March, 2010: Luang Prabang Nagas, Lao

There's a belgium sausage place here in Luang Prabang, and Swiss bakery, too. But I did not run into any Irish pub. Which explains why all these Nagas...

March 2010: Luang Prabang Night, Lao

Having been on the bus since morning, it was great to at last get off at the Luang Prabang bus station. As expected, the "feeding frenzy" starts right as our lugguage got out off the lugguage compartment and hit the dirt.
I remembered back in Angkor Wat, soon as we step off the long distance bus, the locals boys were circling us, ready to grep us onto their bikes and wheeze us to their 'recommended' guest house. And those Khmer boys were vicious. And I remembered the 'recommended' guest room to be stuffy, the shower having water pressure problem, and the water smelling (and tasting) of kerosene.

Here again, the Laotians stands apart from her neighbors. The local boys were much civilized. They were all armed with photoes or pamphlets (or both) of their recommended guest houses. After hearing the pitch of the first boy (let's call him boy A), I went for second opinions. The second boys(boy B) was about to close the deal with me (me ready to hop on the taxi pickup to his guest house), when he realize boy A got to me first. With his arm on boy A's shoulder, boy B actually suggested that I should head over to boy A' guest house: "He is my good friend, you go to his guest house. His guest house also goood." Imagine that. Oh, the camaradarie.

I ended up staying the night at boy B's guest house. For they have aircon. And luckily, the room was much like what I saw on his pamphlet.
By the time I have freshen up in the room, the sun has set. The only thing to do was to check out the Hmong night market near the Mekong river bank(yep, that same old river again.) I will have to say the Luang Prabang night market is the quietest night market I have been to. Non of the loud music and bargaining at night market all across Asia (think Patpong.)
The same can be said about the many restuarants that line the street next to the river bank. It's all warm yellow lighting and non of the boom-boom-boom club music. All many of the establishment are serving European food (Belgium, Swiss, etc, etc.) But Laotian food can be found in the open air stalls closer to the river. If you are ever in Luang Prabang, try out the grilled Mekong seaweed with sesame seeds, and Luang Prabang chilli paste.
Somehow, I got lost on the way back to the guest house, and ended up wandering into a temple (a smaller one, probably not on the tourist map.) The temple was having some kind of fun fair on its ground.

Strike!!!
There seems to be quite a bit of gambling here, thinly disguised as fairground games. Here, the 'house' throw a couple of fist-size dices and the 'gamblers' place their wager.
Some monks looks tempted...
...while others succumbed.
Another variation. In the upturned pail is a mouse/rat. Place your wager on any of the numbered holes on the parameter 'wall'.
Once enough wager has been collected, the 'house' knocks three times on the pail, left the pail and wait for rat to rush into the safety of one of the hole. If its your number, you could be the lucky winning of two bottles of Thai energy drink. Yippee!
Oh yes. I did find my way back, thank you.

Railroad MP3s: Part the Three

Click here for Part the Two

[ti:走路去纽约]
[ar:陶晶莹]
[al:走路去纽约]
[t_time:(04:16)]
陶晶莹-走路去纽约

每一次我想见到你
就要飞
无论地球上哪一角
我一天就到
用飞的原因不外乎
时间太少
你想拥有我每一秒
你今天就要
我飞的机会太多
有时因为你
有时为自己
我飞过好几万里
不觉得那会是距离
突然很想不要飞
想走路去纽约
看看这一路
我曾经忽略的一切
走路去纽约
也让感情在时间里 有机会沉淀自己
每一次我想见到你 就要飞
无论地球上哪一角 我一天就到
用飞的原因不外乎 时间太少
你想拥有我每一秒 你今天就要
我飞的机会太多 有时因为你
有时为自己 我飞过好几万里
不觉得那会是距离 突然很想不要飞
想走路去纽约 看看这一路
我曾经忽略的一切 走路去纽约
也让感情在时间里 有机会沉淀自己
突然很想不要飞 想走路去纽约
看看这一路 我曾经忽略的一切
走路去纽约 也让感情在时间里
有机会沉淀自己

