Keeping an eye on the heard. Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam.
Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam
Arrived today in Vietnam. Made the most spectacular border crossing I’ve ever made and so, so simple and through spectacular mountain landscapes. A guy asked me at the Vietnam border how the roads were in Laos. I said “I don’t know, I took the river.” I managed to cross the width of northern Laos by a series of river boats. A distance as the crow flies of about 250 miles and roughly 30 river hours. First, west for two days on down the Mekong river at the border with northeastern Thailand to Luang Prabang, Laos in north central Laos. Then two more days north and east up the Nam Ou river, a tributary of the Mekong to Muang Khoua, Laos. From there it was a slithering, slow bus ride through the mountains on a dirt track and low water crossings to the Vietnamese checkpoint. Tomorrow I head for Sapa in north central Vietnam.
On my last boat ride in Laos it was a packed and cramped as usual. Here, they fill the bus or boat with passengers until full, then wait for a few more to join just for good measure. A mother and her you son, maybe a year old, got on and sat across from me, knees touching mine. Also, I’m at least a foot taller than everyone else onboard. The baby was only wearing a shirt, no pants no diaper. I knew and I said to myself, that baby is going to go to the bathroom on this boat. As soon as she sat down the mother started feeding the baby rice. First putting it in her mouth, then spitting it into her hand and putting it in the baby’s mouth, mama bird style. Handful after handful of rice went into the baby. Twenty minutes later, then man next to me pointed at the floor where the baby had just taken a massive dump next to my foot. Perfect. We alerted the mother and she did her best to clean it up, then put pants on the kid only to take them off a few minutes later. It was awesome.
The scene this morning on the Nam Ou river as we crossed from Muang Khua at 6 a.m. I couldn’t tell from the other side what was happening until the boat rocked up to the bank right about where the two guys in the center are skinning the baby buffalo. I never even heard the screams.
Its been a year. It was only supposed to be a year. Im still a long way out in both time and distance and to be honest I cant really see the end of the road. Thats not to say I don’t think about home or being near to home, I just know that its not on my map yet, and I’ve got a pretty big map. I couldn’t be farther from home but I go there often. On the long, long rides between stops I wonder if things are still the same, they probably are. I think of what it will be like to be in America again and have yet to see a country that flies a bigger, prouder, flag than Americans. I think of what it will be like to walk up the wooden steps onto the porch and to the front door of my parents house. Then back down the stairs and over to the side door because the front door is locked but the side never is. I think about the things that will be the same, about the people that will be different and the people that I miss. I think about myself and if I will be the same, still a friend or a stranger. I haven’t been home much the past three years or so and have spent more time with my backpack and camera than I have at home or with friends and family. Im happy to think about these things. It would be simple to get on a plane tomorrow and be home for Christmas and get fat on something other than rice and stand in front of a fire and speak english with people and be genuinely happy to be home. But its not time yet and Im not ready yet. My goal wasn’t to travel for a year and return home. It was to travel around the world and not return home until I reached Oklahoma again or until I was broke. I hope the two coincide.
Laos
Peaceful. The mountains in northern Laos are peaceful and the towns and villages there are more easily accessed by river than by car. Traveling in a slow boat gives you alot of time to think, like “Why am I taking a boat again?” Maybe too much time. It’s not a hurried place, but I think thats good because I’m not sure that it could keep up or that it would even want too. It is still very undeveloped and transport is not exactly timely which gives you a chance to settle into where you are and observe the surroundings. I met a Laotian man,Sam, going the same direction as I during my last two days in Laos. He had been living in Australia the past 30 years working as a software engineer. His family had fled Laos in the 1970′s during Lao’s “Secret War” during which it would become the most heavily bombed country in SE Asia during the Vietnam War. After spending a year in a Burmese refugee camp, they were finally able to settle in Australia. His mother and father had fled Vietnam during the 1920′s during a deep famine to settle in Laos, only to forced out during the war years. Most of Sam’s family lives in Europe and Australia now and he was returning to Laos to accompany an elderly uncle to a hospital in Ha Noi, Vietnam. The short amount of time I spent with Sam he raved about the peacefulness of his home country and its people. I asked him if he thought Laos would ever catch up to the more developed countries in Asia and he was doubtful. Its communist and according to him still very corrupt in government and police forces. That may be the case although I had no bad feelings about Laos and no bad memories.
