day off – three pairs of pants

11 December 201511 January 2021

Day 88 (Fri 11 Dec): Luang Namtha (day off)

Lao isn’t great on customer service. You walk into a shop or restaurant and often feel like you’re intruding and rather an inconvenience, dragging them away from their smartphone or TV.

One of two tops I bought for my trip is made from a Cool Max type of material and is perfect for travelling – comfy, quick-drying and very light (laundry is charged by weight) – but I haven’t found anywhere that sells them in SE Asia. Until today. But the sales assistant wasn’t exactly helpful – you’d ask for another size and she’d wander away, buried in her mobile phone.

Similarly, walking into the internet cafe, the owner and family were having dinner on a rug at the back of the shop. He just told me the internet was down and waved me away. It’s the same in many places, disturbing people from a particularly interesting YouTube video or something. It’s another reminder that in this part of the world, the physical boundary between home and business is blurred. Indeed, the walls of the restaurant I had dinner at today were full of family photos.

Found my first Laotian supermarket where the staff were very unsubtle about following me around. Did they really think that I’d steal something that, to me, is so cheap?

An interesting array of snacks, including dried fish, salted duck egg and what appeared to be some kind of meat-based product of various colours.

The supermarket was another giveaway that I’m in a functional, local town rather than a tourist spot. Other indicators include: food stalls that sell meat with a high percentage of bones, skin and gristle and not much actual meat, and; the main high street being absolutely dead by 8pm – all the locals are at home because their day starts at 5am.

The mini-spade I got with my my yoghurt was one of the highlights of my day:

Finally managed to get some laundry done and got my aforementioned t-shirt back, which someone described as “backpacker white”:

Then off through the gaggle of local sellers who’d taken a fancy to Rudy:

… to the night market

Then an early night in preparation for tomorrow – a few days’ relaxation was great, but I’m itching to get active again 🙂

1 December 201526 January 2018

Day 78 (Tue 1 Dec): Nong Khiaw (day off)

I lay in bed staring up at my mosquito net. I really didn’t want to leave. But I was due to catch the 11am bus back to Luang Prabang as my Mekong cruise to the Thai border left tomorrow morning. Once again, I kicked myself for making plans too far in advance – it means you can’t respond so easily to what’s going on. After the recent energetic days, a lazy day in the hammock on our balcony was very appealing.

But this is Asia. So I called the cruise agent and less than five minutes later my cruise was postponed to Sunday. In England, the administration surrounding this would be a nightmare. Here, when they just asked me to come into the office when I got back to Luang Prabang so they could “change my ticket”. This meant they’d cross out “Wednesday” and write “Sunday”.

Laos has surprised me. Talking to travellers earlier in my trip who’d been here, the general consensus was that “there wasn’t so much to do”, “two weeks will be enough to see it” and it was “behind” compared to the other countries on my itinerary. All three are utter rubbish. There may not be so many grand attractions, but there’s no shortage of things to see and do. Two weeks is enough if you go from Vientiane via Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang and then head to Thailand. But there’s so much more to the place and it doesn’t take much to scratch the surface (and, unlike Vietnam, it’s fairly easy to see the real Lao rather than the pre-arranged tourist version). And I’ve also seen little evidence that it’s “behind”. In fact, in many respects it’s more advanced. For instance, most major cities have a “smoke-free” policy (you can smoke everywhere in Vietnam except the explosives factory); only the remotest villages still make their dwellings out of bamboo and wood – most have at least a few made of concrete (unlike Cambodia); and infrastructure isn’t bad, not up to UK standards, I’ll grant you, but much better than I’d been led to believe.

It made me wonder what a UXO-free Lao would look like…

Awesome bug of the day:

And this is me blogging from the owner’s laptop (kindly loaned for an hour or so):

25 November 201526 January 2018

Day 72 (Wed 25 Nov): Luang Prabang (day off)

It looked like fight might break out. We were on Phonsi Mount, a classic place for a sunset photo (so I was told) and Baseball Cap had barged in front of Wife to get a better picture. Husband wasn’t happy. A minor ruckus ensued as Husband (with Wife standing loyally beside) assertively explained to Baseball Cap that this was not on, and ended with Husband and Wife walking away with their dignity intact whilst Baseball Cap hurled abuse after them in broken English.

