Adventures of Derrick and Liz: Goodbye Thailand, Hello Laos!

We have said goodbye to Thailand and have spent the last two days in Vientiane Laos, but first let me back up and talk a little about our final time in Thailand. Once we left the islands we headed to Bangkok for some city life. I actually really liked Bangkok which I wasn’t expecting. Many other travelers had told us a lot of negative things about the city. It’s a much more modern city than I was expecting with light rails and subways, but it also has some very impressive old wats (temples) that we enjoyed exploring. After a couple days of wandering around we caught a flight to Udon Thani a middle sized city in northern Thailand about 1 hr from the Laos border.

We headed here because we had heard that it was very un-touristy and we heard it was a nice place. I however, was not a fan. It was a very strange city. We walked around a night market and sampled some street food which was fun. Derrick even tried some grubs. There were a ton of younger Thai here (high school and college aged). It was more western than I was expecting with a big shopping mall and lots of trendy teens mimicking western fashion. There were also a lot of ex-pats…middle aged balding fat male ex-pats who were all walking around with young attractive Thai women. No young travelers or female westerners. We hadn’t seen this anywhere else in Thailand. There was something very fishy about the whole situation. We talked for a while to a guy from Greece who was of Thai decent, but knew nothing about the country until he moved to Udon a few years ago. He explained that there was a lot of prostitution in the area and many men “bought” Thai wives. We think this was prevalent in Udon because the area was really inexpensive for Thailand and because it was near the Laos border, so it was easy for non-Thais to leave and renew their visas. The whole situation left us feeling a bit weirded out and pretty ready for a change.

The next day we caught a bus and headed to the border about an hour away. From there we crossed the friendship bridge and entered into Laos. For me, Laos has been a breath of fresh air. Thailand was fun, but I felt like everywhere we went was either super touristy or desperately trying to be like the west. I’m not against development, but it seemed like Thailand was inheriting many of the faults of western culture and not many of the benefits. So far Laos, has some areas that definitely cater to tourist, but overall the country isn’t that concerned with tourism and everything is pretty laid back.

We’ve had a good 3 days now in Vientiane (the capital of Laos). It’s an interesting place. It was colonized by the French and has some very European looking features and some tasty French food, but is still very Asian. For a capital city, it is pretty quiet and easy to navigate. We spent one day touring around by bicycle and one day touring by scooter. Both were a lot of fun and a little crazy at times. Biking reminded me of playing the video game paperboy. You had to constantly dodge sleeping dogs, pedestrians, cars, random holes, etc. Cruising on our scooter was a good test of trust in our marriage--as we just had one scooter, so I had to hold on tight and hope for the best. Luckily, Derrick was a very good driver despite less than ideal conditions.

We’ve also seen tons of temples and monuments, strolled along the Mekong River, visited local markets (where lots of people pointed and whispered), and checked out the Laos military museum which was fascinating. Laos has seen a lot of war and is the most bombed country in the world. In fact, there are still lots of unexploded landmines throughout the country side and maiming is a problem, especially for curious children. It is a communist nation which is part of the reason it hasn’t been as influenced by the western world as Thailand.

We’re definitely entering the more adventuresome part of our trip and it’s a lot of fun. We’re both really getting into the travel spirit and just going with the flow. I can only imagine what the rest of Laos is going to bring. Tomorrow we catch a bus and head to the town of Vang Vieng to continue our adventure!