Long weekend in Vientiane, Loas

Yeah, yeah, I know, it seems without a job, this whole trip should be considered one long weekend. I actually still recognize the weekend, if only for the fact that is when others kick it up a notch on the fun scale.

I finally spent some time outside of Thailand (the trips to the border towns of Myanmar do not count, seeing how I only spent maybe a total of sixty minutes during four visits there). The destination was Vientiane, Loas, Capital City.

Vientiane rests along the Mekong River, on the northern border of Thailand's eastern territory. The area is quite flat, with very little shade, though it didn't get unbearably hot during high noon.

Maybe it's the area, maybe it's just me, but I can't say that I had a great time in Laos. First of all, the food is just average. Granted, there is a mix of Chinese, Lao, Thai, Indian and French (from colonialism) ethnicities. I just didn't find anything of high praise, especially for a capital city. One thing that I did like were the grilled baby back ribs. Using a dry rub of spices (cumin, coriander, garlic, salt, pepper and many others I couldn't make out), when it was grilled to juicy-ness it was a winner.

Due to the French presence, the baguettes were nice. Sandwiches are dressed with unripened papaya, cucumbers, tomatoes, mayo, green onion stalk, sliced yellow onion and sweet pickles. The main item of the sandwich could be tuna, eggs, cheese... but the Laoation way is with a pate spread, Lao-style BBQ pork slices and chicken breast slices.

Beer Lao is supposed to be known as the best beer in Southeast Asia. I can say that their lager (the flagship) is, but only marginally. Thailand's Singha is a close runner-up, but tastes nasty when it gets warm. Beer Lao doesn't get as nasty. The one Beer Lao flavor that does get raves from me is their Dark beer. Of course, I haven't had a good beer since leaving the States, so this stuff could just be the equivalent to Killian's or Michelob's Special Dark (I can't say for sure).

The city itself seemed quite lame to me. Aside from a few places with worthy photo-ops, the architecture was bland and monotanous. After one afternoon of walking around with my cameras, I felt as if I saw all there was to see. The next day, I resolved to rent a motorcycle to check out the countryside.

The day began as an indication of what was to come. I ordered breakfast at a noodle-shop. I pointed to something on the menu, noodles, but ended up with vegetables and rice. I rented the motorcycle and got the crappiest one of the bunch. Before leaving, I noted that the fuel tank was not full, as stated in the rental agreement. A kilometer after filling up the tank, I noticed that the gas tank-needle was not functioning properly. Within minutes of that, the side mirrors swayed with the wind. That's fine, I thought, I can deal with these minor problems. I could just switch bikes, but I had already filled the tank and didn't want to go thru with that again.

My destinaton was a national park about 100 kilometers away from Vientiane. Adding to my adventure, highway signs are in short supply in this country. The map that I was using neglected to show what the highway numbers were. For a while, I was just moving, blindly, hoping that the direction I was going was correct. Let me add, the directions that the Lao tourism bureau gave me said to take Highway 13 south, though clearly the road was going due east the whole time.

I finally made it to the park without any more incidence. A fork in the road gave me the choice of a couple of waterfalls. En route there, I passed thru a gate guarded by two men working for the parks department. Their only job was to make sure that all tourists pay $0.50 US as an entrance fee. (For this day, I was their only visitor.) On my way out, I saw what they do with the rest of their time.

One guard stopped me at the gate and ordered me over to him. He wanted to give me some sticky rice wrapped in banana leaf. Not a bad tasting treat (especially since I hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast). He gave me something to drink. It came out of a fish sauce bottle, but it wasn't fish sauce. It smelled like kerosene and well, tasted like kerosene, too. The guard told me that he and his co-worker would drink two of these bottles every day. Yipes! One shot was enough to burn a hole in my liver.

I left the park soon enough. Just like the area around Vientiane, there was not much shade. The trees were no more than four stories high, not much of a shade canopy to keep me there for more than a few minutes. As I got back to the main road to Vientiane, the rear tire went flat. It was so old, that it just exploded en route. That cost me 70,000 kip to replace (or the equivalent to $7 US). No more than fifteen minutes later, I ran out of fuel. Fortunately, as the bike was coasting on fumes, a roadside stand had a liter of petro to sell me.

I finally made it back to Capital City, but only after scrapping plans to visit the sculpture gardens that were slightly on the way to town. That turned out to be a good decision. The next morning when I went to return the bike, the starter failed to start and I had to push the bike back to the dealer. It's a good thing he wasn't around (too early in the morning), otherwise I would've yelled at him for renting me such a shoddy bike (which would have caused him to lose face... a social no-no around here).

