A final reflection on my time here in Thailand, Laos, etc.:

Cambodia

Oh, Cambodia! What can I say? I finally made it there after all these years of coming to Southeast Asia and only visiting Thailand and Laos. I had originally planned to go to Cambodia at the very end of May, but ended up rescheduling because of a festival in Nong Bua that I didn’t want to miss. I knew I would be disappointed if I didn’t travel to Cambodia before returning to the States. And I am glad I made that choice.

I began my Cambodian vacation in Siem Reap, the town that serves as the launching off spot for the Ankgor temples and ruins. Angkor/Siem Reap is one of the hottest tourist spots in Southeast Asia, and it shows. The central part of town is booming with fancy buildings/bars/restaurants and there seem to be hotels going up all over the place. Siem Reap is a nice town and I wish I had had more time to spend exploring it.

I got into the Siem Reap airport around 4:30 in the afternoon, so I didn’t see much my first day. I just walked around to try to get myself orientated, then ate dinner and pretty much went back to my room, watched some TV (a luxury!), and went to sleep. I didn’t feel the culture shock that I did when I went to China earlier this year, probably because Cambodia shares so much with Thailand and Laos, not to mention the fact that so many Cambodians in the touristy areas speak English pretty darn well. I can say it was difficult to speak only English. Typically here in Thailand or in Laos, even if I speak English with someone I will use Thai words, or if I am practicing English with a Thai or Lao I can rely on my knowledge of Thai to help explain what something means. No such luck in Cambodia, and thus I found myself longing to speak Thai. Strange. I had made plans with my driver to meet at 8 am the next morning to begin exploring Angkor. By “driver” I mean motorcycle driver, and this is not an uncommon thing to have in Cambodia, especially Siem Reap. It is a convenient way of seeing as many sights as a person could want, especially those further away, and for me it was nice not to do everything totally on my own as I am used to doing (it does get lonely). Also, there is no motorcycle rental in Siem Reap, so to get around tourists have to either go by foot, bicycle, or hire someone. I hired Hout, who had been my motorcycle driver from the airport. He was 24 years old, and had already been driving tourists around for 5 years, and his English was very, very good. Another nice thing about having a “driver” is that I didn’t have to think too hard about where I wanted to go and I definitely didn’t have to think about how to get there. The only complaint I have is that I know Hout overcharged me, and I could not bargain him down, no matter how hard I tried. But he knew I liked him as a driver, since I hired him for basically all of the time I was there. I had originally planned to hire him for 2 days, then rent a bicycle on my third day to go back and see some of the more popular Angkor sites a second time (such as Angkor Thom and Angkor Wat), but I didn’t, and I am glad. It was very, very hot in Cambodia (hot and humid; the sun was quite intense), and I was pretty worn out anyway, so I think it is better that I didn’t do the bicycle thing. I even got to go have dinner and a drink with my driver at his friend’s house. That was great for me, because it was just getting to go into a Cambodian home and eating with them, sharing a little tiny part of their life. It’s my favorite thing to do, and I jumped at the opportunity. Cambodian houses are very small (obviously a generalization, but overall a very true statement), and many people live inside. Remember that most Cambodians are very poor, like the Lao, and make do with what little they have. The food was delicious and the hosts very hospitable, but I wasn’t very hungry as I had eaten a heavy lunch of Indian food.

I intended to keep an ongoing list of all of the temples and sites that I saw when I was in Siem Reap/Angkor, but it got so overwhelming so quickly that I didn’t. All I know is that I saw a lot, the majority of the greater Angkor area. I have to admit, I was nervous when I got to Siem Reap, and when I started out on my first day. What was it going to be like? Would it live up to the hype, to the expectations?? I knew there would be a lot of tourists, but how many? As an aspiring art historian, I was particularly anxious. Angkor is supposed to be one of the most incredible sights in the world, it’s in the part of the world I study, but what if I didn’t feel the enthusiasm I was supposed to feel? What if I just plain wasn’t impressed? Basically, I was worried it would not live up to all of the hype. Because there is a lot of hype. I needn’t have worried. Angkor was awesome. From the second I walked up to the Bayon (the first temple I visited at Angkor), I knew I wasn’t going to be disappointed, and would be very, very pleased. In fact, as I stared in awe at the stone reliefs covering the walls, I contemplated changing my research focus. OK, that isn’t exactly true, but for the first time I could truly and totally understand why/how people could dedicate their lives to studying that kind of thing. And to think that these things were made 700-1000 years ago!!! Unbelievable!

