Calypso Island Chronicles introduces a new feature - Travel Photo of the Week. Every Friday, I will be publishing a special Travel Photo – the photo will be selected from my vast library of images from my worldwide travels to such places as Thailand, Costa Rica, Peru, Ecuador, Mexico, Laos and Malaysia. Each photograph will be accompanied by a brief description or story of the special circumstances that led to the picture being taken. Occasionally, I will publish a digitally rendered watercolor/oil of the photograph to give it an artsy look. Like to participate? Feel free to submit your own travel photo with accompanying story in 250 or less words for inclusion in this new Friday Photo of the week feature.
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As it was my last day in Luang Prabang (Laos), I biked around town looking to capture some more images of this colorful and charming town. Before returning my to my hotel, I came across this very pleasant cafe located not so far from the Tourist Information office.

Overlooking a beautiful lotus pond, the setting was so very idyllic and peaceful. Too bad that the coffee (and the toast) were quite ordinary. Oh, how I really detest instant coffee! Believe it or not, I ran into another tourist at the cafe from my hometown of San Francisco who I had met earlier in the week in Luang Prabang. She was entranced by the extraordinary view too!

This picture is actually a digitally rendered watercolor. It definitely creates a better mood than the original photograph. Picture was taken in December 2006.

Have you ever totaled up the number of countries that you have visited in your lifetime? Furthermore, how many times have you traveled to each particular country? Breaking it down even further, what places/cities have you visited (with at least one overnight stay) in each destination/country? If you answer all these questions carefully, you’ll have put together your own TRAVELER’S RESUME.

Let’s start out with yours truly. My inaugural trip as a traveler happened in Dec. 1973 when I went to Mexico for 3 weeks. Over the ensuing 35 years, I have traveled to 25 different countries. If you look at my RESUME, you will see that I’m very partial to the tropics. Call me the tropical traveler if you may.

NORTH AMERICA:

• Mexico (18)

Puerto Vallarta (3), Mexico City (3), Guadalajara, Villahermosa, Merida,
Mexican Caribbean – Cancun (4), Playa del Carmen (2) and Tulum; Oaxaca (5),
Puerto Escondido (5), San Blas(2) Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo,
Baja California - Cabo San Lucas (4), La Paz and Loreto,
Costa Alegre - La Manzanilla (2) and Bahia de Navidad

CARIBBEAN:

• Jamaica (30+)

Kingston, Blue Mountains, Port Antonio, Montego Bay, Ocho Rios, Negril,
South Coast - Black River, Treasure Beach and Milk River Bath; Cockpit Country,
Mandeville and Christiana

• Barbados (6)
• St. Lucia (2)
• Antigua
• Dominican Republic

Santo Domingo and Sosua Beach

• Cuba

Havana and Varadero Beach

• St. Vincent
• Trinidad
• St. Maarten/St. Marten
• Bahamas

Nassau and Eleuthera

• Caribbean/Panama Canal Cruise

SOUTH AMERICA:

• Colombia

Bogota, Cartagena and San Andres Island

• Peru

Lima, Cusco, Sacred Valley including Machu Picchu, Amazon basin

• Ecuador

Quito, Otavalo and Mindo

CENTRAL AMERICA:

• Costa Rica (6)

San Jose (6), Heredia (2), Sarapiqui (2), Manuel Antonio (3), Dominical,
Pacific Lowlands – Carara ; Guanacaste – Canas and Palo Verdes NP (2), Tamarindo Beach (2), Ocotal and Los Innocentes; Jaco, Tortugero, Monteverde (2), Osa Peninsula, La Fortuna and Arenal (4),
Caribbean Coast- Cahuita (2) and Puerto Viejo; Wilson Botanical Gardens
(San Vito), San Gerardo de Dota and Nicoya Peninsula - Playa Samara

• Guatemala (2)

Guatemala City (2), Antigua (2) and Lake Atitlan

WEST AFRICA:

• Ghana

Accra, Gold Coast, Kumasi

• Togo

Lome

• Mali

Bamako and Mopti

• Ivory Coast

Abidjan

SOUTHEAST ASIA:

• Thailand (7)

