A Trip up the Mekong

The Mekong traverses major parts of Asia, descending from the Tibetan plateau in China, through or adjacent to Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.  Prior to this trip, I had never seen the Mekong...I just never made the time to go to the delta region when living in Vietnam.

The Mekong shortly after sunrise

This was dry season. The Mekong was low, vast areas of sandbars were exposed, and the river had retreated from its banks.  River boats were still plying their routes.  In a number of places we saw large bridges being built to span the river, Huay Xai and near Sainabuli are but two examples.  Roads are being built to ease transit between cities in Laos, and reliance on the river for transport is beginning to decline.  You can no longer able to travel by boat between Vientiane and Luang Prabang.  Dams are planned for the middle Mekong in Laos, and in the upper reaches of the Mekong in China.  In a few years the river will be managed with all the problems associated with the lower Mississippi River.  We decided to go upstream from Luang Prabang to Huay Xai by riverboat so we could experience travel on the river before it disappears forever.

The Mekong in the morning mist

I was reminded of how difficult travel could be in the 19th and early 20th century when reading a history of Laos.  French colonial officials would spend 6 weeks travelling from France to Saigon in Vietnam, and then spend and additional 6-8 weeks travelling up the Mekong by boat to Vientiane.  And the mortality rate was extremely high due to Malaria and other tropical diseases.  Talk about a hazardous duty assignment.  Today, moderately hard travel has us sleeping under chemically treated mosquito nets only in infested areas, and drinking bottled water.  For most of our travel we don't take anti-malarial drugs.  I can no longer count on losing 10-15 lb on a trip to SE Asia.  Maybe we are travelling at a higher level than we used to or health conditions are improving.  I think it is a combination of both.

River traffic on the Mekong - a slow boat

For our river travel, we had several choices: slow boat, speedboat, or a "luxury slow boat." We chose the later, in part because we wanted relative comfort (seat pads), non-overloaded boats as is the case of the slow boat, and to protect our hearing (on the speedboat passengers wear helmets).  The speedboats are basically longboats with an automotive engine on the rear powering a direct drive prop.

We took a short trip by tuk-tuk from our hotel to the dock at 6:45 am.  At the dock we were met by the staff who checked us off a list maintained on a smart phone.  We produced passports for checking-in.  Our luggage....two roller-boards were carried down the steep uneven steps from the street to the boat.  Water level was 100 feet below street level.  We boarded and the luggage was stowed below decks.  As we settled in fellow passengers arrived,  mostly a French tour group, with a smattering of Australians, British, and eastern Europeans.  A young Australian we met at the Elephant Conservation Centre was among the last to board.  He had just returned from Veng Vang and was suffering from several days of heavy partying.

Promptly at 7 am we were off.  We had two pilots and several additional crew members.  A short safety instruction was given in French.  Evidently, life preservers were available, but in a locked cabinet under the pilots platform in the bow.  We were assured the pilots were very experienced.  Shortly after departure breakfast was served, french pastry, fruit, juice, and coffee/tea.

Exposed rock formations in the Mekong - dry season water levels

As we moved up the river, we could see the towering rock formations that line the river channel.  Since it was dry season, all the formations were exposed.  Navigation guides on top of the rock formations, were obviously well worn over the years when the river was at flood stage.

An altar in the lower cave of Pak Ou

About 90 minutes after departure our first port of call, the Pak Ou Caves.  This was a short stop, 20-30 minutes.  We climbed up to the caves which contained hundreds of Buddha images.  We lit prayer lamps and joss sticks while thinking of a sick friend.    According to the guide, the Laotian king would annually make a pilgrimage to the caves to honor the Buddhas.  We visited only the lower cave, forgoing another steep climb to the upper cave.

Pak Ou Cave

After departing Pak Ou Caves  we cruised upriver, making a short stop to pick up some tourists who stayed at a remote lodge along the river.  We saw large beach areas along the river.  While beaches looked arid, it was evidently fertile with corn, beans, squash and peanuts.  Some crops were ready to be harvested. At one stop, we were told that freak rains and winds a month earlier had destroyed the maturing corn crop.  Villagers raise chickens, pigs, cattle, goats, and water buffalo.  Animal production is a "cash" crop and the meat is not eaten within the village.  Other protein sources are used.  As a bird watcher we met later in Malaysia said of Laotians,  if it moved, they ate it.

A Lao-Tai village

A whiskey still

Villages are located on the bluffs above the river.  Villagers build bamboo thatched walkways to get over the sandy beach.  We stopped at a "whiskey" village, with an operational rice whiskey still.  I sampled and it reminded me of rice wine I tasted near Dak To in Vietnam.  I did not purchase any, but we purchased locally produced Hmong textiles in this mixed Lao/Hmong village.  The Lao government has moved the Hmong closer to the river so it can provide services.

