Hey, everyone! I have spent the last week along the Mekong River. Most of that time was spent in Luang Prabang, but for two days I took a “slow boat” from Luang Prabang to the Thailand border. Luang Prabang has been an interesting mix – cooler weather, tons of monks, river-side restaurants with beautiful sunsets, and gorgeous waterfalls.

A few housekeeping things:

1) If you’re interested in my art, have a look at my merchandise on RedBubble!
2) If wanting to read my first novel, Eclipse Me, you can find the link here.

Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang

I should have taken the 1.5hr train from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang but because of a common scam I’d been cautioned about, I decided to skip it and use a minivan instead. At this point, I’d taken so many minivans – what was the harm in taking one more?

It was a 5.5hr ride and I’m surprised I don’t have a concussion from the experience. There is absolutely NO reason roads should be that consistently bumpy for so many hours. Between gravel, potholes, and unfinished roads, it was pretty awful. I almost hit my head on the roof a couple of times. I bounced off my seat regularly.

The views along the way were great. The karst mountain scenery fell away and was replaced by softer, rolling hills. Some mountains were still taller but the scenery was substantially less extreme. One thing I noticed immediately was all the dust. There was so much dust covering the foliage on the side of the road, it looked like it was spray painted with Rustoleum. I had noticed it in Vang Vieng, too. Just lots of dust from construction/gravel roads and dirt, etc. Blegh!

Finally, I arrived in Luang Prabang. I have heard so much about this town – everyone seems to love it. I had read online a number people said it was one of the very few places in their travels they could see themselves living long-term. Many people extend their stays, etc. Anyway, Luang Prabang was definitely hyped up for me! Spoiler alert: While Luang Prabang definitely has its charms, I still preferred Don Det.

Big Brother Mouse

When doing some research on Luang Prabang, one of the few activities that stood out to me was paying a visit to Big Brother Mouse. Big Brother Mouse is a very important Lao organization. Around since the early 2000s, the organizers were the first to start publishing books in the Lao language – prior to that, they didn’t really have books written in Lao. In addition, and the reason I got involved, Big Brother Mouse hosts English language practice. Visitors are allowed to visit daily from 9-11am and 5-7pm. They are encouraged to chat with local Lao kids and help them to improve their English. What a fantastic way to give back to the local community!

I was outside reading the informational placard when someone invited me to come inside. I took off my slippers and went in. As I walked through the rooms, most of the kids were already talking to someone but then Dao invited me over. The age range varies – some of the kids are very young, some are in their early 20s. There was one guy I spoke to who was even 33. But Dao was 20.

I spoke with Dao and one of his other friends for the better part of two hours. He was trying to improve his English so that he could get a scholarship to Hungary and eventually move to Canada. During our conversation, he educated me on the Secret War in Laos. I knew tidbits of it, but nowhere close to the true nature of the situation. The US rained bombs down on Laos for nearly 10 years during the Vietnam War. The reason being – cut off Vietnam’s supplies entering the country through the Ho Chi Minh trail. I will talk more details on this in the next section. One more thing Dao told me was that his grandpa was alive during the Secret War and has PTSD. Whenever he hears a loud noise, he thinks it’s a bomb and reacts poorly.

Definitely a bummer of a conversation – and worse so because I’m an American and didn’t even know the details of what my own country had done. To be fair, it was a “secret war” and not as openly publicized as the Vietnam War.

The session was cut short because it was one of the regulars’ birthdays – Colin. From France, he has been living in Laos for the past nine years and is “the glue” of the organization. On multiple accounts, he invited me to go out to lunch or dinner with the group after the English practice sessions.

Anyway. We sang happy birthday to Colin and had snacks. Afterwards, Dao and I went out with another American girl and her Lao buddy. We got pizza and French fries and talked throughout dinner.

I ended up returning to Big Brother Mouse on two more occasions. On my second visit, I helped Dao get through a page or two of his workbook. Later, I talked with a girl whose name is pronounced like Blom-shah. Dao said it’s spelled ນ້ຳພາວ and means “coconut water.” She must have been about 15 and her English was very impressive. She told me how she has private English classes. Her goal is to secure a scholarship that would pay for her to study in Singapore for her high school education. Her test is in April. She gets three chances to take it but over the years, she has taken it twice before and failed. However, she told me her English has improved substantially since then and I believe her. It was a wonderful conversation and I was in awe of her. She speaks English, some Thai, some Mandarin, Lao, and also a Hmong dialect, as she is from a Hmong ethnic group. She told me how in the morning, she meditates “for focus. Because there’s a lot of different ways to meditate, you know?” She told me how she tries to “break down the bad, build up the good” – a concept from a book called Atomic Habits. It was inspiring to me. As our session was up, I kept repeating how I’m wishing her the best of luck in life. I hope things work out for her.