The place was a scrum. It’d cost 20,000K (about £1.60) to climb the stairs with hundreds of other people. Most were very considerate. Some weren’t. The Chinese didn’t come out of it well. Again. Anyway, we all (Rudy, Simon and I) managed to get some money shots:

Then over to the other side where the moon was up:

Simon suggested we head off to the street food section of the night market. We soooo need something like this in my home town: quick, fresh, tasty and really cheap. Chicken on a stick from a stall run by three sisters (another Dibbler moment):

.. eaten sat at wooden tables and benches, of varying heights, underneath makeshift shelters:

Then back through the night market:

And that was the end of my lazy day in Luang Prabang. I like the place. Until the communist takeover in 1975, it was the royal capital and seat of government of the Kingdom of Laos, with the old town centre being designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995. With a laidback, touristy atmosphere, it reminded me of Hoi An and I could see why travellers would often spend much longer here than planned. After the motorbike incident (yes, much better thanks, although the bruise still hasn’t fully emerged), I’d decided to just do things the easy way. Via Phonsavan. My plans to nip up to Nong Khiaw and Muang Ngoi have been placed on the reserve list. I’ve been trying to plan my days, but gave myself some real time off here – no expectations, no itinerary – just doing whatever. Looking forward to tomorrow 🙂

Total random aside: those who know me know that I don’t really do Facebook, but with some downtime I had a quick browse… until I got to this post, which made me laugh, shut down and go out:

“I like to browse social media just long enough to hate myself.”

Remember, (anti-)social media isn’t reality 😉

1 November 201526 January 2018

Day 48 (Sun 1 Nov): Hoi An (day off, old town)

A day chilling in Hoi An. Having bought a tourist ticket, I felt like I should visit a few more of the sites. The Chinese Assembly hall was good:

… but without information boards, I didn’t really know what it was all about and, quite frankly, I couldn’t be bothered to research it. Sorry 🙁

And then I stumbled across the (free!) folk museum which contained traditional instruments:

And was treated to a performance by the resident artiste:

It’s interesting how every culture has developed similar instruments. Same, but different 😉

Walking past the Central Market:

… I noticed these two (see ’em?):

I thought she might be picking out lice (it can be a problem here) but on questioning and closer inspection, I realised she was picking out early-growth grey hairs. I’d noticed that Vietnamese have jet-black hair, seemingly immune to the bleaching effect of the sun. But not immune to a bit of grey. Personally, I’ve never seen the point. It’s a slippery slope… And explains why some of the old ladies are bald.

I ache after yesterday’s biking (it’s been a while as I’ve been travelling), but massage prices are high here, and I’ve been advised that the quality is variable. But then, suddenly, the price dropped from $25 to $15, for a decent spa the other side of the river. I’m not sure whether this was a RAOK* or because I’m nice 😉 or something to do with them seeing me blogging. However, given that she dropped me back at my hotel, too but wouldn’t let me pay her, I suspect that it was because she was nice 😉 I was gently pummeled back to life.

It was a good day to take off – it rained. Unfortunately, I think the rain has set in, which means my mountain tour may be slightly ill-timed. But I’m here now. So it’s now that I’ll go. I also managed to get my phone wet, so I’ve taken the precaution of removing it from its case and switching it off. Uploading and taking photos will cease for a while.

Oh, and I went for a swim in the hotel pool. Swam a few (short) lengths, tried to tumble and promptly choked. Turns out that my body has remembered the snorkelling. It wouldn’t let me exhale through my nose underwater. If you don’t do this, water goes up your nose when you turn upside down. Just couldn’t breathe out underwater. Oh my. How long to re-retrain? Luckily, it was another 5 minutes. Still not quite comfortable, but it meant I could get a few laps in. Astonished how quickly it’s forgotten its previous training.

And now to dinner and then bed – tomorrow I hit the mountains of central Vietnam 🙂

*Random Act Of Kindness

21 October 201526 January 2018

Day 37 (Wed 21 Oct): Phu Quoc (day off)

Yes, I know I just had one in Kampot, but I’m on holiday and, I’m in charge. Just had a few things to decide and arrange. And noticed that the bananas here are different – very yellow:

Today’s bug:

I first knew I’d over-ordered when the gas stove arrived… I keep forgetting the soup here is a real event. So my “light lunch” turned into a full meal (I didn’t eat again for over 6 hours!). Here you’ll see the drill: the soup (which finishes cooking on your table), the plate of rice, the small dipping bowl (on the right) and the dish on the left into which you transfer some of the soup. I’m a pro:

I wasn’t sure what these were, though:

It was delicious. I’d previously stopped at a place recommended by some westerners, but it was expensive and I didn’t want much. The kiwi owner suggested one of their lunch options. And why, for goodness sake, I thought, do I want a cheese and onion pannini (with NZ cheese), when just beyond your shoulder I can see the fishing boats pootling to and fro?

And the view here was great:

And I managed to get some Vietnamese Dong (VND) – and they’re plasticky. Very practical. I would post a photo, but I’m not sure it’ll get it across. I’ll bring some home, instead. Maybe. If I’ve any left 🙂