Bangkok (7), Chiang Mai (5), Mae Sa Valley (2), Phuket (3), Koh Lanta, Koh Jum,
Koh Samui (2), Koh Chang (5), Pattaya (3), Khao Sok National Park, Chiang Rai Province – Doi Tung (2), Mae Salong (2) and Chiang Kong; Kanchanaburi (2),
Sangkhlaburi, Sakaeo, Sukhothai (2), Ayutthaya and Mae Hong Son Province-Pai (2), Soppong and Mae Hong Son (2)

• Laos

Vientiane, Luang Prabang, Mekong River Cruise

• Cambodia

Siem Reap(Angkor Wat)

EUROPE

• England

London Area

Please note: Number in Parentheses () indicates the number of visits

Feel free to submit your Travel Resume here!

With its blend of French colonial and traditional Laotian architecture, Luang Prabang is a wonderful town to stroll around. On my final morning there before continuing to Vientiane, I had breakfast at a lovely little outdoor café that overlooked a most beautiful lotus pond. I forgot the name of the cafe (Could it be the Pond-Side café?), but it is not far from the tourist office in the heart of the tourist zone. What a most idyllic place to spend the morning!

Pakbeng, a dusty, tawdry town overlooking the Mekong River, is the halfway point for the 2-day slowboat cruise to Luang Prabang from Huay Xai (and vice versa). All passengers have a forced overnight in Pakbeng; as there’s really nothing of any redeeming value about this town, very few travelers stay more than 1 night before continuing their journey.

When the slowboat pulls into the pier, waiting onshore will be a ragged bunch of young men (touts) who are representatives of the guesthouses in the village. Somehow I liken this scene to a pack of ravenous wolves circling their prey - as soon as you get on land, one or more guys will grab your bags and hustle you to their sponsor’s guesthouse. Almost all the passengers on the slowboat do not have any reservations in the village, so where you stay for the night really depends on whoever hustles you first. The touts get a small commission from the guesthouse for bringing new guests and they also pocket some fairly substantial tips from the tired travelers. As there are usually 3-4 tourist crammed boats stopping every day during the season in Pakbeng, the economy of this one trick- pony town revolves around the slowboats.

When I did this slowboat journey last December, our boat did not arrive in Pakbeng until about an hour or so after sunset. As soon as I got off the boat, three young guys corralled my luggage and hustled me off in the dark to a guesthouse about ½ mile away from the dock. One of the blokes tried to hustle me, offering a lady for the night, opium and marijuana in that order. Of course I refused, saying that all I wanted was a good night sleep. Not willing to take no for an answer, he still continued to pester me about buying opium. I wonder why…

After depositing me at their sponsor’s guesthouse, I tipped them handsomely and proceeded to check-in. Fortunately, the room was OK - barren but clean, a decent bed and a private bathroom with shower tap. The cost was about 10USD. In the morning, the owner and his wife set up an impromptu streetside café in front of the guesthouse, soliciting backpackers passing by as well as their guests to patronize their cafe. While having breakfast - hot Laotian coffee with a warm baguette and jam and some freshly squeezed orange juice - I watched as a constant stream of backpackers passed me by as they slowly made their way to the to the boat dock for their onward journey. Needless to say, I was relieved to depart Pakbeng. Sort of reminded me of the Wild, Wild West…..
.

I was walking up the stairs to the Slow boat ticket office at Huay Xai to buy my ticket for the two day passage to Luang Prabang, when a solicitious fellow Californian by the name of Peter approached me about the possibility about a far more comfortable alternative. It seems that he was trying to organize an impromptu private charter for 15 or more passengers on one of the newer boats in the village and asked me if I wanted to join him and his group - the cost being about 25USD. I told him to count me in! I waited for about 20-25 minutes for him but Peter was nowhere in sight. I heard from another farang that they were closing ticket sales on the last slow boat departure, so if I wanted to get a seat ion the boat, I better buy a ticket pronto. I waited another 5 minutes waiting for Peter to show up but to no avail. There’s an old expression - A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. So rather than risk being stranded in Huay Xai, I opted to buy my ticket. Just a couple of minutes later, I found out from one of Peter’s friends, that he was successful in securing the charter. Oh well… I was resigned to travel for the next two days on a dilapidated old longtail boat where the passengers were packed in like sardines, while Peter and his buddies enjoyed their ‘luxury cruise”.