As I write this, I am not sure how to describe being at Angkor. Most likely this is because too much time has passed since I have been there, but it could be due to any number of reasons. All I can say is that there was never a lack of interesting and beautiful things to look at and marvel over, and that true to their reputation the Cambodian people were just lovely. There was a large number of tourists at Angkor every day, but apparently nothing at all compared to high season, and according to my driver there were less than the normal amount for this time of year – I had excellent timing since I traveled during the World Cup when tourist numbers go way down (something to note for those of you planning on traveling abroad in 4 years). The majority of tourists that I saw (by far) were East Asian (that is to say Chinese, Korean, or Japanese), most specifically Korean. It was crazy at some times when my path overlapped with theirs as I ventured though the temples. Crazy because there were just so many people! But overall, the crowds didn’t bother me, as they really only stuck to the main sites around Angkoe, so it was easy to get away or avoid them. And I couldn’t complain much anyway – I love it when people (tourists) are at a place where they can only learn, about history, art, whatever. That is definitely a good thing.
During my days in Siem Reap, I wore myself out. I climbed around so many of the temples, etc., in the hot sun that each evening it was an accomplishment for me just to eat dinner, check my email, and get back to my room. I know I saw so many temples, palaces, whatever, and I was overwhelmed by what I saw. I tried to not go overboard taking photographs since so much of the area is already represented generously in books, but I still ended up taking 800 photos when I was in Cambodia! That just seems ridiculous to me!

After 4 days/5 nights in Siem Reap (not including the 1st day), I traveled to Phnom Penh. I had bought my bus ticket the day before and when I woke up that morning I really regretted that decision, wanting to spend one last day just exploring around Siem Reap. I had gone to a nearby wat the day before and got to talk to a few of the monks who were excited to practice their English (which was very good). I didn’t have enough time to do things like that, but I figure next time I go, I can spend more time exploring the town and the wats. I spent 4 nights in Phnom Penh, which is quite a big and bustling city! It was slightly overwhelming at first, and I still don’t feel like I saw too much of it, but I think that’s OK. I had picked out what looked like it would be a nice area to stay from reading my guidebook on the bus, but when the bus pulled into Phnom Penh, it was swarmed with people trying to get the farang to go to their guesthouse, take their motorcycle, whatever. Too much!, and although I typically ignore these people when I travel, this time I thought whatever, just take me to your cheap guesthouse in the backpacker ghetto. So I ended up staying in a different area than I had anticipated, but it worked out well since I only had to pay $3 a night for a clean room with its own bathroom. Once I heard $3, what could I do?
I traveled to the National Museum (which is just fantastic), the palace, riverfront, Wat Phnom, Tuol Sleng, the killing fields, and some markets while I was in Phnom Penh. I had contemplated whether or not to go to Tuol Sleng (the former school where the Khmer Rouge tortured and killed tens of thousands of people) and the killing fields for many reasons – what if it was too overwhelming/overpowering for me? Then afterwards I would have no one to talk to about it (traveling alone) and might have a hard time adjusting. I also could rationalize that since I have studied so much about recent history in Cambodia and Southeast Asia in general that I was already far more well informed than the average tourist and thus didn’t need to see everything to know what happened there. But I realized that I had an obligation to the Cambodian people to see these things. I mean the genocide and civil war are as much a part of Cambodian culture as the temples and things I ran to see in Siem Reap. And I am glad I went. Although I didn’t really learn anything new, I was able to see all of these things firsthand, and I spent a lot of time contemplating what one earth makes a society devour itself as happened in Cambodia. What makes people resort to such horrible acts, and how can others just stand idly by and watch it happen? (By others I am not merely referring to people, but other countries who knew what was going on but did not want to get involved because of the tangled political mess that was Asia in the seventies.

