So Long Southeast Asia - Monday, September 26, 2022

Today is the last day of our travels in SE Asia;  we fly to South Korea this evening.  Thank you to Maya and All Asia Travel for arranging this portion of our trip.  We have met kind guides, drivers and inhabitants of these four countries.  Here's our story for this last week:

Sun 9/18:  We are hearing of a nasty typhoon hitting Japan;  we'll be there in two weeks.  This afternoon, Anne's cousin Mary's boyfriend's daughter Amy Gregory met us at our hotel. She has lived in Bangkok for a couple years and teaches at an English-speaking school.  She has a dog, an apartment, a maid, and many friends.   We were so interested in hearing about her life.  She makes it back to the States annually.  We were sorry we hadn't made plans to meet Mitch Gertz, cousin Alaine's brother, who lives here with his wife and children.   Next time!  This evening we walk about six blocks of vibrant Chinatown with Sammi.  Anne has a little snack and is doing well with chopsticks.   We buy some long-shaped purple grapes called "sapphires".  All through Thailand we see 7-11 stores.  Sammi says they are very lucrative, but he knows some owners who have staffing problems. 

Mon 9/19:  Today we have a 6-hour drive to the north.  Along the way, Mr. Doy buys a flower necklace for the car's rearview mirror; he offers a prayer for our safe travels.  In 2-1/2 hours, we begin to see mountains.  At a rest stop (always with a 7-11) we think there are only eastern toilets (ugh!), but fortunately the handicapped toilet is western-style.   We are glad we carry TP in our bags.  Thanks, Marcia.  We see fields of rice and sugar cane, stupa, temples, schools.  We are close to the Myanmar border in Sukhothai, which was the first capital kingdom of Thailand in the 1400's.  We see signs in both Thai and Myanmar languages.  Our resort is lovely;  but it has way too many stairs in my opinion.  We say goodbye to Mr. Doy.

Tues 9/20:  Today we continue north toward Chang Rai, another 6-hour drive, with our new driver Mr. Yai (pronounced YI).  He and Sammi have been friends for 30 years.  The landscape gets prettier as we go up in elevation, and we see many teak trees.  It reminds us of driving up north in Michigan.  We see pictures of the king and queen everywhere in this country.  More rice fields and temples.  A couple years ago, the world learned of the brave efforts made to rescue a group of Thai boys and their coach from a flooded cave in this region.  Chang Rai is a charming town, very pretty at night.  Sammi and Mr. Yai take us to the night market, where there are many food and souvenir stalls.  Anne bought a plate of fried shrimp, chicken, fries.  But the guys wanted us to partake of their hot pot.  Into a very spicy broth brought to our outdoor table, they cooked vegetables,  fish, more chiles and let them steam.  Anne ate bits of it until her lips went numb.  We also had some large prawn.  We pass through the red-light district on the way to our hotel.  We say goodbye to Sammi, whose accent we were finally getting used to.  

Wed 9/21:  We have an early 2-hour drive to the Thailand/Laos border.  We say goodbye to Mr. Yai and give him the last bit of Thai money we have.  As we go through passport control, we learn we have to take a bus across the Mekong into Laos.  So we have to scrounge the bottoms of our wallets for 40 baht, a little more than $1, to pay for our ride.  Through passport control again, and we meet La, our young-looking mid-40-year old guide, and driver, Mr. Chan (pronounced Chun, which means moon).  La has a wife, son and daughter.  He was born in Laos; because his father worked for the government,  the UN helped them, along with 274 other families, flee in the late 70's to Argentina when La was very young. They were in Argentina for 11 years, until his father died around 1986.  Then his mother brought them back to Laos.  La also speaks Spanish and French.  La tells us that Lao people are descendants of Chinese tribes.  Vietnam, Cambodia and Lao were called Indochina from 1887-1954 while under French colonization.  La tells us he had difficulties during Covid.  He tried to raise chickens, but they all died.  He tried to breed goats, but that was also a failure.  We are his 4th tour group since Covid.  We are back driving on the right side of the road.  We are learning these things while we begin a 9+-hour !!! drive on mountain roads to Luang Prabang.  What?  9 hours?  Yes, there is no flight from Chang Rai to Luang Prabang; it's re-opening next month.  We would not recommend this 2-lane mountain road to anyone!  Huge semi trucks from China use these roads, so that heavy traffic along with landslides cause a real mess on the road.  They need some tunnels, pronto!  We had to wait for crews to clear two different landslides, and there were areas with tree limbs blocking lanes, not to mention big chuck holes everywhere.  Eight hours were spent on those roads, then they improved a bit.  We do see rubber trees along our way, which have replaced the native teak trees.  We are very glad to reach our hotel in Luang Prabang on the Mekong at the convergence of the Mekong and Nan Kahn rivers.  There's a gecko in the shower and a spider on the wall that gets away when i miss it with my shoe.   I think I'm not going to sleep well tonight.

