Laos: Deux

We drifted the Mekong with the Axners and ducked into several caves that were packed solid with Buddha figurines - gifts from worshipers. Most of the figures were "prayer for rain" (Buddha gesturing downward) and "stop arguing" (Buddha standing with hands out, in a double "talk-to-the-hand" gesture) poses, indicative of drought and war/genocide at the time of past worship.

While the Axners visited the waterfall (Kuangsi Falls [at left] - we visited them on our hillside trek) that afternoon, we walked a few miles of Mekong shoreline. We brought the iPod (along with our quintessential headphone splitter, so we could share the same aural experience). We listened to some experimental rock - a selection from Tortoise's TNT, some Four Tet, and a little Boards of Canada.

The instrumental, experimental tracks melded well with the colorful markets and expansive Mekong riverbed; as much as we wanted to hear Tom Waits' new box-set "Orphans...," his raspy narratives about hard living just don't cut it on this continent.

We'll catch up with you when we're back across the pond, Tom.

We ended the night with card games on the balcony over several 640ML bottles of Beer Lao, so as not to break the national curfew. We've been in bed at 10PM every night - it probably has something to do with the heat, the walking, and the rich dinner curries.

And now, without further ado - Unexpected Transportation Headache #1:

Our Thai Airways tickets from Laos to Chiang Mai, Thailand indicated a 11AM departure, so imagine our displeasure when we arrived at the LPQ airport at 10AM to find that the departure had been changed to 6:10PM. Instead of shaking our fists at the system (or at ourselves for not checking the departure schedule the night before), the four of us got a free ride back to town and treated ourselves to a classy lunch and traditional Khmu massages -60 minutes for $3.00!

You could certainly make the case that our massage frequency is getting out-of-hand, but we consider participating in massage as an authentic cultural experience, or something like that... but most importantly, the Axners had more massages than us in Laos!

The food here, aside from being dirt cheap, is delicious, and should be eaten with your bare hands with the aid of highland sticky rice (like Indian "naan"). The local beer (Beer Lao) has surpassed the other local lagers we've drank across Southeast Asia - most other Asian lagers have been under-hopped and poorly bottle-conditioned.

Luang Prabang

We found it. The town that most accurately and most peacefully speaks "Southeast Asia" to us is Luang Prabang, Laos. The town is at the juncture of the Mekong and Nam Chan rivers, and is considered the best-preserved town in the four-country region.

Its unfortunate 20th-century history affords it some intrigue as well; from '64-'73, the USA dropped over 2 million tons of bombs on the country, since the Ho Chi Minh trail (Northern Vietnam supply route) ran through Laos - making it the most heavily-bombed country per capita in the history of warfare.

Historically, the USA has had a negative or skewed impression of Laos - amidst the war in Vietnam, Secretary of State Dean Rusk stated that the country is merely "the wart on the hog of Vietnam." Today, it's not often considered as a tourist destination, and it's rarely worthy of mention in the news or in classrooms.

Well, we love it here. We've hiked to neighboring Khmu and Hmong hilltribes and waterfalls, we've roamed the markets, and we've visited a handful of temples, two of which were in caves.

We expected to hike through woods or forests on our excursion, but we found ourselves in the middle of a rainformest - tortuous vines, giant figs, banana trees, and bugs - lots of bugs. We didn't notice them until we sat down at a stream for lunch. Sara sustained some small bites on her sternum, but we're not medically concerned.

The hilltribe villagers were very polite - their children kept stalking us with caution, then when we smiled and waved, they'd laugh and disperse behind wells and baskets only to stalk again when we turned our backs. We were pleased with our guide's policy with the tribal visits: pay a small "tribute" to the official preservation fund for the tribes, but do not give or accept anything while in the village - this could encourage begging in the children (see: Cambodia).

The sky and sunsets here area bit hazy - we're told it's because of the dry season; farmers in the hilltribes burn their rice fields and there's no rain to bring the hazy particles back to the ground. However, it yields a campfire smell along the small villages - kinda nostalgic.