February 23, 2006 (Laos Impressions)
Here are some of our general impressions of Laos:
· The women here wear lovely silk woven sarongs and the girls school uniforms are sarongs with white shirts.
· There seem to be more women and children than men.
· The women work very hard running businesses and taking care of their families, but they don’t seem stressed at all. The pace of life here is very mellow.
· Lao people seem to lie low during the heat of the day in the shade of a small shelter or even slinging a hammock under a truck.
· A lot more of the population here ride bicycles than in Thailand. The bikes have a second seat on the back (instead of a rack like ours) so they can load them up with people.
· Motorcycles and scooters are the main form of transport for locals because they can’t afford cars. The cars we do see look brand new and very expensive (ie: Lexus sport utility vehicles) leading us to believe there is a very large gap between the rich and poor.
· The houses in small villages are either one story woven bamboo huts on stilts or wood houses on stilts and sometimes they are a combination of both. In towns that are a little larger there are two story houses that obviously belong to the folks with a little more money. Those may be wood, bamboo, brick with concrete over the top or a combination of all three.
· Foe is a staple meal and the Laos don’t understand not eating meat. A lot of times (especially in small villages) they only choice for food is foe so we eat the noodles and drink the broth leaving the meat in the bowl. We feel a little bad about that since I’m sure meat is a luxury.
· The Laos people seem to have a very good quality of life as far as living slow paced and seeming content in their lives without having the luxuries that we do.
· The beds here are EXTREMELY hard! It’s like sleeping on a slab. And for some reason they don’t provide top sheets, which can be annoying.
· There are many more cycle tourists in Laos than we encountered anywhere else. We think this is because the highway is in good condition and there isn’t a lot of traffic compared to places like Thailand. It also has a very relaxed feel about this country and the people don’t bother the falangs as much for money, to purchase things or for transport. Then there’s the fact that it’s so cheap to travel here as well.
· We love how excited the kids get when we ride by their houses or encounter them coming home from school about noon. Sometimes they race us on bicycles, by foot or high five us as well yelling, “hello, sabadee, thank you, I love you, goodbye, falang” and we even got a “yo whassup” the other day. It’s so funny to watch the little kids jump up and down and yell sabadee as many times as they possibly can. We don’t think we’ll ever see anyone get this excited over us again!
· As a pedestrian you are the lowest on the food chain and better watch your step because the motorcycles will run over you.
· The people are extremely friendly for the most part. We’ve experienced a few people who shy away from us maybe because we’re scary or they are too intimidated to try to communicate with us. It could be because we look like aliens in our biking gear as well.
· It’s harder to order food here because very few people speak English except in the touristy areas. We use our Lonely Planet since it has some words for food written in Lao and translated in English which seems to help.
· Laos is very dry compared to Thailand and in the evenings it is much cooler. This was a surprise to us since we were expecting it to look more like Thailand.
· Food and lodging here is dirt cheap! The average room costs us $6-7 per night for A/C and hot water showers. We’ve been hard pressed to spend $20 per day for everything.
· They accept USD, baht or kip everywhere. We’ve been enjoying the ability to use our own currency again.
· The doors and windows here are hand carved and are beautiful! I’d love to have some for our future home.
· It’s strange to look across the Mekong and see the development of Thailand just across the river as opposed to the dilapidation of the towns here. Apparently the Lao government rejects the French influence and they are letting all the French buildings go into disrepair. It’s a shame because towns like Savannakhet (our favorite Lao town so far) could be really cute if they were preserved a little better, but instead they look pretty run down.
· As we eat at the little outdoor restaurants that are the front of people’s houses we are amongst scavenging chickens, roosters, pigs, cows, and goats. It’s interesting how we have become used to farm animals grazing around us. It will seem weird to go home again and not have that. It’s also interesting that most little restaurants also try and be small convenience stores selling a few snacks and drinks even though there are a ton of other people along the same road selling the same things.
· The sticky rice is delicious and it’s served in little woven baskets with lids attached by a string. We eat it like the Laos and roll it into a ball with our right hand and dip it in our food. We hope to purchase a couple of those baskets to take home with us.
