Laos, 2017: Luang Prabang

My Laos trip coincided with the Christmas and New Year holiday. In my last post, I mentioned the grueling trip north from Vientiane, but my arrival in Luang Prabang, the ancient capital of Laos, effected a very different feeling. It is quite unlike any other Asian city I've visited--relaxed neighborhoods rather than tuk-tuk choked thoroughfares. Again, my journal, kept on my iPad:

This little place is so quiet and peaceful, and so different from other places I've been to in Asia, I'll be happy to just sit around, toddle off to the market occasionally, and find an expat joint to drink beer in. Right now, it's not even 11 PM and the only noise aside from the artificial sound of my typing is a few far off rumbles of tuk-tuks, discords of music somewhere and a wind chime on the next patio over.
Oh, and the temperature. So mild, it's almost chilly right now.

I stayed at terrific place called Manichan Guesthouse, with a great location and awesome owners, such a place I even forgave the upstairs room with downstairs bathroom (inconvenient and borderline hazardous for that middle-of-the-night pee trip)! I could sit on the patio with a coffee and watch the passersby at the morning market.


Do you recognize the banana blossoms in the shot above?

Here is a young vendor-in-training:


Royal Palace
It's arguable that there's not a lot more to do here than in Vientiane, but I had a rather better time not doing it. Aside from Wat Mai (temple post to come), the main draw in the old town area is the Royal Palace. I was told it is underwhelming, but I can't speak to that as it was closed to visitors every time I went by. Here's a shot from the outside, and a statue of King Sisavangvong made by the Russians in the 1970s:


But ... a fellow inmate of Manichan (Hi, Jeff!) informed me there is a display of the royal cars, Lincoln Continentals, a Citroen and an Edsel. I managed to get the shot below before a docent interrupted my photographic carnage. Also, I found a great photo op outside by the gate. The pumps, I suspect, don't work anymore.


The street accessing the Palace and Wat Mai is more or less the main tourist boulevard in Luang Prabang and is also the location of the Night Market. There is not much unique about the wares there, although it is where I got the sucho alluded to earlier. I bargained the guy down from 40,000 kip to 25,000 for what I bought, but gave him the difference as a donation.

Along that route is the Lao Blossom Restaurant,

the place I stopped in for a beer previous nights so I could use their bathroom. The staff, Seevun, Geon and the other dude (Hmong like Seevun), really spend their time talking with me, so much so that a guest comes over to complain that I am monopolizing their time so he can't get a beer. What can I say? Mostly we're teaching each other language, comparing notes on education, and talking about ... stuff.

Speaking of tourists, would you exchange your money here?


Guangsi Waterfall
Thirty km out of town is a very nice waterfall around which a considerable tourist trade has arisen. Still, as of now, it's quite nice.


Though it's not a natural wonder, visitors also enjoy the bamboo bridge across the Nam Khan river, which joins the mighty Mekong, right here on the east side of Luang Prabang. I did not do the crossing, for two reasons: 1) it cost money, but only for tourists; 2) I don't like heights. Sue me.


My remaining posts will focus on temples, market/cooking class from Bamboo Tree, and food.

Laos, 2017: Vientiane

Taxi from the airport was 57,000 Kip, about 7 USD. Immediately prior to that, though, I made the stupidest mistake I've ever made in my travels. I made sure to count my money at the currency exchange, and it was correct. I double checked because a girl ahead of me claimed to be short-changed by 100 bucks. I was so relieved I walked out--and left my suitcase just sitting there.

I realized it while about to line up at the taxi desk, and rushed back in. It was still there, so it was a very cheap mistake. Could have been a bad scene, though.

Inauspicious beginning, but on the whole, a lovely trip. I really only visited two places in Laos, and if I come again, I'll pretty much skip Vientiane. Loud, dirty, kind of smelly, frankly, a typical big southeast Asian city. Aside from temples (a separate post later), there's really not a lot to see here.

National Museum

The museum cost an extra 10,000 (doubling the fee--to $2.50) to take pictures, and it is set in a fabulous old French colonial style building. Sadly, there is a stretch of rooms on the second floor where weak flooring borders on dangerous. The exhibits are pretty tired stuff, mostly, and the "modern Lao" displays seem untouched since the seventies. In fact, the whole place seems untouched since the seventies. And, rather like the National Museum of Vietnam, little is made of the setting.

One of the most interesting locales of Laos is the "plain of jars", the site of hundreds of large granite jars or bowls, carved in the neolithic era, whose purpose is still a matter of debate. Though archaeologists are settling on some kind of funerary purpose. The first two shots below are a small, reconstructed jar, for a baby, and a large one, presumably for an adult:


Below is a group of tribal artifacts, which remind me of what I saw at Mari Mari village in Malaysia, and below that, some musical instruments tucked in a hallway by the stairs almost as an afterthought.


Here is the "Peacock houda", an elephant chair for processions, still--according to the card--used on occasion today. And a typical Buddha, partly veneered in gold foil as offering:


COPE
From 1964 to to 1973, the US military dropped more than two million tons of ordnance on Laos in 580,000 bombing missions, making the country probably the most heavily bombed place on the planet. Largely, the purpose of this "secret war" was to disrupt the Ho Chi Minh Trail used by the Viet Cong. Of course, the bombing was incredibly disruptive to the lives of the Lao people as well, and sadly, there are vast quantities of unexploded ordnance still today. Some 20,000 people have been killed or maimed by these UXO since the end of the war.

