Laos & Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Cam-BOOOO-de-A!

It wasnt till I was leaving Laos that I realized how much different it was from Thailand. In Thailand, when you are booking a room the two main considerations are: Fan or A/C, Cold or Hot Shower. Myself the thrifty traveler usually always opts for the Deluxe Fan/Cold Shower combo. Because if you are going to use a cold shower in the morning you need to sweat through the night to get ready for it. But in Laos when booking a room you need to make sure the place you are booking has electricity. And if so for how long? That hot shower doesnt matter if the power goes out at 9pm and doesnt come back on till 10 am. Nor is the shower worth taking if it is spraying muddy, Mekhong water.

In Thailand, every place you go there is at least a 7/11 and one Drugstore. In the big cities you can find McDonald's, KFCs, Starbucks and everything else a growing boy needs. But in Laos that wasnt the case. Even in the capital, Vientiane, the only brand you really encounter on a regular basis was Beer Laos, which was pretty good I might add. A majority of the businesses you encounter are store fronts that double as people's homes at night.

This slow erosion of things I have come to take for granted hit me pretty hard recently in Southern Laos. Little did I know that after leaving Vientiane to head for Chumpasak, that there was only one other ATM in southern Laos. I actually had to leave Laos early to go to Phnom Penh because I didnt have enough money to stay. I tried to get a cash advance on my credit card on Chumpasak. But of course, the telephone line was down at the local branch of the Lao Developmental Bank. This really isnt surprising considering that we had to take a wooden ferry full of school children to get to the island. And the ferry was top notch; it was a bunch of boards running horizontal across the top of two canoes. Realizing I wasnt going to be able to get any money in Chumpasak, I had to either turn around and return to Pakse or head further south into Laos. We decided to push on with only the $100, I had by then, because I heard rumors from other travelers that there was another ATM off the coast of one of the islands. Normally, $100 would be fine for 4 days but I would have to cross into Cambodia to hit an ATM and the Cambodian Visa is $21, plus the entry/exits stamps are $2 more, and the bus ride into Phnom Penh was $31, so really I only had $45 for food, shelter, and transport for the last few days.

I wasnt sure whether the bank they were talking about gave cash advances or had an ATM. But they said you had to fill out a bunch of paper work in either case. Of course, I get in the vicinity of the alleged bank late Friday, when it is closed for the weekend and didnt have the funds to wait around till Monday. So I continued to push on with what I had. But I ended up OK. It only took a 12-hour bus ride spent surviving on peanuts, Lays, stale Mocha Oreos and bottle water. I pulled into Phom Penh with (I swear to you) $1 in pocket and 1000 riel ($.25). I have since then hit an ATM and have been living it up since. But it was touch and go there for a while. Thom had to head back early as well because he was worried he wouldnt have enough money to make it back to Bangkok for his flight. He turned back for the ATM in Pakse which wasnt working, so I ended up making the right decision by pushing on into Cambodia. After all of this, tt doesnt surprise me that the ATM I was at allowed you to withdraw up to $2,000 at one time considering the lack of ATMs in the surrounding areas.

Laos was great. I was ready to leave by the end because things were so rough, undeveloped but Im glad I went. Traveling from place to place there is just so difficult. I have never been, nor probably will ever be, to the surface of the Moon but Laos roads are probably the closest thing to it on this planet.

The cast of characters I was traveling with in Laos were Thom, the Canadian, plus several other people we met on the slow boat into Laos. Great people. The three main people were an English couple and a Belgian girl. The English couple, Stephen and Kim, were great people and I really enjoyed meeting them. They were great fun to hang out with because they were just very laid back people. You could tell that they were just very comfortable with each other. The both of them were 25 and 26 and were just ending their around-the-world journey. They two were out for a year. They started out in Canada, then hit the Western US, then went to Mexico and on it Cuba. From there they went to Australia, NZ, and then to SE Asia. The pictures they showed me of Cuba looked amazing. They were saying that when you get there they dont stamp your passport so noone knows you were there. Instead they stamp a random piece of paper that you are told to throw away before you leave the country. Appartently, they were saying it is a pretty serious thing. That if an American is caught with that piece of paper he or she could face a large fine or get serious jail time. I immediately wanted to go to Cuba.

