A Hitchhiker's Guide to Laos

Hey everybody! Unless something really stupendous
happens, this will probably be my last annoying,
tedious, spite-inducing email from SE Asia. The last
week or so has been pretty eventful, filled with bus
rides, endangered species, bus rides, hitchhiking, bus
rides, chance encounters, bus rides and a surprise
visit to Cambodia. Let's play the Feud!
So we left Hanoi a while ago headed into Laos on our
way back to Bangkok. Laos is pretty difficult terrain
to travel around, so we knew a long bus ride was ahead
of us but, as they say on MTV, "you think you know,
but you have no idea!" (My pop culture's rusty) We
left Hanoi at 7:00 PM and got in to Paxse in Laos at
9:30 the next day, a quick 26 hours of bus travel.
Big buses, small buses. Dangerous buses and even more
dangerous buses. Women throwing up and babies peeing.
It was good times. At one point we had 22 people in
a twelve person bus...that's just gangsta!
Laos was great! We headed to the very southern tip,
an area known as the 4000 Islands. It's where the
Mekong River widens to Great Lake proportions and
islands begin popping up. It's a very laid back area:
no electricity, very few fellow travelers and,
surprisingly, some of the best food we've come upon to
this point and at the best prices. With Sean leaving
later tonight, it was a great way to emotionally wrap
up the trip. Just relaxing, spending a lot of time
reminiscing, eating, journalizing and reading.
We had a chance to see the endangered Mekong River
Dolphins. We took a small boat to an island to watch
for them, and I couldn't help noticing the flag on the
island changed. "Here, Cambodia?" I asked our
boatman. He nodded yes and slipped a little cash to a
Cambodian official. The borders are, how you say,
fluid. The dolphins were beautiful (not as visible as
in Ko Phi Phi) and being able to say I've seen some
freshwater dolphins in the wild is, well, wild.
We stumbled on a bit of adventure on our way back
north from the islands. Having tearfully bid adieu to
our lovely little hamlet, we took a boat back to the
mainland to catch a bus. Upon arrival we found the
prices were about 5 times their original price. We
were shocked and indignant and, in keeping with the
entire trip, chose to blaze a path rather than let the
scam artistes (French accent on the "st") have their
way. We got ourselves to the main road and decided to
wait for a local bus heading North. I'm pretty sure
we'd still be waiting for that mythical "local bus
North", laden with Elvis, the Loch Ness monster and
the money to pay for both candidates Medicair Plans,
were it not for our Knight In Toyota Pickup. We
flagged him down and he was more than happy to let us
jump in the cab for the 2 hour ride to Paxse at no
charge! With our backpacks as seat rests and the warm
glow of saving a buck or two, we had one of the most
comfortable rides of our trip. Plus we served as
rolling entertainment to all the locals who laughed
and pointed at the silly white people traveling like
non-silly Laotians(?).
Upon our arrival we checked into the same guest house
we'd used previously, were about to head out for a
bite, when Ben Wood's eagle eyes spied a familiar name
in the register, "O'Connell, Brendan". We knew it had
to be our very own college house mate Brendan, he even
made his "O"s into little faces of Frank Zappa, just
like Brendan! It was complete coincidence and it was
great to be able to hang out with him one last night
before we lost him for another 7 months to the black
hole of international travel.
The next morning Ben, Sean and I bid farewell to Lao
(and the best beer in SE Asia, Beerlao!) to head back
to Thailand. We caught a train headed for Bangkok,
with Wood and I getting off in Karot while Sean
continued straight to Bangkok, having to catch an
earlier flight. It was your standard 3rd class, 3 to
a seat, guys selling dried squid in the aisles affair,
and while Ben and I were able to leap off after a mere
6 hours, Sean was in for the whole 12, arriving in
Bangkok at 3:00 AM. But, always the optimist, Sean
noted that he'd be arriving during "the massagin'
hour" when things get "a little blue." I don't know
what that means.
Anyways, Ben and I really like Karot. It's Thailand's
2nd biggest city but has very little tourism, so we
have none of the hassles tourism brings. The vendors
don't choke us and prices aren't inflated. Ben and I
wandered the night market last night, and they even
had a live band playing. They were pretty rockin!
Like a Thai REO Speedwagon (but I guess that's what I
said about Pearl Jam, Blink 182 and Tupac, so that's
not very helpful).
So this is pretty much for the trip. We'll head to
Bangkok tomorrow morning. I'll fly out late on the
20th and Ben leaves for Sri Lanka the next day. I'll
be bringing back a wicked tan, no intestinal problems
(knock, knock) and presents. If you get one, I like
you. If not, I hate you. Simple enough?
Well, take it easy folks, I've gotta go buy some
Rolexes!
Casey