It is a bit after midday when we are back in the city. It is very hot and humid, so I am looking forward to a nice dip in the pool near the waterfalls. This is a very nice place to spend a relaxing afternoon trying to escape the heat. The water feels freezing and I feel a lot better when we go back to town. This time we go “French” in a stylish restaurant. Laos was part of Indochine and you can still see signs of this occupation. Schools are called écoles and everywhere baguettes with “la vache Kiri” are being sold as snacks. There is a great variety of French-Italian restaurants and you could stay here without ever having to eat sticky rice once. We quite enjoy the coffee supply, and find ourselves going back several times for a nice cup of Java.

Saturday, 31 October: Today we have booked a day trek to the Khmer and Hmong tribes around LP for 50 euro including lunch. This time we really have to walk. It starts with an easy stroll along the riverbank where we visit the Khmer villages and then we start to walk uphill. Even hidden below the trees we start to puff and the heat makes us feel exhausted quickly. Ken, our friendly guide makes frequent halts and we have plenty of water with us. Finally we arrive at a village on a hill and hopefully I ask if this is where the climbing ends. “No” says Ken, “the Hmong live in the mountains, this is still Khmer area”. We decide on another rest as it is lunchtime. An excellent rice and curry gives us back some strength. I ask if this is a heavy hike, but apparently this is a moderate one, as the three day hike I really wanted involves a lot more of steep uphill walking. “We don’t get that many old people like yourselves for trekking” the guide says smiling. Yeah right, that will help boost his tip! After lunch we walk further until we arrive at a Hmong village, which is deserted, as everybody is working on the fields.

We are pointed to the differences in houses. The Khmer will build their houses on poles where the Hmong will build from the floor up. The reason is simple; the Khmer houses are near the river and are prone to flooding.  Then we follow a path for several hours in the plain open. Only now we realize how nice it was to walk under the shade of the trees. This is hard work and we are exhausted when we reach one of the larger villages. The guide takes us to the shop of his brother where we indulge in clod beer Lao. As it happens there is a wedding party going on and we are requested to participate in the drinking and dancing.
At 5.30 the music stops and everybody goes home, I guess because tomorrow is another working day.

The Lao way of meeting a girl: you walk up to the girl; make a greeting with your hands to show respect and than ask her to dance. Sounds pretty old fashioned to us.

I notice a couple of satellite dishes in the village and ask what their favorite channels are. They can watch over 50 channels. The Thai and Laos channels are the most popular ones, but they also watch Cambodian, Vietnamese, Indian, Chinese and even the BBC world can be watched. I get the feeling that Laos has turned its back to China and is looking more to Thailand as a role model.

The Rattana hotel problem

we are knackered by the time we are back at the hotel. And just now do we have a problem with the weasel that seems to be in charge of the hotel. The bill does not add up and is much more than I expected, so I tell he to give me a copy. He can’t, he says he will write me a copy. He comes to the room to hand me the copy. I notice that some numbers have changed. When I want to pay in dollars the rate is so bad I tell him I will go and change at the ATM, than he increases the rate a bit so I give in. Other complaints we have about the hotel: small rooms, even the big ones, the pricy laundry comes back greyer than when we gave it for washing and the poor breakfast cost the same as the excellent JoMa coffee shop just around the corner.

Vientiane

Sunday, 1 November: Again a travel day as we will be taking the bus to Vientiane. We stock up with some baguettes dressed with processed cheese, tomato and eggs and prepare ourselves for the potholes to come. Our Ipod is a wonderful time killer on these trips. Slowly we see the mountains disappear, the bamboo huts are disappearing and stone houses appear. Also appearing are cars as the traffic becomes more intense. We realize that for the last few days we have been in a tranquil area of the world. Slowly the white clouds in the sky make room for a dull smog sky. For a capital, Vientiane has a provincial feel, but coming from the north it feels busy. When we arrive at the Malinaphu guesthouse, our room is gone, as we did not reconfirm. No problem, the hotel next door is as good and 5 dollar cheaper. We had noticed an Indian restaurant at the corner and decide to try it. They have a bottle of French wine on sale for 10 usd, which we empty with love. The food is perfect and we soon forget the bus ride from LP.

We find out, by accident, that tomorrow the annual That Luang festival takes place. During this festival monks from all over Laos come to Vientiane to have their begging bowl filled. We decide to focus our visit on the festival.

Monday, 2 November: We get up really early and by 6 o’clock we are at the Wat That Luang. The religious festival is held in and around That Luang Stupa, the National Symbol of Laos, where hundreds of monks gather to accept alms and floral votives from the people.

Already, this early, there is a constant flow of people. Armed with money, food, candy and flowers to donate to the monks. Everybody seems to be wearing his or her best clothes. Thousands of monks are standing at benches, anxiously awaiting their gifts. The whole place is abuzz with footstalls, balloon sellers, flower stalls and the place has a fun fair feel with merry-go-rounds and loud music blaring out of the loudspeakers.

By 8.30 am we find the place to busy and decide to walk back to the city.

We pass by Patouxai, the “Arc de Triomphe” of Laos and find it a monster. When we arrive at the hotel we decide to rest a bit. Heat and traveling has made us very tired and a nice nap makes us feel all well again. The rest of the day we spend hanging around the area. Coffe and cake, sending e-mails and so on. In the evening we go back to the what to make photos of the full moon, but we do not stay long as we have trouble walking in such a big crowd while the loudspeakers are on overdrive. We watch the festival further on the TV in our A/C room. Tommorow we leave Laos, way to soon, but Air Asia is going to fly us to Kuala Lumpur for a song.

Arun Wat at night