Village weavers selling cloths

A child in the village

Village scene

Along Lao-Tai, Hmong, and Kamu rivers villages seem to line the riverbank.  Each ethnic group has its own style of housing, with Lao-Tai, and Hmong building on the ground and Kamu building on raised stilts.  In this area electricity is available, as well as satellite dishes.   In one village, electricity was installed a year ago, and an electric meter I looked at showed a grand total of 256 kwh used in one year.  (When in Raleigh, NC,  our base usage was 1,000 kwh per month).   A local medical officer was present and we were told schools were nearby on the outskirts with one primary school serving several villages.

The village medical officer

  Secondary schools are in larger communities.  While most of the villages were served by roads, river travel was preferred due to speed, and I think comfort (no potholes).

Gardens on the banks of the Mekong

Padi field after harvest

Besides the crops listed above, a hay like plant with fronds that are used for household brooms.  padi is grown.  It appears the Lao-Tai have first choice on the padi field, with the Hmong, and Kamu relegated to more remote fields.  In the villages among the Kamu, individual plots of land are allocated to a family.  As the family grows and children marry, the plots are subdivided for household formation.  When the plots can not longer sustain subdivision a request is made to the village head and additional land is allocated on the village fringe.  The villages we saw had about 800 inhabitants.

Village products

Palm fronds are dried on the sand banks. Children spend time beating them on the sand to free them from their seeds. Behind the villages were padi fields.

Sunset on the Mekong as we approach Pak Beng

We stopped at Luang Say Lodge at Pak Beng for the night.  Shortly after arrival, we were treated to a dance performance with Hmong, Lao-Tai and Kamu dances.  As in most tourist performances, audience members are invited to dance.  They always seem to pick on Liz, an ardent non-dancer graciously joined in.  Hotel employment assists the local economy, by hiring and training locals, and by setting standards for local agricultural production.  The food was acceptable, and the hotel had an extensive French wine list at reasonable prices.  I took advantage of the clear sky to use our Sky Scout to look at the stars, something we virtually never see in Kuala Lumpur.

The next day included one village visit, a customs stop when the boat entered the area where the Mekong served as the border between Thailand and Laos.  We could compare the relative economies of the two countries.  Thailand appeared to have a higher standard of living, with a lot of road construction and river levies being built.

Proof that a mosquito net can be romantic

At 5 pm we docked in Huay Xai.  Our fellow passengers hurried off to exit Laos, and cross the river to Thailand before the immigration and customs offices closed at 6 pm.  We chose to stay at a local hotel.  We left the next morning by air to Vientiane.  Lonely Planet wondered why the airport was built at the top of a hill.  The simple explanation is security, and why build on the flatland where padi and other crops can be grown.  It reminded me of the remote airports in the mountains of central Vietnam.  We flew on a Laotian Airlines MA-60 (a Chinese manufactured two-engine short field aircraft which I later found had been banned from flying in Indonesia and has not been approved for flying in Europe and North America).

A SMART has migrated from SW China

Dogs are used as movable billboards for a local mobile phone company

Airport Security (an X-ray was available and used)

Our aircraft to Vientiane

Laos - More than elephants, monks,and river cruises

We enjoyed all the normally tourist things in Laos, but it was our visit to two organizations that will bring us back. Both Laotian organizations are improving the lives of Laotians. Big Brother Mouse adds to their literacy and the number of people who read for pleasure. Saoban, the product of years of community development work, empowers local artisans to produce quality products and set fair prices for them. If you are a tourist in Luang Prabang buy a book to keep or donate. In Vientiane shop!

Big Brother Mouse: Yikes, we didn't take any pictures. A photo of bungalow with books won't lift one's spirits as much as just walking in. Big Brother Mouse (BBM) is an all-Lao (Lao-owned, run, and staffed) book publisher and distributor located in Luang Prabang. Its mission is to show Laotian children and youth that "literacy is fun." For some children part of the fun may be a visit by a part-time staffer, Boom-Boom, an elephant who helps deliver books to remote areas.  BBM designs, writes, and publishes books in Lao and Lao/English. Some stories are original. Others are translated. A good story is a good story no matter where its from.

Visitors to Luang Prabang can drop into Big Brother Mouse and purchase books in Lao to leave in villages or give as tips. We bought a small packet of pre-selected books for the staff to include in a book party. At set times tourists can engage in English conversation with local people. We met a woman who learned  about the lives of novice monks from her conversations at BBM.

BBM seeks donors to sponsor the publication of a book or a book party. Sponsoring a book or book party may be an ideal gift for a special occasion - birth, bar mitzah, retirement, and so on. We plan to sponsor a book now, and perhaps a book party when we return to Lao. Visit the web site to learn more, to be impressed and inspired.

