Four days in Laos was among the most memorable of my travels thus far. I suspect this is because it was the most rural place I have been yet. A place where the average annual household income is $320 USD and hot water is still a luxury. I felt a little ridiculous reaching into my Prada handbag, which cost more than the average income, to pay for my $5 a night room in a guesthouse. But then this is also a place where beers are 50 cents and dinner is $1, so money clearly stretches further than in NYC.
Young children washing clothes
"Downtown" Vang Vieng
The borderline improverished lifestyle is readily apparent despite the still thriving opium trade as part of the still strong Golden Triangle. In fact, at practically every restaurant and cafe, there is a "special menu" where one can order opium in nearly every form....from tea to pizza...as well as a variety of other surprising narcotic and hallucenogenic items.... As a result what you see in terms of tourists is an interesting mixture of people. The majority are young backpackers from Europe and Israel (did I mention there are Israeli tourists ALL over SE Asia? they come after they finish their required 3 year military service to blow off some steam), but surprisingly there is also a wide range of ages and demographics represented. I ended up chatting with a retired French couple who were touring SE Asia for a year scouting a town to move to in order to stretch their retirement dollars.
Guesthouse and view from my room
So what did we do in the midst of all of these.....ahem....options? Well the main activity in the teeny tiny town of Vang Vieng is river tubing. You rent innertubes and then take a transport about 12K up the river. Once on the river on your innertube, activities consist of stopping off at riverside bars to have a bite to eat or a beer. Each bar has a "wrangler" that stands out on the banks of the river. If you see a bar you fancy you just give a wave and they throw out a bamboo pole for you to grab and be pulled to shore. This is about as lazy a way as one can spend a day short of sleeping. It was great!
