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After our foray to Phonsavan, we retraced our trip through the mountains and headed back west to Vang Vieng. There’s only one thing to do in Vang Vieng–two, I guess, but you gotta combine them. Vang Vieng is the greatest tourist trap I’ve ever been to–better than Disney, better than the Great Wall, better than Oktoberfest. Vang Vieng mixes river-tubing with free alcohol, and that’s a winning combination for the thousands of western tourists passing through. (And also for those who stay. Case in point: the middle-aged man who kept a tally of how many days in a row he’d gone tubing. By mid-October he was nearing 200.)
Unfortunately, I got food poisoning about half an hour after arriving in Vang Vieng. (Note to travelers: Avoid street meat, even cooked chicken breast, in third-world countries, no matter how legit and tasty it looks.) I spent half of my time in Vang Vieng curled up in a ball in my bed, and the other half struggling down the river. The only photo I managed to snap before we left was from the deck of a local guesthouse as we waited for the bus to take us to Vientiane.
The four-hour bus trip from Vang Vieng to Vientiane was every bit as miserable as you would expect an hours-long, aircon-less bus ride to be, but with a few open windows and a fully charged iPod, all becomes right. Vientiane was a nice change from the quiet, low-key towns we had become accustomed to. We ate good food, saw the sights, ran from bedbugs and hung out in a park few of Buddhas. Enjoy…
Only in Laos will you come across a giant stupa as you walk down the street.
A former French colony, Laos has its own Arc de Triomphe. Unlike France, a decent steak and bottle of good wine cost about US$9. Total.
Buddha Park, outside of Vientiane, where more than 200 religious statues are on display.
Last thing I expected to see in the wine store: the owner playing badminton with his son. Typical Asia.
We reunited with our Vang Vieng friends for one last meal in Laos!
Layover in Savannakhet. Trying to think of something (positive? negative?) to say about this place, but I got nothing. I'm pretty sure that I'm posing on the only airstrip, though.
Though that single airstrip seems pretty impressive when compared to the airport terminal/customs area.
Farewell, Laos. Next stop, Siem Reap, Cambodia!
I’ve been home about a month now. It’s been wonderful to reconnect with friends and see my family, but something has been missing from it all. Since my second semester of my freshman year of college, I’ve been employed. I’ve held a job or internship virtually non-stop since I was 18, and to be 23 and without one for the first time has been weird and scary. This feeling of uselessness is awful and often overwhelming and some days have been hard to break through because of it. In Korea, it was easy to pretend that everything would be fine when I came home, that finding a job would be a piece of cake, that I wouldn’t be affected by the current economic situation. But now I’m back and I’m just like the millions of unemployed Americans, searching for a job and finding that everyone and their mothers are more qualified than I am. It’s incredibly easy to get down, and so much harder to pick myself back up. I want to be young and employed and living in a city, not trapped in cold, isolated New York, hours away from most of my friends. It’s lonely up here, and there’s no way to sugarcoat that.
Today was better than most days. Every December, the local chapter of Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, sets up a gift-wrapping booth up at the Hudson Valley Mall. All of the proceeds go to cancer research and Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. Back in high school and college, I’d help out for a few hours or so when I was home on winter break. With ample time to spare these days, I offered to fill in whenever they needed volunteers.
First shift: today, 10-1. With the exception of the walkers who come to the mall for exercise, the place was dead until about noon. But it did feel good to be there and to contribute my gift-wrapping skillz, to talk to strangers and make their Christmas shopping a little easier. Lunch with a friend brightened the day a bit more. Learning that Panera now serves mac and cheese made the day even better.
Today was the first day in weeks that I’ve felt useful. I want to capture that feeling and keep it with me as long as I can.
OK, one country down, three to go. We left Thailand on a six-person speedboat headed down the Mekong to Luang Prabang…
Just before setting out. A group of young monks came and sat with us as we waited.
The lack of blurriness in this shot is likely an indication that we had broken down...again.
Waterfall and swimming hole outside of Luang Prabang
The view from one of Luang Prabang's million cafes. Check out the European architecture of the buildings across the street. Thank you, French imperialists. This is pretty much the view I had all week--the main street from a coffeeshop.
After a few days spent enjoying the slow pace of Luang Prabang, we hopped on a minibus and headed east to Phonsavan to visit the famed Plain of Jars, which should really be named Plain of Nothing Exciting.
Heading through the mountains to Phonsavan. It took about seven hours to drive 200 km, by the way.
These huts served as our scenery for the length of the drive.
Plain of Jars, Phonsavan. Pretty much the Lao version of Stonehenge--thousands of mysterious stone jars spread out through the province.
This may be the first photo I have of Jeanette pretending to use an ancient artifact as a toilet, but it is not the last. Just wait until Cambodia.
The capital of the province until the Vietnam War, when American bombs devasted eastern and southeastern Laos.
This stupa contains the remains of the provincial king.
Oh, technology, reaching remote southeast Asian villages.
The main street that runs through Phonsavan. Yeah, it's hoppin'.
The key for our guesthouse was attached to a tiny bomb! What!