Saoban: First our back story - I am not much of a shopper. We have everything we need and then some. After buying virtually nothing in India - I later regretted that we hadn't purchased hostess gifts and the like. We can give interesting gifts, and more importantly we help local artisans. I vowed not to make the same mistake in Laos. By our last day in Vientiane we had a suitcase full of gifts.Good karma must have been radiating from Saoban. The store's display was beautiful, and the story behind the shop was awesome.

Saoban is a social business that evolved out of PADETC, a Lao community development NGO. During our visit we chatted with Shui-Meng, the shop's owner, about her work in community development. She worked with village women help them think about and set fair prices for their products, e.g., that their labor was not free and that materials (even if locally accessed) had monetary value. As part of pricing their labor the women needed to think about what they wanted from their work, e.g., ability to educate their children. They learned the importance of setting prices and sticking to them, especially the need not to accept lower prices for their products and thus undercut each other. She helped them understand the importance of quality - using natural dyes rather than cheap chemically produced dyes and keeping consistency between products.

Doug and I with Shui Meng -
An inspiration for all those who want to empower women

Shui Meng  and other developers did not lecture village women. Rather they undertook the long process of gaining the women's trust and soliciting their input. One consequence is assuring the sustainability of a way of thinking about how to value work, especially if new products and crafts are developed. While Saoban sells the products these women produce, the weavers are free to market their products to other shops and outlets.Truly the women are empowered. Here is an observation Shui Meng recently posted on Saoban's FB page "You will no longer take for granted what goes into your bowl of rice or how much work goes into your little scarf or bamboo basket once you spend sometime with the people who grow the rice or make the stuff you use everyday."

What did we buy? A piece of fabric, now hanging on our wall. We hadn't found anything that won us over and had decided to wait until "next time."  I took a photo, but it doesn't give it justice. Here is a youtube presentation to show how such pieces are woven. It suggests what our design looks like. We also bought scarves and napkins. After a short debate we decided against spoons crafted from aluminum contained in bombs dropped in Laos. We had sympathy for the project, but didn't know what we would do with more spoons. While we talked about the spoons Shui Meng quoted a women in a bombed village "Why did they (US) hate us?"

We talked with Shui-Meng for about 20 minutes. Afterward we Googled Saoban and PADETC. Our admiration grew. Saoban's FB page includes videos and slide shows of the artisans at work. Visits to Saoban's villages can be arranged - something for our next trip. PADETC's website said that it welcomes experienced and skilled volunteers, preferably volunteers who can stay for at least 3  months.  In 2013 it is particularly interested in hearing from Environmental experts who have time to volunteer in Laos. A sabbatical or transition to retirement project? Makes me wish that I had some hands on skills.

The PADETC website had a link to Sombath.org that tracks the status of Sombath Somphony the founder of PADETC who went missing on 15 December.  A reminder that a tourist can overlook the human rights and development struggles that go on in Laos and other countries.

Sight Seeing in Luang Prabang

Wat Xieng Thong

This trip we let Laos open up before us, more out of laziness than a travel strategy. A major challenge was to understand Laos' history and its current politics. We found two useful resources after we returned to KL. The Bamboo Palace: Discovering the Lost Dynasty of Laos, is not about uncovering an ancient civilization. Rather the author tries to learn what happen to members of the royal family who disappeared in 1975. Laos' politics are elusive. A January, 2013 New York Times article gave some insights into the current government in the context of the disappearance of Sombath Somphone, the retired founder of the NGO, PADECT;  we have followed his case closely with great concern and sorrow.

Palace - neither old nor grandiose

At the Royal Palace Museum (no need to search for it - it is on the main street) we hired a guide to fill in the many blanks in our knowledge (you need to ask at the ticket collector and they will find a staff member for you). The French built the palace between 1904-1909. Only one coronated king, Sisavangvong, who died in 1959, lived in it. He was succeeded by his son, who delayed his coronation until the country's civil war ended so that he would rule over a united country. Instead, when the civil war ended so did the monarchy.

Immediately behind the palace was the garage containing vintage cars, including a Ford Edsel, a gift from the United States. In another building was a photography exhibit, The Floating Buddha, a must see while at the palace.

A dance performance at the National Theatre (on the palace grounds) consisted of short pieces including a scene from the Ramayana. The dancers who played monkeys added a note of realism by scratching fleas and other vermin each time they entered the stage.

They put their masks on to please the tourist photographers, but clearly the cast preferred to be seen as their real selves when it came to accepting applause.

The cast unmasked

At the other end of the city near where the Mekong and Nam Khan meet is Wat Xieng Thong. This is one place where I wish that we had a guide. There was a lot to see, but what we were seeing and its importance was sometimes missed. The Wat's "campus" is large and restful. At the souvenir shop we bought refrigerator magnets and mobiles that cost less than in town.

