Laos on a Shoestring

Laos on a shoestring-

In the chilled out backpackers haven of Vang Vieng we met two separate solo American travelers. Griff (a 23 year old rugby player at NC State) and Aron (a 22 year old recent college graduate nomad surfer). Still hanging with Dónal, the 3 Canadian girls and other American guy Stephen (a 29 year old yoga instructor from NYC), the 8 of us stayed in the same guesthouse and would wreck havoc in Vang Vieng before having to go our separate ways. The girls headed for Thailand to kick it with elephants, Griff made it to Cambodia, where he had his heart set on the fully automatic machine guns, and unfortunately loosing his wallet was the last straw for my man Dónal. After running on fumes through the first week in Laos he had to throw in towel and head home to Belfast. I had enough reserve to get by up till now, but I proceed with caution as the funds are rapidly running thin. Aron, Stephen and I would head south, making it the first time in 6 months I shared company exclusively with Americans.

On a side note: Before leaving Vang Vieng I had the most random encounter at a very liberal eatery called Happy Pizza (use your imagination on the name). There were two Iranian guys I invited over to sit with us. It turns out one of the guys is a professor in the marketing department at UNLV which is the same university and college I was in. All of his colleagues were my old professors and we had some funny things to talk about (made funnier by the happy pizza). At the end he told me he can get me the degree (that I never got). So if you get the LONG overdue invitation to my college graduation don’t be surprised and we’ll be partying for weeks after… But that’s neither here nor there.

The three of us traveled to the capital city of Vientiane where I would be held up waiting the FedEx of my beloved ATM card. My best hope was that I would receive my card before the weekend, but it wasn’t to be. When I got the tracking number it said Monday evening, when I double checked that info with the local FedEx office they said Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning. Vientiane is a great little city, but not a whole lot to do there, unless cracked out lady boy prostitutes are your thing. The idea of waiting there for 5-6 days wasn’t too appealing. Stephen and Aron had to be going south before then so I counted my cash (for the seventh time) and decided I could make it down with them to the popular cave attraction, 6 hours south, and backtrack to wait for my card. After the damp and stuffy local bus ride we stopped at a little village 45km away from the cave and found a cool little guesthouse to crash in for the night. The guesthouse owner offered to cook for us which ended up being my worst meal in a while, consisting of pumpkin chunk/fish skin soup in a sock water broth, with rice and stale papaya salad. He meant well. We thanked him for the delicious culinary exploration and, behind his back, snuck away to the store to pick up chips and crackers before retiring to our rooms. We each had our own bungalow style room, though I shared mine with a mouse and giant Stand By Me size leech. The next morning we pulled stakes, skipped breakfast and moved camp up the road to the cave.

After numerous caves between Vietnam and northern Laos I had been just about caved out, but the Kong Lo Cave comes highly recommended on the Laos circuit so, with time on my side, I figured 1 more wouldn’t kill me. Setting this cave apart from others is that a river runs through it is entirety. The dark and creepy cave was made creepier by our boatman that had half of a face. His right side had skin missing from his eye socket to jaw, protruding the eye ball and exposing his entire maxilla and gum line. I feel for the poor guy and applaud his courage by not hiding from society, but it was hard to look at, as well as look away from. He welcomed us aboard his little wooden boat and the four of us went headlong into the throat of the cave. The river dissects a mountain and, after 5 miles, comes out to a tiny village at the other side. Along the way there were some low bridge squeezes as well as 300 foot high amphitheater ceilings. There’s some light rapids and several mystical waterfalls pouring into the center of the river from the black void far overhead. Only a tiny portion of the cave was lit up and the rest of the time we made due with headlamps (which I prefer). The 3 hour return trip through the cave lived up to the hype and did not disappoint. It’s possibly the coolest single activity I’ve done so far in SE Asia.

The next day my two American compadres headed further south and I went back up north Vientiane where I await the arrival of my ATM card. I don’t have enough cash for any more side excursions so I will remain put and lay low until it arrives. At last check the package was en route in Singapore and the Monday evening arrival time has been changed to N/A. The 3-5 day estimate is now at day 7. For now all I can do is hope for tomorrow and keep my fingers crossed…. Here in Indochina the gesture for fingers crossed means the same as the western worlds middle finger.

Bob