Bangkok to Laos Part One

March 9, 2008

We left Talitha safely in the cradle at Ratanachai boat yard, all the work nearly finished, and flew to Bangkok. We spent three days in Bangkok seeing the sights, riding river ferries and tuk tuks around the busy city. Bangkok is awash with photos of the King celebrating 60 years as monarch as well as photos commemorating the life of his sister who had recently died. The biggest photo of the King I saw covered the top 4 stories of a multi storied building. Through out Thailand many people wear coloured polo shirts to work commemorating different aspects of the kings life, pink, his favorite colour , yellow, his official flag colour, blue, the Queens favorite colour, green the colour he wore home from hospital after a recent illness, yellow is worn twice in the week that leaves the weekend for mufti. At the Royal Palace people from all over Thailand were waiting patiently for their turn to pay their respects to the late Princess, 100 days of mourning gives plenty of time for thousands of people to visit. As we tourists wandered the grounds of Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand palace, streams of Thai mourners visited the Princess then took the opportunity to do some sight seeing themselves. Across the road shops sold the usual tourist junk as well as black clothes and suitable shoes just in case the mourning clothes had been lost traveling to Bangkok. The Thai people love their Royal family, especially the King.

With our visa quickly running out it was time to move on to Chiang Mai. We took the overnight train from the Hualamphong train station, where we were able to fill in time looking at another photo display about the life of the late Princess. The train trip was very comfortable, once I got used to the top bunk and realized I wouldn't fall off in my sleep. Travelling in the same carriage was a Buddhist monk and a Buddhist nun, the monk came to talk to Alan as he, Piromk, had spent time in Christchurch teaching meditation. The nun was his mother who ran a small retreat in Chiang Mai and his Wat was just outside the town. I knew that women are not to touch or sit next to monks also we are not to pass things to a monk but as far as I understood talking to them was allowed so I joined in the conversation which didn't seem to create any issues. The next day I did momentarily forget myself and went to hand the monk a book, he jumped back a step, hands disappeared into the orange folds of his garment , oops! I passed the book to Alan so that he could hand it on.

The train conversation led to a very interesting morning in Chiang Mai. On arrival at Chiang Mai station we went to say goodbye and they suggested we share their taxi , they ended up taking us to the bus station to book our seats to the Lao border, Piromk came in to check we got the right seats. We discovered having a monk in tow gets good quick service!! Next stop was breakfast, another near faux pas. Uncertain where to sit, I knew I couldn't sit next to Piromk the monk so sat at the same table as his mother the nun, no that was wrong, she quickly got up and sat at another table. We all had breakfast together but at different tables, Alan and I together, the nun at one table and the monk at another. After our hot noodle breakfast they instructed the driver to take us to a guest house where with the help of Piromk we were booked in quickly and somewhat reverently. On the way the taxi driver stopped at a roadside foodstall and the nun popped out of the front(seems it was okay for her to sit next to the driver)and bought BBQ chicken and sticky rice for ourselves and the driver. Satisfied with our lodgings they then took us out to the retreat to see where she lived. They showered more gifts of bananas, rice cakes and a "healthy" drink which needed to be gulped, as politely as possible, to get it down. All these gifts and meals, none of which they would let us pay for was becoming embarrassing, I always thought you gave to monks not received. We eventually persuaded the nun through her son, the monk, to take a small donation towards a hilltribe school she helped. We eventually figured out that what was happening to us was the Buddhist way of passing on help and good fortune received in the past. When Piromk was in Christchurch he was very sick and his mother was very grateful to the people who looked after him in NZ, she could not do things for those people so as New Zealanders, we were on the receiving end of her gratitude. Piromk gently pointed out that we in our turn could now pass on our good fortune by helping or giving to others. The first thing we did was give the taxi driver the afternoon off. Piromk and his mother had paid for the taxi until 3pm and said we could use him until then. By the time we got back to the guesthouse half the day had gone and we felt the need to rest and regroup so we managed to indicate to the taxi driver that we wouldn't need him for the rest of the day, his huge smile and thanks was a good start to the "pay it forward".