On my third session to Big Brother Mouse, I ended up chatting with a 33 year old. His English wasn’t as good as Dao or the girl, but it was nice to get a mix of fluency. We talked about sports, graphic design, and video games.

I planned to return again but my final day in Luang Prabang was a public holiday and Big Brother Mouse was closed. Still, it was a very memorable experience for me. I was glad I could give back in even a small sense.

Laos UXO

After some minor education about the Secret War during my chats with Dao, I decided to go to the Laos UXO museum to find out more. It was only a 20min walk but by the time I arrived, the museum was closed for lunch. I waited around for half an hour and then was allowed to enter.

The museum was very, very tiny. Basically one room was filled with all types of defused bombs that were found post-Secret War. The other room was a small theatre with a few looped videos to educate visitors about the war. I sat down and watched the videos, taking notes on my phone now and again.

Laos is considered the most bombed country per capita in the world. Why? Because of the Secret War.

The Secret War took place from 1964 to 1973. As mentioned previously, the US goal was to cut off Vietnam’s supply line, bombing the hell out of Laos as a means to an end.

During that time, it is said that a planeload of munitions dropped every 8 minutes, 24hr a day for 9 years. Over 500,000 planes full of munitions were dropped on the country. Three million tons of bombs were dropped – about 270 million munitions from cluster bombs. Of that 270 million, about 30% did NOT detonate. An estimated 80 million “bomblets” remain as UXO. Which… takes us to the Laos UXO program.

What is UXO? It stands for Unexploded Ordinance. These are the bombs that did not detonate and now, decades later, there are still casualties and deaths. At Big Brother Mouse, Dao had told me it’s very common to see people in Laos without limbs. Because it has been so long, many of the “bommies” are underneath the surface. People may be shoveling/hoeing their fields and then… well, BOOM. There goes their arm. There goes their leg. There goes their eye. Or, they’re dead. One of the video clips interviewed numerous people with casualties from the UXOs. It was difficult to watch, but necessary.

Sometimes, people will be using metal detectors to find scrap metal. To put this in perspective, 1 kilo of scrap metal is 3,000 kip. That is about USD$0.15. Pennies. A kid was looking for scrap metal and, when digging, activated one of the UXOs. This is an all-too-common tragedy in Laos. Other times, small kids will find a “bommy,” which looks like a little ball, and they’ll think it’s a toy. Then, again – boom.

And so the Laos UXO program was formed. There are several phases to the program. They take care of survey and clearance, risk education, victim assistance, and coordination/management. Aside from clearing the land of the bombs, which is a slow and arduous process, risk education is a big one. Because of the kids who don’t know about the dangers, educating them on the risks and how to mitigate them is a pretty big deal.

I am very glad I paid a visit to the Laos UXO museum. It was a sobering experience, but an important one – especially as an American.

On a lighter note – in the afternoon I went to check out the sunset at a nearby temple.

The sunsets in Luang Prabang are class!

Wat Xieng Thong and Monk Almsgiving

The next day, I went to Wat Xieng Thong, one of the more popular temple complexes in Luang Prabang – although there are many here.

The area was very busy. So many tourists! I should have gone earlier in the morning, but I was too sleepy haha. The complex had a number of stupas covered in mosaic tiles.

There were also a lot of small temples throughout with golden Buddhas.

I especially liked the way the temple exteriors were decorated – I hadn’t really seen something like that before.

All in all, a very cool place with some gorgeous buildings. There was even an elephant head on the side of one of the temples!

While there, I saw a sign for “almsgiving,” which is a tradition in Luang Prabang.

Luang Prabang is home to a lot of monks. They’re everywhere, wearing their saffron-colored garb. I’ve seen them at Big Brother Mouse, visiting local vendors, walking around temples, etc. It’s always pretty cool to see.

In terms of “almsgiving,” also known as Tak Bat, this is a daily activity in Luang Prabang. Early in the morning, around sunrise, a large procession of monks will walk around town, collecting food donations from locals. On my final day in Luang Prabang, I decided to observe the tradition from the sidelines. It was chilly out – like most mornings/evenings in Luang Prabang, but I was out the door at 6.15am and found a spot where the monks were walking down the street. It was special to see so many – young and old.

Unfortunately, the experience was soured when I saw a few tourists getting too close to the monks. I was watching from the sidewalk but some of them were chasing directly after the monks. Some stood just to the side of them, snapping photos of their faces. I have a hard time with nonconsensual portrait photography to begin with, which is why you will hardly ever see photos of others in my posts… but to take nonconsensual photos at such close range, during a sacred tradition is just gross. I enjoyed watching the procession but that left a bad taste in my mouth.

