And you may find yourself in another part of the world: Laos Pt. I

It’s easier to cruise through my pictures from the week than actually write about it. And it’s easier to stare at an empty text box than actually edit my pictures and post them online.

But I suppose I have to start somewhere.

So I’ll start at the beginning:

I flew into Vientiane Monday evening and was met at the airport by Hudson, my friend’s parents’ intern, who was kind enough to pick me up from the airport and (literally) pick up a case of BeerLao on the way home.

Wait, this is boring. Let me tell you the highlights: Checking out the slow, quaint pace of Vientiane. Rock Climbing in Vang Vieng. Epic street party waterfight in Luang Prabang. There, that’s what you have to look forward to and what I have to look back on.

I loved Vientiane. Lots of people said they found it boring or sketchy, but I found it quiet and charming, which was the perfect antidote to Phnom Penh. I really only spent one day sightseeing there, but fortunately that was enough. I would have been happy to spend a lazy week there, sleeping in late and enjoying french cafes and riverside restaurants, but I not knowing when (or if) I’ll make it back to Laos, Luang Prabang beckoned.

Unfortunately, flights were a little expensive ($110 each way) and all the overnight busses were sold out. I didn’t want to lose a whole day traveling on a bus, so I made a snap decision to go to Vang Vieng, a midway point, and try and catch a bus from there the next day. I’d been told it was a quaint city with gorgeous surroundings, despite being packed with hard-partying tourists. It was all of the above. I had a hard time finding a place to eat that wasn’t blasting Family Guy or Friends on a big TV and that wasn’t also full of drunk/stoned westerners. I ended up eating over by the river, taking a walk around town, and sitting in another quiet riverside bar before turning in early. For the next day, I went ROCK CLIMBING. Hell yes.

My bus to LP was at 2pm, so I headed out for just a half day of climbing with one of the local outfitters. Since almost every tourist in Laos was in Luang Prabang already and almost all the tourists in Vang Vieng were sleeping off their hangovers at 9:30am, there were a total of 7 people at the limestone crags where we were climbing. It was absolutely awesome. I love climbing anyway and outdoor climbing is always a blast, but I can’t begin to express how much fun it was. Inner tubing on the Mekong is the backpacker rite of passage in Vang Vieng, but I’m so glad I skipped that in favor of scaling some routes up the limestone.

The climbs were really good and being up high always gives me a thrill thanks to my acrophobia, but probably the scariest part of the trip was the motorcycle ride from the road to the climbing. We left the road to go down a rocky little dirt path, then across a rickety bamboo bridge, across some fields, and finally through some jungle. On the way back, I heard a cell phone ringing and saw my guide look down and start fumbling in his pocket as we were dodging trees in the forest. Please don’t answer that, I thought, as I snatched a spiderweb off my face. Fortunately, we hit the fields again just as he picked it up, the caller warning us of the water fight already taking off in Vang Vieng.

A word on the New Years waterfights: It’s about 37˚C outside (or 98˚F), which is really Way Too Hot. A waterfight sounds like about the best thing in the world. Thankfully, the buddhist new year involves pouring water on people to wash away the sins of last year and bless them for the coming year. Thank god (or, rather thank Buddha), otherwise I might have ended up with heatstroke sometime during the week. In Thailand it’s known for being a pretty epic affair, with Laos apparently celebrating in a slightly more reserved manner. Well, not from what I saw, particularly in Luang Prabang. I got hit first by some Aussies outside a hotel in Vientiane, but things didn’t really get serious until I was on the motorcycle coming back from climbing. The thing that amazed me most was that, despite being hosed down or sprayed with a water gun or doused by the bucketfull, most people just rode on past without reacting. Interesting. I have to say my favorites, though, were the little boys on the back of their mother’s scooters going around town doing drive-bys.

Anyway, rock climbing awesomeness accomplished, I caught my bus to Luang Prabang. Six head-rattling hours in the back of a van later, we were in the old capital. (Vientiane became the capital in 1563, but Luang Prabang remained the royal and religious capital.) While I felt like I almost came away from the van ride with a concussion, I did actually come away with some traveling companions for the next few days: an Aussie guy, an Aussie gal, and an Algerian guy.

Part II to follow soon, I promise!