With 12 days until our departure back to Canada, I figured a blog post was in call.
Wrapping up has been more exciting than stressful but I also haven’t had a huge amount of time to spend on extracurricular interests like Tumblr.
The three girls I spent the semester living with (Taylor, Kirsty and Angela) decided we need to visit one more Asian country before leaving back home. Laos was the winner. Vietnam would have been a really neat place to visit while we spent some time in Laos however, with 5 day/4 night weekends off of school it didn’t give us much time to travel elsewhere. Vietnam is also a lot more expensive to obtain a visa than many other Asian countries.
Laos was a nice trip away from Thailand. The weather was hot, the locals spoke better English and the scenery was beautiful. The one downside to Laos is that I found many of the local people to be very hostile toward Western tourists. I am still questioning this behavior and have a few possible answers: possibly because the Vang Vieng River Tubing was a huge mess of drunken tourists puking and causing mayhem in the town (causing it to be temporarily banned and then re-opened again) OR possibly (a more in depth reason) because America had once bombed areas in Laos and bombies and larger bombs are still being discovered in certain areas. Though I am not an American citizen, I cannot imagine all us white tourists look any different from one another.
The first couple days the girls and I stayed in Vientiane. We didn’t find much to do and because no one was very friendly in the area we decided to visit the Cope Museum and then call it an early night. The Cope Museum is a centre which teaches you all about the negative impact that the Secret War had on Laos and its people.
From 1964 to 1973, America dropped over 270 million bombs on Laos. This has officially named Laos the most bombed country per capita in the world. 80 million of these bombs did not explode leaving Laos with serious devastation every single year after the war. Today, more than 100 people die every year from bombs that have still not been destroyed after the Secret War.
visit: www.peace-bomb.com and you can purchase a bracelet or necklace made from the bombs still being discovered. The funds go back into the community to hire professionals to dig up the bombs safely.
I have never been a keener for history but I am shocked by the amount of knowledge I have been able to take in while traveling through Asia. There have been parts that made me happy to be living in North America and there have also been times where I felt extremely embarrassed. Laos was one of those trips where I felt completely uncomfortable being a ‘typical’ tourist AND living in a continent that has taken part in killing thousands of innocent Laos people.
On a more positive note, once we arrived in Vang Vieng we had a wonderful time. We stayed along the river bay for less than $10 a night, the food was incredible compared to the Thai food we have been living off of for the past 4 months and we met some amazing people along the way. Taylor and I decided to do what all tourists go to Vang Vieng to do, river tubing. I am not impressed with myself that I was one of those tourists who got completely annihilated by a bottle of $2.00 whiskey while rafting down the river. I lost my sunglasses, my water shoes, my memory card, my camera (and all my photos for that matter) and to top it all off I tried driving a motor scooter, crashed it and lost 1,000 baht to repair the bike. Needless to say, I wasn’t happy with myself after blogging about the ‘typical tourist’ and how I never want to be THAT person. Fact is, it’s so difficult to avoid it and sometimes it is the best way to meet new friends and enjoy your time spent in a country.
The Song Kran Experience
Most of our days lately have consisted of writing papers and studying for exams in between long periods of procrastination and googling ‘top films of 2012’ to watch movie marathons before beginning to actually do the work. We also took advantage of our time off to do some last minute shopping in Bangkok and celebrate the infamous Thai festival – SONGKRAN.
While shopping in Bangkok, we weren’t planning on celebrating Songkran but did not get much of a choice when we were bombarded with talcum powder followed by buckets of water. All-in-all, it was a successful trip to Platinum Market and Chatuchak Weekend Market.
Songkran runs the ENTIRE week with no time to breathe. I stayed hidden on the fourteenth floor of our condo for most of the week in order to stay dry. However, I had to run some usual errands… like purchasing a new camera (which I managed to get soaking wet the day after), grocery shopping and getting my graduation photos done.
Once we decided to actually embrace Songkran, it was an amazing experience! I don’t know if I would ever like to do it again… but it was definitely a MUST experience when visiting Thailand during the month of April.
It was crowded, loud, dirty, soaking wet and SO MUCH FUN. Every step you take you get covered in talcum powder which turns quickly into dry clay all over your face. You get buckets of water poured on your head, AND you also get to enjoy some amazing concerts!
We have two exams and a few papers to write but we are taking a weekend study break to head to Koh Phagnan this weekend to celebrate the Full Moon Party as a last ‘hurrah’ before we head back to Canada.
Looking for more tips on Thailand? Check out my previous posts:
– 10 Secret Must Do’s in Bangkok
– The Full Moon Party Experience
– Relaxing Destinations in Thailand