LRC歌词来自：http://cn.zhlrc.com/downlyrics.aspx?al=4699&sn=58965

[ti:一下下]
[ar:同恩]
[al:不准哭]

[t_time:(04:32)]

同恩-一下下

最后一班悬浮火车
满载悬在空气中的不舍
我们却像陌路旅客
在月台分开站着毫无牵扯
现在的我能说甚麽
徘徊你们之间的流浪者
说决定心是给你的
却要你给我留下来的许可
我只想再哭一下下
把记忆彻底地分化
等哭完我就会回家
眼泪我会替自己擦
我只想再哭一下下
假如你不反对的话
以后我不会再牵挂
可知我有多努力啊
只有这办法
才不再想他
我希望你是谅解我的
感动过的痕迹很难割舍
一颗心就要爱你了
暂停一下并不算出尔反尔
我只想再哭一下下
把记忆彻底地分化
等哭完我就会回家
眼泪我会替自己擦
我只想再哭一下下
假如你不反对的话
以后我不会再牵挂
可知我有多努力啊
我只想再哭一下下
把记忆彻底地分化
等哭完我就会回家
眼泪我会替自己擦
我只想默哀一下下
假如你不反对的话
以后我不会再牵挂
可知我有多努力啊
只有这办法
才不再想他

[ti:暖暖]
[ar:梁静茹]
[al:亲亲]
专辑:亲亲

梁静茹-暖暖

作曲:人工卫星 填词:李焯雄

都可以随便的
你说的我都愿意去
小火车摆动的旋律 都可以是真的 你说的我都会相信
因为我完全信任你
细腻的喜欢
毛毯般的厚重感
晒过太阳熟悉的安全感
分享热汤
我们两支汤匙一个碗
左心房暖暖的好饱满
我想说其实你很好
你自己却不知道
真心的对我好
不要求回报
爱一个人希望他过更好
打从心里暖暖的
你比自己更重要
编曲:洪敬尧监制:钟成虎
回忆里满足的旋律
你手掌的厚实感
什么困难都觉得有希望
我哼着歌
你自然的就接下一段
我知道暖暖就在胸膛
从来都很低调
自信心不高
你比自己更重要
我也希望变更好

LRC歌词来自：http://cn.zhlrc.com/downlyrics.aspx?al=5589&sn=68743

March 2010: Vientiane to Luang Prabang, Lao

Thanaleng being the only train station in Lao for now, the only possible way overland to China would be the bus. The Vientiane-Kunming bus is rumoured to be no longer running. And even if it was, I can't really imagine being stuck on a bus all the way from Vientianne to Kunming. So, the trip has to be broken up.

However, in the morning at the Vientiane station, there were ample sign that there Vientiane-Kunming bus is running, possibly for the Chinese New Year season.
The buses ready to roll.
The bus left the staion, picked up some more passengers on the outskirt of Vientiane. And very soon, it is off the flat road.
The last of flat farm land, as the mountains in the distant beckons.
What follows before the bus pulls into Luang Prabang station are winding narrow mountain roads that zig-zag up and down slopes. You would be thankful that the Laotian drivers were pretty safety-cautious ones. There wasn't much honking and overtaking by the bus, and each sharp turns were made gingerly.

As the driver does his job, while the time away looking out the window at the mountain landscape, which reminds me of black-and-white picture of the Burma-Yunnan road built by the Chinese army and volunteers during the Sino-Japan war.
Alternaively, check out the image of domestic lives of the mountain tribes. Every once in a while the bus passes a village, which usually consists of ten or so houses. The houses could be built with attap, wood, zinc roof or concrete and bricks; but every one of them have their front clinging to a narrow strip by the sealed road, with two stilts at the back of the house extending down the slope. Occasionally, you see concrete water tanks built/donated by World Vision Australia (the painting on the side says so) Here, the domestic lives of the villagers (Hmong I supposed) play out right outside your bus windows: toddlers playing with their companion puppies in the dirt; group of older kids walking home after their day's work of picking fire woods (their picking in bags, with the strip of the bags hanging from their forehead); ladies wrapped in flimsy 'sarongs' taking a shower behind bamboo screens on their front porch. Occassionally, the driver has to honk at villages hiking home or pulling carts.

