Last week, after a year in Thailand, my visa run required an embassy so I ended up in Vientiane. I was lucky because it coincided with a public holiday which meant I could enjoy a few sights in Loas without missing anymore school than I would have to anyway. I went to Vientiane, Loas; Vang Viang, Loas; and Udon Thani, Thailand. Listed below are the top 5 experiences from the trip, minus all the cool people I met on the way.
- Phu Phrababt Historical Park, near Udon Thani, Isan, Thailand
One day in Udon Thani was enough to regret ever listening to advice against travelling to Isan. Between an archaeology museum, a lake and a few temples I decided to spend the one day I had in Phu Phrabat historical park! WOW! I love nature and I love pre-history and this park was the two slammed together with a pinch of AWESOME! It was cool and shady because of all the trees that spanned either side of the well maintained paths which stretched between ancient rock formations. Apparently two or three thousand years ago the area was a series of massive caves. The people who lived in the area carved the caves into rooms and monuments to suit their needs and decorated the walls. Over the millennia the majority of the rocks have been weathered away leaving the scant remains of their prehistoric architecture and a couple of cave paintings with a lush green backdrop. With the sights so numerous and so varied, I spent the precious two hours I had running around the park trying to see as much as possible. I barely scratched the surface.
- A Random Cave in Vang Vieng, Loas (Sorry! I don’t know the name).
Vang Vieng is a weird place. The locals are mostly subsistence farmers but the beautiful nature and famed tubing (floating down a river from bar to bar) have attracted hordes of tourists. The result is a contrast between village simplicity and a metropolis of party tourists and greasy food. As a nature loving greenie inspired by culture, you can imagine I spent most of my time avoiding the beaten track and searching for the road less taken. One such trip took me down a slippery road into a local farm. I was initially greeted by ducks and cows, then by the farmer himself. Upon discovering that I could scrape together a couple of sentences in Loa, and communicate basically in Thai, he agreed to take me to a cave for a good price. The walk to the cave was almost as beautiful as the cave itself. Mountains formed the background and the colours were all the more vibrant because of the rain. We slipped and slid over on the ridges between rice paddies, weaving through the cucumber vines and corn fields on his farm. The cave itself was deep, dark and in some places dangerous but the rock formations and water droplets glistening in the torchlight were beautiful. Outside the entrance to the cave was a small lagoon with beautiful blue and clean water. Compared with an anxious hour at the famous blue lagoon, shy in my tattered bikini and ever cautious of the security of my belongings amongst all the people, it was wonderful to jump in, fully clothed, with the equally beautiful smaller version all to myself. On the way back my guide picked me a cucumber from his vine. Seeing me eat it with enjoyment, once we got back to the farm house, he got a bag, and went back out to fill it with more cucumbers, making the trip even more special.
- The Amazing Greenness of Loas Countryside
While I was in Loas someone asked me what I thought the biggest difference between Loas and Thailand is, and honestly, it’s so hard to tell. I’m at home in Thailand. I know the currency, a bit of the language, and I have some personal relationships with Thai people. In contrast, Loas is not home, so people treat me differently, and I constantly have to be aware. One thing I did notice however was the beautiful scenery when we were in the bus. Compared with Thailand, Loas has a relatively small population. In fact, in the capital, Vientiane, there are only 200, 000 people, which is actually not that much bigger than Lampang, the closest city to where I live. The result of this is that the environment in Loas has been very well preserved. You can see this, as you travel between destinations, with how few villages there are, how underdeveloped those villages are, and by how much natural bush there still is! Since Loas is so mountainous and it rains so much, everything was very green! I would LOVE to go again, but tour on a motorbike instead of busses, stopping at various national parks! I think it would be amazing.
- Houey Hong Vocational Training Centre for Women, Vientiane, Loas
There isn’t a whole lot to do in Vientiane. In fact, as far as cities go (and remember I’m not a city person), Vientiane falls pretty low. I found a swimming pool and one or two good restaurants, but that was about it. One thing I did do was spend a day at the Houey Hong Vocational Training Centre for Women. In other words, I went with a girl I met in Vientiane and we spent the day tie dying and looking at weaving. In a typical Asian fashion there was a LOT of downtime in our tour, but it was really interesting none the less. We got to watch women weave cloth on a loom. It was incredible the amount of work it takes to do a simple pattern. We also tried our hand at some tie dying, with the natural pigments they used. My scarf was red, so they used durian bark, tamarind and the resin left behind by an insect to create the colour. Actually, it was fascinating to see the variety of natural materials they used to create such beautiful colours.
- Pure Massage Bliss, Udon Thani, Thailand
The morning I left Loas was very stressful. I had less than 5 minutes to pack and I had to run to catch the bus, then I spent 5 hours in a cramped bus, having not eaten anything and with an aching leg. By the time I arrived in Udon, I was not only ravenous, but my leg was quite sore and my tolerance was wearing VERY thin. The mummer of ‘Farrang khon deiow’ (a foreigner travelling alone) should have been warning for the deluge of tuk-tuk drivers that swooped on me like vultures on a carcass as I walked out the bus. The words ‘PISS OFF’ may not have come out of my mouth, but they were certainly written on my face in the sourest manifestation I could muster. My biggest bugbear about South East Asia is the frequency at which my white skin and blue eyes makes me a commodity. The irony of life is that we strive for individuality and success because we associate it with autonomy, but society claims unique people. I digress! The reason I mention all this is because I found a hotel 500 metres from the bus stop (no tuk-tuk necessary), and another 500 metres doing the road I found a massage pallor where I had the best massage I’ve ever had in my entire life. My days stress literally melted away and were replaced by the perfect pressure of the masseuses supple hands.
Thailand: My Next Great Aventure 