Laos

Rob8891 · June 1, 2014

Living conditions, whether on land or on the river are very basic.

Rob8891 · June 1, 2014

Air quality had been pretty poor in Chiang Mai, so this was supposed to be an escape from the pollution.

Rob's first error! The scale of burning along the river was horrendous. That, combined with the smoke being trapped in the valley made for a rather unpleasant day.

ADVICE.....If you ever want to do this trip, make sure it is outside the burning season! Ash the size of leaves fell all around us.

Edited June 1, 2014 by Rob8891

Rob8891 · June 1, 2014

Two days on the boat from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang can be tedious at times, but it's a great opportunity for people-watching....both on the boat...

....and onshore, where the boat's arrival seemed to be quite an occasion. People would come down from the village and greet the returnee, then help carry all the goodies back up the riverbank.

samuijimmy · June 1, 2014

Nice shots Rob... .... . not been to Laos so cannot contribute! ..... too many regulations at the hotels too.....

Rob8891 · June 1, 2014

Mind you, not everyone looked happy to be getting off the boat and going home.

Rob8891 · June 1, 2014

Some aspects of life along the Mekong looked idyllic....

....getting the craic...

....skinny-dipping with the gang...

...and just getting down to the nitty-gritty on the beach (it was hard to get to grips with the size of these sandbanks, they really were river beaches)

Rob8891 · June 1, 2014

But behind that picture of idyllic childhood, life for these people - (mostly "hilltribes"... Lahu, Lisu, Karen...) - was extremely hard, isolated with little transport except for the river, and often with no electricity, clean water or proper sanitation.

Here the Laos Government is putting in a new road complete with a bridge over the Mekong.

...but typically villages are relatively cut off from the rest of the world.

and house construction probably hasn't changed in many many years...

In this area, it is still not unusual for young teenage girls to fall pregnant and then disappear into the forest alone to give birth. How frightening is that for them? The mortality rates must be horrendous if studied at the village level.

Rob8891 · June 1, 2014

The scene from the hotel in Pak Beng, after the first day. Those aren't misty mountains, they are obscured by smoke.

Right, that's it for now. Stay tuned for the next gripping (or is it griping) installment....

Rob8891 · June 2, 2014

Next morning, I nearly put my hand on this wee fellow: It glistened like gold in the early morning (smoke-filtered) sun.

I really do NOT like spiders, and Laos seemed full of them... Here's one we saw in Huay Xai, wrapping up his packed lunch..

Rob8891 · June 2, 2014

Reminders of extreme poverty were never far away..

Rob8891 · June 2, 2014

I think the shop owners were worried about the weight of leaves on the roof.

Rob8891 · June 2, 2014

Back on the boat for day 2 of the journey. Like most large rivers, the Mekong is silt-laden and polluted, but nevertheless, the washing still has to be done..

and while we're at it, let's get the kids cleaned up....

Rob8891 · June 2, 2014

The further we went downstream, the clearer the air got (up to a point!). More evidence of how people support themselves appeared....

I haven't PP'd any of these shots. The day was naturally hazy with smoke, so I didn't want to destroy that atmosphere ( bad pun not intended)

Edited June 2, 2014 by Rob8891

Rob8891 · June 2, 2014

I wonder how much of this is legal??

Rob8891 · June 2, 2014

There was something to see all the way down the river. There was a huge temptation to bound round the boat, snapping away, but it was quite crowded. I was amazed at how some people just ignored the chance to view something new, sleeping, reading, or just generally ignoring the opportunity...

It must've been a good book!

Rob8891 · June 2, 2014

The slowboat is not just a touristy thing; it is the local bus for the people of the area, so it called in at whichever villages where people wanted to board or jump ship.

She marched up and down the boat brandishing a big kitchen knife, preparing food for herself and her family.

There was quite a turn-out for her and her hubby when they reached their destination!

Rob8891 · June 2, 2014

The one big frustration of this trip, at least for me, was to get brief glimpses of the riverbank villages. I wanted to get out and explore, but couldn't. I'd like to go back and find out more about the lives of these people, but that would be treating them like animals in a zoo....come in, take photos, walk round and leave. Some villages do rely on tourism (some boats stop in the high season so that tourists can buy 'genuine' trinkets and food).

Some even had a reception committee....

Edited June 2, 2014 by Rob8891

Rob8891 · June 2, 2014

Mekong Mysteries...... Where does this go? Who lives there? What do they do? Damn, I am just TOO nosy!

Rob8891 · June 2, 2014

Witing for his boat to come in?

Rob8891 · June 2, 2014

Wait for me!...

Rob8891 · June 2, 2014

Trash is burned along the banks of the river, then the remainder is washed downstream...

Eddies wash it into small bays along the river, where large amounts of plastics in particular gather.

...but it doesn't seem to deter the kids!

...or some adults... (out of focus shot)

Rob8891 · June 2, 2014

Day 2, 16:30. We arrived at Luang Prabang - almost. Because it was Songkran, we could not dock at the usual spot in town, as it was being used as part of the processions, so we endured a half hour tuktuk ride into town. Some of those on board the boat would not pay the tuktuk fee - about 80baht/head - and set off to walk. Eejits! We found out it was atleast 10kms into town....

Now we move onto Rob's second epic blunder. One of the the main ideas of the trip was to escape the sheer hell of Songkran in Chiang Mai.....so we went to Luang Prabang

(taken on my pjone)

In addition to hurling water at you, these wee darlings used carbon from vehicle exhausts to black people up.... but on the plus side, Songkran in LP is an afternoon experience. In the morning, they sleep off their hangovers, in the afternoon they start again, and in the evening they seem to party hard and drive around the old city, showing off their vehicles and their crew..