Christmas in Laos

Well, not so much “Christmas”, but rather 3 weeks in Laos that overlapped 25 December. In fact, our “Christmas dinner”, if I recall correctly, consisted of a pseudo-edible plate of gooey rice noodles mixed with egg, and  a bowl of veggie broth with some kind of green plant in it, cheffed up by a 15-yr-old Hmong girl. Neither of us finished our plates, and Amy was having intestinal issues (I’ll spare you the details) from our equally festive “Christmas-Eve dinner” the night before. 

The highlight was washing the whole works down with a large bottle of Beer Lao, Laos’ ubiquitous national beer. It was dark and cold at 1500 meters in the mountains of northern Laos. Only thing left to do was go back to our 10-dollar-a-night hole in the ground, and go to bed. It was 7:30 pm. The only reason we knew it was Christmas, is because the date in the corner of my laptop said 12/25/2018. Apparently the Hmong of northern Laos don’t do the Christmas turkey-dinner thing. J

As with all missions these days, this one was wrapped around Amy’s teaching schedule, and obviously this time, her 3-week Christmas break. I had been to Laos on several occasions for work (see previous Laos post) and had spent an accumulated time of about 3 months in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. Coming from Bogor, Vientiane is an absolute gastronomical delight (party in your mouth, as the saying goes), and nice break from the chaos of Indonesia. I never made it out of the city though, and Amy was keen to check it all out based on my rave reviews. So that was it, decision made. We’re heading to Laos!

The mission: cycling trip (of course) from Vientiane to the iconic UNESCO World Heritage city of Luang Prabang, Laos’ cultural capital of temples, saffron-clad Buddhist monks, and the best range of boutique hotels and restaurants this side of the Pacific. Nice!

The actual distance between these two dots on the map is fairly modest at just over 400 kms – about 2 days on the Tour de France, but we split it up into 7 stages with a 3-day stop in the middle to soak it all in. Hey, we’re on holidays! J Actually though, what the route lacks in total distance, it makes up for in elevation gain. Northern Laos is mountainous, and the route took us from 200 m to almost 1500 m several times, and then back down, and then back up again a few more times – we earned our beers J

Flying into Vientiane was like coming home. I had spent so much time there, it was all familiar and no need for research (which is a nice change!). It’s not a big stop on the tourist routes of Southeast Asia, so it tends to be spared the gratuitous touristy stuff, and operates more or less like a normal town. Although, being the capital and home to a thriving expat community, the restaurant scene is fantastic. The added bonus is that it’s small and entirely walkable – a great place to base our trip, get organized, change money, assemble the bikes, visit with friends I had made on the previous trips, drink some Beer Lao, and of course, enjoy the red wine and great food.

If you recall your history, Laos was part of French Indochina, the collective name for the French colonial regions of Southeast Asia – now the countries of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam – from the mid-1800s to the 1950s when it all fell apart for the French. The horrors of colonization aside, the French left behind two things Amy and I would like to personally thank them for: great food and wine! Thank you France! Oh wait, a third thing: fresh baguettes! Yep, a decent 8-dollar bottle of Argentine malbec, or a fresh chocolate croissant, is as easy to get here, as a bowl of rice – such a treat for us coming from the wineless hamlets of Indonesia.

The first couple days of cycling were spent basically just getting away from the capital region and into the hinterland. Despite being Laos’ national highway (route 13), we were surprised at how degraded the road was. While “paved”, the entire route is pot-marked by stretches of gravel and potholes and relentlessly hammered by endless industrial traffic making for a rather dusty grind for the first 2 days. We were rigged up with mountain bikes (hardtail with front suspension) – which I originally thought was going to be overkill, but turned out to be perfect for the conditions.

Our mid-point stopover in the infamous town of Van Vieng turned out to be a nightmare, and indeed the low spot in the trip. The place is famous as a backpacker party town and “outdoor activity center”, but was apparently “cleaned up” by the government a few years ago due to uncontrollable debauchery literally leading to the deaths of countless dreadlocked 20-somethings. It was therefore supposed to have returned to a more civilized status. 

Well, people don’t seem to be dying any more, but the place is as loud and stupid as always. In the words of a wise man (OK, my words) the place can be summarized as a backpacker slum that is gradually being taken over by busloads of group-tours clad in florescent lifejackets (it’s a thing, Koreans and others really really like this place). So ya, we didn’t really have a good time in VV. Nuff said. Oh, but we did manage to squeeze in an afternoon of tubing down the river, which was actually very cool, and reminiscent of our life in B.C. and tubing down the infamous Slocan River (I might have cried a bit J).

OK moving along. Phase 2 of the trip, the section between Vang Vieng and Luong Prabang was definitely the highlight, and the reason you should come here. Once finally out of earshot of VV, the route turns upward into the mountains. Nice! Fresh air, blue sky, and crisp mornings. What’s not to like about mountains?

In fact, one of the most appealing characteristics of Laos from my perspective, is that it is relatively empty of people by Asian standards. With a total population of only 6.8 million souls, Laos has one of the lowest population densities in Asia – second only to places like Mongolia. Living in Bogor (Indonesia) and one of the world’s highest population densities, it is NICE to be back in a place where humanity doesn’t dominate every square centimeter. So ya, two thumbs up to the mountains of Laos where you can fill your lungs with clean mountain air!

Interesting Laos factoid number 2 is that the mountains of northern Laos are home to the Hmong – an ethnic minority group in SE Asia. Originating from southern China, the Hmong are famous in Laos for forming a resistance army against communist forces in the 1960s and 70s. In fact, like something out of a good movie, the CIA covertly recruited, trained, and equipped a “secret army” that fought a guerilla campaign against the North Vietnamese and other communists including the Pathet Lao, the communist organization that ultimately secured power in Laos and remains in place today. Interesting factoid number 3: Laos is one of five remaining communist regimes in power, in the world (the others are Cuba, North Korea, China, and Vietnam).

So back to the Hmong, given their anti-communist leanings and rebel tendencies, they aren’t exactly given red-carpet treatment here in Laos, and are pretty much marginalized. Interestingly for us, that situation has led to random violence against foreigners, including two swiss cyclists getting shot by Hmong rebels back in 2003. Yikes! In fact, Canada currently has an “avoid all travel” warning for the route we took. So why did we do it, you ask? Because: we found this out after the fact! As they say, ignorance is bliss.

Ironically, cycling through and staying in the Hmong villages up in the 1500-m elevation range was definitely a big highlight of the trip. Amy was frozen most of the time though, so she may have other things to say about that one! J It actually was fairly chilly. Nights and mornings were in the 10-degree C range. But with blue skies, hot afternoons, zero-percent humidity, I have no complaints about the weather. Love it. Amy might have been secretly longing for the heat and humidity of Bogor though J

Rolling into Luang Prabang was the final and ultimate prize of the mission. A UNESCO world heritage site, Luang Prabang delivers in the “cool place to hang out for a while” category. Yes, it’s “touristy”. But hey, it works if you’re looking for great accom, amazing food, good wine, all in the midst of barefooted monks sweeping their courtyards and the sun setting over the Mekong River (it helps if you just spent the past 4 days slogging through mountain villages). We took it all in from our second-floor French colonial-style balcony overlooking the river. A surreal finish to a great journey.

It also helps if you are there for New Year’s Eve, which we were. That was also fun! 

And HAPPY NEW YEAR!

YUM!