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Join The Blogging Post as we head around-the-world with our friends Drew & Erin. They’ll be sending us regular dispatches and updates from around, across, and all over the globe. This post was sent from Laos…

Journey Through Laos

After an amazing and relaxing visit to Thailand, it was time to leave and head to Laos. Laos is a small, landlocked country known for its mellow pace, friendly people, and vast stretches of wilderness. It's a relatively poor country, with many residents engaged in subsistence agriculture, and is one of the few Communist countries in the world.

We made our way from Chang Mai to the border town of Chiang Kong by bus. Here we crossed the Mekong River by longtail boat to enter Laos in the town of Huay Xai. As short of a boat ride as it was – five minutes perhaps – there was a palpably slower pace in Huay Xai from the town within view just across the river.



One afternoon we hired a local taxi driver to take us to some villages nearby. We weren't sure what to expect or how we would be received as strangers. But, upon arrival at the first village, our concerns quickly washed away. We were not only welcomed into the village, but immediately invited to join the village’s Lunar New Year's celebration. The celebration was amidst very humble conditions yet we were quickly seated and offered limitless amounts of food and drink. In fact, the villagers were so generous with the alcoholic beverages that we had to eventually refuse. Their standard drink is a homemade rice whiskey known as lao lao.

The entire village operates on a nearly sustainable lifestyle. Aside from some select
household items, clothing, and foods brought in from outside markets, the village provides nearly all basic necessities themselves. The majority of their own food comes from crops they grow and animals they raise. Their shelter consists of self-built, simple raised wooden houses with thatched roofs. Their traditional clothing comes from cotton which they grow, spin into yarn, weave into fabric, cut and sew, and then dye with indigo from indigo plants they grow. They even make their own paper from rice grown in the village. It was quite an amazing experience to be welcomed into this foreign world and then subsequently educated in a lifestyle so different from ours in America.

After a few days adjusting to life in Laos, we started our slow boat trip down the Mekong River. As exotic as a slow boat down the Mekong sounds, it’s actually a common way for tourists to travel, as the road infrastructure in Laos isn't so good. As a result, we shared our boat with about sixty other travelers. Even so, the pace, speed, and method of travel suits Lao culture perfectly - slow and traditional. Our days on the river provided us with countless views of pristine tracts of wilderness and local riverside life in Laos. The country is sparsely populated, with only six million residents.

Erin and I successfully escaped the main tourist trail by getting off the boat at a tiny riverside village, waiting all day for local transportation (a sawngthaew), and taking an extremely bumpy hour-long ride with the locals into a remote valley in western Laos. This trip brought us to the town of Hongsa, a regional center of trade and government. Even as a center of regional life, the town still features unpaved roads, freely roaming livestock, and more bicycles than cars. Here we found the "real Laos," or at least a part of the country not touched by so many tourists or outside influences.

In Hongsa, we rented bicycles and explored the local village. On our cruise around town and the surrounding villages, we were greeted with many friendly smiles and looks of surprise at seeing a huge, white falang (Lao slang for foreigner) riding through their village on a very undersized bike. (I’m 6’4”, much taller than the average Lao.) This was one of the few times on our entire trip where the local people seemed to be genuinely surprised to see a foreigner. Their unmistakable looks of astonishment - eyes real big, double take, or long stare - were generally disarmed by a smile and hello in their language (“sabadee”), and it nearly always yielded to a big grin, a return greeting, and frequently a laugh or giggle. It was a simple bike ride, but all together an incredible and deeply satisfying experience.

Hongsa is known for its population of elephants, of both the wild and working (domesticated) variety. While we didn't see any elephants in the wild, we did manage to see quite a few walking around town and had the chance to walk alongside and observe them at close
range for extended periods. These animals are truly magnificent creatures to behold with their immense size, strange shape and features, and very human, sensitive-looking eyes.

After a relaxing visit in Hongsa, we took the rough ride back to the Mekong. Back on the slow boat, we floated down to the town of Luang Prabang. Luang Prabang is a charming, ancient capital that represents an engaging fusion of Lao culture and French colonial influence. The Lao culture is reflected in the old royal palace, numerous stunning Buddhist wats, and local handicraft and food markets. The French influence is witnessed in the white colonial architecture; charming, brick- and flower-lined pedestrian lanes; and the cuisine of baguettes and other tasty French pastries. All of this is set at the confluence of two rivers and ringed on nearly all sides by steep green mountain peaks. The town offered personal cultural experiences as well. We had a chance to chat with some young Buddhist monks that use this opportunity to learn and practice English while they told us about their everyday lives.

After Luang Prabang, we headed down the highway to Vang Vieng, a small town set among giant limestone karst formations jutting into the air. It’s a gorgeous place, but was overrun by backpackers and our time was running short, so we quickly got on our way. Our next and final stop in Laos was Vientiane. Vientiane is the capital city, seat of Lao's Communist government, and holds the country's most sacred Buddhist temples. We checked out the cultural sights and enjoyed our time in Vientiane. However, reflecting back, the most remarkable and satisfying parts of the trip were when we got into the countryside and met the rural citizens of Laos. Their friendliness, generosity, and propensity to laugh brilliantly color our memories of Laos.