Always Trust Mama

Savannakhet was truly the big sister city to Thakek, following the same grid road plan and decked with the same double-wide promenades and riverfront vendors as that dusty little by water. There are no less than two bus stations there, and a Chinese market of some repute, as we were to discover later. Riding a couple of bikes rented from the forlorn guesthouse we found, Savannakhet has the feel evoked by a Merchant/Ivory film glorifying the French colonial days in Africa, and even its name is oddly suggestive of some sweltering place other than SouthEast Asia. The one and two-story buildings seem to crouch below their wide, corrugated eaves, dripping sheaves of ancient paint like sweat to the dirt roads abutting them. It is a place that takes some time and a certain appreciation for things that move very slowly and make little sound. It is, like much of Lao itself, a shadow city, a study in decomposition and procrastination meant for nobody and edifying to few.

Shadows and Dust

...I check the internet for any sign that someone might want to buy our boat, but my posting on the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree board has been buried by a million “Whats a chill guest house to stay at in Laos?” questions from dopey kids with Chinese characters tattood on their legs. Can't some moderator move that stuff to the “Buy the Book, Idiot” rubric and leave some space for actual questions and offers?

My Lord’s Words Like Mud

In modern parlance, your local prophet might render it, “God sure can talk.” He’d say it like John Lurie in Down By Law says it to his girlfriend who rattles on in the bed next to him one sweltering Louisiana afternoon. The Mekong after Vientiane sprawls out like that girl in the movie, taking up half the world with its murmuring, muddy nonchalance. It seems as wide as it is long – like the Mississippi above the delta, where you can never, ever be sure of being on dry land for long. It’s a beautiful, murky old thing and the next best place to watch it wander by is from a shady table at the Mut Mee guest house in Nung Khai. Low music and passing curious conversation rules the days and the nights, aside from the interruptions of the various, noisy French children who seem to have convinced their parents to bring them to this place and let them run riot to a helpless chorus of “pas manger, pas toucher!” from their otherwise ambivalent moms.

Between Friendship Bridges

There were rats in Vientiane harbor. The port city re-established by the French is a bit of an anachronism in that the river, for most of the year, laps the shallow banks of a sandbar nearly a half a kilometer from the riverfront road. I wanted to push on to Nung Khai and it didn't...

Mekong in Pictures

These are some photos from the Mekong boat trip. More to come, plus some video,after I get home. I'm in Bangkok now, working on thinking about the last bit from the perspective of Khao San Road... Micah

Central Laos Photoburst

So this is my little apology for not having posted any photos thus far. The internet in Lao was mighty slow, but I am back in Bangkok now, playing with my new little Eee PC. Resizing images is like pulling teeth compared to my Mac, but this thing is TINY! More photos of the Mekong...

Pieces of Stone and Wood

In which we get the boat on the river at last...

Hill Chicken

In Luang Prabang, we take stock of our abilities and make a move...