Now this is the second iteration of this blog. I tried to publish text and photos but it would not let me. So now you get text followed by the pics in a new post. Here goes nothing.
The motorbike ride from Attepeu was uneventful and straightforward. Despite the absence of maps or road signs, even those concrete milestones had been painted out, I found my way quite easy. There were only 2 major cross roads and my memory served me well here as did my fleeting sense of direction. The countryside on one side was flat as a tack. It was very scrubby with very few big trees. At home you would call it poor country and I think the locals do the same here. No major signs of agriculture. It was later replaced by what you would call good country and everyone seemed to be harvesting rice. On the other side of the road 1there was the massive of the Boleven Plateau rising directly some thousand of feet. It is ever present, thrusting about a kilometer or so from the road. It dominates the view wherever you look on that side. The dominant colour is green and the effect is dense forest, a welcome relief to the monotony on the other side of the road. The Paddy fields were a golden brown and there were groups of people rugged up so only the eyes were uncovered busily gathering the grain. I tell you the people who fear the Hijab and the Nicab would have a field day here. The only difference is that here people cover up not because of religion but because of the sun! They want to stay white and the sun turns them brown! Or should I say that is what they think. People here are naturally dark of skin so they will always look tanned. There are an amazing amount of products in supermarkets here claiming to whiten the skin. People pay crazy rates to whiten thier skins. It is sad what fashion will do. If you are dark it means you work outside all day, therefore you must be a farmer and they are poor people. If you have white skin you must work inside, therefore you are rich and more marriageable. That is the logic or lack of it. It seems to me to put all our fears about covering up into a different perspective. Here everyone does it male and female. It would be far more easy for someone in South East Asia to conceal who they were than the poor bloody Islamic women at home. What would parliament do with a bunch of people from South East Asia trying to avoid the sun in Canberra. It makes a laughing stock of us and shows what such stupid policies as we have to be really the racist crap that it really is!
Tad Lo is still as lovely as ever. Nothing much has changed in the last few years. There is a new guesthouse at the end of the street away from the river. It looks new and fresh and they make the same coffee as the Austrian bloke did the last time I was here. I had dinner there last night. A lovely family affair where everyone sat down together. The food was great (chicken curry with sticky rice and a very nice side dish of fried spinach or some kind of greens. The whole thing was lubricated by a couple of bottles of Beer Lao yumyum. I am hoping to move into this place tomorrow as the standard in my hotel where I have always stayed before leaves a lot to be desired .... like hot water and airconditioning both of which worked before and don't now. I don't mind paying a premium for luxury but I expect it to work! It is a minor irritation that I am sure I will be able to cope with.
This morning I notice that the river is much lower that it was yesterday. It must have dropped by at least a meter. It has taken on a more tranquil aspect, not raging loudly as it passed over the falls with a roar but more like a constant reminder that it is there. Seeing as upriver there is a dam (hydro electricity) they must have done a release of some kind yesterday and now it has gone back to normal. I notice also that one of the pylons on the bridge has fallen down probably a result of some huge downpour in the wet season. Rather than replacing it, a huge RSJ has been slipped under the bridge across between the 2 pylons left in that section. Dodgey Brothers bridge repairers at work. I wonder what it will look like in a couple of years. I've not seen any huge buses go across but there have been four wheel drive trucks and the whole thing sways a bit.
I'm going to be staying here for a few days. The atmosphere is very relaxing and there are a lot of backpackers here from all over so I get to talk to people in my own language. Last night at dinner there were A New Zealander, an expat Aussie from Melbourne who lives in Scotland, several Poms from the north of England, a couple of Swiss who spoke Italian and a couple of French people presumably from France. It was conversation heaven. For the prevoius 3 days travelling from Hoian I had been virtually mute because noone spoke English. It was steadfastly Vietnamese or Lao. In some ways this is good and in others it is bad. It is good because it teaches me humility and silence. It is bad because I get lonely. As always six of one half a dozen of the other. Sooo I don't know how much more blogging I will do here before I move off. We will see. I'll attach all the photos so far and maybe just add new ones each night. Catch youse later campers.
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