The town itself is just as horrible as I had expected, but the tubing - OH, the tubing! It was SO MUCH FUN! My french friend Erik and I rented a tube and got a pick-up to the start (3 km upstream) together with three Phillipino guys, that we ended up hanging out with all day. The three guys, dolphin trainer, veterinarian and artist in a marine park, were so nice that I want to go to the Phillipines. In the beginning of the tubing, there are bars with different water activities along the river.
When floating down, the people working at the bars simply throw you a rope with a bottle at the end and pull you into their bar. At each bar there's something to do, a water slide, mud volley ball, a zip line that ends in the water, or - my favorite - the huge swing. Yes, this whole place is like a giant playground for "adults". The swing is about 10 meters above ground and such an adrenaline rush! The next day my arms were sore from swinging too much, like a circus artist... Can I bring it home with me?I had a couple of days of long bus rides to take me down to the very south. It's incredible how slow the buses are in Laos. Sometimes you get to watch music videos on super high volume all the way. The music is so funny, I have the strong impression that there is actually only one song in all of Laos, it's impossible to hear the difference! The music videos are also always the same, a dressed up man in front who sings and behind him two to four girls in sparkling dresses with huge fake smiles on their faces and Hawaiian style dancing. I blessed my ipod on those long journeys.
After a day of disappointing cave exploring in Thakek, I continued to the popular destination 4000 islands, where I met my first swede! It wasn't a 19 year old drunk, but a really cool Theo, accompanied by an equally cool Winston from Canada. I also met Tal, the sweet israeli dread head, Emanuela and Enrico - brother and sister from Australia, Linus and Oscar - the swedish speaking fins who reminded me greatly of my sweet friend Daniel in Falun.I went to 4000 islands expecting another Mung Noi, but didn't find it. The place itself is absolutely gorgeous, but a little bit too small for all the
tourists it contains. One night, an american drunk guy threw three cats and one dog in the river from around five meters. All the other drunk people around were upset by this, which is understandable. The biggest guy in the place (an equally drunk american who's in the army and has been to Irak twice, claiming it's a great job) then saw it as his duty to punch the pet thrower in the face, whereupon the rest of the crowd cheered. I felt like I was watching a bad movie and that was the moment that I decided it was time for me to move on. If I want to see drunk people doing stupid things and punching each other, there's really no reason for me to go all the way to Laos. A visit to any bar in Sweden would do just fine.So, I trusted me french friend Charles (with the funny hat in the photo) and followed his advice to go to a small village called Tadlo to find some people that I could at least have a somewhat intelligent conversation with (many of the nice people I'd met had already moved on).
Tadlo turned out to be the second little paradise I found in Laos. The moment I arrived there, I got a warm welcome from Mama Pap, who cooked the most amazing Lao food in huge quantities for no money at all. The first person I started talking to was my neighbor Jason, from Tucson Arizona, who studies human rights. I almost thanked God, or at least Charles, for sending me to such a great place.You can measure how laid back Tadlo is by how long it takes to get food at Mama Paps. The first time Jason and I ordered, Mama Pap went into the kitchen for about 20 minutes. When she came out again, we thought that we would get our food, but Mama Pap was carrying food - for herself. She simply explained it like this: "Now I will eat, because I'm very hungry. Then I will cook for you." Jason and I were both very hungry when we ordered, but by the time we finally got our food two hours later, we were starving. Mama Pap has such a great charm, that all the guests just love her, even when they're on the verge of starvation. I'm glad my real mamma wasn't there though, she probably would have murdered someone if she had to wait that long for food. The day that Mama Pap came home from the market with a fat rat that she was cooking for dinner, I was overjoyed for being a vegetarian. All the guests who had had meat, were getting unsure about the flavor of their "chicken/beef/pork".
After two days, we found another guest house that had a truly cosy bungalow that just felt like home from the first sight. Everybody who has ever stayed in "the Bamboo Hut", has left something behind; a book, a piece of clothing, some medicine, a hammock. There's a huge porch outside the bungalow with a small kitchen including coffee, tea and a mixer to make fruit shakes. Paradise! Finding this on the last day in Laos was somewhat tragic for me, because I could have probably stayed for a week.Laos is great! I can write so much more about all the reasons, but I just don't have time... It's time to get into Burma now.. And when I have time, I will write about the diving in Thailand also.
Oh yes, I almost forgot... The dreads are off and I feel so free!!!