I can say that my trip to Cambodia was rewarding and relatively pain-free. What I mean to say is that I enjoyed myself and didn’t have to experience any broken-down buses. I do feel like I could have done so much more or learned so much more, but then I realize it was my first trip to the country, and I was only there for 9 days. Perhaps on my next trip I can delve further into Khmer culture and religion/art/textiles…

Chiang Tung (Kengtung), Burma (Myanmar)

Chiang Tung is a town in the Eastern Shan States of Burma. I have wanted to travel there for a while now. I almost went there in January, but didn’t have enough time, and so decided to wait until I could go there with my friend and former roommate Julia. It is in the same general area as Sipsongpanna in China, northwestern of Laos, and northern Thailand. Chiang Tung and the surrounding area has a common history and cultural background as well. So, when June 10th finally rolled around (the date Julia and I had decided would be the beginning of our adventure), I was thrilled. Travel to Chiang Tung from Chiang Mai involves taking a 4.5 hour bus ride from Chiang Mai to Mae Sai (Thai border town), crossing the border to Burma, then taking some form of transportation an additional 160 km from Tachilek (the Burmese border town on the other side of Mae Sai) to Chiang Tung. Because Burma is run by a paranoid, authoritarian government (or is it totalitarian?? I don’t know anything about words to describe governments, but I do know that the government in Burma is absolutely no good), travel in the country is quite restricted. Julia and I were crossing just to go to Chiang Tung, so we did not need to have visa before crossing. However, we both completely forgot to bring our 3 passport photos, so what could have possibly been a much smoother crossing turned into us following the guy from the immigration office all over town to get our photographs taken. OK, it wasn’t all over town, but it felt crazy and chaotic to me, and it was HOT. After everything was settled and we paid all the necessary fees (and handed over our passports, to be kept at the border as we explored Chiang Tung), we arranged with the immigration guy to take the “air-conditioned” bus, rumored to take only 4 hours. It seemed like a decent option, as the only other one presented to us was a private taxi that would have cost us at least 100 Baht more (OK, 100 baht is only $2.50, but it seems like an enormous sum when traveling, especially when you are used to things being fairly cheap and you are aware that you are being ripped off compared to the price for locals). We were rather hungry after all of the traveling and border crossing, but we did not get to grab anything to eat, as we had to rush to the bus station to be sure to catch the bus. The immigration guy had told us there would be all kinds of food at the bus station, and that we could eat there, but he was totally wrong. No food stands at all. But we got our seats on the completely full bus (Asian style – in other words people were sitting in the aisles as well), and we were off.

It was very exciting to be in a bus, traveling in a completely new area, even though it was a very long day of travel. With all of the traveling I have done in the past year, I was used to it, as traveling in a bus has become somewhat of second nature to me (it doesn’t mean I have gotten over my total phobia of them, however). Julia was coping with it fairly well, although she is much happier when she is able to drive herself. We seemed to be moving along at a decent pace, and looked to be on schedule. In fact, we were getting quite close to Chiang Tung from our calculations, when suddenly the bus pulls over on the side of the road. All I could think is “you have to be kidding me…” I really wanted to be in denial that the bus was broken down, especially after my last broken-down bus experience (see Lao blog, below), but it was pretty obvious that there was a problem. I got off the bus to see people wildly running towards the engine (at the back of the bus) and throwing bottles full of water on it. It just seemed totally chaotic and crazy, especially the urgency with which they were trying to throw the water onto the engine. It seemed clear to me that the engine had overheated, which wasn’t entirely surprising given the age of the bus and the hills we had been climbing. But the throwing of the water seemed totally insane, plus I had no idea if there were any other problems. All we could do was wait and see. It didn’t seem good, but I tried to stay optimistic. After a short period of time, people started walking up the road. We knew by this point that we were 25 km from Chiang Tung, but it didn’t seem possible that people actually were going to walk the rest of the way. We found out they were walking towards a “market” in a “town” just at the top of the hill. Julia and I decided that it might be a good idea to walk there as well, so we grabbed our stuff and away we walked.

