Destination Laos: Part 11 Phonsavanh

Phonsavanh was a classic small town, with few independent travellers headed this way, given the long journey from Vang Vieng/Luang Prabang. The shops were mostly scrap metal dealers and auto repair shops, lending the town a very industrial, 1950s feel to it, along with the sandy streets and the cold. There really wasn't, as i had expected, a lot of war scrap lying around - just the few scrap metal dealers, the bomb casings on display outside areas where backpackers frequent, and the uber light spoons that felt like, and supposedly were, fashioned from aluminium from downed American aircraft. Most of the main shops/services in Phonsavanh are located along a T-junction of streets, wander any further and the street goes completely dark.

So having arrived at a decent hour, i think it was near 6 in the evening, and having found a roof for the night, I set about exploring the town. Very authentic, the town, going about its business, unromantically and unapolagetically so, it being what i felt was a town booming of scrap metal wealth, the silver lining, i guess, in America's bombing campaign that made Xieng Khouang Province the most densely bombed place in the world. More bombs were dropped here than the total tonnage for the second World War in Europe, it is said.

The MAG (Mines Advisory Group) headquarters, right beside Crater's Bar where you'll find the entire backpacker population of Phonsavanh after 7, screens videos and provides pamphlets and brochures about the bombing campaign in Laos that has claimed many casualties. They also have shelves and shelves of the deadly cargo American bombers used to unload over the area. Donations to help with the finding and destroying of UXO (unexploded ordnance), and to aid local communities affected by them are very welcome and volunteers can contact the headquarters in Vientiane.

Had dinner at Simmaly's. Great, authentic and cheap Lao food, and in my humble opinion, the best place to graze in Phonsavanh, and one of the best food, matched with great friendly service (bananas and hot Chinese tea on the house) I've sampled in my travels. The atmosphere was great. Not al fresco dining under the stars, but a boisterous, honest, working class atmosphere where the locals relax over hot tea, beer Lao, cigarettes and a good meal after a hard days work.

Bumped into a few people i met on the road here, really surprising how often our paths cross really. What i love about solo backpacking partly is the many interesting characters you meet on the road, like the 60 something year old Malaysian guy in the Luang Prabang marketplace who sailed from Penang to Madras before making it overland to Italy, working on the way (he acted in Italy!), over a period of 4-5 years, in the 1960s. First batch of hippie backpackers. And from Malaysia no less. I think he probably saw in me himself 50 years back, and i was thinking, maybe that's where I'll be in 2048. Maybe.

Destination Lao: Part 10 Off to the front

Parted company with the great people i met in Vang Vieng today, after what has become our routine dinner at one of the roadside stalls in front of the temple. They were off to Luang Prabang while I would be off to the front to Phonsavanh, a key battlefield during the Indochinese Wars being on the road to Sai Gon.

What did i expect of Phonsavanh, known to locals as Xieng Khouang, being the new capital of the district where it takes its name from, the old one being devastated during the war. War relics and remnants of America's secret war in Laos, i guess, and the unexplained mystery of the Plain of Jars. Moving off at 0930 for an 8 hour (in theory) bus trip to Phonsavanh, and hoping the roads wont be too bad...

The bus failed to turn up. Which left a motley crew of backpackers constantly harassing the ticketing clerks, who supposedly "called" the bus and assured us that it was on its way. "5 minutes" soon stretched into 50.

In the end we managed to charter a minibus for the 7 of us for 75,000 kip each, around 8 US dollars. 5 and a half hours of travel later we arrived at Phonsavanh. The scenery on the road was stunning, winding across a huge mountain range - Just read on the bus that Phonsavanh is 2,000 metres above sea level or so, and one of the coldest places in Lao. Talk about being ill prepared. I wasnt quite expecting a beach, but thought it would at least be tropical.

I was wrong. Quote of the day: I know it was going to be cold, but not this cold. Heard from many a backpacker who had just turned up in town from Vang Vieng clad in the uniform of board shorts and flip flops. They must be doing a roaring trade in jackets and windbreakers here.

Left: A cold and dusty road in Phonsavanh. The photo above was spent shells being given new life as a brazier of sorts outside the place i was staying in Phonsavanh, the Phoukham Guesthouse. Party because i was lazy and it was right across the road from the old bus station where our mini-van stopped.


