Out in the World - Laos

Laos

2005-05-12T07:52:00.000-07:00

The following are pictures from one of my favorite countries (of those I have thus far visited). A country with stunning mountain landscapes and open plains. A nation of kind-hearted people ready to welcome you as one of their family, despite the scars of wars and death that litter the land and remind you of the hell these people have experienced in the last fifty years (and still do, as unexploded mines still kill people each year. I hope that the following pictures will give you an idea of a place you might not know much about. Enjoy.

2005-05-12T07:50:00.000-07:00

My brother and I (I'm the one with the glasses) with villagers outside of Phonsavan in Laos.

2005-05-12T07:49:00.000-07:00

After a short Buddhist ceremony, these people fully embraced the strangeness that my brother and I represented (we were the first white people they had met). An afternoon of music and food and booze and heartfelt words of respect and welcome followed.

2005-05-12T07:47:00.001-07:00

This is the building where all of the preceding events took place.

2005-05-12T07:47:00.000-07:00

A huge palm tree in Luang Prabang, taken on the first day of my trip in October.

2005-05-11T15:37:00.000-07:00

Looking up at a temple in Laos as the sun begins to go down.

2005-05-05T16:04:00.000-07:00

Down by the Mekong River in Luang Prabang.

2005-05-04T15:17:00.000-07:00

A typical Laos countryside pic - nothing exciitng except that the country is wonderful to look at at any turn. I like the wooden bridge on the left side - it was a bit scary to cross though.

2005-05-03T15:30:00.000-07:00

A tray of chili peppers drying in the sun. This is seen often in the villages and towns of Laos.

2005-05-02T15:36:00.000-07:00

Not the most exciting picture, but it brings back nice memories for me. My brother and I rode bikes outside of Vang Vieng and left the main road to follow and smaller path and to see where it lead. We ended up in a small village and then on this path. As we were returning to our bikes later, we saw an old woman and her husband struggling to take bamboo poles out of the water. We stopped and helped them, and shared our water with the woman. The couple was extremely happy, and I am pretty sure the woman invited us to their home. It would have been an interesting opportunity, but we weren't sure that she was actually asking us to come, and the sun was starting to go down. Perhaps later this year I will try to find them again.

2005-05-01T15:59:00.000-07:00

Another bike picture, this one outside Vang Vieng. I suspect that I will soon stop posting pictures here, leaving the page to wait until I visit Laos again later this year.

2005-04-29T14:07:00.000-07:00

I used to take a lot of pictures of bikes.

2005-04-28T15:44:00.000-07:00

More Laos countryside.

2005-04-27T15:31:00.000-07:00

Taken outside Vang Vieng. While riding a bike in this part of Laos, I was reminded of Chinese paintings, and the mountains of Guilin (sp?). I can't wait to go there later this year!

2005-04-26T17:05:00.000-07:00

This is in the Plain of Jars, one of the many ancient jars planted in the middle of nowhere, carved from boulders. No one is quite sure how they came to be where they are.

2005-04-25T17:29:00.000-07:00

This was taken near twilight as my brother and I walked outside VangVieng.

2005-04-22T16:32:00.000-07:00

Every now and then, I go to a place and all I want to do is shout to the world how great it it. Then I think, wait, I don't want it to be too crowded the next time I go back. And then I start thinking of the ramifications of increased tourism - a loss of spirit in a place, people hungry for money who end up changing their values, damage to the environment. Of course, often times the people are poor and could use the money and the upgrades that come in better facilities and public transportation. There are no easy answers. I do know that Laos is one of these places, with a lush and varied landscape that rivals any in Southeast Asia, and a people that have been seen some of the worst aspects of man but have emerged with their kindness and humanity intact.

2005-04-21T15:52:00.000-07:00

This is another picture from the Mekong. You are looking at the base of one of the sheer cliffs springing from the water.This was near Pak Ou caves.

2005-04-20T15:37:00.000-07:00

A country road populated by cows. Of course, the main roads in Laos are populated by cows, too, which makes for interesting bus and bike rides.

2005-04-19T15:27:00.000-07:00

Looking out at the countryside in eastern Laos.

2005-04-18T15:49:00.000-07:00

An aged statue of Buddha outside Phonsavon. Our guide shared a great store with us about the building of this statue. The story goes that it was built entirely by women in a race against a group of men building a similar statue. The women decided to work naked every day, thus distracting the men from their work and enabling them to finish first.

