We packed our breakfast from the hotel, started off at about 6 AM to have some buffer to cross Thailand to eventually reach Laos. Soe accompanied us in the car as he had to abandon the car with his brother. We stopped by a bridge overlooking a rivulet to catch up with our breakfast. We ran into a few local tribes and farmers, invariably accompanied by their pet dogs. After attempting a few, Soe managed to strike a conversation with a couple who could also speak the Burmese language. The man was hauling a heavy load hanging off his head (~65KG) and a rifle in his hand. The tribal lady was grace personified and had a permanent pleasant smile. I guess when grace comes out in people who have lived through hardships, it has a lasting impression on many dimensions. She had a chubby baby hanging off the swing crossed over her right shoulder. The unfazed child alternated between watching the strangers and resorting to the comfort of suckling his mother’s breast.
To get to our next stop of Laos, we had to cut through the opium triangle, a piece of land encompassed by Myanmar on North, Thailand on South West, and Laos on South East. Apparently, notorious for global Opium supply during the British period and soon after. Our Thai agent met us at the border to get through the transit formalities. Like Myanmar, Thailand/Vietnam/recently Cambodia mandate local guide for overlanders. A couple of hours in transit in Thailand seemed like we re-entered the modern world. We switched to the left side of the road. The roads were immaculate. After a quick lunch (Western world has deprived us of the real Pad Thai or perhaps we appreciated better after we were getting bored with monotonous rice based dishes in Myanmar), we headed towards Laos.
The extreme heat and humidity made us to reconsider the two day jungle camping plan in Laung Namtha, Laos. Instead we decided to overnight at a hotel in Houayxay, a border town in Laos, and take a 2-day ferry ride to our next stop at Luang Prabang. In fact, we had enquired about this ride in advance to learn that the boats are not big enough to board vehicles. Courtesy our agent, we got a local contact in Laos who helped us arrange a driver to drive down the vehicle to Luang Prabang while we will be taking a 2-day ferry ride.
The border crossing from Thailand to Laos was uneventful. We switched to the right side of the road, and most importantly procured local SIM to power our mobile wifi. We scoured through the local town hotels in Houayxay and settled on one. All these hotels seem to run by families living on the same property carrying on with their daily routines – watering plants, kids running around, chopping meat, cooking, etc. It took a while to communicate our need to stay and understand the price. Although it was difficult just with English in Myanmar and Thailand, the communication barrier in Laos was at a whole another level in a non-touristy spot. Perhaps, it is not the language per se. It could also be because the Laos people in some pockets tends to communicate very cut and dry, keep it to themselves but not necessarily shy. The attempts to lighten the situation with friendly smiles were not reciprocated. May be the closed Communist community is guarded by unconventional visitors driving around. Once we got past the initial communication hurdle, we established a communication pattern, hobbled along with Google translator!
For dinner, we checked into a restaurant run by a couple – French guy and Lao lady. By 8 PM, the city seems to have come to a standstill, reflective of their laid back culture. The legend has it that Laos people care about having enough money in hand to have beer and then food for just the next couple of days.
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