The place was all right - cheap at 4USD for a big room with a double bed, attached bathroom and hot water that lasts for a total of 10 seconds. Exciting lobby to check out with all the spent shells in a glass cabinet, TV, posters highlighting the dangers of UXO (unexploded ordnance, a major killer in rural areas as farmers attempt to extract scrap metal from them), and a cyber cafe. They also do organise tours to the 3 Plain of Jar sites, for 19 dollars.

Tuk tuk?

This is a continuation of my previous post...

2. Motos, tuk tuks and the like

While incessant offers of motos, tuk tuks, Skylabs and more from the same family can be irritating (especially in Phnom Penh Cambodia, I've found), i've come to really like these quientessentially Southeast Asian forms of transport. They're cheap, fun (zipping in and out of traffic) and exciting - part of the thrill comes from the crazy traffic, and skipping over gravel and skirting potholes huge enough to pass as craters once out of town.

3. The airplane taxiing down the runway, just before picking up speed for takeoff.

On a random note

Quirky things i've come to love backpacking in SEA:

1. Diesel fumes - Brings with it always the promise of adventures ahead, of a road trip to somewhere i have never been before. Reminds me of those cold mornings at the bus station, having to wake up early in the dawn to catch a tuk tuk/pick up to the bus station, and then huddling around in the dusty old bus depot, trying to spot the bus (not an easy task if you don't read the local language, and buses labelled Luang Prabang, for instance, may end up in Udomxai) and breathing in liberal amounts of diesel fumes as bus drivers warm their engines up. Especially love the Lao buses which look like a blast from the past, very retro and hippie looking with flowers hung over the license plates too.

Above: Cold morning at the Luang Nam Tha bus depot

Mornings as such are almost always spent trying to warm myself as much as possible (standing near the engines), with noodle soup and hot coffee being the preferred breakfast (which you can slurp down in a hurry), followed by a hunt for the toilet (toilet mafias, having a monopoly situation at bus stops few kilometres from town, charge exorbitant prices for these necessary visits before long bus rides). Then its off we go when they finish loading the cargo onto the bus - which from what i've seen thus far, could include motorcycles, live chickens, rice, bed frames, amongst other less interesting (and definitely more companiable) items.

A typical day at the bus depot thus involves an early morning crawl outof bed to get there early enough to get a ticket, finding the bus, getting on and putting some personal items on the seat to "reserve" it, which normally, for us backpackers, involve socks, mittens and old shirts (which we wouldn't mind losing), getting off to wolf down a quick breakfast at one of the stalls around the bus depot, looking for the toilet, and then getting on again, this time strapping our packs to the overhead racks as best we can to keep it from falling off and hitting some poor soul sitting under it.

Destination Laos: Part 9 Kayaking the Nam Song

Having tried tubing down the Nam Song, the number 2 activity on our to do list was kayaking down it, this time (being older, wiser and just thawed out) at an earlier hour - 9 o clock in the morning after a superb breakfast outside the Saysong Guesthouse of chicken sandwich and hot Lao coffee, perfect to kickstart the day and warms you up on those rather chilly mornings in Vang Vieng.

We dropped by Tham Xang (Elephant Cave), located beside a Lao Loum village reached after a short weave through the paddy fields, now yellow in the dry season with water buffaloes grazing idly nearby, and Tham Nam (the waterlogged cave - Im guessing it means River Cave literally?) later before making it by pickup to the start of our journey down the Nam Song. Tham Xang was so-so, a vaguely elephant looking stalactite, a reclining Buddha, a Buddha footprint made in stone and some nagas (mythical serpents guarding over the Buddha). The name is supposedly because an elephant once lived in the cave.

The nearby village was far more interesting, with chickens, dogs, the odd turkey (an USAID legacy, ive read) and pig wandering around looking for food scraps. Life goes on as normal, it seems, in the village, and there really weren't too many tourists around the area. Lazy, idyllic, as if time never passes, and even if it did were of no consequence, something i really love about small towns and villages.