I have already reported about the uncomfortable two-day ordeal and I have read other reports on the Internet where fellow travelers have remarked about the very uncomfortable traveling conditions. One traveler called it “the slow boat to hell”, while another traveler remarked that the vessel resembled a refugee boat.

About seven hours into the trip on day one, the private charter with Peter and his buddies passed us by - everybody aboard was smiling and laughing with a drink in their hands (and their legs stretched out) obviously enjoying themselves. On day two, we encountered another charter boat. It was a real luxurious vessel compared to the dump that I was on - it had nice leather seats, a cocktail bar and wood panels with a glossy veneer. Sitting in circle with drinks in their hands and smiles on their faces, the 20 or so passengers waved at us in unison.

Bottom Line - If you’re thinking about going on a two-day slow boat cruise on the Mekong river to Luang Prabang, you don’t have to suffer like I did. There are alternatives to this ordeal - Scout around and see if there are any private charters being organized or if you’re part of a group, consider scrounging up enough passengers for your own charter. Also I read about a comfortable slow boat journey to Luang Prabang that makes it one day. Sure beats overnighting in the hustle-hustle village of Pakbeng, a dusty little place that reminds me of the Wild Wild West.

From Northern Thailand, one of the most popular ways of getting to the Laotian city and UNESCO world heritage site of Luang Prabang is on a 2-day slow boat journey along the Mekong River. The journey begins at Huay Xai on the Laotian side of the Mekong River across from the Northern Thai town of Chiang Khong. The Slow boat allows you to get a glimpse of village life along the Mekong River - navigating down the river to Luang Prabang, we passed by small herds of water buffalo, scantily clad children bathing in the river and fishermen in small boats. Framing the river on both sides were lush green forests with dramatic mountain landscapes looming in the distance.

While I enjoyed the vistas and the local color, the journey was somewhat of an ordeal as the boat was somewhat old and dilapidated and the accommodations - small narrow wooden seats - were fairly uncomfortable. In addition, I had to put up with bales of cigarette smoke from some chain-smoking European Farangs who were sitting in front of me. Although the listed maximum occupancy of these boats are about 70 passengers, typically the boat will not disembark until as many passengers as possible are loaded on board. On the 2nd day of the journey, I swear they crammed in more than 100 passengers aboard the vessel with many of the late arriving passengers-both farangs and locals- sitting on the floor in the baggage compartment towards the front of the boat. Talk about packing them in like sardines! In any case, this was akin to going on a 3rd class bus, and like a typical country bus, the boat made impromptu stops along the river picking up and letting off villagers as well as loading (and unloading) cargo. This was definitely not a luxury cruise, but there are alternatives.

On the 2nd leg of the journey (from Pakbeng to Luang Prabang), I had a freak accident but I survived - while I was walking to my seat, the wooden floor gave in and my right leg went through the crack. Startled, I immediately pulled my leg out of the hole and avoided serious injury. For a moment, my mind flashed back to a similar incident which happened during a bamboo rafting expedition in rural Thailand - my right leg slipped between two of the bamboo slat when my oarsman slammed into a riverbank.

Most of the people who traveled on the 2 day slow boat journey to Luang Prabang did not have any advance reservations for accommodations - I guess you could say they were winging it. In other words, upon arrival they would hunt for suitable (and cheap) accommodations. Many of these travelers carried a guidebook or two to aid them in their search. This spontaneous travel planning is somewhat typical of “the backpacker type of traveler”.

On the other hand, I had booked my accommodations in advance for the duration of my 42-day adventure. In Luang Prabang, I had read a lot of good reports about Thong Bay Guesthouse. Acording to what I read, Thongbay Guesthouse was perched on a hillside above the Nam Khan River and located about 2 KM outside of town. Some of the thatched bungalows had views directly overlooking the river. If one wanted to go into town, the hotel rented bicycles at a nominal charge of $1.00USD per day. As I was looking for some accommodations in a quiet, peaceful setting where I could chill out, this sounded like the perfect fit for me. What was the damage? …. $20.00USD per day for a bungalow with a river view.

For most of my fellow travelers on the slow boat, $20USD would have represented a real splurge. I am guessing that most them stayed in guesthouses costing between $5-15USD and located for the most part in the town of Luang Prabang. There are over 125 guesthouses in Luang Prabang and most of them are in this price range.