The afternoon was spent wandering around Chiang Mai, visiting some Buddhist Temples(Wat) and enjoying browsing through the huge night market. A good nights sleep was needed before the following day and the long bus trip to Chiang Khong on the Lao border. Another day in Chiang Mai would have been good but only one day left on the visa meant we had to move on.

The mighty Mekong, reduced to a small muddy river by the dry season separates Thailand and Lao at Chiang Khong. To enter Lao, after clearing Thai customs, we payed 40 Bhat and clambered into a long narrow river boat, placing our bags carefully so as not to overbalance into the mud and motored across the Mekong to Huay Xai. Lao is land locked but we still managed to enter the country by boat as we have done for every country since leaving NZ.

"Look they have baguettes here!" While waiting for our passports to be processed at the Lao custom post, crisp French bread stacked in the class box across the road caught my attention. God bless the French, their colonial days long gone but a few reminders left behind, baguettes and coffee. The last time I had crisp French bread was in Auckland in May 2007, rice, noodles and roti are all very nice but the thought of sinking my teeth into a crisp roll filled with salad made my mouth water. We soon discovered there was also a local adaptation, which the kids seem to like for breakfast, a fresh roll with condensed milk poured inside. Toasted with jam for breakfast with a hot cup of strong Lao coffee was more to my liking.

The border town of Huay Xai is a small one street dusty town a steep walk above the banks of the Mekong. I kept expecting to see a cowboy on his trusty steed ambling down the road. The only trusty steeds however were red tuk tuks and smart people movers which milled around morning and night at river boat time. The prime income for the town comes from backpackers who struggle up and down the steep road from the river to stay a night or two at the most. Huay Xai is either a first taste of Lao before heading down river to Luang Prabang or a last day to enjoy relaxing Lao before heading back to busy, pushy Thailand. We were heading down river to Luang Prabang, a 2 day river boat trip broken about half way with a night ashore at Pak Beng.

Despite (or perhaps because of) the dusty one horse town flavour of the town we enjoyed our first night in Lao. The French Colonial building that was the guest house was very pleasant and cheap, our meal, looking over the sunset tinted Mekong river to the lights of Thailand, was tasty and our landlady was lovely. The filled rolls she made for our River boat lunch were delicious. The only draw back was the temperature, for the first time in months a sweatshirt was needed and warm clothes were packed in our day pack for the cooler times we had been warned we would encounter on the trip to Prabang. HuayXai to Pak Beng was warmish and windless just a light sweat shirt needed but leaving Pak Beng we wore jeans as well as shoes and socks. In Phuket when I packed my jeans the temperature was in the high 30s. I had felt sick at the thought of having to wear them but at Pak Beng I felt comfortable and grateful for their warmth.

Our first full day in Lao started with a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs, toasted baguettes, jam with strong spoon standing coffee for me and Liptons tea for Alan. I mention food again because it is a huge part of traveling and getting to know a country, especially as we have to eat out 3 times a day. We discovered that someone from Liptons had done a good job in Lao, the only tea on menus was Liptons tea, the Lao coffee was so strong that for the first time in 30 years I needed a touch of sugar, asking for more water became too difficult in a country where little English is spoken. Reading the mixed up spelling and English on menus made amusing reading, but thank goodness they give it a go as Lao written language is undecipherable, without the strangulated English meals could have been a rather dangerous activity. Pigs intestine soup and chicken with cashews looks the same to us when written in Lao.

Lao seems to be the home of sticky rice and I love sticky rice, most meals taste better with sticky rice except breakfast that is! The sticky rice is bought to the table in baskets, the snug woven lids keep it sticky and steaming, the baskets come in all sizes from a small one person serving to large family size baskets. There is a proper way of eating this rice, you pick up a small ball and roll it around in your fingers until satisfied with its shape then either dip it in the communal bowl of soup or add a small piece or meat then enjoy. Luckily (for our health) we were never in a situation where we had to depend on the cleanliness of strange fingers! Except for mango and sticky rice with coconut cream, Alan is not a sticky rice person so I could roll my rice as much as I liked!

I've wandered away a bit from our trip and you will be tired of reading by now so I'll finish here and start Part Two meandering down the Mekong towards Luang Prabang, the jewel of Lao.

Sabaai-dii until next time.

Sorry that this comes after part 2, this is the third time I have sent this in so hopefully it appears on the blog this time!