Laos is WOW!

Yikes - where to begin? (At the beginning dimwit!)

Arrived in Laos by crossing the Mekong river almost 2 weeks ago (not by myself - a boat brought me over), and have been in love with this country since getting here. Spent 2 days on a slow boat down the Mekong to arrive in Luang Prabang, a UN -designated World Heritage Site (for cultural value). LP is adorable - old French colonial buildings in a small town on the banks of the Mekong. In fact, we passengers didn't even realise we had arrived, it is practically invisible from the river. The first thing that greeted us on arrival is the Royal Palace, which had been thus placed originally to be accessible to visiting dignitaries. Now this tells you something about these people already - that they have a tradition of making other people feel welcome and comfortable. And this is the truth - these people are welcoming, gentle, quite shy, but immensely kind. They do not bargain (unlike Thais and Cambodians in the open air markets) and when some westerners get here they start haggling, having gotten used to it in other SE Asia countries. It is shocking to see people [who haven't even bothered to read the couple of pages on cultural do's and don'ts in Lonely Planet] haggling over 50 cents with someone who has spent three months handsewing a quilt and is selling it for a mere $30. Good God! I want to intervene sometimes to explain to the foreigners what they are doing.... it's sickening.

In Laos, 80% of the roads are unpaved; in some areas 1 in 3 children dies from malaria (this was told to me by a Laos trekking guid who had wonderful English) and the vast majority of income is generated from tourism. THere are signs of sustainable tourism, which supports local villagers and orphans but overall, the commercial boom has begun in Laos although it still could be diverted from creating yet another overcommercial tourist trade here. If you want to get the real flavour of Laos, read the travel book by Dervla Murphy (an Irish travel writer who has been writing for 40 years). SHe came here 10 years ago in her 60s and cycled the country for 3 months with a gammy ankle! Fabulous book as she stayed in the remoter areas with villagers and really got a feel for the people.

I headed to Vang Vieng after spending 5 days in LP (rolling around in bed for one day with period pain), and Vang Vieng originally was attractive to backpackers because there are so many beautiful hikes and caves to explore. However, it now has become the worst den of iniquity I have ever had the misfortune to stumble across. It now attracts thousands of young, alcoholic tourists who do nothing more than go 'tubing' (ahem) every day. They don't of course tube. Tubing involves getting into an inner tire tube and floating down a river leisurely for the day.

This involves sitting in a tube for 20 feet of water and then getting out at the first of 8 bars on the river, each one of them pumping Techno noise (I refuse to call it 'music' - the shite they were playing here is nothing more than loud percussion with lots of noise distortion to accompany it) and surprisingly hundreds of people waving around to it as if it were enjoyable. Now you can call me old, but truly, the whole experience would be 200% more enjoyable if they played some decent music, chilled out funk music, or even some Dylan, Bowie, Beatles (for classic good music and lyrics), Sigur Ros, Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance and Royskopp (for the psychedelic touch), et c....

At the bars, people drink buckets of liquor. No. Literally. Buckets. I have seen them with my own eyes, and they are shaped like a bucket, constructed like a bucket and utterly resemble a bucket in every way. (Kiddies' beach buckets that is). So people get tanked pretty quickly on these things and of course, when climbing over rocks to get to and from the bars as well as swinging off ropes and trapezes, there are a few casualties here every year. I met one girl who had 5 stitches in her chin as well as half her cheek missing - surprise surprise! She had been tubing the previous day!