Savannakhet, Lao Lao

Savannakhet has to be one of the most chilled out towns I have ever visited. We arrived safely after the many, many, many hours on several "buses". The last bit from Dong Ha in Vietnam over to the Lao Bao border into Laos was a beautiful ride, picturesque mountainous views on winding country roads. We tried to take pictures but barreling down mountain roads at 80 miles an hour in a rusty old van that Fred Sanford wouldn’t even drive is not conducive to scenic photography. Also Katie was scared of the fingerless woman spitting on her the whole way.

Our current location:

We found a hostel after a short Tuk Tuk ride. Side note: everywhere we've been the taxi drivers take you to the hotel of their choosing; no matter how insistent you are that you have a specific destination in mind. But it seems to work out well everywhere we go. Our hostel was $10 a night and very fancy in comparison to what we've become accustomed to. Big beds, albeit hard as rocks, a warm shower and massive bathroom.

Our street:

The funniest thing about Laos has to be their translating abilities for posting signs. On the back of our hotel door was this sign, (highlights below):

Attentions:
1) Migal activities are not allowed in the hotel. (Illegal activities maybe?)

2) Visitors will not be cooked or laundered in rooms.(Guests will not be served food or laundry services? Either that or cannibalistic hostels are an option in Savannakhet.)

4) All forms of gambling are not prohibited in the hotel (double negative which means they ARE, sweet) migal (illegal?) articles, I.C.U. sex, and I.C.U. prostique. (No clue about that one, obviously no prostitutes or sex but what the hell is I.C.U.?)

The tourist office had many warnings and pictures of what not to do in Laos including dressing inappropriately and using drugs of any kind. They included very hilarious cartoon pictures:

Our first night, after much needed showers, we walked along the Mekong river just opposite Thailand and had a traditional Lao dinner sitting on the sidewalk on mats eating soup and drinking beer. It was incredibly romantic, at least for Katie.

The next day we rushed to the tourist office to book our jungle trek and home stay for the following day. That night we had another dinner at a fancier place on the Mekong. Katie surprised me and ordered dried buffalo skin as the main course. Dried buffalo skin is similar to shoe. Seriously we were eating someone’s shoe. We ended up throwing it in the Mekong when the waiter was not looking.

Later we saw another Falang (foreigner in Lao) that we recognized from the tourist office. Dayush is half Israeli half English. Turns out he was signed up for our trek the next day as well. We went with him to the "Club" across the street from our hotel. We danced with some insane Lao people who are so friendly and absolutely love foreigners. Many pictures were taken that night but Katie's camera circa 1991 is too shitty to retrieve pictures from at the moment.

The next day we woke at the crack of dawn to begin our jungle trek that would last two days. 7 other foreigners where with us. A young quiet Isralie couple, 3 enormously tall blond Dutch people, Dayush the Isralie Englishman, and an Irish woman who has been in NY for the past 12 years, and in of all places Mt Vernon! We soon discovered that we had taken the same train at the same time into the city everyday for a year. Small world!

Our guide Khamphat, pronounced "Campact" was appropriately named given his stature of about 4'7. Standing next to the Dutch people he looked about 5 years old. Here he is with a map of our jungle trek:

Khamphat spoke English fairly well and translatted for the other jungle guide who accompanied the group. This man was amazing, truly was born and raised in a jungle. Throughout our two day trek he would quickly grab a nearby twig or bush and point out the most amazing insect or plant that we would have never noticed otherwise.

We arrived at the small Lao village in the early evening and were welcomed with the traditional drink called Lao Lao, which is basically ethel alcohol. It gave Katie flashbacks of some bad college frat parties, to me it tasted of finger nail polish remover.

Our host family consisted of an elderly couple, their two daughters and several grandchildren. We were given a dinner and ceremony that included all the elders in the village. Each one came up to us after dinner and said a prayer while tying a white bracelet to our wrists.

But the most appealing aspect of Laos has to be the people. Everyone is so happy, always laughing and smiling. The children just play outside all day and giggle as we passby, loving when we take photos of them.

Laos is ultimately an untapped destination. It remains nearly isolated from foreign influence and is therefore an amazing glimpse of traditional southeast asian life. We were very sad to leave and plan to return one day and stay for much longer.

-Posted by Tracy