· We like the Lao silk and fashion better than what we saw in Thailand. Unfortunately it seems like they only sell those items in the touristy areas like Vientiane because we haven’t seen any in the small towns.
· The people at the local businesses keep their money stuffed in buckets just sitting out on countertops or thrown in drawers.
· We’ve never seen so many young kids run around half naked without any pants on. We suspect that it’s because they don’t have diapers or they just want their kids to “go” when they have to. In Thakhek we saw several kids just pull their pants down in front of their parents store right on the sidewalk and pee. That was a busier town too.
· There are a lot of Cyclopes (plows turned into vehicles) on the road probably because it is a cheaper form of transport than a car.
· Plastic bags and bottles line the sides of the road. They have a tendency to give you several plastic bags for EVERYTHING you purchase here…not good!
· The overwhelming smell every morning is always burning trash and plastic. Sometimes it is so thick you can almost taste it. Occasionally on our rides we’ve encountered some other smells along the way that are just plain wrong! We don’t linger in those areas.
· Obviously they are not worried about bird flu. I’ve seen several kids holding chickens or roosters on the side of the road as we ride by.
· We haven’t seen as much road kill here and no snakes!
· Sometimes it feels like it is fall here because of the combination of colors of the dry landscape and vegetation, which reminds us of home.
· Watermelons are plentiful in Laos and watermelon stands line the roads. We bought one for $0.50 and it was ripe juicy and delicious!
· As we go farther South the Lao coffee keeps getting better and better. It’s grown on the plateau just outside of Pakse and it’s probably the best coffee we’ve ever had. Kirk (normally not a coffee drinker) even has a taste for it with it’s smooth chocolaty flavor.
Hello! We are currently in Pakse enjoying the pleasures of the city like plentiful food options (including Indian food…yum!) and internet. We don’t have much time left in Laos and will be crossing into Cambodia around the first of March. We’re looking forward to the last leg of our cycle journey in what is called the “wild west”.
I just wanted to report that my back is much better since we took that week off between Bangkok and Vientiane. We have been stretching everyday since, both before and during rides, which seems to help us both to feel good. So thank you to all who were concerned.
Jodi
· The women here wear lovely silk woven sarongs and the girls school uniforms are sarongs with white shirts.
· There seem to be more women and children than men.
· The women work very hard running businesses and taking care of their families, but they don’t seem stressed at all. The pace of life here is very mellow.
· Lao people seem to lie low during the heat of the day in the shade of a small shelter or even slinging a hammock under a truck.
· A lot more of the population here ride bicycles than in Thailand. The bikes have a second seat on the back (instead of a rack like ours) so they can load them up with people.
· Motorcycles and scooters are the main form of transport for locals because they can’t afford cars. The cars we do see look brand new and very expensive (ie: Lexus sport utility vehicles) leading us to believe there is a very large gap between the rich and poor.
· The houses in small villages are either one story woven bamboo huts on stilts or wood houses on stilts and sometimes they are a combination of both. In towns that are a little larger there are two story houses that obviously belong to the folks with a little more money. Those may be wood, bamboo, brick with concrete over the top or a combination of all three.
· Foe is a staple meal and the Laos don’t understand not eating meat. A lot of times (especially in small villages) they only choice for food is foe so we eat the noodles and drink the broth leaving the meat in the bowl. We feel a little bad about that since I’m sure meat is a luxury.
· The Laos people seem to have a very good quality of life as far as living slow paced and seeming content in their lives without having the luxuries that we do.
· The beds here are EXTREMELY hard! It’s like sleeping on a slab. And for some reason they don’t provide top sheets, which can be annoying.
· There are many more cycle tourists in Laos than we encountered anywhere else. We think this is because the highway is in good condition and there isn’t a lot of traffic compared to places like Thailand. It also has a very relaxed feel about this country and the people don’t bother the falangs as much for money, to purchase things or for transport. Then there’s the fact that it’s so cheap to travel here as well.
· We love how excited the kids get when we ride by their houses or encounter them coming home from school about noon. Sometimes they race us on bicycles, by foot or high five us as well yelling, “hello, sabadee, thank you, I love you, goodbye, falang” and we even got a “yo whassup” the other day. It’s so funny to watch the little kids jump up and down and yell sabadee as many times as they possibly can. We don’t think we’ll ever see anyone get this excited over us again!