For those dressed inappropriately

Mosaic on chapel's exterior wall

Carriage & urn to carry king's ashes
Need a guide to know more

The Traditional Arts and Ethnography Centre (TAEC) is a small, well done museum about the hill tribes. I found it particularly informative in describing marriage customs. For the most part the tribes prohibit marriages within a village. Village festivals serve to allow young men and young women meet each other other. The future brides and grooms are both in their mid-teens - no stories of daughters being "sold off" to old men. The museum had excellent videos that told stories to fill in the details. I was disappointed that I didn't see any discussion of death rituals, probably a sign of my age.

TAEC had a small gift shop - the proceeds go the tribal people - and a snack bar featuring regional snacks. While Doug took pictures I chatted with a man at reception. He was from a village and won a scholarship to prepare him for a teaching career. The next logical step would be to return to a village as a teacher, but he planned to continue studying so that he can find a career in a city. A conversation that could be had in both developed and developing countries.

Traditional clothes for sale at TAEC gift shop

Men at work - ticket sellers at TAEC

 Our visit to Ock Pop Tok showed us what community development can achieve. The Ock Pop Tok shop offers free tuk tuk rides to its living arts centre. It was a work place for local weavers. It houses a crafts school (half day and full day lessons), a guest house, a restaurant, and gift shop. The project is impressive and might serve as model for other developing countries. Their website, especially the blog, makes for good reading. We visited two Ock Pop Tok gift shops; they hire retail savy sales staff. At one as I was leaving, having vetoed the selection of purses, a salesman pulled out the perfect item from the pile of sale items. At another a woman's casual glance at a scarf ending up with a saleswoman tying it on her - it looked perfect and she bought it! Doug watched the demonstration carefully and we bought a scarf as well.

Ock Pop Tok workers - silkworms

Think about the difficulty of getting pattern colors right

Making Hmong Batik

No pics for Big Brother Mouse - too bad. as we fell in love with the project as soon as we walked in. They produce and distribute books to children in Lao villages. Included among their staff is an elephant who helps with jungle deliveries. Big Brother Mouse offers donors opportunities to fund the publication of a book, sponsor a village book party, or send an item from its Amazon wish list. Visitors in Luang Prabang can buy books to distribute during their travels, donate a pre-selected package of books for Big Brother Mouse to distribute, or help young people in the community practice English.

Wandering the streets of Luang Prabang

An arrangement of paper umbrellas

Luang Prabang grew on us - we opened our senses and took in what was around us. We walk along the Nam Kham and Mekong Rivers and checked menus at the numerous eateries perched on the banks of each river. The main street is easily walked, similar to Hoi An in Vietnam but without aggressive merchants and tuk tuk drivers.

Along the street were travel agencies (many offering elephant adventures), restaurants and cafes, food stalls, handicraft shops, mini-marts, a few art galleries, an elementary school, the library, the palace (now a museum) and wats. In short, a walk down main street covers culture, consumerism, and cravings.

Stalls selling crepes were common

A unique stall - we took a pass on this.  Out of view -
sign assuring customers that the snack is "good"

The library was buzzing with activity. On the grounds we watched the rehearsal of a puppet show. It was to teach about hygiene. The library recruits volunteers to have English conversations with young people. An apparent challenge isn't so much the English vocabulary as it is handling with accents from all over the globe. Pictured below are two rooster puppets we saw on the palace grounds - not part of the puppet show but this feels like the right place to include them.

Along the streets in Luang Prabang and Vientiane are spirit houses, where the household spirits dwell. Each house is different. It may have food, drinks, and other objects to keep the spirits happy. These spirits seem to have settled for devotional objects.

This fish cage was in the courtyard of our guest house. If money flies in it will never leave.

Less seen are beggars. They never go beyond making gestures that they want money or food. During our 2nd stay in Luang Prabang when most of the Chinese New Year tourists had left we were approached by young children selling nondescript trinkets. With the wave of hand, indicating "no," the children moved on.

Boy with his wares

We were in Laos during dry season. The entire trip we were impressed with how dry and dusty everything was. Wet or dry, day to day life in Laos can be a challenge. Pictured below is a bamboo toll bridge across the Nam Kham river. The bridge disappears during rainy season and is rebuilt during dry season. We didn't cross river - so no details about the toll.

The next picture is of the Mekong River - people walk across the sand and eventually link up with a boat to ferry them to the other side.

Buddha with arms down - asking for rain
(I just noticed figure on the left -  I have no idea)

Finally, here are some things that made up smile.

Not what I imagine wearing to a Lao wedding

What's a chea?

I guess that we are straying around the world