Laos is a seriously laid back country
Many of you, if not all will be relieved to see that this week’s update is blissfully short, compared to the rambling epistles of the last couple of weeks. I try to keep them to less than a page but it’s very hard. Rambling and babbling.
In any case, this week I have a problem well two really. I know I know I‘m turning into one of those needy friends who only comes calling when there is a problem.
We have all been to Blackpool or Benidorm and even Southwold. We have all seen what happens when a wonderful place gets a great reputation as a holiday destination. Floods of people turn up. Family-run places are swept away, replaced by big tour operators who will build multi-storey hotels with air-con and TVs in every room. The golden arches and Starbucks arrive. The only food on the menu in the restaurants will be egg and chips and pizza. The only spicy sauce available will be tangy Heinz ketchup. Then it’s the rocky road to stag and hen weekends. I’m only half joking, read some of the stats on the south of Thailand. Apparently, we leave something like 50,000 tonnes of rubbish a day.
Problem number one: Should I lie and tell you that the place described below is a ghastly place? Alternatively, tell you the truth then come home and bump you off one by one like professor Plum in the library? When I take the stand at the Old Bailey, I could say I did it as part of a radical new conservation plan. Ala big brother - You decide… read on and be done away with or skip the next three paragraphs.
This place, Nong Khiew, is almost too out of the ordinary to describe. I am writing this to you as I sit on my balcony looking out across a river at a handful of ramshackle huts on the opposite bank. I can hear cockerels chatting to each other up and down the valley. The sun is just coming up over the mountain behind me, lighting up the tree-covered valleys and mountains in front of me. It is a very tight little valley so as the sun rises the early morning mist is just beginning to float away. Exit the morning mist to reveal the limestone cliff-face tinged with iron ore so the mountains have a reddish hue to them. The air is cool and fresh, I can just about make out a charcoal smoky smell as people light their fires to start cooking. Add the soft sound of small motor boats going up the river and you’re just about there.
Our accommodation is a bamboo hut on stilts costing the princely sum of £3.20 a night. When you turn the lights out you think you’re sleeping under the stars cos the bamboo weave allows so much light in. Yesterday we woke up to see elephants marching past our window. Laos cuisine is much the same as Thai cuisine, so we’re in heaven on that score too. The average meal with beer is costing about £2.75 each.
Problem number two is: How the hell, are we ever going to leave? John and Lesley have already decided to extend their visas so that they can enjoy a little more time here. I am supposed to be off to Cambodia in a couple of weeks and so far the rest of Laos is just as beautiful and chilled. What am I gonna do?
Let me know which option of the options you choose so I can start a list.
Ta ta.
By Ali Gordon