As for Thom, he too was great fun. It was nice to hang out with someone who is on the same wavelength as me for a while. Im glad I bumped into him in Pai. Thom is a very well educated Canadian with a good sense of humor. He is now living in the US and is getting ready to start practicing law in San Fransico. He was traveling to celebrate his taking the Bar exam.

This trip really has changed my idea of Canadians. My encounters with Canadians really has been limited to ski trips in Mount Orford. And even then I dont know that Quebec is a good sample of all of Canada. But I have met several good Canadians on my trip. Im not going to lie, my stance towards Canadians prior to this trip was one of indifference. Honestly, they were kind of like Fig Nuttins to me. If you put one in my hand, Yeah Ill eat it. But other then that, Im not going to take the time to get up and open a box to get one. But that has since changed. Im seriously considering hitting up Vancouver and maybe some other parts of Canada too on my way home.

. . . . .

In Vientiane, I had my first American Embassy exprience, or really first Embassy experience period. It was pretty impressive but kind of a let down too. I was expecting to pull up to a huge building surrounded by Marines and walk into the building and be greeted by Americans so happy to see a fellow American so far from home. But no dice! The building was huge and fort like. There were no Marines. But there were a bunch of security guards. They all looked Laos though. I headed into the Embassy and left my Belgian and Canadian friends outside, not sure whether or not what I was about to see was for 'American eyes Only.' When I walked into the Embassy I had to check my camera and have my bag and myself go through a metal detector. Again no Americans. I then walked through a general open-air with about 10 people in it waiting for what I assume was American visas. I then proceeded into another smaller room for American citizen services. The room was maybe 12' by 12' and had two gas station like bullet proof windows that you communicated with the officials through. The room had 5 other people in it. They all were Laos expect for one who I think was Laos-American. Not once did I have to show my passport.

While I was waiting to be seen I just was looking around the room noticing all the information they had hanging on the wall. One of the flyers warned in bold letters that under Laos law it is unlawful for foreigners to have sex with Lao people unless they are married or it is a $500 fine. I turned a bit further and there were was the Dream Team staring back at me from across the room: George, Dick and Connie. Did W ever really have hair that dark? When I got to the front of the line, I ended up speaking with one of the officers who gave me the weakest hello Ive ever heard and didnt really even bat an eyelash at my presence. I was so dissappointed; I expected a little bit of surprise or a mild homecoming of sorts. Some small samples of Apple Pie at least. This guy let me down. He was nice but a bit of a nerd whose motivation for joining the State Department looked like it had been crushed long ago. He refused to make eye contact with me the whole time but still was helpful.

I just need to determine where I will be in 4 weeks so Virgina can send me my absentee ballot. I think Ill have it sent to a Marriott in Hanoi then Ill fax it back for the election. To be honest I think I only have a 50% chance of my vote being counted this election. There are too many moving parts I dont want to take the time to understand.

Also, I verified. Americans can only go to Cuba if they have a Special Educational or Business Visa issued by the US OR . . . . . .


My trip to Laos started in the North with Luang Prabang, then went south to Vang Vieng, Vientiane, Chumpasak and then to the Four Thousand islands down further. From there I headed into Cambodia. I was in Laos for about 11 days which I think was enough. The people I met and hung around with were really what made it such a great place. But most of them are gone at this point. The English couple has left, Thom has headed home too, so it is just me and the Belgian girl Ragna and Christoff, another Belgian guy we met in Chumpasak. The plan right now is to hang out in Phnom Penh for a couple of days and then head to Akgor Wat after that. Ill then come back on my own, pick up my passport with a fresh Vietnamese Visa, and head to the Cambodian islands down south before hitting up Vietnam. Im getting pumped.