The “town” and the “market” turned out to not be much, but it resembled so many roadside villages I have passed through in all of my travels in Laos. We were able to get some water, and concluded, after discussions with fellow bus passengers, that the bus repair was going to take a long time and the sun was setting fast. We decided to try to hire a tuk-tuk-type vehicle to take us the rest of the 25 km to Chiang Tung. After much discussion and haggling with the help of a fellow passenger (who turned out to be Akha) who spoke both Burmese and English. We were in the tuk-tuk heading back to the bus to pick up our bizarre makeshift “passports” when we saw it heading towards us. Yes, it was actually running and moving, but with a black cloud coming out of its tailpipe. So, we turned around and met it back in the “town.” We paid the tuk-tuk driver a small sum for his troubles, got on the bus, and eventually we arrived in Chiang Tung.


It was a little after dusk when we arrived, but everyone was very helpful in getting us to the “Noi Yee Hotel” we had picked out from our guidebook. The guy who ran the hotel was, to say the least, very eccentric. In fact, it was easy to conclude after the few days I spent in Chiang Tung, that the town is a breeding ground for eccentricity. It is a rather isolated place; although it is near China, only a half-day’s drive from Thailand, and there are small towns/villages in the nearby area, the nearest city in Burma is like 400 kilometers away! Anyway, Julia and I decided that we really liked our hotel. It had a fabulous central location, a nice view, and all the necessities (beds and a bathroom, and even a veranda! -- which you can see Julia sitting on in the photo).

Chiang Tung is a beautiful city! There are stunning wats (Buddhist temples) on every corner (this could be a slight exaggeration, but that’s how it feels), a lake in the center, hills and mountains, and friendly people everywhere. The town also has a fabulous and huge morning market that I did not heave enough time to explore to my satisfaction. I did get to see the whole market, but it was so full and so beautiful that I could have spent many more hours there. I also got to visit many of the wats in the town, and they were just stunning. The Buddha images were gorgeous and quite numerous. And what was perhaps the most amazing thing about the city was how peaceful it was. Very mellow, with very little traffic. Of course the lack of traffic was welcomed by me, but I do understand that it is a reflection of how poor the community (and country in general) is. As can be seen in neighboring Thailand and Laos, as communities get more money, the people purchase motorcycles and, for the wealthy, even cars/trucks, and streets become increasingly clogged. Another nice thing about Chiang Tung is that because the people and the history are closely connected with northern Thailand, we could speak Thai and not only be understood, but understand others and have conversations.


Julia and I found a restaurant that we were quite find of and thus visited every day we were in town (to be frank, there weren’t many, especially ones that could prepare a truly vegetarian meal). On our second night we befriended a Thai guy named Chai traveling alone (which we found quite surprising). It turned out that Chai had just finished being a monk at a wat in northwest Thailand. I didn’t hear the part of the conversation when he explained why he was visiting Chiang Tung, but I think he was in Mae Sai (the Thai border town) and decided to come see what this town was like. I have to say, Chai spoke very quickly, so Julia and I both spent time puzzled at what he was saying, but he was very nice. In fact, the next day, when Julia and I decided to explore the area separately, I ran into Chai after I unknowingly passed the morning market, which had been my destination. We ended up walking around all over the town for hours, which was really enjoyable. I had stated that my intention was to visit as many wats as possible, so in the process of wandering that morning we visited at least 4 or 5 wats. I always enjoy looking for banners, but I also enjoy visiting the wats for many reasons, including looking at the many things that exist at a wat, and comparing it (in my head) to the many other places I have visited in this region. The wats in Chiang Tung did not disappoint, especially Wat In which had an unbelievable collection of Buddha images. I definitely could have spent hours just staring at those Buddha images, but I didn’t have the time. It’s OK; I got a lot of nice pictures, and I suspect I will visit Chiang Tung again. Wandering around that day was very hot and the sun was surprisingly intense. Although I slathered my neck and face with sun block, I got quite burnt. I could definitely feel it the next day, but luckily I didn’t have to carry my bags very far.