Later in the day, I checked out other temples around town.

And, of course, sunset.

Kuang Si Waterfall

Probably the only thing I had definitively planned while in Luang Prabang was to visit Kuang Si waterfall, perhaps the prettiest waterfall in Laos. I initially was going to hire a scooter but when I woke up, I was feeling very iffy about it. It would have been nice to have had the freedom to go at my own pace but in the end, it was actually cheaper to do a tour. I’m glad I did the tour because the roads were pretty rough and wouldn’t have been pleasant to navigate.

Kuang Si also has a bear sanctuary as part of the park. Because they were right next to the trail, I took a look. I haven’t ever seen an Asiatic bear – black bears, sun bears, moon bears. It was cool to see them because I haven’t and probably won’t see them in the wild.

After spending a few minutes watching the bears (one of them crawled up into a hammock for a nap), I continued along the trail. The falls started to make their appearance.

Small cascades at first. There were many different levels.

They reminded me of the “rice terrace” formations I’ve seen in caves. I suppose the similarity is that these waterfalls are spilling over limestone, which is the same rock as the caves.

Walking along the trail, I became more and more impressed by the waterfalls, until I arrived at the grand finale. WOW. What an absolutely perfect waterfall! And the way the sun was lighting through the mist created such a gorgeous vision.

The area was riddled with tourists – very crowded – but I still managed to enjoy the view. I admired it from multiple angles. There was a hiking trail off to the side that allowed me to hike to the top of the falls. Arriving at the top, you’d hardly suspect such a beautiful, powerful waterfall was pouring down below. The area at the top was very tranquil and the water didn’t seem to be moving too quickly.

There was another trail that led to the origin spring of the falls, but unfortunately, because I had taken a shared minivan, I only had limited time before I had to be back at the entrance. I decided it would take too long to get to the spring and back. The downfall of not taking a scooter! That’s alright. I climbed back down to the base of the falls, watched it pour down some more, and slowly made my way back.

What a delightful waterfall. So glad I went to visit Kuang Si!

Phousi Hill

I had a fairly chill final day in Luang Prabang. After typing up majority of this blog post, I ended up meeting up with Dao and his friend Na for tea. Dao and Na were both working on their laptops. Dao is applying for a scholarship in Hungary and also looking for new jobs – so he was quite busy. We all chatted for some time. Eventually, Na left. Dao and I stopped by my hostel so I could change into warmer clothes and then we hiked up to Phousi Hill (pronounced Pussy Hill lol).

The hike was easy enough. At the top were a few golden stupas and also statues. There was one statue covered in tiger print which I thought was funny. Dao wasn’t sure why it was painted like that.

The big event was watching the sunset. Boy, was it crowded atop Phousi Hill! Before the sun went down, Dao and I found a bench and I helped him write up a cover letter for a job he is applying to. Eventually, the sun dipped below the mountains and we went to check it out.

As soon as the sun went below the mountains, the crowd thinned out. But they missed the best part! Luang Prabang always seems to start off its days with cloudy/foggy weather. But by mid-day, it would tend to clear out and transform to clear blue, cloudless skies. This made for some really magical sunsets. This evening was no exception. Around 6pm, the horizon turned a beautiful orange color.

As we watched the colors change, we were surprised to find Na had made his way up the hill as well – he went for a run and the summit was his final destination. We talked some more. I learned that he had spent a few months volunteering in New Zealand so we connected about that country for some time. Maybe twenty minutes later, Na left.

Dao and I walked down the other side of the hill. It was dark by this point. I also found a slug!

We ended up finding somewhere to eat for dinner and met up with two travelers from England. The four of us talked over dinner. Later, Dao walked me back to my accommodation to pick up his scooter and we said our goodbyes. I had an early night because the next morning I had to be up early.

Slow Boat to Thailand

6.30am and I was picked up by my tuk tuk driver. I hopped into the back of the truck, met by six other travelers. We made another stop, picking up others. And another stop. And another. It became comical at one point – we were like a clown car! One of the Australian travelers joked “next time, we’ll just be picking up gnomes… but there will be 600 of them.” We were truly packed in like sardines. Eek! Hopefully, the boat wouldn’t be more of the same.

I wasn’t sure what to expect but the slow boat was a little less luxurious than I had imagined. Essentially, it was a large, wooden boat. The seats were car seats lined along the floor – they weren’t fixed into place, either. The next day, one of my friends would fall off her seat during a particularly bumpy section of the boat ride. Yikes!