COPE is involved in a multipronged effort to provide prosthetics and retraining for those injured by UXO, to assist in the effort to locate and clear dangerous areas, and to educate the public. Admission is free, though it's a bit of a ride out of downtown--25,000 kip there, 40,000 back.


Above are sculptures made from expended shells, and below is a display showing how many cluster "bomblets" are released from one shell. The displays are generally good, but the numerous videos scattered around are really excellent. You can learn more at www.copelaos.org.


Enterprising Lao have learned to melt down the high quality metals of the ordnance and make various useful items--I bought some spoons and chopsticks (the traditional Korean "sucho" eating utensils, as gifts).

Hangouts
I was told by more than one person that the place to hang out is the Lamphu fountain. I was, quite frankly, less than impressed by everything from the music to the food to the lack of other people. Tourist trap. In the second picture, you see a place more to my liking, the "No Name Bar", where I am waiting for other folks to show up--and inevitably they did, from the saffer English teacher in Thailand on a visa run to the Brit who runs a skydiving school that shuts down in winter to the cute twentysomething girls seeing the world.


It was located a five minute walk from my hotel, Hotel Lao, which was a nice enough place to recommend. The breakfast is included, and while not great, is good enough, and you can eat it situated in this lovely garden with a pond.


From journal, Dec. 29:

My last day in Vientiane I didn't do much except eat and drink. I went back to Khop Chai Deu [good restaurant near Lamphu fountain] to get my Japanese handkerchief and have some Lao beef. In the evening I ate at Tango, and had more beef, French style, with pepper sauce. Both were awesome. I went to bed early, after a last visit to No Name Bar.
My day yesterday was mainly consumed by the trip north in a minivan, which would seem like an easy day, but the tension mounted as we rode into the mountains. There was one stretch on the highest and steepest passage where the road was completely washed away. Completely. That was scary, though not as bad as that trip across Palawan after the typhoon.

We had a rest stop before the arduous part of the journey began, and I snapped this shot of picturesque mountains, little knowing what was in store.


One last pic, the standard tuk-tuk of Laos. The motorcycle is more or less built onto the frame of the passenger compartment, passengers always sit facing the side, they seem to be required to have a spare tire and a decal announcing the maximum number of passengers.


One day, maybe I'll do a post comparing all the different styles of tuk-tuk type conveyances of SE Asia.

New Apartment in Deungchon-dong

I stayed in my old apartment--room--for six months, which is four months too long. Though I liked the school and the colleagues, and felt very welcome there, there was virtually nothing I liked about the quarters they put me up in. It was ridiculously small (7 pyeong--though the available space was closer to 5), perched at the top of a long hill, and a long walk from any restaurants or shopping.

Last week, I moved to a new school and therefore a new apartment. Don't want to jinx it, but this is actually the best place I've had. It's 17.5 pyeong, with a large bathroom, lots of built-in storage and a fine view looking south on Mok-dong.


Because it isn't a shoebox, I was able to get all my stuff out of storage, and put up some things on the wall.


I'll even be able to do some cooking now and then, though I still need a small table to put appliances on. UPDATE: The photo has been replaced to show that the kitchen is now fully operational. You can see the Lao rice baskets on the shelf above the toaster oven.


My good buddy The Stumbler, planning a move himself, was kind enough to pass along some furnishings to really help finish the place, like the bookcases and the big table. The bed and the desk are brand new, purchased by the school on my move-in day.

And the location: it's excellent, and if you look carefully, you can actually see my first school (Young-il HS) from my big window. Some key things are the twenty or thirty restaurants within a few minutes walk, convenience stores, and E-mart one subway stop away on line 9. Oh, and a subway station located next to the building. Speaking of which:


If you look on the twelfth floor, second in from the left, you see a window with one blind down and two up.

Living in a minuscule place is possible, and perhaps liberating in some ways, as folks who've gotten into the "tiny house" movement will tell you, but it's nice to put the clothes drying rack out and not have to shift it around in order to get to the refrigerator or bathroom. One of the first things I bought for the new place was a selection of plants. There was literally no room even for a plant up the hill.

Feel free to drop by sometime!

Tanner Brown Goes Downtown (again)

Downtown was in town this weekend on a visa run. We met up in Itaewon for a late lunch and a brief pub crawl before making our way to Bongcheon for lamb and makgeolli, and then a taxi ride back to Hyochang Park.


We ate brunch in my neighborhood at BonJuk (other than the lamb, I tried to feed him foods he didn't have on his last visit) and did the ultimate tourist thing:


N Seoul Tower.

We made a quick stop at Namdaemun market, where we saw a protest march and TB bought undergarments.


Socks.

We met The Stumbler for dinner in Gangseo-gu Cheong, at our favorite beef place, followed by a couple hours at Luna Bar.


On Sunday, we made a quick circuit of Hyochang Park, including the Tombs of Three Patriots. The museum dedicated to Baek Beom Kim Ku, a crucial figure in Korean resistance to Japanese colonial rule, was open, and I have to say it is well-done and very informative (though it needs more English multimedia).


It was approaching time for his trip to the airport and back to Beijing, but we squeezed in a stop at Ours Blanc, a renowned bakery nearby, and found it deserved its reputation.


Two final pics, one for each of us.


Come again sooner!