Travelling in Laos (8) - Phonsavan

[jai-dee]

Loud banging on the door at 6am wakes us up. It is our

 

Lao travelling companion, making a lot of noise and urging us to get

 

up as we are going to Phonsavan right now. I slowly dress up and wonder

 

aloud why we are leaving so early, yesterday he said the bus would go

 

at 8 o'clock. Margot and Bianca in the room across the hall are somewhat

 

shocked, the man apparently barged into their room and all but pulled

 

them out of their beds.

 

 

 

This was the only guest house I stayed at in Laos that didn't have running

 

water. But when we step out we find a large bowl of water, a towel and soap

 

waiting for us on the verandah. This morning our breakfast consists of bananas.

 

They must be really abundant here as several people are handing them out for

 

free. The only other obvious alternative is noodle soup therefore we all stick

 

to bananas.

 

 

 

A quick look around the place reveals there is no bus waiting for us. We

 

question our Lao friend, but he just keeps repeating the words "Phonsavan",

 

"go" and "now", beyond that we don't understand him. Then we

 

realise we are not the only ones waiting, we spot two falang girls, one of

 

whom I met a few days earlier in Luang Phabang. They are travelling in the

 

opposite direction. They flew to Phonsavan, made the journey to Nam Noen

 

yesterday and are now waiting for transport back to Luang Phabang.

 

 

 

"So where is the bus or truck that brought you here yesterday?" I

 

ask them. "Oh it wasn't a bus" they say, "we came in that white car

 

over there." And they go on to describe it rather amusingly: "The car

 

has no brakes. But don't worry, the driver is very careful." It slowly

 

dawns on us that this will be our vehicle for today. It is a station

 

wagon with space for at least 6 passengers, but in spite of a close

 

inspection I can't determine what make it is, there is nothing identifying

 

on it. Probably some Chinese car.

 

 

 

At 7:30 we are invited in the car, the driver distributes yet another bunch

 

of bananas and shortly thereafter we start out trip. Two Lao men are travelling

 

with us, they don't speak a word of English, but almost immediately a lively and

 

at moments hilariously funny conversation develops between them and the girls.

 

The conversation is via the one page in the Lonely Planet guidebook that

 

contains a few dozen words and phrases in both Lao and English. One side chooses

 

a word or a phrase and shows it to the other side, who read it and in turn

 

select their reply. This goes on for at least an hour, accompanied by roaring

 

laughter after every exchange.

 

 

 

At first the idea of travelling in a brakeless car may seem very reckless.

 

But it isn't too bad at all. There is hardly any traffic on this road, in the 6

 

hours we see about 3 other vehicles. And the driver is indeed very careful, all

 

the time he watches the road ahead of us so intensely as if he was driving

 

through thick fog. When we are going uphill (half the time) he drives at normal

 

speed, but whenever we are going downhill (the other half of the time) he shifts

 

down into the second or even the first gear.?

 

 

 

There is stark difference between yesterday's and today's ride. For the first

 

3 hours we drive through uninhabited? mountains. Later we pass through

 

several villages and stop in a town, Muang Kham, for lunch. The people who live

 

here are different from those we saw yesterday, they totally ignore us, all day

 

nobody waves at us and we don't hear a single "sabaidee". This rather

 

depresses our mood after yesterday's euphoria.

 

 

 

The road up to Muang Kham is in reasonable condition. From there on it

 

worsens dramatically. Before too long it becomes little more than a 4WD track.

 

There is water and mud on the road, potholes are deep and many, in places the

 

surface has been washed away completely. We wonder how many years it has been

 

since a road maintenance crew last visited this area. Our driver slowly and

 

carefully negotiates all obstacles and the road improves when we approach

 

Phonsavan. If we don't count the dust, that is. We encounter this predominant

 

feature of Phonsavan an hour before we get there. I have never been in a dustier

 

place in my life. Not a single street is surfaced and every vehicle raises a

 

thick cloud of fine dust. Many locals as well as all Japanese tourists wear face

 

masks. The situation is likely to improve soon though, as many streets are being

 

rebuilt and a new highway between Muang Kham and Phonsavan is under

 

construction.

 

 

 

There are several guest houses on the main street. The first one we check is

 

full, the first and only time this happens in my two weeks in Laos. But we find

 

good rooms in the next one down the street. Margot declares she is hungry and we

 

go to have some lunch. We pick one restaurant mainly because it is in the shade

 

(it is a hot day). The food is not too special, in fact my fried noodles are my

 

worst meal in Laos. Then we make inquiries about onward travel. We find out the

 

only way to leave Phonsavan by road is the way we came in, 3 days to Luang

 

Phabang. The direct road to Luang Phabang and the road south to Vientiane are in

 

very poor condition, unsafe, require special permits and there is no public

 

transport anyway. Flying out is our only option.

 

 

 

We visit the one travel agency Phonsavan has. It is housed in a wooden shed

 

and manned by an elderly man. His desk is empty except for the telephone, there

 

are no glossy posters or tourist brochures one normally sees in travel agencies

 

and we have a feeling it has been awhile since the last customer has called. We

 

wonder how he makes his living. But he is a nice and friendly man, he speaks

 

French and tells us there are two flights to Vientiane daily. He even volunteers

 

to phone the airport to find out if there are seats available on tomorrow's

 

flight. We are in luck, he informs us, there are seats, but we should go to the

 

airport today to book them. The afternoon flight is at 3:15. Margot has a Lao

 

Aviation timetable that she copied at the Luang Phabang airport and it says the

 

flight leaves at 4:30. But surely the airport knows when its flights are

 

scheduled, and we thank the agent and leave.

 

 

 

The airport is in the same direction as site 1 of the Plain of Jars. Margot

 

suggests we visit that site today, it should be nice at sunset. We go to the

 

market where tuk-tuks are stationed, and Stefan negotiates a combined trip to

 

the airport and site 1 for 50,000 kip. The airport is very informal. The only

 

problem is that the tickets are only payable in hard currency cash. Stefan

 

doesn't have enough bahts or dollars, and travellers cheques can only be cashed

 

in banks. It is now Saturday afternoon and the banks don't re-open until Monday.

 

I lend Stefan 1000 baht to save him from being stranded in Phonsavan.

 

 

 

The ticket clerk is nice and smiles a lot. I ask her to write down my name in

 

Lao script. It would be several weeks before I learn how to read it.

 

She tells us our flight departs at 5:15 and we should be at the airport two

 

hours earlier. We think this is much too early and question her why. She won't

 

give us a straight answer so we start bargaining, and after an exchange of many

 

smiles we settle on one hour and a half.

 

 

 

Then we head on to site 1. The light is beautiful just before the sunset and

 

we are glad we came here tonight. But we find the jars somewhat disappointing.

 

Their main attractions are their mysterious origin and purpose. We all agree

 

that the journey itself was more interesting than the destination. It is almost

 

dark when we return to Phonsavan. Margot is hungry and we go to have some

 

dinner. We select a different restaurant this time and the food there is much

 

better. But I pass nevertheless as I am still full after this afternoon's

 

fried noodles.

 

 

 

After dinner we drink Beer Lao and discuss our plans after Vientiane

 

tomorrow. Stefan is going to Thailand, Bianca is going to Cambodia and then

 

Vietnam, Margot wants to visit a few places around Vientiane before going to

 

meet with a girlfriend in Bangkok. The conversation soon changes into a

 

monologoue by Stefan, Margot and I excuse ourselves and return to the guest

 

house. Stefan and Bianca return after 11 o'clock, when the electricity is

 

turned off.

[chilli13]

thanks for another nice lao explorer chapter