3,221 Curves to Phonsavanh, Laos---February 26, 2020

This bus ride from Luang Prabang went over several mountain passes and some over 4,800 feet.  It took just the 7 of us, passengers, in this big bus about 7 hours and 40 minutes to get to Phonsavanh.  I figured that we had done over 3,220 curves in our journey.  The route was marked by large portions of the gravel road where the dust from the trucks passed us and in front of us through up huge dust clouds.  The travel company had advertised this as an A/C Express bus and the only air conditioning came from keeping the front door open all of the ways.

The waiting area

Treats for the bus

Loading the bus 

Lao coffee for the ride

Pai from Chiang Mai with just 793 curves was a lightweight compared to this journey.  Everything was just so dry and dusty and there was smoke everywhere from the swidden agriculture they practice here.

We stopped twice, once for lunch about noon and then for a bush stop three hours later—men to the left of the bus and women to the right.

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In passing these many roadside villages I was struck by how basic their lives were in these villages.  I saw where they were gathering the type of branches used to make the popular brooms found throughout SE Asia.  I imagined how a broom broker would also visit these villages and pay for these brooms which would show up in cities throughout SE Asia. 

Many times I would see very young women with their babies strapped to their backs spreading out these broom fronds, gathering water, washing clothes, bathing at the communal watering area, or just gathering with each other and visiting as our bus passed by.  I would see the men, building structures from a variety of materials from bamboo, wood, and concrete.  

The rice fields were dry and the cows were feeding off the remains and carelessly wandering along the road.

The bus never stopped turning in the 7 plus hours it ran.  Construction on the road was continuous with patches made with hot tar and gravel to fill in the holes and gravel graded in other places. 

We saw where the Chinese had drilled through this mountain for the high-speed train that would go from China through Laos.  China has also many dam projects to produce electricity. This is one of many countries I have been to where China is investing it big infrastructure projects to benefit them with some benefit to the countries they are working in.

China Power

I saw huge swathes of forest that had burned and other areas that were now burning.  During my time in Laos, it smelled like I was always near a campfire.  One tour guide told me that they are “working” on reducing this problem.  It looks like it will be a long time.

Everything is dusty, dusty, dusty as we pulled into the bus station.  

A tout offered me Michael, the UK guy, and the only other tourist, a ride into s town some 11 km for just 10,000 kips in his A/C minivan.  What a deal. 

I ended up at the Nice Hotel for 80,000 kips per night—the going rate here—for two nights.

After checking in I asked about tours to the Plain of Jars and the fellow that drove us from the bus station offered 650,000 for the full tour at all three sites.  No way. 

I asked a fellow at the hotel and he suggested that I should rent a motorbike for 100,000 kips instead. I went to the Sourath Travel Agency and they said the same thing—not enough tourists because of the coronavirus.  While I thought about this, he and his friends offered me some “rocket fuel” to seal the deal.  I was on for taking a motor scooter out to the three Plain of Jars sites.

The tour company said that business was down by 60% because of the Coronavirus and there were no group tours.

I have recently uploaded all of my travel videos to YouTube now that they allow longer uploads and you may want to see my travel adventures there.  That link is

 https://www.youtube.com/c/huntforgold.  

If you do go there, please subscribe to my video channel since it will help me eventually get some income there and help with my future travels. Fewer people are using DVDs so I am transitioning to streaming my travels on my YouTube channel.

Luang Prabang Adventures---February 19-26, 2020

I found the Namsok Guesthouse and it had been renamed Knock Knock Guesthouse the price was 150,000 kip which included a full breakfast, but they only had availability for two nights.  The room was good with polished wood floors, A/C, ample hot shower, and best of all CNN—the first time to see it since I left Seattle on January 21st.  

After that, I moved to the Phousi Guesthouse which was similar—had CNN— except it cost 200,000 kips per night.

On some of the days, I would walk through the many Wats found throughout downtown Luang Prabang.  

On two mornings, I got up at 5am to watch the monk's procession through Luang Prabang.  They would receive offerings from the villagers—and tourists who bought some sticky rice—and gain merit by doing so.   In turn, the monks would give some of the rice they had received to the poor kids along the procession who were holding big plastic bags that they would take home and share with their families.  I also saw where before returning to their families these kids would balance out the amounts in their bags among each other—a real communal spirit felt here. 

Monks share their rice with the poor kid holding the bag as well as others along the way.

Poor families share the rice with the monks. 

I enjoyed sitting at some of the many restaurants and bars that fronted the river banks of the Mekong and Nam Khan. 

While having a Lao coffee—black coffee with sweetened condensed milk at the bottom of the cup—Joy, and Yan—the Chinese tourist on the 2-day boat—stopped by while they were shopping.

Yan is wearing an elaborate jeweled with freshwater pearls and other things dress she bought in Thailand.

They were setting up this huge night market on the main street as I arrived and after taking a shower and having dinner at one of the many cliffside restaurants along the Mekong River, I made my way back to check out what they were selling.  