2005-04-17T15:46:00.000-07:00

I had a difficult decision if I should post this on the people page or the Laos page, and in the end Laos won out. This was taken outside Phonsavan after a small prayer service. The people had never seen white people in person and began singing and making music for my brother and I. Then we sang for them. After the music we ate food brought by the women and drank an unhealthy amount of Laos whiskey (a horrible moonshine). More than half a year later, I am still wearing two of the ten friendship bracelets they tied around my wrist that day.

2005-04-16T20:00:00.000-07:00

This was in a large field in Phonsavan, a site decorated with many of these small man made (well, 500 pound bomb-made) ponds. Really they were just craters that had filled with a bit of rain water. The grass was dry in the field, and I saw only two tiny flowers springing from the ground.

2005-04-15T16:03:00.000-07:00

A building in Luang Prabang.

2005-04-14T16:45:00.000-07:00

OK...I'm cheating a bit here. This was actually in Thailand, in a town near Chiang Mai. I took it two days before I left for Laos, though, so I'm going to put it on this page.

2005-04-13T16:14:00.000-07:00

This was on the road outside Vang Vieng as my brother and I rode our bikes around the countryside.

2005-04-12T16:06:00.000-07:00

I took this after lunch in a town near Phonsavan. This gets a little bit of the idea of people just sitting around and waiting.

2005-04-11T16:12:00.000-07:00

I can't wait to go back to Laos. Though I'm sure life can't be easy for many of the people, the pace of life is a tremendous break from that which we are used to in the western world.

2005-04-10T16:19:00.000-07:00

We were taking the bus from Luang Prabang to Phonsavan and it had just broken down for the third time. I saw this man walking in the road eagerly taking out a cigarette and walking down aways to find a spot to pee. I liked the old suit he was wearing and thought I should take a picture (thankfully not of him peeing).

2005-04-09T17:38:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite photos from Laos, because of its simplicity.

2005-04-08T17:18:00.000-07:00

This was taken outside a "traditional" village that we stopped at on the way to Pak Ou Caves. I would have liked to keep walking along this country road all day, but our boat was waiting.

2005-04-07T15:31:00.000-07:00

This is the sun-setting over the Mekong as viewed in Luang Prabang. I posted it yesterday, but for some reason the post disappeared.

2005-04-07T15:25:00.000-07:00

Another picture while taken on the Mekong. I used to take a lot of sepia-toned pictures when I used the S50. For some reason a landscape like this seems to be more dramatic to me because of the sepia. I only wish the day had not been so hazy.

2005-04-05T16:19:00.000-07:00

This was taken along the side of the road on the drive from Luang Prabang to Phonsavan. The women often wear bright colored, hand-made silk skirts (and you can find some great deals there, esp. when you are out of the main towns). The backdrop is the straw roof of a hut clinging to the side of a mountain.

2005-04-04T18:41:00.000-07:00

I took this in the common area of a guesthouse in Phonsavan as we waited to be driven to the Plain of Jars.

2005-04-03T15:56:00.000-07:00

This was taken on the same bike ride as the picture posted yesterday. On the roads in Laos it is a very common sight to see cows strolling along, either alone or in herds. This can make for some interesting bus rides - bike rides as well.

2005-04-02T16:37:00.000-08:00

I wanted some color on the page today, so I decided to post this picture taken several KM outside ViangChan. David and I rented and rode one speed bikes all day through bright green countryside with scenery like this.

2005-04-01T16:56:00.000-08:00

This was taken as my brother and I took a long slow boat on the Mekong from Luang Prabang to the Pak Ou Caves. The caves themselves were interesting, as were the side stops at "traditional" villages (meaning have been turned into souvenier shops) were nice as well, as we had a chance to sample some strong Laos moonshine (complete with scorpions and wasps and snakes inside the bottle, depending on which one you want to buy). The best part of the trip, though, was sitting on the boat with a breeze cutting through the dense heat, watching the way life drifts by for those along the river - from the fishermen to the farmers to the dancing naked children jumping from small rises along the banks down into the water.

2005-03-31T15:10:00.000-08:00

I am pretty sure I posted this on Out in the World in January or February, but that was a long time ago, so...This was taken in Luang Prabang, just around the corner from the guest house we were staying at, a block or two up from the Mekong.

2005-03-31T05:13:00.000-08:00

This was taken in a Hmong village near Phonsavan. I was still using the Canon S50 when I took this.