March, 2010: Vientiane, Lao PDR

P is for People's, D is for Democratic, and R is for Republic.
This is Vientiane, the capital of Lao PDR.
But more than a couple of times while wandering in Vientiane, I found myself asking: "So, this is Vientiane....and where is the capital CITY of Lao exactly".

Laid-back doesn't even begin to describe Vientiane. It lacks the chaotic traffic of most south east Asian capitals, and the tallest building around seems to be the Victory Gate, no more than seven storey high. This is possibly one of the busiest junction in Vientiane (I kid you not),

...and here's the Victory Gate.
The Laotians do not seems to pay too much attention to tourists in their midst. Stalls and shopkeepers also aren't too keen to wave at tourists to take a look at the wares and offering, unlike in most other places. And that is not exactly a bad, I kindna like it this way.
Even this plaque found at the entrance to the Gate shows the 'uniqueness' of Lao amongst her neighbors. While not all countries go for the superlative when describing their national monuments, Lao has to be the only one that went for:"it appears even less impressive, like a monster of concrete."
And how should one read from this: that this is a gift from our friend, the Chinese, but, hell, it's damn ugly.....?
With the many buddhist pagodas and pagodas-stlyed building, Vientiane can sometimes be indisguishable from Thailand. And already there are hints of Chinese influences. Mixed with these, are the many colonial buildings.
The Mekong winds through the city. And as with the section seen over the Friendship bridge, it's looks to be drying up. This looks like a good 'dining concept', river-side dining by the Mekong. Except, the Mekong river bank seems to be turned into a massive construction site. One blow of evening breeze, and you could be chewing on Mekong river sands.

March 2010: Bangkok, Thailand to Thanaleng, Laos

"Why not go all the way to China?" -- Alice, Alice in Wonderland, 3D...IMAX

Does it get curiouser than this. So here I was, with the sleeper ticket from Bangkok to Nong Khai in northeast Thailand, and an afternoon to while away in Bangkok. The plan was to get to Nong Khai the next morning, cross over the border to Laos, and onward overland to Yunnan in China.
It was a hot afternoon, and Alice in Wonderland was openning. Slipping into the theatre sounds like a plan. So, the theatre darkens, and the show starts with Alice's father suggesting the setting up of trading posts in Bangkok to his biz associates. By the end of the movie, Alice, with a map of Asia rolled open, was suggesting to her late father's asociate: "why not go all the way to China?"
Thailand to Laos (or, more precisely, Nong Khai to Thanaleng, all 3.5km of it) is a small step for a trip from BKK all the way to China.














Starts by taking the northeastern line of Thailand railway all the way to the border town of Nong
Khai. A weeks from now, masses of 'red-shirts' would travel the opposite direction to BKK.
The Mekong River serves as the border between Laos and Thailand. The Friendship Bridge crosses the river and the railway runs on it. In the middle of the bridge, as the train crosses, there you will find the Laos and Thai flag on either sides. But forget about the "Mighty" Mekong. Hot weather and (prossibly) Chinese dams upstream means the river don't look that mighty this year.
The train arrived at Nong Khai late the next morning. But the Laos train, scheduled to have left, was waiting on the track. That's seems reasonable, since it looks like the sole purpose of the Laos railway (still in its 'infancy') was to pick up passengers from the Thai train to Thanaleng (currently the only station.)
But at least it is a start, a good start. Especially when it doesn't look like the Thai-Cambodia railway is going nowhere.
The Laos immigration at Thanaleng looks 'easy', there isn't even a baggage check machine.
Onwards to Vietienne, on the pickup taxi.