Tony's Last Days In Asia - Feb 2, 2005

Feb. 2nd....Closed out the SE Asia leg of the trip in Northern Laos... Pretty much the "wild west" of SE Asia - can't imagine much has changed in the last several decades in terms of transportation and rural life outside the cities...crazy bus ride drivers, families living with animals on the numerous roadside/riverside villages, small children so stoked to see you coming up the river and waiving with full ear to ear smiles, miles and miles of untamed natural landscapes...the only mode of transportation in most area is by boat up the river....and the fast boat....can kill you and does kill people on occasion, but kind of a blast ripping up the Mekong at full speed....Have never experienced a culture that was sooooo slooooow paced...

Arrived in Bangkok from Laos with only a few hours to spare to catch my flight to LA ...took me 3 days to get out of Laos via bus, speed boat, slow boat, tuk-tuk, you name it....barely made the 5 pm cutoff time for the Thai border....a real experience trying to figure out "WHEN" buses were leaving, as everyone you ask says something different (i.e. one hour, 9 o’clock, half nine, 11 o’clock, 12 o’clock.... Are we leaving yet? Standard response "yeah, yeah, yeah" or just a shake of the head....followed by something said in local Laos language...then you finally get in the boat only to wait for another hour, then the boat leaves the dock and you go down the river 1 mile and stop so the driver can have a beer with his friends, then get another couple miles so the driver can tell you all "be back in 5 minutes" which turns into 30 minutes..just learn to go with the flow on "Lao Lao" time....if going to Laos; just make sure you have a lot of one thing......TIME.

Pretty insane country though, so chilled and incredible, untouched natural beauty ...Bus ride through the countryside in Northern Laos approaching the Thai border is spectacular as is the 7 hour slow boat up the Nam Ou river through Nong Khiaw into Muang Ngoi Neua....Tony

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7 hour slowboat ride up the Nam Ou river north	a few hours to spare til my flight in Bangkok	AM Muang Ngoi Neua	boat mechanic keeping an eye on things	breakfast from Naksa's	Capital city of Laos, Luang Prabang at night	classroom
early am Laos girls thinking through the days'	electricity runs out @ 10pm, then Hong comes out	finally...	f'ing speedboat	from a cave	Just Walking	Kajsa waiting for Hong to bring another Beer
Laos armymen...Muang Houn village	looking down at speedboats...no idea where all the f'in drivers were	Main strip	Mekong River, Luang Prabang, sunset	monk bike riding	Muang Ngoi Neua sunset scene	Pakbeng, Laos...waiting for a speedboat to the border...and waiting....and waiting....and....
pigs and locals by the river- Luang Prabang	Pulling into Muang Ngoi Neua	roadside shot of LaoLao with snake juice	roadside village people	school yard	slowboat left just after 8am...my speedboat left after 1pm...blew past the slowboat about in about 2 hrs...go figure..	speed boat driver...obviously not in as much of a hurry as me
started waiting for a speedboat at 630 am...several false starts...this is one of them..	street scene...Muang Houn...we were only tourists	sunset Laos countryside	thai border closed at 5pm..just made it 445pm	Ulrika..anyone care for a shot of Lao Lao with	village kids by the river