The vessel for the two day boat trip down the Mekong to Luang Prabang, Loas. All along the way everyone we passed stopped what they were doing to watch us pass and we likewise stopped to watch them. Im not sure if they were more interested in us or we them.
Monks collecting rice offering in Luang Prabang, Laos.
Thailand
Fisherman with his son on the island of Ko Pha-ngan, Thailand.
I didn’t find Thailand to be the paradise that I’ve heard it to be. Maybe I was in the wrong place or didn’t stay long enough but it just didn’t do it for me. Its very hard to get off the tourist trail in Thailand and if you use a guide book you are almost guaranteed to not have a unique experience. The main tourists places are so over-run with tour companies and taxi driver and bars that for me, it was off putting. It was unregulated, unbridled tourism at its worst. There are two main problems with Thailand: It is unbelievably beautiful and dirt cheap.
They say that acts of physical violence are rare in Thailand. During my first three nights in Chaing Mai in northern Thailand I witnessed two separate acts of violence. On the first night, a young German traveler was mugged and severely beaten in the street. He was staying in my hostel and came in the room about 4 a.m. crying and bleeding. He was attacked in the street where he was beaten and robbed of about $20 and an Ipod by three Thai men after leaving a bar. His first mistake was he was very drunk and his second was that he was alone. Some trouble is avoidable. In second occasion, a dude was driving down a very busy main street in Chaing Mai on a motorbike when he stopped immediately, jumped off his bike and started kicking, punching and screaming at girl in the street. He then went back to his bike, got a machete and began beating the girl across the back with the machete still in its sheath. No one around me seemed to be surprised by this or outraged. I have to believe they knew each other, it didn’t seem random. Both events gave me a very bad taste for Thailand. I’ve never even come close to witnessing violence while traveling and it happened in the same city with days. I was not sad to leave Thailand. I know there are better things there, better people, I must have just read the wrong book.
Muay Thai fighter and trainer in Chaing Mai, Thailand.
Muay Thai, Chaing Mai, Thailand.
They start off young in Thailand. These kids couldn’t have been more than 8 or 9 years old. Bets are always being taken during the matches even for the youngsters. They begin training at a young age, and if they can make it to even being a paid fighter both the fighter and the family can ensure a better quality of life in Thailand. I would imagine its more fun to fight than go to school. Its very similar to little league baseball of football with much pressure being lifted up on young shoulders. It felt a bit strange watching two 8 year olds battle it out for adults and tourists alike but I’m not sure thats its any different than watching your kids play football any friday nights or weekends.
Malaysia
Tea plantation workers harvesting tea leaves in the Cameron Highlands in central Malaysia.
I spent a few days in Singapore. I didn’t find Singapore to be just insanely clean and orderly in fact there are parts of the city that are borderline filthy and chaotic. It is however a shoppers Mecca and still the cheapest place in Asia, I have found, for electronics. Just don’t ask alot of questions and bargain hard. Its not a budget place so I didn’t hang around long and made a pretty simple border crossing into Malaysia where I made my way to the east coast and the beach. I was only supposed to spend a few days traveling through Malaysia and spend a good chunk of time in Thailand. After two weeks I didn’t want to leave Malaysia. It’s a very simple place, very easy to move around in. Very kind people, always inviting you for a drink or to join them for something. You are never a stranger and never alone if you don’t want to be. It is a muslim country so I think that alot of people on an SE Asia trip don’t spend a huge amount of time there because they feel it might be somewhat a closed or regulated place. But you miss out if you don’t plus its a huge bargain.
Some type of farm something. Malaysia.
Snooker hall. Malaysia. I was invited in to play. I was hanging around outside with my camera because it looked super creepy and I thought it was like a secret man cave or something. They were really friendly and invited me to play a game and I thoroughly embarrassed myself with lack of snooker skills. Its a good thing they didn’t invite me to play like dagger throw or flaming chainsaw toss.
Time is on this guys side. Malaysia.
Thats me, Travis, on the banks on the Mekong in Luang Prabang, Laos. It was tired that day.