After that it was by pick up, with our kayaks riding on top, to Tham Nam. Throuh the way, I was thinking, hell, we could have been filming an advertisement for kayaks/pickups, the scenery was just great, the wind on our faces, and especially the part when the pickup rolled out of the treeline onto the bank of the Nam Song, bumping over the pebbled shores and fording a tributary on the way. Hearing the rush of the water, the tinkling over the stones, worn smooth on the shallow river bed, smelling the scent of trees and traces of woodfire where the villagers were preparing lunch. What an ad that would make.

Tham Nam, where we visited and spent most of our time waiting (for the tubes to go in), was a once in a lifetime experience for me. By that, I mean, just that once would be enough - I doubt ill ever try it again. It had all the elements of a B grade horror movie - as mentioned in a previous post it was wet - not just damp, but filled with water that you have to take a tube in, following a rope which went missing in parts, into a narrow crevice. Claustrophobes also need not bother with this - The tunnel was at times so narrow that you had to bend backwards to avoid incapitation.

So what do we have now? Wet and claustrophobic. That leaves the darkness and the cold for me to moan about. It was pitch black. End of story - so really, how were we supposed to be enjoying something we couldn't see while at the same time feeling hopelessly lost (a perpetual feeling when it comes to caves), claustrophobic (imagine having a rock ceiling inches from your head 24/7 and water, water and more water under you, icy cold to the touch and making weird noises when it sloshes around the sides of the cave) and cold.

A reading off a Magellan by a half frozen Irishman revealed the water outside the cave (in bright sunshine) to be arond 15 Celsius. And to add to that our guide's joke (at least i hope it was) of crocodiles and snakes in the cave weren't exactly helping matters. But we survived, after losing orientation completely in one of the numerous chambers with mind boggling permutations of exits. Made it out into bright sunshine and I cant be more thankful. My insurance doesn't quite cover exploring caves Indiana Jones-style, i think...

Lunch stop of kebabs and fried rice, then the kayaks were unloaded once we hit the start off our 10 km river trip. Paddling down the Nam Song, all the while looking at that gorgeous scenery of tiny villages, trees, and mountains passing by, and fighting the odd rapids was fun. Yea. Really love the karst mountains that Vang Vieng is famous for. China may have nicer mountains, as some may say, but where else in the world do you get to kayak/tube down a flowing river, with crystal clear water no less, right beside those magnificent karst landforms? The evening scene was even more colourful and lively as the locals depend on the river for a variety of activities like fishing, bathing, washing and cooking.

We made a few stops along the way, mainly toilet stops, got a few fruit shakes (a tad more expensive, but excellent service and location - again, where else in the world do you find cocktails/shakes/ice cold beer right by the river for weary tubers/kayakers who are hauled up on bamboo poles. Throw in music and rope swings too.) before getting on our way. This time round, determined to get back to Vang Vieng town before it got too dark and we end up in Vientiane.

Life's a beach

Check out the most popular beaches of 2007, according to Yahoo users.

New update (its an oxymoron isnt it?) to my Philippines plan:

Flying out from Cebu to HCMC or BKK.

Right now i think the tix for both is roughly the same price at around 2,000+ pesos (40 USD). Can't decide on which one yet. From BKK to Singapore is definitely cheaper airfare wise, but HCMC is a more interesting destination methinks - thinking of checking out Chu Chi, the delta region, Phu Quoc... But on the other hand BKK is a more relaxing (HCMC is often decribed as a phantasmagoria of motorcycles), and i might want to go up to Ayutthaya, Sukothai before flying home...

Come Back Alive

Well it seems that some people aren't too keen on me going to the Philippines (hi Mom) seeing that she (the Ppines that is) has been making the news recently for all the wrong reasons - eg. making it on US Civil Aviation Authority's flights to check list joining the ranks of some other dodgy Soviet era airlines, the recent Manila bomb blasts, rebel troops taking a hotel etc... And check out this rather disturbing dossier on the Philippines.

Funny, really, after my near death experiences (i exaggerate) in supposedly "safer" places ie got lost caving (wet, dark, cold, claustrophobic - all the ingredients for a nightmare) in Vang Vieng, getting dead drunk (and lost too for the record) at 4am in Siem Reap, getting severe food poisoning in Pulau Pangkor to the point of dehydration, the Luang Nam Tha experience as i have come to call it (see below post)... Which i hope would be enough to last me for a lifetime. More than enough tales to tell the grandchildren. (assuming i survive till then of course)