23 in Laos
So after securing my new job I thought a short holiday was in order to relax, let go of the stress and anxiety endured from moving to a new country and restore the caramel colour to my skin. With an unused ticket from Bangkok to Tokyo in hand I got a one-way to Thailand and decided to hoof it over to Laos, a place I knew only by reputation. Everyone you meet who has been there says "It's sooooooo cool... great.... amazing" - but no one can explain why, and neither can I. Basically it's one of the most chilled out countries in the world.
The national religion is officially Theravada Buddhism which actually prevents them from doing any activity that causes stress. So you can imagine there is a lot of sitting going on. As soon as you cross the border the mellow vibe is infectious; you start to talk slower, gaps in the conversation become standard, your plans become less ambitious. The perfect Laos activity is the backpacker tradition of "tubing", where you get driven a few kilometres up the Mekong river, and get dropped off with the inner tube from a truck. Then you float lazily down the river in the sun, stopping from time to time to have a beer on the make shift river-side bars; and if your feeling adventurous a jump from a huge swing into the river. Good days.
Of course the thing that makes a country enjoyable are the people you meet and hang out with and Laos attracts a very down-to-earth crowd, very easy to get along with. While it's not the place to go to party it is the perfect place to relax. The bars close at 12pm so me and my new English buddies went for some drinking at the all-night bowling places in Vientienne which are bizarre but fun. The only downer was that a gay Laos dude followed us there and wouldn't leave me alone. He was harmless, but he kept touching me and tried to get cosy which tested my patience after a while. I would have given him a bitch-slap but he might have liked it.
So I got around the main areas of Laos for a bit over a week mostly with this funny English girl called Jess. The trip was lacking in quality beach time (river time just isn't the same) so got the train back to Thailand and was planning to go to an island, but due to a lack of vacancies on the bus I headed to the mainland beach of Hua Hin which is nice enough for a few days. Bangkok can be a difficult place sometimes so I avoided the backpacker area and stayed in a nice hostel in the Sukumvit area which is near a the Skytrain station for convenient sight seeing. Finished up my time with some pirate goods-shopping and massage. All in all a nice little trip, met some cool people from England, Israel, Finland, Austria and the US. Feeling rejuvenated and prepared for my time in Japan to really start.
And on another note I turned 23 on the 9th of March. Thanks for the birthday emails, they were appreciated; if you didn't send one don't worry I've never been that big on birthdays and you can be assured that I will forget to do the same for you.
Nice jump!
The national religion is officially Theravada Buddhism which actually prevents them from doing any activity that causes stress. So you can imagine there is a lot of sitting going on. As soon as you cross the border the mellow vibe is infectious; you start to talk slower, gaps in the conversation become standard, your plans become less ambitious. The perfect Laos activity is the backpacker tradition of "tubing", where you get driven a few kilometres up the Mekong river, and get dropped off with the inner tube from a truck. Then you float lazily down the river in the sun, stopping from time to time to have a beer on the make shift river-side bars; and if your feeling adventurous a jump from a huge swing into the river. Good days.
Of course the thing that makes a country enjoyable are the people you meet and hang out with and Laos attracts a very down-to-earth crowd, very easy to get along with. While it's not the place to go to party it is the perfect place to relax. The bars close at 12pm so me and my new English buddies went for some drinking at the all-night bowling places in Vientienne which are bizarre but fun. The only downer was that a gay Laos dude followed us there and wouldn't leave me alone. He was harmless, but he kept touching me and tried to get cosy which tested my patience after a while. I would have given him a bitch-slap but he might have liked it.
So I got around the main areas of Laos for a bit over a week mostly with this funny English girl called Jess. The trip was lacking in quality beach time (river time just isn't the same) so got the train back to Thailand and was planning to go to an island, but due to a lack of vacancies on the bus I headed to the mainland beach of Hua Hin which is nice enough for a few days. Bangkok can be a difficult place sometimes so I avoided the backpacker area and stayed in a nice hostel in the Sukumvit area which is near a the Skytrain station for convenient sight seeing. Finished up my time with some pirate goods-shopping and massage. All in all a nice little trip, met some cool people from England, Israel, Finland, Austria and the US. Feeling rejuvenated and prepared for my time in Japan to really start.
And on another note I turned 23 on the 9th of March. Thanks for the birthday emails, they were appreciated; if you didn't send one don't worry I've never been that big on birthdays and you can be assured that I will forget to do the same for you.
Nice jump!
posted by Dave Tran at 8:10 pm
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