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December 09, 2005
Three wonderful days in freezing Sam Neua
Our arrival in Sam Neua was a great relief from the strains of travel in Vietnam. The contrast between everything is stunning and pleasant. There are virtually no touts, barginning is easy and friendly, the people are really shy, and everything is just so relaxed. The only negative aspect was that the temperature was absolutely freezing! The morning after checking into our guest house I quickly went about purchasing a black hat with ‘REVALDO’ on the back, a pair of grey wool mittens, and a dark green scarf that the locals seem to wear—all for about 30,000 Laotian kip (just under US$3). The following day a wool blanket (30,000 kip) really sorted me out. We also made it to the Laotian Development Bank just in time to convert US$100 into kip at an excellent 10,790 kip per dollar. The largest Laotian note is worth 20,000 so US$100 worth of the stuff left us with a 3cm-thick wad of cash.
That first evening in town Levi, Terje and I went for dinner at Dan Nao Mueng Xam restaurant. I had the mixed vegetables for 7,000 kip and a few Beer Laos with the guys. Later on some other travelers joined us, including this awfully irritating Deleware-born punk from Philadelphia named James. He was one of those guys who made a joke out of everything thinking he was the funniest guy since the “why did the chicken cross the road?� author. Our first full day in town was about relaxing, checking out the market, etc. 
We also met two friendly young Swedish women, Eva and Tanja, who were on their way to Hanoi…with US$40 in cash and some difficult in this part of the world to redeem travelers checks. They had not really considered the difficulty in doing this part of the trip and were asking us for advice. It was quite comical. Levi gave them his counterfeit Lonely Plant Vietnam and I turned over my 20,000 Dong map of Northern Vietnam. The next morning I saw them heading for the Na Maew/Nam Xoi border crossing with
One of the good things the French left behind in Laos was freshly backed baguettes in almost any town. There fresh fruit, including bananas, oranges, apples and some exotic stuff was in large supply. So were chilli peppers, live maggots, green moss-like stuff, freshly killed fish, chickens and pigs, and smoked field rats. One of my favorite purchases was a 90,000 kip traditional dress that all the women in town seemed to be wearing. My mother is really into weaving and has her own loom, so it will probably go to her. There was some really expensive silk weaves that would have been nice to purchase too.
The second day, Tuesday, Levi and I headed for day trip to Vieng Xai, which is a one hour 8,000 kip passenger truck ride away. The big attraction in town are a series of caves. Levi and I met up with a group of travelers who we joined on the 10,000 kip tour offered by the Kaysone Memorial Cave Tour Office. They charged an extra 2,000 kip for cameras. One set of caves was used by the PL (Pathet Lao) Polit Bureau the in the mid-sixties during the Lao revolution. My knowledge of Laotian history is not so good, so much of the historical importance was lost on me. When back in Chiang Mai in a week or two I plan to read up the recent history of Laos.
After the tour, all of my fellow travelers and I agreed to meet up for dinner back at the Dan Nao Mueng Xam restaurant. Levi and I were wrapped up in blankets. A bottle of Lao Lao, a locally distilled cheap hard liquor of varying quality, was passed around. One sniff of the petrol-like booz was enough to turn me off. I didn’t jot down the names of anyone, but there were an entertaining lot to have dinner with: an American kid from Philadelphia just finished with university in Delaware, a Spanish woman active in the Catalonian independence movement, a young British guy from just outside of London, another American working on his doctorates in his home state of Wisconsin, Terje the Norwegian, Levi and I. The Americans and I got into some interesting and informative political and cultural discussions. They both have politic similar to my own, so it was generally a friendly conversation.
Everyone at dinner that night, sans Levi and I, were headed out of town early the next morning for points east (Vietnam) or south (Phonsavan). Levi and I decided to spend another day in the relaxing Sam Neua. In the morning Levi said hello to a guy in our guesthouse who he thought was someone from dinner the previous night. It turns out to be Anders, a Swedish man who had been on a trip to Halong Bay with Levi two weeks ago in Vietnam. The three of us agreed to meet for dinner that evening. Levi and I went shopping for food for our next journey and actually found some 300 kip/minute dial-up internet access in an unheated photocopy/printing/internet shop. Levi got really excited about all this Laotian pop music on the owners computers and burned a few CDs.
That night we packed, showered and got to bed early ready for the next leg of our trip to the town of Muang Vieng Thong.
Posted by stu at December 9, 2005 04:22 AM
Comments
Hey guys!
Friendly young swedish woman writing to you!
Nice blog!
Im in Hue for a couple of hours waiting for a bus to Hoi An.
Hanoi was hectic as you described it but somehow I really liked it!
Travel safe and have fun!
/Eva
Posted by: Eva at December 17, 2005 06:18 AM