I definitely did not regret my decision to splurge at Thongbay. Located amidst some lovely tropical gardens, this small family run resort was very serene and peaceful and I found the staff to be very pleasant and accommodating. My bungalow was absolutely delightful - simply but attractively furnished, my room was very large and comfortable with a huge ensuite bathroom. Going out on my large outdoor terrace, I had commanding views of the Nam Khan River. Every morning, I would have breakfast - fruit salad, a hard boiled egg or two, strong Laotian coffee and hot toasted croissants with jelly - served to me on my private terrace while I watched the local people tend to their hillside vegetable gardens on the other side of the river. After breakfast, I would typically do some work on my laptop computer or continue reading one of my vacation novels, Tyrannosaur Canyon or Broken Prey.

I found Thongbay Guesthouse to be one of the best and most relaxing places that I stayed at during my 42-day odyssey. Owned by an amiable Swiss gent and his Laotian wife, this small resort cum guesthouse of about 20 units is highly recommended.

I recently completed a 42-day odyssey to Thailand and Laos. For somebody from America, that is awfully long trip. Based on my experience as a professional travel agent in the United States, most my customers have typically taken vacations from 4 - 12 days, with the average being roughly 7-8 days. Occasionally I have had customers who have taken vacations for two weeks to 17-18 days but those have been far and few in between. However for a European - lets say somebody from Germany or France - 30-42 days is a vacation of average duration and based on my conversations with traveling Euros, many of them take a trip of 2-3 months duration or more. It’s not uncommon to find a Euro on an extended vacation of 6 months. Doing some research on the Internet, I have read that Europeans on the average receive 6 weeks vacation time and Americans, 13-14 days. Source: http://www.swlearning.com/economics/policy_debates/overworked.html
Typically, an American will take one 1-week vacation and two 3-4 days vacations.

So how does my 42-day odyssey stack up? Somebody from USA would view it as “a long time”, while somebody from Europe might view it as “a short time”. Your perspective depends on where you’re from…

Talking about long time - While hiking up to the waterfalls just outside of Luang Prabang (Laos), I met group of people from Holland who were in the middle of a year long vacation visiting Southeast Asia, India and parts of Africa. See picture, top left. Now that is a looooog time…..

…

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One of the highest moments that I had in Luang Prabang was when I walked into a classroom of young kids, ages 6-7, from the Khmu tribe, one of the largest ethnic minorities in Laos. The children were learning to speak Lao, a foreign language for them but the primary language in this small Southeast Asian country. These children, who probably had met very few visitors from the West in their brief lifetime, radiated with pure joy and happiness as they greeted me with smiling faces and the customary ‘Sabai dee” (which is equivalent to Hello in English). I answered back in rudimentary Thai (which is similar to Lao) “Phom Hanumann, Ling Yai (the big monkey)”, to which they “waiied me” and replied in unison - “Sabai dee, Ling yai”.

While having dinner at Just for the Fun of It, a small local eatery in Vientiane, I happened to notice a young boy behind the retaining wall just to the side of my table. Holding some sort of blue tubing in front of his face, I found this boy to be quite interesting, so I took the liberty of taking several pictures of him. Sensing that the young lad was probably hungry, I asked the young waitress to ask him if he’d like to have something to eat. The boy shyly smiled and nodded yes, so I invited him to join me at my table and to select anything on the menu to eat.

Using the waitress as interpreter, I was able to piece together a mini life story of this young boy who was probably about 8 years old. His name was Sa - he recently came to Vientiane from the rural countryside, having lost both of his parents and was living in a center for homeless kids. His father was an alcoholic and drank himself to death, and his mother, saddened by the loss of her husband, apparently died shortly thereafter. I am guessing she committed suicide. Anyhow, poor Sa was alone in the big city and now he meets a farang by the name of Hanumann having dinner in downtown Vientiane. Apparently, the facility where Sa stays only provides the children with lunch - a dish of fried rice with vegetables- but no breakfast or dinner.

As soon as we finished dinner, I waved goodbye to Sa as we went our separate ways - I returned to my comfortable hotel and Sa returned to ‘the orphanage”.

Please note that at no time did Sa beg for money or for food.