A haphazard chronicle of my inevitable misadventures during a year in Vietnam and points east.

p.s. I'll be pitifully grateful if you send me email during my exile: TravelerKaty@hotmail.com

October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 February 2006 March 2006 May 2006

 
Savannakhet, Laos

From the perspective of three days, I can reliably inform you that Laos is basically a jungle. My first day here, we snaked through some lush green viney mountains, but as we headed south the terrain flattened out and it looks like one big forest.

The whole country is just incredibly peaceful and laid back, particularly in contrast to the frenetic noise and commerce of Vietnam. There are few vehicles, towns are small, villages are tiny and on stilts, and they seem to have far more pigs, goats and chickens than human inhabitants. The Laos don't use the horn except on blind corners. And as you walk down the street, people smile and say "sabaadi", Lao for hello -- nobody pesters you to buy anything, come to their restaurant or take a ride on their tuk-tuk.

So being in Laos is like settling in for a long winter's nap. That is, provided your naps are habitually taken four inches from the roaring fire -- the heat is so intense it's like walking through a kiln.

My original plan was to spend a week in southern Laos, then two weeks in northern Laos. However, since the travel agent in Hanoi jacked me around and I lost three days, things were starting to get very rushed, and I hate being rushed. That, plus the 157 degree heat convinced me that the north was the place to be, and so I did the very weird travel maneuver of taking a bus six hours to the south, spending one night in Savannakhet (delightful dusty tropical frontier town), then taking a bus 9 hours in the other direction. It really goes against my grain to do this kind of backtracking, but the heat really was intolerable. Actually, the clincher was that I looked at my schedule and determined that I wouldn't be in a position to do laundry for at least three more days. After taking a big whiff of my remaining wearable clothing, I decided I would do Laos a favor and slow down a bit.

Copyright 2003 Katy Warren
posted by Katy at 7:02 AM