Last week we ended our first quarter and had our first week-long break of the year. Isaac and I decided to go to a country that no one REALLY knows how to pronounce: Laos. Whether you pronounce the “s” or not, Laos is fantasmic!
Laos truly was a really cool place to visit, but first let me tell you that getting there was half the fun! And by fun, I mean on of the worst experiences of our lives.
Isaac and I like to think of ourselves as very smart, and practical travelers (aka cheap). Now there ARE flights to Laos from Thailand. It only takes about 2 hours to fly there, in fact. BUT, as frugal as we are, we decided to save a couple hundred dollars to experience TRUE Thai travel. We took the night train and a bus. After all, how bad could it be?
Our trip kicked off to a good start. The cab driver decided to take a “short cut” to the train station and added an hour to the trip. Then, we got onto our night train and waited in our seats until we left about an hour and a half late. We had a delicious dinner of Pringles and peanuts. We had a 2nd class sleeper car which meant we had bunk bed deals in one big car.
We were supposed to get into Nong Khai (the border crossing between Laos and Thailand) at about 8:30 but woke up to a conductor saying “machine broken, 6 hours late! You can sleep!” As good as sleeping sounded, we were pretty upset that we weren’t going to arrive until 2 pm (actually it was 3p.m.) because our bus was supposed to leave in the morning.
After we got off the train, we had to buy vises and get carted around until we ended up in Vientienne at 5 pm. We missed the last bus to Luang Prbang (our final destination ) so we had to stay the night in Vientienne.
The next morning, we woke up at 6 and went to the bus station to catch the “VIP” bus. The next 9 hours were anything BUT VIP! Picture riding thought winding mountain roads with your knees pinned against the seat in front of you and the constant smell of urine wafting from the bathroom below.
The journey was pretty rough but when we finally got to Luang Prabang it was worth the trip! We stayed in this great place with a bungalow facing the river. Each morning we had breakfast delivered to our balcony outside facing the river. We spent most days relaxing, playing skip-bo (with some friends who joined us later) and riding bicycles around town.
Laos was once colonized by the French so it looks like buildings are European and there are a lot of road-side stands selling baguetters. Overall, the trip was really relaxing. We went to a really cool waterfall, saw some monks getting food, and took a boat trip down the river. Good times.
I just like this picture.
I think that kid in the circle is my long lost brother.
Check out the lady all up in the faces of the monks.
Too bad all of the relaxation was cancelled out by our return trip back to Thailand.
We thought getting back to Thailand couldn't POSSIBLY be as bad as getting there. We were wrong!
This time we made it to the bus station on time. There was even a bit more leg room! It was a good sign. Then we realized that we were in the back of the bus where you can feel EVERY bump and curve to the extreme! It was like those terrible carnival rides where there’s no rush or fun, just the feeling that you want to throw up. At least with carnival rides, they only last a few minutes. This was 9 hours! There wa no air-con bt after a while we were covered in sweat so that was a little refreshing.
The bus arrived in Vientiene about an hour and a half late, and after another crazy trip through customs, we got to the train station 30 min after our train was schedule to leave. I told Isaac not to worry because Trains in Thailand NEVER leave on time. Seriously, we’ve always been told not even to arrive at the station until the scheduled departure time because the train will leave at least an hour late. As luck would have it, our sleep train WAS THE FIRST THAI TRAIN IN THE HISTORY OF TIME TO LEAVE ON TIME! So we missed it.
Isaac convinced this dude at the station to give us free tickets to the only other train leaving that night for Bangkok. It was a 3RD class train leaving in 15 minutes and we gladly took it. The train had bench seats about 2 feet across. We had to get up and move to different seats 3 times throughout the trip. The train was so full that Isaac and I had to share one of those little seats all night This time, our dinner was peanuts, Pringles, and about 500 bugs that flew into our mouths from the open window we were next to. Miraculously, we did manage to fall asleep. At one point, I woke up in the middle of the night to see a cockroach scurry across the window next to my face.
We got home and tried to forget the whole thing happened. It didn’t work. I suppose that we should be thankful that we have enough money and time to travel at all and we should think about how many Thai people travel like that all the time. We learned a few valuable lessons on our trip. Here are the top five:
5. Baguettes CAN be eaten for every meal
4. Condensed milk doesn’t make EVERYTHING taste good
3. No matter how mature you think you are, it is not possible to be a gracious loser at Skip-bo
2. Putting dead animals in whiskey bottles does NOT make you want to drink more.
1. When given the choice ALWAYS FLY!
Culture Week:
Before we left for break Isaac and I got “roped” into being a part of a teacher talent show during our school’s culture week. We showcased American culture by doing a line dance routine. Isaac and I were supposed to do something creative for part of the dance so I hog-tied him and left him in the middle of the stage while the rest of the teachers danced around him(we didn't let them in on what we were going to do). It was really entertaining. The best part of the show is when our PRINCIPAL said: “Now I know why Isaac married you.” I said: “Because I look good in jeans?” And he said: “No, S & M”. Classy.
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