Laos 3 – Bombs, Bamboo and Bicycles

We drive from Vang Vieng up to  Luang Prabang. It’s a 6-hr dramatic journey in a neat little mini bus, through some magnificent scenery, more of the same, these incredible karsts, the river and thick impenetrable looking jungle lining the sides.

We stop for a loo break at a roadside village, where the market is being held. It’s an unusual market. Apart from the baskets of oranges, there are counters of bottles with different coloured liquids, weird dead animals stretched out on market tables. Some of them have their fur on, some of them are gruesomely skinned. There are rats, a pile of tiny bats, some indescribable insects. Is this dinner or the ingredients for some magic medicinal potion? Or is it something else? The terrible wars here have made the people hungry scavengers.

Curious to know more about this “Secret War”, in neutral Laos, I download a book on my kindle for the journey called “The Ravens”. All the beautiful faces we see and the landscape we drive through is described in the book, only seen from the skies. It’s an anti-American war book. The Laos army in cohoots with the C IA conduct a clandestine bombing campaign on the Ho Chi Mihn Trail, which the rest of the world has no idea about (until much later on).  Cut off the supply line and you kill the war, was the intention. Of course we know it was all futile. It’s a brutal war. I wouldn’t normally pick this sort of book off the shelf, but none the less it has been interesting reading and I now know that much more. I will be haunted by this book and the atrocities and horrors that these peace loving people have suffered as we journey on through  Laos and Cambodia. The kids are all earphoned up and plugged in and squeezed into the back seat watching a film on the mini iPad and it’s all very peaceful on this bus.

We arrive in Luang Prabang.

This is a little gem of a place, an old colonial French town, perfectly positioned on the peninsula between 2 rivers, The Mekong and the Nam Khan surrounded by mountains. It’s a beautiful, characterful town and has a well-to-do feel to it. All the buildings are in immaculate condition, lots of lovely French cafés, courtyards, temples and pagodas, bare-headed, bare-footed monks in their yellow humble wraps light up the street and bicycles everywhere ….. We are in the land of bicycles – tiny children, too small to reach the pedals, their heads barely able to see over the handle bars, dressed smartly in their school uniforms, pedal  their way to school, umbrellas held high to protect them from the fierce sun. At 12:30 on the dot, they pedal their way home for lunch, giggling girls, riding side saddle, perched on the rack.

I will remember this place for its perfumed smells and for all the colourful paper lantern stars hanging magically from the trees and strewn from wires across the street. There are flowers everywhere and lots of lovely individual fair trade shops and NGO organisations, helping the Laos people to pick up and reconstruct their lives. It has a positive feel to it. It also has one of the most fantastic night ethnic craft markets and food markets I have ever seen, occupying a whole street of endless fabrics, made into handbags, cushion covers, bed spreads, etc….. it is ablaze with colour and perfect for some Christmas shopping. We head to the night food market for supper most nights, settling at our regular formica-topped table and the smiley lady who is selling griddled chicken from her BBQ and rice or noodles, accompanied by little bags of chilli sauce tied neatly with elastic bands.

We spend 2 days in a lovely hotel with a pool and lots of space and bicycles, but realise that we would rather be in the hub of things, so we check out and into a little guest house with no outside space, but now overlooking the Nam Khan river, where we can ride bikes into the town and hang out and soak up the great atmosphere of this place. It’s a tricky decision with kids, not knowing what the best decision is. In the end, we realise that they will play their little imaginative games wherever we are.

Jemima has some nasty virus and is sick, dizzy, sore eyes, wobbly, and just wants to be in bed. So we are slightly constrained to our guest house, though it has a little terrace overlooking the river and there is lots of activity going on in the street down below. Then Millie gets a stomach bug and she joins the sick room.  Gabriel comments “Mum it’s official – you now have 2 daughters who are sick”.

It gives me a chance to spend some precious time with my son, while Mark plays nurse. So we head off, Gabriel and I, up the Mekong in a boat to a village to see some silk weaving and to watch paper being pounded and spread out to dry on racks.

It strikes me that the ubiquitous bamboo – the ever-versatile, all pervasive, recyclable Bamboo is everywhere! Stripped finely it provides panelling for the buildings, when shredded and mulched it makes the beautiful hand crafted paper, which we have seen spread out on racks to dry in the sun, interspersed decoratively with petals and bamboo leaves (it fetches a fortune in Paperchase in the UK). The label here Bambou, makes beautiful soft t-shirt fabrics made out of it.   We have seen buildings made out of it, and scaffolding, light-weight bicycles, boats, baskets, guttering, lanterns, floor mats, all the usual household stuff and of course stir fried bamboo with garlic and soy sauce and a little chilli too, thrown in with some bamboo chop sticks. It has to be one of the most versatile natural plants. EVER!

We are sitting having a sundowner drink on the river, when along come Justin and Donna – a lovely Australian couple who we last met trekking in Karma’s village in Nepal.  Small world! We catch up over a beer, pleased to see their now familiar faces.

The Australian family have just arrived from Vang Vieng and we meet up again. The children reunited as though they were old friends and exchange lots of hugs and kisses. We head to a bar catering to tourists, which has a fabulous alfresco ethnic fashion show. Seeing as our time here is limited, and we won’t be getting a chance to go into the jungle, or even visit the hill tribes, the show is a great way of at least seeing the costumes and traditional dresses worn by indigenous people here. It’s a brillant idea and beautifully done with lovely innocence. Gabriel, gets bit bored – “I think I know what’s coming next, it’s just girls, girls and more girls”

Mark and I take it in turns to get up super early to see the giving of the alms to the monks, this is a bizarre procedure. I get the jist of it, the townspeople get together and donate food to the monks for their day. Only rather bizarrely, The pavements are lined with mini carpets and baskets of mainly sticky rice, pre cooked in large baskets by the town people. Bus loads of mainly Korean tourists  arrive in mini buses and pay the townspeople for the food they have cooked and park themselves on mini stools on the carpets, to await the arrival of the monks, who accompany small boys carrying boxes and baskets. The Monks humbly bow their heads and accept any offerings of food, but the line is 1/2 mile long and goes round the block. There is so much food, mainly sticky rice, and their baskets so small that it fills up very quickly and the small boy accompanying the monk then empties the rice into a bigger bag/ cardboard box. A strange procession. Once all the monks have passed, all the tourists step off the carpet back into their mini buses and the townspeople pack up and leave . All a bit odd.

I find a Dutch hair dresser who cuts my hair and  has an old box of blonde hair dye sitting on his shelves . That will do, better than going growing grey. So I give it a go.

Good Bye Lovely Luang Prabang! And Goodbye Laos. We are sorry not to have had longer here.

Next Cambodia and Siem Reap!