Upon Crossing the border of Thailand into Laos the first thing I realise is that I have lost my bank card. Over here when you withdraw cash from an ATM machine you get your money first and then take your card, unlike England were the process is in reverse. In drunken stupors I've managed to lose three cards. Retard.
I exchange what Thai Baht I have left in my wallet for Loation kip and its the equivalent of twelve pounds. Not much at all. I'll save you the cluster fuck that was arranging a new Travelex cash card but the result is that it will take four days to reach this country and I'll have to pick it up from a city four hundred kilometers away. Oh dear.
Luckily I'm still travelling with my American buddy Tripp who's going to spot me some money. We catch the bus together headed for a town called Luang Nam Tha. The bus ride is amazing, dense jungle surrounds the road and cliffs rise high, jagged like a wino's smile. We ride with a family who are so friendly and accommodating. There is just me, Tripp and the family sharing the vehicle. Laos people appear to have softer faces than the Thai's. A gently spoken teenage boy called Nuk attempts to make conversation with us despite his limited English. Such a nice kid. The families have items to deliver along the way, I've noticed a bucket of Leeches on the back seat that is making me a little uncomfortable. We help them unload the cargo at a variety of stops. This feels like my first authentic backpacking experience.
We finally reach our destination and boy is it an eye opener. We're in the middle of fucking nowhere. The strip where we are dropped off looks like a shanty town, more reminiscent of Africa than Asia. Little shops and stalls litter the wide, dusty roads. I've never felt so detached from Western Culture. Tripp hires a bike and I jump on the back as we explore what lies beyond this admittedly ugly road. Literally two minutes off the beaten track everything changes. We find ourselves in a residential area with houses made out of wood and corrugated iron. Kids run naked whilst teenagers zoom past on motorbikes. The cars look like they've been fashioned out of scrap metal. Half Tractor/half tricycle. Weird. A football match is taking place at the side of the road and I beg Tripp to stop so I can show them a thing or two but he wants to maraud further out. Would have been a different story if they were tossing around an American football.
The land begins to open up and we find our ourselves riding through flat rice fields which our dotted all over the country in between mountainous ridges and Jungle. Farmers tend their land and I wonder if this place has changed at all in a thousand years. Dusk closes in and we stop at a riverside restaurant for a bite to eat. We estimate that this joint is geared toward upwardly mobile locals, shop keepers perhaps, and land owners. Still they are fascinated with two white Westerners stopping for dinner. Before we leave we must have toasted our beers a dozen times. Luang Nam Tha is remote but it's a reasonably large town, I wonder how the natives will react when we head out to the villagers? Autographs and portraits if this is anything to go by.
Penniless and without luxury in Laos but happy.
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