Thurs 9/22:  I learn that the mountains we drove through and are surrounded by are called the Luang Prabang.  We visit temples and wats.  Our hero Anne and La walk up about 300 steps to the top of Mount Phousi, while I enjoy an iced coffee at a delightfully cool spot across the street.  Then we go to a park with a bear reserve (bears are killed for their bile, which is thought to cure what ails you) and a wonderfully refreshing, multi-stepped waterfall with the prettiest blue-green mountain water gushing from high.  Beautiful.  This evening I read that the 91-year old last surviving leader of the Khmer Rouge regime that killed 1.7 million Cambodians has finally received the justice he deserves.

Fri 9/23:  Today is a free day, so we take a ride north on the Mekong with Mr. Book on his long, big boat.  We see shacks, mansions, businesses, fish farms, water buffaloes grazing along the steep riverbank and tree-covered mountains along the river.  Mr. Book tells us he also had a very rough 2-1/2 years during Covid.  There are a variety of trees, with some bamboo, a few coconut palms, beautiful flowers.  The Mekong is brown because of its silt.  We pass under a new train bridge that crosses the river and goes into a tunnel.  China built the train and tracks, and they built the tunnel, too.  After two hours we stop in a small village known as Whiskey Island, where we try two grappas and Anne tries the whiskey.  She buys some for $4, and I bought a weaved shoulder bag for $4.  We return to our hotel before a rain storm.

Sat 9/24:  We are up at 0300 because we are giving alms this morning, gaining merit for whoever or whatever we want to receive the blessings.   A gecko runs on the wall between a cupboard and the air conditioner; cripes, where was he overnight?  La shows us to some little stools on a street, where we take off our shoes, have a scarf draped over our shoulder as a sign of respect, and purchase a couple bowls of sticky rice.  As the monks pass, you are to think about where you are directing the merits as you gather little balls of rice together.  But the young monks come faster than anticipated,  so I don't have time to do anything but make the balls and put them in their containers.  A few older monks ask where we are from.  Many of the youngsters look at us and smile.  Probably 60 monks passed us this morning.   They eat their last meal of the day at noon.  They must be starving now.  I've been having trouble with the conversion rate since we've been in Lao; don't know why this one is giving me such trouble.  $1 = 15,911 Lao kip. Easy, no?  All those zeroes on their bills...  We say goodbye to Mr. Chan and take the Chinese train with La to the capital Vientiane.  My bags go through screening at the train station before Anne's.  I have to open my bag while it's searched for a dull traveling knife that we use to cut fruit or cheese with.  So it is confiscated.  No harm.  And Anne's Swiss army knife goes undetected while they're worried about my weapon.  We see the mountains for about an hour as we head south.  Our driver Mr. Sumsok takes us to our hotel in a busy area.  We can see the undeveloped Mekong riverside from our balcony.  Anne and I walk a couple blocks to have lunch at an Arabic restaurant. 

Sun 9/25:  We met an American couple from Phoenix, Arizona, in our hotel.  He is from Lao and worked with the government and left in '75 during the trouble.  She is from Bangkok.   It's raining, but we have the last touring to do with La.  We visit a temple with thousands of little Buddha statues and two wats.  Unfortunately the Patuxay Monument is closed so Anne can't climb up the five stories.  We visit the morning market and smell durian wrapped in plastic.  La had to learn to like it when he returned to Lao.  We didn't buy any.  Mr. Somsuk returns us to our hotel, and we say goodbye to him and to La, one of our favorite guides.  The afternoon is ours, so we walk a little and have disappointing pizza (of course).  Tomorrow night we fly to South Korea.