vietianne
Holy Moly! what a dreadful flight. My transport was a twin propeller airplane with a passenger load of about 50 people. It moved crazily through airpockets causing my ar*e to rise considerably off the seat. I gripped the sidearms vigorously. There was no announcement of turbulence or anything. I was struck how calm everyone was. The plane appeared to have no more stability than a paper plane. I even began to think the engine had cut out. It hadn't of course. We had a stopover at Pakse (Southern Lao) and the pilot casually left the plane while it was being refuelled. I observed him having a smoke not twenty metres from the plane. Jesus Christ! Aviation fuel, naked flame, what was he thinking! The final journey was less jumpy but we flew right into storm and the landing wasn't much different to a rollercoaster. So maybe now I appreciate all the fuss made about Lao Airlines.
The capital of Lao is a run down, neglected place. The drains were built by the French over a hundred years ago and it shows. With minimal street lighting, they are a deathtrap after darf. At least half of the manholes have no lid. The roads are crumbling away. Old colonial buildings are falling apart. This is one of the ten poorest countries in the world after all. Yet there are no shortage of big 4x4's on the streets or expensive homes in the suburbs. Where does the money come from, I wondered? Simple, the UN and NGO aid, as is usually the case, never finds it way to the deserving. The ones milking it are the military types and the communist overlords. It's very blantant.
Nonetheless, the place has its charms. It's probably one of the most chilled out places there is. The Lao people are extremely relaxed people. There is no urgency in them, all is smiles and sincerity. I arrived on a national holiday and there were no locals about, just dreadlocked backpacker types in flip-flops haggling over pennies. That was a disappointment. As was my hotel. Dreadful place. I moved the next day to somewhere more fit for habitation.
A number of storms passed the city while I was there. Given the age of the drains, it couldn't cope with the torrents and the whole place appeared to be flooded. The roads were impassable and the dirt roads were all to willing to swallow a man and his honda dream. Thankfully I had a TV; Thai soap opera is truly gripping!
When the storm abated I met some NGO's workers including a bloke from Wicklow. There seems to be many NGO's here. This was the bar I returned to on a number of occasions. One English bloke carried a little monkey around with him. It was tied to him with a chain. He fed the creature on a diet of burgers and beer. I noticed the poor b*gger eating a pack of cigarettes once. He seemed very bored by it all and would much have prefered to be swinging from trees with his mates.
One of the NGO's guys I met was trying to divorce his Loa wife and had to seek authority from the village chief with all the village present. And him speaking no Lao. I would have liked to see it. He reckoned he'd have to hand over a wedge of dough to secure his freedom. It is actually illegal for a foreigner to have a sexual relationship with a Lao women unless married. Transgressors can be arressed, jailed or deported.
Given the weather situation there wasn't much to do by way of sight seeing but I must admit I have reached full capacity when it comes to looking at temples. I have seem so many in these past few months. All I want now is to see little animals fighting each other in death matches but I wasn't able to find a fight despite my enquiries.
The capital of Lao is a run down, neglected place. The drains were built by the French over a hundred years ago and it shows. With minimal street lighting, they are a deathtrap after darf. At least half of the manholes have no lid. The roads are crumbling away. Old colonial buildings are falling apart. This is one of the ten poorest countries in the world after all. Yet there are no shortage of big 4x4's on the streets or expensive homes in the suburbs. Where does the money come from, I wondered? Simple, the UN and NGO aid, as is usually the case, never finds it way to the deserving. The ones milking it are the military types and the communist overlords. It's very blantant.
Nonetheless, the place has its charms. It's probably one of the most chilled out places there is. The Lao people are extremely relaxed people. There is no urgency in them, all is smiles and sincerity. I arrived on a national holiday and there were no locals about, just dreadlocked backpacker types in flip-flops haggling over pennies. That was a disappointment. As was my hotel. Dreadful place. I moved the next day to somewhere more fit for habitation.
A number of storms passed the city while I was there. Given the age of the drains, it couldn't cope with the torrents and the whole place appeared to be flooded. The roads were impassable and the dirt roads were all to willing to swallow a man and his honda dream. Thankfully I had a TV; Thai soap opera is truly gripping!
When the storm abated I met some NGO's workers including a bloke from Wicklow. There seems to be many NGO's here. This was the bar I returned to on a number of occasions. One English bloke carried a little monkey around with him. It was tied to him with a chain. He fed the creature on a diet of burgers and beer. I noticed the poor b*gger eating a pack of cigarettes once. He seemed very bored by it all and would much have prefered to be swinging from trees with his mates.
One of the NGO's guys I met was trying to divorce his Loa wife and had to seek authority from the village chief with all the village present. And him speaking no Lao. I would have liked to see it. He reckoned he'd have to hand over a wedge of dough to secure his freedom. It is actually illegal for a foreigner to have a sexual relationship with a Lao women unless married. Transgressors can be arressed, jailed or deported.
Given the weather situation there wasn't much to do by way of sight seeing but I must admit I have reached full capacity when it comes to looking at temples. I have seem so many in these past few months. All I want now is to see little animals fighting each other in death matches but I wasn't able to find a fight despite my enquiries.
posted by Ciarán at 5:12 p.m.
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