· As a pedestrian you are the lowest on the food chain and better watch your step because the motorcycles will run over you.
· The people are extremely friendly for the most part. We’ve experienced a few people who shy away from us maybe because we’re scary or they are too intimidated to try to communicate with us. It could be because we look like aliens in our biking gear as well.
· It’s harder to order food here because very few people speak English except in the touristy areas. We use our Lonely Planet since it has some words for food written in Lao and translated in English which seems to help.
· Laos is very dry compared to Thailand and in the evenings it is much cooler. This was a surprise to us since we were expecting it to look more like Thailand.
· Food and lodging here is dirt cheap! The average room costs us $6-7 per night for A/C and hot water showers. We’ve been hard pressed to spend $20 per day for everything.
· They accept USD, baht or kip everywhere. We’ve been enjoying the ability to use our own currency again.
· The doors and windows here are hand carved and are beautiful! I’d love to have some for our future home.
· It’s strange to look across the Mekong and see the development of Thailand just across the river as opposed to the dilapidation of the towns here. Apparently the Lao government rejects the French influence and they are letting all the French buildings go into disrepair. It’s a shame because towns like Savannakhet (our favorite Lao town so far) could be really cute if they were preserved a little better, but instead they look pretty run down.
· As we eat at the little outdoor restaurants that are the front of people’s houses we are amongst scavenging chickens, roosters, pigs, cows, and goats. It’s interesting how we have become used to farm animals grazing around us. It will seem weird to go home again and not have that. It’s also interesting that most little restaurants also try and be small convenience stores selling a few snacks and drinks even though there are a ton of other people along the same road selling the same things.
· The sticky rice is delicious and it’s served in little woven baskets with lids attached by a string. We eat it like the Laos and roll it into a ball with our right hand and dip it in our food. We hope to purchase a couple of those baskets to take home with us.
· We like the Lao silk and fashion better than what we saw in Thailand. Unfortunately it seems like they only sell those items in the touristy areas like Vientiane because we haven’t seen any in the small towns.
· The people at the local businesses keep their money stuffed in buckets just sitting out on countertops or thrown in drawers.
· We’ve never seen so many young kids run around half naked without any pants on. We suspect that it’s because they don’t have diapers or they just want their kids to “go” when they have to. In Thakhek we saw several kids just pull their pants down in front of their parents store right on the sidewalk and pee. That was a busier town too.
· There are a lot of Cyclopes (plows turned into vehicles) on the road probably because it is a cheaper form of transport than a car.
· Plastic bags and bottles line the sides of the road. They have a tendency to give you several plastic bags for EVERYTHING you purchase here…not good!
· The overwhelming smell every morning is always burning trash and plastic. Sometimes it is so thick you can almost taste it. Occasionally on our rides we’ve encountered some other smells along the way that are just plain wrong! We don’t linger in those areas.
· Obviously they are not worried about bird flu. I’ve seen several kids holding chickens or roosters on the side of the road as we ride by.
· We haven’t seen as much road kill here and no snakes!
· Sometimes it feels like it is fall here because of the combination of colors of the dry landscape and vegetation, which reminds us of home.
· Watermelons are plentiful in Laos and watermelon stands line the roads. We bought one for $0.50 and it was ripe juicy and delicious!
· As we go farther South the Lao coffee keeps getting better and better. It’s grown on the plateau just outside of Pakse and it’s probably the best coffee we’ve ever had. Kirk (normally not a coffee drinker) even has a taste for it with it’s smooth chocolaty flavor.
Hello! We are currently in Pakse enjoying the pleasures of the city like plentiful food options (including Indian food…yum!) and internet. We don’t have much time left in Laos and will be crossing into Cambodia around the first of March. We’re looking forward to the last leg of our cycle journey in what is called the “wild west”.
I just wanted to report that my back is much better since we took that week off between Bangkok and Vientiane. We have been stretching everyday since, both before and during rides, which seems to help us both to feel good. So thank you to all who were concerned.
Jodi
posted by Kirk & Jodi Roberts at 1:06 AM
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