The slow boat was aptly named because… well, it was a very slow process. I think we left the dock around 8.30am and didn’t arrive to Pak Beng until 6pm. Unfortunately, it was very cold out. Until the fog finally cleared around 11am, I was freezing. I hardly have any warm clothes anymore – I discarded the only sweaters I had months ago. So, I was shaking. A warm cup of noodles helped me out temporarily.

Views from the boat were lovely. Soft, rolling hills, wildlife, local farmers fishing or searching for gold (legitimately!). I saw goats, water buffalo, and cows. I wasn’t sure if they were wild or cattle – perhaps a mix of both. We saw a lot of them throughout the journey. I had my eye out for wild elephants because I’d heard they can occasionally be seen. No such luck!

When we finally arrived at Pak Beng, a group of locals were waiting with accommodation options. Because I hadn’t yet booked anything, I went to check out what prices were. Luka, one of the Chinese tourists, was inquiring about a room as well. I listened to the exchange. He turned to me and asked, “want to share this room?” It was a room with two twin beds. Sure! I was laughing about it because Luka and I hadn’t talked on the boat at all. We were essentially strangers and were about to share a room. BUT same thing as getting a hostel room, really. USD$4 later and we were all situated. Not bad! I was laughing to myself, though, because Luka was trying to get a discount on the price. I was thinking, ‘mate, I don’t think it gets much better than this.’

We hopped into the tuk tuk along with our Swedish friend Selma and maybe two minutes later, we arrived at our accommodation. We were shown to our rooms and, because we all talked about how hungry we are, I asked if the others wanted to just grab some food together. Off we went. At dinner, a group of five Aussies from the boat joined our table, too. It was a nice little backpacker dinner.

We talked whether people would be crossing over into the Thailand border the next evening or waiting until the following day. It was funny because none of us were 1,000% sure on anything. Some people were saying they heard there were ATMs after the Thai border, others (me) heard there weren’t. Some people said the border closed at 6pm, 8pm, 10pm. It made me think of how things must have been years and years ago, before cell phones. Trying to figure things out by word of mouth, with the help of fellow travelers. (I also didn’t have any more data left on my phone, so I REALLY felt off the grid.)

After dinner, thanks to the accommodation wi-fi, I caught up with my parents on the phone and then had an early night. The next day was more of the same – a long, long boat ride. BUT it was so much warmer, which I was very thankful for. Selma and I ended up going to the back of the boat and chatting majority of the day. From Sweden, she has a travel plan of about four months. She’s halfway through at the moment. One of the Aussies came back and talked with us for a while, too.

Around 6pm, we arrived at Huay Xai, the border town between Laos and Thailand. Selma and many of the others continued on to the border. I decided to wait until the next day and got myself a room. That’s where I am now!

My time on the Mekong has officially come to a close. I was thinking about it the other day, and I’ve spent a hell of a lot of time near the Mekong River. In Kratie, in Don Det, in Pakse, in Luang Prabang. All the way to the Thailand border. Love you, Mekong!

Rose, Thorn, Bouquet

And just like that, my time in Laos has come to a close! Which leads us to… the rose, thorn, and bouquet.

Rose
I think my Rose was probably the hot air balloon ride on my birthday in Vang Vieng. Such a special memory that I’ll always have for the rest of my life. Thanks again, Mom & Dad!

Thorn
Getting sick and some of the awful bus rides – Pakse to Vang Vieng, Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang. They were just completely brutal. The roads in Laos are in pretty poor shape.

Bouquet
Definitely my time on Don Det was the bouquet. I didn’t expect much of that town but I truly ended up adoring it. I loved bicycling around the area. Being surrounded by the Mekong, seeing water buffalo, puppies, chicken, cows, pigs… the smiling, excited children. Laying on the hammock. MAMA PIENG. Spending time with Alexis. The snake sightings! It was a really magical moment in time. I probably should have spent a few more days in Don Det, although, then, maybe that would have been too much of a good thing!

Miscellaneous

While on the slow boat, there were a few young 20-somethings. Their fashion style had me cackling to myself because it just looks exactly like the stuff people used to wear in the late 90s.

And also, some beautiful dreamcatchers in Luang Prabang!

Reflections

About three weeks in Laos, and now I’m off to Thailand! My experience here has been wonderful, though. The slow pace is exactly what I’ve needed to fill up on.

I’ll sleep in tomorrow and then get the border crossing situated. The plan is to make it to Chiang Rai by the afternoon. At last, Thailand! The country everyone has always been, forever, telling me I will love. I hope it lives up to the hype! My final country in Asia. I’ll have about two months there. I’m really looking forward to it. The food, the culture, the snorkeling/diving, the wildlife. Here I come!

Until next time, sending you all my love. x