at the temple.  So he took us to the temple where we met almost all of the monks (one by one, they slowly emerged to check out the falang -- foreigners).  It is a new temple with several gorgeous Buddhas, many live rabbits, pigeons, catfish, a parakeet and a gibbon.  We had a really nice visit and made some new friends.  Apparently, all men in Laos go to the monastery for at least six months and then can decide whether to stay or not.