The next day was our return back to Thailand. This journey to Chiang Tung was a short trip compared to most of the ones I have taken this year, but it was wonderful, rewarding, and quite relaxing. The trip back from Chiang Tung to the border was far less eventful than the ride there. We opted for a shared taxi this time. As our friend Chai had (wisely?) taken a shared taxi to get to Chiang Tung, he had already set his ride with the same driver he rode up with. After a bit of finagling (on Julia’s part – she’s very good at it), we got to ride in the same taxi, which was scheduled to leave at like 7:30 or so in the morning. Once the driver finally arrived, we hopped in, and it was an absolute riot. The guy was a total eccentric, and it felt like it took forever for us to really get going on the road. He would get really excited and talk with us, not looking at the road at all, and at one point, we stopped to wash the car – in fact we stopped to wash the car in the same “town” where Julia and I had been stuck just a few days earlier on our way into town (that's him in the photo, washing the car while we were waiting in it). It figured. But we made it, and even survived the bus ride all the way back to Chiang Mai (easier said than done – Julia was going absolutely stir crazy by the time we got to the Chiang Mai vicinity. By my calculations we arrived just on time, or maybe about 10 minutes late, but the bus attendant person had told Julia we would get into Chiang Mai by 6:30, a whole 45 minutes off).

Another Nearly Futile Lao Adventure:

I began writing this blog from my guesthouse room on 10 April 2006 after an exhausting, though not entirely productive, two weeks in northern Laos. The problem is that I never finished the blog as I became either too busy or too lazy (or a little of both) to muster up the energy to complete and post it – until now, of course, knowing that it has been too long since I have posted anything…

As some of you may or may not know, I have been feeling a bit under the weather lately, and in more ways than one. I am back in Laos for the Lao New Year (which, in classic Lao style, can’t really be nailed to down to a specific set of days. While the 14-16th are designated as official holidays here, most people tell me the New Year starts on the 12th, while others have told me the 15th!!) The Lao New Year should basically fall on the same days as the Thai New Year, but I made the decision to come to Laos over Thailand based on my absolute adoration of this country and people. However, after having to leave Ban Nong Bua, I have not entirely been the same, and have longed to go back to first place that has felt like “home” to me in many months. Let me clarify: while I do truly think of Chiang Mai as “home” at the moment, I have not spent much time there lately. Plus, while I do have a friend or two in Chiang Mai, I am largely alone in the days that I spend there, and I am alone while traveling. However, when I was in Nong Bua, I never felt alone. So many people looked after me and wanted to make sure all was well that loneliness was not an issue and I felt as if the town was both my family and friends. When I think of Nong Bua, I just think that I am a very lucky person. But this posting is not supposed to be about Nong Bua! Oh yeah! See, it is very clear how much I miss that place, and appreciate the people. OK, so it is difficult to go from that kind of environment to one of being a lonely, single traveler. To go from being part of a community to being just another falang to stare at, and then of course any actual conversation with an actual Lao (or Thai) person is a reminder of one’s status as single traveler.

Anyway, on top of dealing with these factors (oh yeah, I am supposed to be doing research??) I have been a bit sick as well. I got to Laos, and in fact all was going pretty well, and I was finding ways to spend time until the New Year. But suddenly I found that the weather was surprising cold in Luang Nam Tha, and before I knew it, I was sick! I was in Muang Sing, a town where I spent many days back in November, and I was entirely uninspired to do anything. It took a day or two to make the connection between my physical health and my mental health, but once I realized it, it dawned on me why I was so uninspired to even try to go visit any of the local wats (imagine – me, not wanting to go to any wats!). So, for a few days I completely took it easy, and did not even begin to try to push myself to get any research done. To top it off, as I recovered from my cold, my stomach did not feel all that great, causing me to want to spend each morning in my room and leaving me very not hungry and not wanting to eat anything. Who knows what I ate that left my stomach so unhappy, it could have been anything, although I think it was probably some bad water (perhaps tap water being sold as bottled water, who can know).

But instead of going on and on about these sordid details, let’s just say that in my desperation to find some inspiration, I decided to leave Luang Nam Tha and go to Oudomxai, a town not particularly known to be enjoyable, but I had never been there and thought I could try to check out some of the local wats.

