From the nomadic steppes of Kazakhstan to the frenetic streets of Hanoi, Asia is a continent so full of intrigue, adventure, solace, and spirituality that it has fixated and confounded travelers for centuries.
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...
We loaded the vehicle with our luggage and handed it off to the local driver. We took a shoulder bag for an overnight stay and the two-day ferry ride. If the driver ran away, we would literally be stranded in the true sense of the word. Although we were in a foreign land, with no paid agents at our disposal, the comfort and trust factors were still high...
Our hotel was situated in a local neighborhood. The streets were clean and perhaps when cleared off parking vehicles they can comfortably accommodate the size of our Toyota Fortuner. The neighborhood was mostly peaceful with sporadic bike traffic, and occasionally the air punched by the bypassing street hawkers. Unlike traditional lady street hawkers in India...
We befriended our hotel receptionist ‘Bounsi’, a 17 year high school boy doing a side job as a receptionist. Bounsi belongs to the Hmong ethnic group from South East Laos. In search of better pastures, he moved to Luang Prabang and had to pick up Lao language for survival along with English for better prospects. His broken English mixed with his...