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The Big Trip Report Number 13-Sabaidee and Pimai Lao - Thu, 24 Apr 2003
Aka "hello" and "Happy Lao New Year" (more
of which later)
We last left you on the Mekong on the way to Phnom Penh. Here we were greeted
by a massive rainstorm, owing to the lack of proper drainage (or any other infrastructure)
we had to wade through thigh-high water to find a guesthouse. Cambodia feels
like the Wild East. It is incredibly corrupt with many problems dating back
to the days of the Khmer Rouge (KR) and Pol Pot. If you have the money anything
goes, including shooting ranges where you can fire all kinds of automatic weapons
at all kinds of targets, even live animals, we were told! Unfortunately the
tourist and foreign aid money seems to line the pockets of the wealthy few while
the majority of the population remains on the breadline. There are far more
street kids and beggars (including many amputees) here than in other Asian countries.
This was a little depressing, however despite the poverty and hardships Cambodians
are very friendly with great smiles.
We caught a glimpse of the horrors of the KR regime by visiting Tuol Sleng,
the 'Auschwitz of the East'. This was a former school where the KR tortured
and murdered tens of thousands of Cambodians and foreigners. In total 20% of
the population died under this regime.
Fortunately one of the few things the KR didn't destroy was the Angkor temple
complex (seen briefly in Tombraider). Built by the Angkor kings (well, their
slaves actually) about 1000 years ago, they are one of the man-made wonders
of the world, on a par with the Egyptian pyramids and the Great Wall of China.
We took yet another boat trip up to Siem Reap to spend 3 days exploring the
temples. We hadn't realized that April is the hottest month of the year here
(about 35 C, 90 F), so we went temple visiting in the early mornings and late
afternoons, trying to cool off out of the sun in the middle of the day. The
amazing thing about Angkor is the scale and variety - huge temple mountains,
stone elephants, massive royal swimming pools and huge fantastic gently smiling
stone faces. It is impossible to describe. You'll just have to come and see
it for yourselves.
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It was then only a 3 hour flight on that well known airline Lao
Aviation (not as scary as you might think) to Vientiane, the capital of Laos.
Laos is incredibly quiet and laid back (despite being the most-bombed country
in the world, although maybe Iraq has recently overtaken them), great after
the hustle and bustle of Vietnam and Cambodia. It was refreshing not to be constantly
accosted by touts and vendors. We explored the city's countless wats (temples)
and thats (stupas) by bike. It was still stinking hot so by the end of the day
we deserved and needed a nice cold Beer Lao (only 70 cents for a half liter!),
the only product they seem to manufacture in Laos.
We then went north to Vang Vieng, a backpacker haven with many guesthouses and
pizza restaurants set in gorgeous karst limestone mountains. We spent a few
days here chilling out, kayaking, exploring huge cave systems by candlelight,
and tubing down the river. The latter made more enjoyable by the numerous floating
bars along the route ready to refresh you with Beer Lao or the local hooch Lao
Lao!
This is when we found out that mid-April is New Year in this part of the world.
In Laos they take the celebration very seriously, 4 days of public holiday,
but many people take the whole week. This is a Buddhist country and the New
Year tradition is to cleanse the Buddha images and each other with water for
good luck. Over the years, as it is so hot here, this has evolved into a complete
soakfest and water warfare. People of all ages douse all passers-by by any means
possible. That means hoses, buckets, pots, pans and supersoakers. Some mischievous
souls even smear their victims with black axle grease, red lipstick and flour!
Just to be clear tourists are not exempt from this treatment. We got saturated
every day during the festival, but as long as we kept our money and camera inside
a plastic bag it was great fun and helped us stay cool.
We spent the second half of the New Year festivities in Luang Prabang, another
UNESCO World Heritage site. It is the epicenter of Laotian Buddhism and Pimai
Lao. There were loads of colorful processions and ceremonies that nearly always
degraded into mass water fights.
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Before leaving Laos we decided to take advantage of its comparatively
remote and unspoilt landscape by going on an overnight trek to visit the hill
tribes. Despite the fact that this was the height of dry season, nature wanted
to get in some New Year action of its own. It let loose with the most incredible
thunderstorm which left us soaked and scrambling on all fours up a slick and
muddy mountain path. We had to stay in our filthy condition overnight as the
village we stayed in had no water or electricity. We slept on a wooden platform
in a mud-floored hut. Getting back to basics.
So we are yet again on the Mekong River, taking a 2 day slow boat from Luang
Prabang to the Thai border. This river is amazingly long, running all the way
from Tibet to southern Vietnam. Over the past month we have spent quite a bit
of time on this majestic river but now it's time to say goodbye and sawatdii
to Thailand.