I was feeling a bit lazy, I have to admit, and therefore I did not push myself to get to the bus station very early in the morning on the day I had planned to go to Oudomxai. I got up, packed, ate breakfast, and planned to catch the 12:00 bus. I left my guesthouse at around 9:45-10, and here is the problem – thinking that I didn’t want to spend hours waiting at the bus station, I stopped to get a cup of coffee. This actually did take longer than I expected it to, but it was as much my own fault as anything. I got to the bus station no later than 11 am, but the 12:00 bus to Oudomxai was already crammed full of people (special note to those readers who have not traveled on these buses: crammed full means literally no one can move around because people are sitting on makeshift seats in the aisles, standing in the doorway, etc.). It was definitely packed full, but I went up and checked with the ticket guy. I had to wait for the 2:30 bus. So much for getting there early enough and so much for not having to wait for hours at the bus station! I was hoping that maybe, just maybe the bus would fill up and leave early, but it did not happen. I think we would have left maybe 15-30 minutes early – the bus was full with everyone and we were ready to go, but we were waiting anyway until finally, we were off…

So, after we left the bus station, we picked someone up at their house, then headed toward the main road. All seemed well, but in retrospect the bus did appear to be moving a little slow. However, a slow moving bus is far from an oddity in Laos, where the pace of life is entirely different from our own and (believe it or not) not everyone is in a rush to get where they are going; in fact moving from place to place in a slow bus trying to make its way up a large hill or along an unpaved road is completely normal to Lao, although it might not be for too much longer. The buses in Laos are all second- or third- hand buses from Korea, China, perhaps Vietnam, so just making it to the next destination is all a travelers can really ask. Thus, the slow bus did not seem odd to me until we made it to the main road, about 20-30 minutes away from Luang Nam Tha, and we pulled over due to some kind of problem. I was not entirely happy about this, as I had gotten off to such a slow start this day and was hours behind schedule. But I was optimistic it wouldn’t be too long. After talking to the Canadian guy and a Lao guy from Vientiane who wanted to practice his English a little bit (perhaps about 20 minutes), we were back on the bus and moving along. But the pace was noticeably slow and after a short span of time, we pulled over once again, much to my chagrin. Bus definitely broken. Everyone filed off the bus, and reality soon sunk in that I would not be getting to Oudomxai before dark. I had wanted to get some exploring in the main town that same day, so I could get orientated and explore the surrounding area the next day, but it clearly wasn’t going to happen like that. The bus driver had once again crawled under the bus, looking at the engine, or whatever part of it was that was broken.

Soon, a bus pulled up that was heading in the opposite direction, and the driver and assistant got out to help our guys. A couple of them were underneath the bus, clearly discussing the situation. I was really hoping at this point that we could all just get on the bus heading back to Luang Nam Tha, and was about to inquire about doing just that when the next thing I knew, our driver had actually gotten on the other bus and it was driving away! It didn’t really dawn on me until the bus had gone around the curve and was out of sight. I just couldn’t believe it! Apparently it had been decided that either the engine had to be fixed with a new part, or we would have to take a new bus. The driver had gone back to Luang Nam Tha to figure it out. At that point we were pretty much stranded and there was no way of knowing how long it would take for him to return. The only thing I knew is that it was Laos, and thus the chance of there being a “spare” bus for our driver to borrow was close to zero. And there was nothing to do. I sat there and talked to the Canadian guy a little bit, and talked to the English-speaking Lao guy a little bit, and eventually got my i-Pod out and sat and listened to it. Everyone was thirsty and hungry, but no one showed exasperation, as that just isn’t the Lao way to handle things. I did bitch off and on to the Canadian guy, just because I was unusually frustrated and was missing Thailand. I had been in Laos for over a week, but for some reason I had not totally adjusted to being there (again unusual for me, since I wear my love of Laos on my sleeve at nearly all times). I knew if it had been Thailand, people would have been on their cell phones calling and trying to figure out how to get out of the problem. In Thailand, another bus would probably have been sent to come help us, or at least a songthaew (pickup truck with two rows of seating in back), or something. But it wasn’t Thailand, it was Laos. And the sun was setting.

(Photo, left, of view from road where we were stranded. Note the horrific deforestation, a result of the Chinese coming in and paying off Lao officials for the clearing of trees. This particular spot will soon be a Chinese-owned rubber tree plantation. It is tragic indeed to see the absolutely beautiful forests of northern Laos disappear each day at the hands of the Chinese, taking advantage of the Lao officials who are corrupt and in a very poor country whose citizens can do nothing to stop it.)

