Survivor Mekong pt. 1

Well the trip of a lifetime is bearing down on us and the tension is starting to mount. I know what you're thinking: tension, you're on holidays asshole, where's the tension? Well anytime you go this far away and to places you've hitherto known little about there's the fear of the unknown and the uncomfortable. Any of you who know me, know my tolerance to biting insects has diminished to the point of zero since our first trip to Thailand five years ago. It's like if someone hits you with a hammer, you know it's going to leave a mark, well, when a no-see-um lands on me, it's like a hammer blow that keeps swinging. And if someone is going to veer off the path to take a leak and trip a Bouncing Betty, it's yours truly. And Julia, well, she's known to have the odd freak out especially when it involved cockroaches or other large horned insects. Of course, she can rest assured the insect will make a bee line towards me as my blood is infinitely more tasty than hers. What are we getting ourselves into?

Well what is it about Laos that is of interest anyway? It's one of these places you'd never think of going unless you either know someone who's been there or read about people who've been there. Anyone who's been there has raved about it: one of the last unspoiled countries on Earth. Laos was closed by an insular communist government for almost three decades and before that was little more than a French colonial play-thing, where opium was cheap and you could build a mansion for next to nothing. The U.S. Air Force changed all that, by bombing Laos back to the stone age for little more reason than the Ho Chi Minh trail ran along its Eastern flank. Laos, already one of the poorest countries in the world, never stood a chance and to this day it's one of the most heavily bombed countries in the world, and it's only Laos left to clean up the mess.

But therein lies it's charm. The bombing brought the Pathet Laos into power and development was thus stunted in a neo-colonial backwater, where colonial mansions are now guesthouses and the country's significant ancient artifacts are virtually untouched. We will be spending about four days in Luang Prabang, the ancient Khymer capitol and a town with dozens of functioning buddhist monasteries, where the most exciting activity is watching monks collect alms form locals in a silent daily parade though the main street. What could be more deeply engrossing than that?

Near the capital Vientiane, we're spending three days at an ecolodge near the primary rainforest of one of Asia's last remaining wild elephant herds. This is where we hope to intermingle with rural people, learn of their daily struggles and try to connect with people one on one, as equals, not as tourist/service industry employee. The Laos countryside is thought to bring chills to even the most jaded spine, so we shall see. Here's three places we expect to stay. In Luang Prabang it's Lao Wooden House and near Vientiane it's Rivertime Ecolodge. We also plan on spending one night in Vientiane (Asia's sleepiest capital) at a place we're very excited about: Hotel Beau Rivage, with the Green Papaya Spa right next door.

http://www.laowoodenhouse.com/index.htm
http://www.rivertimelaos.com/index.html
http://www.hbrm.com/home.htm

Let the fun begin...