I ended up buying an indigo scarf for 140,000 kip—$15USD and another embroidered small zippered bag for 20,000 kip—$2.20USD.  Back to the room for a much-needed shower and sleep.

I really enjoyed the street food including egg sandwiches, mango shakes, and Lao coffee.

I also splurged for this great eggs benedict breakfast that was cooked to perfection.

Just above the Royal Palace is a big hill capped with the Phou Si Wat—the same name as my guesthouse—that I climbed up—many, many stairs.  The views up here were great but obscured by the continuous fires lighted in the area that supported swidden agriculture. 

On Monday, I quickly made my way to the Vietnamese Consulate where I applied for a multi-entry 90-day Visa for $100 USD.  I opted for the 3-day expedited service which was just $10 more and 5 days faster.  It was a pretty easy process after providing them with two passport pictures. 

I walked about town checking out the shops and views of the Mekong River, and the Nam Khan River, and located the L’etranger Books and Tea cafe, a French bookstore where I bought a big book, “American Carnage” by Alberto, and found out that at 7 PM they ran 1st run movies provided you bought some food and refreshments. While here, I saw “Little Women”, "Yesterday” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”.   “1917” was showing Monday, but I chose to go to the “Royal Ballet Pralak Pralam” near the Royal Palace.

I took care of some mundane things like finding a watch repair service which ended up being this guy with a little booth on the sidewalk by a high school.  He replaced the wrist band connector for just 10,000 kip—$1.65 USD.

I bought a bus ticket from a travel agent rather than at the bus station some 2 km from downtown to save me a couple of tuk-tuk rides that seem to be a minimum of 15,000 kips.  

The bus to Phonsavanh was 120,000 kip for an A/C express bus that takes me to the Plain of Jars on the way to Vietnam.

I found the post office where I mailed out three pop-up letters to my Grandson, Atticus.  One was a Curious George look alike, another tyrannosaurus Rex, and the third, a man with a water buffalo.

There were two different waterfalls I had not yet seen in my earlier trips to Luang Prabang, Tad Se, and Kuang Si Waterfalls.  A tuk-tuk driver told me the Tad Se waterfall was dry and only ran during the rainy season ending in September.  He said he could take me to Kuang Si Waterfalls for 250,000 kips.  I thought there must be a cheaper way to see this waterfall that was about 35 km from Luang Prabang.  When I went to exchange money, I saw an advertisement for trips to Kuang Si Waterfall for just 35,000 in an A/C minivan.  It was about 11am and the next departure was 11”30am so I booked it. So glad I did. 

I was the last passenger to get on for this jolting ride out to the Kuang Si Waterfalls.  It seemed like they were working on all of the bridges so we detoured down into the gullies that were now dry.   We passed through numerous dusty villages that all had the same run-down look.  

Before we got there the driver pulled over and informed us there was a 20,000 kip entrance fee and he wanted to collect it now to “expedite” our entry.  When we got there, we all just passed through the park entrance and I did not see where the driver paid for our entrance fees.  I suspect that he and the park official who let us in split the 300,000 kips he collected from his 15 passengers and the park got nothing.

After entering the park there are several enclosures where they have “rescued” Lao Bears.  At least the enclosures were fairly large.  I continued on to the first of several smaller cascades and pools that were beautiful and continued on to where there were larger pools where that allowed swimming.

I continued up to the large waterfall and it was apparent the colors of the water came from the limestone because the several falls had those familiar stalactites and stalagmites that added to the beauty of the falls.

After seeing the large waterfall and pool I returned to one of the swimming pool areas and enjoyed a refreshing and brisk swim to the smaller falls.

Even the monks enjoyed this special place.

After changing, I returned to the parking area and had a late lunch of chicken basil and rice before the bus left.  It was delicious for just 30,000 kips.

Upon returning I got another 60,000 kip—$7USD—one-hour oil massage before heading to the “Royal Ballet”. Hanuman —the monkey—was king in this performance as they scratched and itched their way across the stage.  The performances were enactments of fables—-some seemed to come from some Hindu legends but transformed to the Lao culture.  

I noticed that many of the dancing was slow and deliberate and I remembered that I was told that both Lao and Cambodian dances were deliberately slow so that when viewed by the ruler, he would not be threatened by assassination attempts or if so they could be thwarted by fast acting palace guards.

I headed to the rooftop terrace of the hotel where I got a great view of the night market below and the Phou Si Temple on the steep hill just above the Royal Palace.  

I am now getting ready to leave Luang Prabang for Phonsavanh on my way to Vietnam.  I plan to visit the Plain of Jars during my short stay.

I have recently uploaded all of my travel videos to YouTube now that they allow longer uploads and you may want to see my travel adventures there.  That link is

 https://www.youtube.com/c/huntforgold.  

If you do go there, please subscribe to my video channel since it will help me eventually get some income there and help with my future travels. Fewer people are using DVDs so I am transitioning to streaming my travels on my YouTube channel.