As dusk was settling around us, our driver came back on the back of someone’s motorcycle. He and the motorcycle driver set to work right away underneath the bus. They had brought some sort of replacement part with them, so they removed the old one and began to put the “new” one in its place (I must emphasize the quotation marks around “new” for those of you sitting at home, because I am positive that although the piece was new to the bus, it was definitely not unused. Again, this would emphasize not only the difference between rich countries such as the States and poor places like Laos, where people are incredibly resourceful). Basically, after a short time, the sun set and it was dark. We were still on the side of the road waiting. It was evident that they were working hard on the engine, but it was also clear that it would take a long time. The driver and the other man had a flashlight to enable them to see what they were doing. And that is it. No other source of light. I was slightly nervous at the thought that they were fixing the bus under those circumstances, but I was more anxious to just get on the way and get to Oudomxai.

Everyone was clearly getting hungry, as was I. It is ridiculous in retrospect – I always travel with food and plenty of water, especially in Laos, but for whatever reason, I had gotten on this bus with relatively little. As the sun disappeared, a group of guys from the bus gathered brush and started a fire. People gathered around, and it was clear they were cooking something. It turned out to be bamboo shoots, which are utterly delicious. They shared the bamboo with everyone, but there wasn’t much to go around. A woman from the bus came over and handed me an orange also, which was very kind of her. I felt so bad for not having anything to offer them. After that I completely zoned out from everyone and everything, and before I knew it, the bus was ready to go! I couldn’t believe it, but I wasn’t going to argue. I don’t remember what time it was when we were finally able to get back on the bus and get going, but judging from the fact that we got into Oudomxai at about 1 am, I am guessing we get back on the road at around 10 pm, and I know that we were on the side of the road for around six hours. Unbelievable, but a good lesson to me. I had been so focused on such petty things, feeling sorry for myself for who knows what reason at all, and I had forgotten to appreciate everything for what it was. That might sound slightly ridiculous, but I remember thinking about it at the time. I can’t really expand further on that notion or my thoughts about the lessons learned from that bus trip. But I can say that we did get into Oudomxai at around 1 am, and I had been quite worried that I would have to spend the night at the bus station with no sleep. Luckily, I was wrong, and I was able to stay at a clean, decent guesthouse right across the street from the bus station (with the help of the tuk-tuk drivers who knew our bus hadn’t come in yet and were waiting for it. They said to just go knock, and lo and behold, a teenager was sleeping near the door, probably exactly because of events like this. I felt terrible waking him up, but business is business after all).
I stayed in Oudomxai for only 2 nights because I did not want to stray from my schedule and miss anything important with the upcoming Songkran/Lao New Year festivities. So, needless to say, I did not get to explore as much as I had wished. Rather than get into any further details about Oudomxai or Lao New Year, I can just say that the trip back to Luang Nam Tha was far less eventful and, in fact, pretty normal (northern Lao standards only). That is, until we got to the turn off for Luang Nam Tha and the road was closed for road construction (road construction is a very common thing around Luang Nam Tha these days, as the Chinese and the Thai are improving the route connecting southern China with Thailand with little regard for its effects on the Lao population). Our driver was clearly not sure what to do, so he decided to take a turn-off further down the road that was a little fishy to me, with my small knowledge of the Luang Nam Tha area, and clearly many of the passengers thought it was a terrible idea as they “yelled” at him to not continue down the road. He continued anyway, and before too long, we found ourselves facing a very, very rickety old one-lane wooden bridge across the Nam Tha river. Not a good idea from anyone’s perspective. The driver stopped, stared at the bridge a bit, and even got out and walked onto the bridge before deciding it would be OK to cross. I was about to initiate the idea that all the passengers get off the bus and meet it on the other side, but before I knew it the driver was gunning it. I held my breath and the German guy sitting next to me turned white and closed his eyes. I can say it was quite frightening, but we did make it. I have included a photograph of the bridge that I took the next day, but it hardly captures it. And by the next day when I took this photo, new boards had been added to the bridge where there had been either gaping holes or rotting boards the day before.

Oh, traveling in Laos. Expect the unexpected. But regardless of the tediousness and often downright pain of the travel, know that you will be rewarded every time, because Laos is truly a wonderful place.