Loop around Laos

My first trip to Asia and one of my first overseas trips was to a country I'd rarely heard of.

I knew of "Laos", but wouldn't have been confident placing it on a map.

Travelling down the Meekong River

I was being sent on a trip there by my newspaper employer at short notice.  It was a quick week's lap around the small land-locked country, via Bangkok.  I didn't really care where it was at that point or what I was going to see - a week out of the newsroom sounded perfect.

But given it was one of my first overseas trips, it left one of the biggest impressions on me.

It was also my first taste of Asia - both the huge, chaotic cities (Bangkok) and the simple and traditional lives people led in the lush countryside.

I had my new backpack overstuffed with things I would discover were completely unnecessary, my passport, and a vague idea of where I was going.

My instructions were simple: I was simply to join a guide and small group at Bangkok airport, and together we'd journey fly to Chiang Rai, cross the border at Huay Xai, boat down the Meekong River to Pakbeng and Luang Prabang, before driving to Vang Vieng and the capital Vientiane.

If I didn't know exactly where Laos was, I had even less of an idea about these places I was about to visit.

Life by the Meekong

To this day, Luang Prabang in Laos stands out as one of my favourite and most memorable travel destinations.

I don't have many photos from this trip.  This was strictly pre-digital camera days and for this trip I had just one roll of 36-exposure film (it was only when I was back home that I discovered if the camera had focussed or had been fogged up from humidity).

Looking down on Royal Palace at Luang Prabang

Formerly a capital of the kingdom, Luang Prabang is tucked alongside the Meekong River and surrounded by rainforest.  It's became a favourite of backpackers throughout Asia - and for good reason.

Ku Si Waterfall near Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang has an almost serene atmosphere.   It feels like there's a beautiful gilded temple or stupa on every street corner and that every second person is a monk clad in saffron-coloured robe.

Luang Prabang temple

Monks collecting alms

Each morning, these monks wander the streets to collect their daily alms.  Every evening, they gather to chant pray.   Life here seems to have a peaceful simplicity.  Time also moves a little bit slower - and you too thanks to the humidity.

Of course, Laos has had more than its share of conflict.   My only knowledge of the country then was from it's involvement in the Vietnam War.   Before that, it was also a colony of the French (who kindly left behind pretty architecture and baguettes).

French legacy

This loop around Laos was quick, but gave me a taste of the country and of southeast Asia.

What I remember most is not just the sights and sounds, but also how it felt to be a traveller; the freedom,  the excitement of discovering new things, and the foreign but familiar way people live around the world.

Pak Ou Caves

Vietnamese hat trick

Like many visitors to Vietnam, I thought it was a good idea at the time.

But buying the traditional conical straw hat was the easy part.

Getting it home intact was considerably more difficult.

It certainly couldn't be packed, which meant carrying it through numerous airports and past customs officials in several countries on the way home.

It also meant never resting on the plane.  Instead, I needed to keep an eye out for other passengers seemingly keen to put their duty-free bottles on top of it.

My conical hat - home safe and sound

Thankfully, the hat survived the journey home as several years on it has become one of my most treasured travel souvenirs. 

It sits on top of a lamp, thereby illuminating one of its hidden secrets.

It was made by a lady our little travel group visited in the city of Hue.

She's something of a local celebrity, not just because of the quality of her hats, but because she makes them with only one hand.

The hat maker from Hue

A legacy of the chemical warfare used in the country, the hat maker has one five-fingered hand and a stump with one finger on the other arm.

Despite this, she spends her days making conical hats with considerable skill.  This is how she supports her family.

Assembling the hat from scratch

Her decorative flourish can be seem when you hold the hat up to the light.

Thanks for stencils cut from newspaper and inserted between the layers of straw, a range of silhouettes appear when the hat is backlit.

A boat on a lake

A pagoda reflected in a lake

Lovers hidden in the hat

My indecent international proposals

I think complete strangers in Asia have offered me their adult daughters' hands in marriage more often than pot or cocaine.

Just recently, while wandering along one of the main shopping thoroughfares in Tokyo's Ginza, an older Japanese lady asked if I had time to complete a short survey on tourist signage in the area.

Barely a minute into the survey and the inevitable question was asked: "Are you single?".

"Yes," I replied, causing a token amount of shock and disbelief, quickly followed by a ripple of excitement through the lady and her mature colleagues.

"I have a beautiful daughter," the lady replied with an knowing smile.

I wasn't quite sure how my relationship status related to the positioning of Ginza street signage, but I was reading this lady's message loud and clear.

This could have been me (the one standing)

Suddenly I wondered if this survey was legitimate at all.   Perhaps this was all just a well-orchestrated ruse by these desperate mothers to trap potential bachelors.  

Surely an E-harmony account or Gumtree ad would be simpler than standing on a windy street corner screening candidates?

Now, I don't think for a minute it was my phenomenal looks and gentlemanly charm which attracted the attention of this lady.   I pretty much think punch-happy Chris Brown could have run them over in his porsche and still be considered a worthy candidate for the role of "son-in-law".

From the Meekong Delta across to the markets of Beijing, I've had similar approaches.  I think desperate mothers think being single, tall and alive are particularly desirable characteristics for a husband.  (And they may have a point.)

Once identified as single, you're then subjected to additional screening in an attempt to isolate if there is an obvious defect.

"Why??" they plead with their head titled.   Placed on the spot with such impromptu, presumptuous and direct questioning I find it hard to cough up a response they would find suitable.   Foot odour?   Gingivitis?

I wonder what their daughters would think if they knew their mothers were out soliciting potential husbands for them?

Replace the time and place and it feels almost like scene from a Jane Austen novel.

After all this time, is a mother's work not done until the daughter is packed off to a husband?   Would this magically guarantee a life of health, happiness and prosperity for all?

Hurriedly, I complete this Japanese lady's survey and make my excuses for a speedy exit.

She looks slightly dejected.   Looks like today isn't going to be the day she finds a suitable candidate for her daughter.

But then I turn back and see she has she spotted another single gent to approach with her survey.

Hopefully he has all the right answers she's looking for.