With that behind me, the only thing I found left to do in Vientiane was just sit along the Mekong River, watch the sun set while drinking Beer Lao Dark.

back to Phuket and then to Bangkok to TCOB

After three months of being on the road, I made the journey back to Phuket island. Aside from seeing Debbie and Eric again (who are doing great and about to move to another home closer to the beach), I wanted to drop off my bike and get ready for my brother Derek's visit in a few weeks. I also needed to grab my plane ticket back to America (more on this later).

Phuket is in many ways different than when I was there. High season does bring in many tourists and adds to the traffic gridlock. Prices for everything has ramped up. The beaches are crowded, but not as bad as I was expecting (though Debbie said that this weekend seemed to have less people than normal).

What is very disturbing is the number of fat tourists who insist on wearing as little as possible. The stereotype of the fat German man wearing a Speedo g-string two sizes too small is all too true. What is even more disturbing are the obese women who go topless. Not just laying on the sand for a tan, they prance around the beach and sea with no shame. Keep in mind that topless sunbathing is illegal and socially rude in Thailand. The Thais need to take back their beach! If they didn't need the tourist dollars so bad, I would imagine more fines being handed out.

A weekend was all I needed back in Phuket, I'll be back in a few weeks with Derek. Last nite, I took the midnite express bus up to Bangkok. I arrived into the megacity at the peak of morning rush hour. Perfect timing to take my digital camera into the shop for repairs and change the flight back to America. I still haven't been able to figure out how much of a tax refund I'll be getting for last year (a benefit of working only half a year), but I think I'll be able to squeeze out another couple o' months here. I think after Derek leaves, I'll check out Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam...

Jan 12 - 18: Kampheng Phet, Klong Lan Waterfall and Mae Wong National Park

Another adventurous week to say the least. I left Umphang in search of Mae Wong national park. Mae Wong has been on my mind for the past three months, ever since reading about it in the Bangkok Post. They reportedly just added seventy kilometers of bike trails. Ahhh, to be on freshly-laid bike trails that have not been spoiled by others...

First, I had to get to Kampheng Phet, which serves as the closest big town to the park. Details on the park have been sketchy, getting there even sketchier. Eventually, someone was able to give me clear directions and even a map to get to the park, which is not too far away from town. I even got details about camping - no food but there are food stalls and restaurants in the nearby waterfall park in Klong Lan.

On the first night in Kampheng Phet, I had my first unfortunate battle with Thai food. As usual, I sought out the local food stand market in search for good eats at cheap prices. I found som tom (the spicy papaya salad), strawberry smoothie, chicken skewers with curry/peanut sauce, roasted duck with sweet-n-sour sauce, sliced pineapple and jelly-filled donut balls. Well, some demon grabbed ahold of the insides of my belly in the middle of the night (Friday, the 13th, I will add) and wouldn't let go after until many trips to the bathroom. It took me a whole day to rid myself of that demon.

When I was able to safely leave the confines of my hotel room, I roamed around the town. Just like Sukhothai, this was an area of an ancient Thai kingdom and many of its ruins still lay around town. (Photo to come later)

On Sunday, I departed for Mae Wong and Khlong Lan. Khlong Lan is only sixty kilometers away, so I packed the tent and a brought some clothes and camera equipment for the voyage (no bulky backpack this time ;). During the whole way, there was road contruction. This means for me that the shoulder was dug up, waiting for a new lane to be paved; or in other words, a two-foot drop if I should get bumped to the side.

Fortunately, this never happened. In fact, traffic was very light and I was making great time on the flat terrain. So great, that I actually missed the turnoff to the waterfalls and went another five kilometers to Mae Wong. The waterfalls looked nice, but even nicer was being able to camp alongside the stream that resulted from the waterfall.

When I checked out Mae Wong, the park ranger informed me that there weren't any new bike trails... only the road that goes up the mountain. Hmmmmph! I guess you can't believe everything that is printed in the paper. Since I was already here, though, I decided to go up the mountain until the sunshine got too hot to handle.

On the way back to the campsite, I decided to check out a few of the breaks in the forest alongside the road out of the park. The first turned out to be a bust, ending up in another ranger station. But the other break was a winner!

It was labled as a forest restoration project and began as a steep climb up uneven, rocky terrain. After pushing the bike up this (yeah, yeah, that's not really keeping it real), I saw a smooth dirt road created by a big bulldozer. I'm not sure what the real intention of the restoration is, maybe this was the new bike trail?!? If so, I haven't been on anything nicer in the country. The best thing about the trail was that the downhills were usually steep enough and the trail integrity was solid enough, that I didn't need to use my brakes. I would let gravity and momentum take me down the hill and up the next hill without even having to pedal. At one point, it felt as though I were on a roller coaster... until the end when the momentum took me over the first initial rocky hill from the road. As I was descending down this rocky road, my whole life wsa flashing before me... then I applied the brakes.

Along the Burmese border

Since leaving Sukhothai a week ago, I've been having a blast!

