Laos: First Impressions

Today is my 5th full day in Laos. Generally speaking, Laos is an extremely rural country, quite large considering it has a population of only 5 million. I arrived on Sunday morning to Vientiane, the capital city, via The Friendship Bridge border crossing. I stayed at a rather overpriced guesthouse ($12) considering the overall cleanliness of the place, and spent the rest of the day sightseeing. Lao New Year was still being celebrated here so I placed everything in a waterproof bag, donned a bathing suit underneath my clothes and set out. Going out during Buddhist New Year is rather like going out in a war zone (though these guns are full of water rather than bullets) because one who wishes not to get wet must peer around corners, furtively walk behind parked cars, dart across the street at the sight of buckets, and generally feel very on edge while walking around. Naturally, none of this seemed to help me as I was instantly drenched the moment I stepped out of my guesthouse as being a foreigner makes me the most sought after target. I was then repeatedly doused with colored water, luckily though, it was purple, my favorite color.
Vietiane is the smallest, least developed capital city I have ever been to. One can walk from one end of the city to the other in about 10 minutes, only about half of all the streets are paved, there is little to no nightlife to speak of, and only 2 ATMS in the whole place. I was easily able to see all of the major sights within a couple of hours walking at a slow ramble. The Lao seemed to place more emphasis on the actual "Buddhist" part of the Buddhist New Year than did the Thais, as all wats (temples) were filled to the brim with devotees ritually cleansing the Buddha with flowered water. This was a wonderful site for me to see as everything was awash in color from the saffron-clad monks, to the creamy frangipani leaves, to the marigold wreaths wrapped around the Buddhas necks. Furthermore, everything was glistening in the sunlight due to the copious amounts of water on all the statues and people. After sightseeing I ate the crispiest baguette sandwich this side of Paris. One thing that Vientiane is known for, besides the fact that it has its own mini Arc de Triomphe, is that it has deliciously crispy baguettes, something that is nearly impossible to find in Kansas City.
The following day, finding that one day was quite enough in the capital, I took an early VIP bus to Vang Vieng. Now, since VIP in Laos does not quite connote what it might in the Western world, this was simply an extremely aged, frayed bus which happened to have working A/C and not much else. It took 4 hours to get 220 kilometers (approximately 136 miles) due to the chugging of the bus and the poor, poor quality of the roads where they were barely paved at best and at worst were covered in deep potholes on every side. However, the ride was comfortable enough and went quite smoothly, all things considered. Vang Vieng is a backpacker's haven providing cheap food and Beer Lao, cheap accommodation, and lots of outdoor activities along the river such as tubing, kayaking, and caving. I managed to find a quite decent guesthouse with A/C for only $8 a night. The next day I went kayaking and caving with a local tour agency. It was a small group of 7 people (2 Japanese, 2 Poles, 2 Swiss, and lonely 'ole me) and we first went tubing along a river inside of a cave. It was very cool as I have never done anything like that before. Naturally, I promptly dropped my new prescription sunglasses into the blackness of the water and lost them for good. I am now spending my days squinting into the sunlight attempting to read street signs! We then took a leisurely 3 hour kayak trip down the Nam Ngum River. The water was quite low due to it being the dry season so we merely floated down the river and soaked up the amazingly beautiful scenery of bright green vegetation and immense limestone karsts jutting up out of the ground for miles on either side. It was just spectacular!
I am now in Luang Prabang, where the entire city is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and I am sitting in an internet cafe where my neighbor is a monk (!) in a bright orange robe, barefooted, using the 'net! Only in Laos! I took another grueling VIP bus here where it only comfortably fit 9 people yet we were 12 young backpackers all smashed together for the 6 hour hair-ripping drive through the mountains with no side rails and the driver recklessly careening around every bend in the road (and there were many!). Gorgeous lush green mountain scenery though. I found a lovely, clean, wonderfully bug-free room in a traditional Lao style guesthouse with teak furniture, dark stained wooden floors and a lovely balcony overlooking the temple across the street all for $10 a night! The first thing I did upon arrival was treat myself to a $3 one hour Lao massage at the local Red Cross station. Lao massage, unlike the brutal Thai massage where they twist and bend you into any number of constricting positions, is much calmer using gentle touch with tiger balm to cool off your sore muscles. I then ate yellow curry with fish and spicy green papaya salad along the Mekong River and spoke Spanish to an Italian. After dinner I shopped the Hmong (an indigenous tribe) night market where I bought beautifully dyed and woven textiles that were originally used as baby slings. I am now starting out on my first full day of sightseeing.

I think that that is quite enough for today, so sorry for my long-windedness. Will write more about Luang Prabang soon.