My first destination was Mae Sot to renew my visa. This is a town on the northwestern side of Thailand, bordering Myanmar (a.k.a. Burma). It's a small town, but as they say, it's a small world. To me, it gave me the same feeling as Senegal. There is a heavy Muslim presence here, as seen by the large goat population that roam the streets and the mosque in the center of town. Mae Sot seems to have the highest ethnic mix that I've seen concentrated in one city. There are Thais, Chinese, Burmese, Indians and a handful of westerners working for NGOs for the Burmese refugee camps located around the area.

While combing the streets looking for photo ops, I met one Burmese refugee named Mg Mg Lay. He is a Unicef-recognized refugee. Mg Mg fled Burma twelve years ago and is currently settled in Mae Sot with his wife (Ma Su) and son (Mg Thin Thung Oo). When asked about whether or not he wants to return to Burma, he said no. He fears that the current military regime will arrest him on sight if he enters the country due to his job when living in Burma at the Information Center (the media wing for the Burmese revolutionary group). If and when there is a new government, then he may return. Both he and his wife still have family there.

this is taken from the Friendship Bridge. at the top is Burma, below is Thailand.

Myanmar is a strange country, indeed. When I do my visa runs, I have to pay either US $5 or $10 to enter the country, depending on where I cross. The thing is, they will only accept crisp, whole bills. The first time I noticed this was up in Mae Sai. I paid using a $5 with one of the corners being ripped off. The rip was no more than a millimeter, but the border cop wouldn't accept it. I told him that this was the same $5 that they gave me the previous month when I did my border crossing at the same checkpoint. He looked at me with no mercy and forced me to use another bill. I heard that outside of the designated tourist areas, the government actually has signs that say stuff like, "Don't trust Americans". Hmmmmm, they hate Americans, but want our money. But they won't take slightly mutilated paper...

I moved south a few days later to an overgrown village called Umphang. It serves as a tourist destination because of having one of the world's six largest waterfalls. I really wasn't here for that though. I was only there to make my way to another national park. When I arrived, I realized that there was some good biking to check out. One of the routes along the road leads up to the waterfall entrance, but I was denied access. The park ranger was adamant about this. He said that only 4WD vehicles could pass. Another route had the possibility to enter the waterfall thru the south, but after biking thru a forest for an hour, the trail stopped at a farm. When asked where the falls are, the farmer just waved his arm in a direction that didn't seem to lead me anywhere. Hmmm, he must be keeping it a secret.

I enjoyed the biking around these two areas. I finally feel comfortable just exploring blindly into any dirt road that I pass. Oftentimes, this leads me thru farmlands along open valleys. The above picture is one such area. The trail was a dirt road, with two grooves worn out by tire tracks. It was a pleasurable winding and twisting path that eventually lead into a forest and river. Along the way were empty bamboo huts. My guess is that they are used as meditation huts for the nearby monk's compound.

New Years in Sukhothai

I moved westward for the New Years celebration, arriving in Sukhothai on the 30th, late in the morning. After finding a guesthouse to stay at, I walked around town to get a feel of what kind of action to expect for the eve. Not much to report, I saw lotsa commercial activity, but I didn't see any signs of events going on.

Later in the afternoon, I jumped on my bike and did another stroll thru the city, this time, covering more ground and circling the city. Still not much to report. In fact, it seems as though I covered the whole town in just thirty minutes of casual riding. I did find a restaurant to eat, Poo. (see above picture)

Yes I went for some poo for dinner. Actually, Poo in one tone is the word for crab. It's also the name for Thai women. (Thais actually usually have long, muli-syllable names. Everyone then has a one syllable nickname. My friends from camping up in the mountain nicknamed me "Ken". The restaurant actually didn't have any crab on the menu, so instead, I ordered chickened stir-fried with veggies.

The food in Sukhothai is nothing to rave about. The spicy sausage balls had the hard "bone-like" substance that I haven't encountered since Phuket. The fried chicken was super greasy and lacked any flavor in the plain flour-water-salt batter.

I spent the actual New Years Eve party at my guesthouse. They had a Thai buffet of noodles and a spicy curry sauce, green curry and pork over rice, stir-fried veggies with oyster sauce and varieties of fruit and sald veggies. There was a couple performances of traditional Thai dancing, complete with costumes. Of course, there was music. Raise-The-Roof Dance music and lots of it. I escaped at one point and did a tour around the town at 11 PM. The best thing going seemed to be at a bar/restaurant that was watching a Manchester United football game. So I went back to the guesthouse to finish the countdown.

The only big attraction that causes tourists to stop thru the city is to tour the ruins of Old Sukhothai. Almost 800 years ago, this was the capital and hotbed of the ancient Thailand. About 12 km away are the remains of temples, buildings and buddhas. There has been an attempt to restore some of the original structures, but for the most part, it's just a collection of bricks laying in a field with weeds growing on them.