Resting in Pakse, Laos

Tuesday, July 27, 2010—Pakse (Continued)

Laos will be a bit more expensive than Thailand, especially when it comes to food. They have to import almost everything from Thailand, China, and other places. Meals, therefore, will cost a about 50-100% more here. Also, free water is not provided at the sidewalk restaurants here; so it is necessary to buy a bottle of water to go with meals. Tonight, I ate at a local place similar to where I have been eating in Thailand. I had chicken-rice with basil—a plate of rice topped with chicken, basil, and other vegetables cooked in a sauce and served with a fried egg on top. It was similar to the meals I have paid 95 cents for in Thailand. Here, it was $1.45. Plus I had to pay another 36 cents for a small bottle of water. Afterward, I went exploring at a nearby supermarket, and items such as water, peanuts, cookies, etc., that I have bought in Thailand were priced about 30-50% more here. I can’t tell much yet about housing, but my room here in Pakse costs as much as the most expensive place I stayed outside of Bangkok, yet it lacks a refrigerator and wi-fi which I often had there. Therefore, my guess is that I will be paying more for less in terms of housing here.

I met a very nice young man tonight and visited with him for at least 30 minutes. I walked around a corner while searching for a place to eat, and he said hello. We started to talk. His English was excellent. As time passed, I learned that he is originally from the Cambodia/Vietnam border area, but that his family has been here for many years. He operates a used clothing business and worked for a hotel in Cambodia before returning here. I told him that with his good English and bright personality, I imagined he would be successful at anything. With a smile, his quick comment was that a person has to help himself—that no one else was going to do it for him. And I get the impression that that he will be fine in life. I asked him some questions about where certain streets were located on the map which has many unnamed ones, where some good places to eat local food are, etc. It started raining, so we continued to talk until it passed. He suggested that I return Wednesday night around 18:00 so that we could go together to an inexpensive Vietnamese restaurant where he often eats.

After eating and going to the supermarket, I walked along the Mekong River to see what was there. Unfortunately, the city has not taken advantage of it. For several blocks, there are government buildings and then a bus station and strip center with bars that have their backs turned to it. The bars had tables out front facing the paved parking area! Past that, however, there is a short stretch of stalls set up on a promenade on the bluff above the river. They sell only drinks and snacks, however, and the customers sit at small plastic tables and chairs that seem to have been designed for children.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010—Pakse

Today is a resting day. I was so tired last night that I turned off the TV and the lights and went to sleep at 21:00! I’m glad I didn’t plan to travel further today. I still feel sluggish.

Ratachek, the young man I met last night, had told me in response to my questions about the French-Lao sandwiches I wanted to try that they are sold only in the mornings until about 10:00. So after watching the news on CNN and showering and shaving, I went out at 9:15 to a street where he had recommended I go. I found a nice looking lady who was selling them and bought one. She sliced open a fresh, crusty loaf of French bread about 30 cm (12 inches) long. She spread a thick, dark, grainy looking Lao-style pâté (Can’t believe I figured out how to do those special characters with my Chinese language version of Windows) along the bottom half of the loaf, she added a line of chopped pieces of pork, she squirted some soy sauce, she looked for my approval before squirting a line of chile sauce, she looked again before inserting a spoonful of crushed red pepper, then she added a line of picked onions, carrots, and thin shreds of cabbage. She wrapped the bottom half of the sandwich in a thick piece of paper and put a rubber band around it to hold it in place. Then she placed the sandwich in a plastic bag. I brought it back to my hotel and sat on the patio to eat it. It was wonderful.

Tomorrow I plan to go south from here to an area known as the 4000 Islands. It is an area of the Mekong River with rapids, waterfalls, and many small islands. I will be visiting two of the islands for the next 4-6 days—Don Dhet and Don Khon which are side-by-side and connected by a bridge. I’m writing about it today because I am unsure of my chances of being on the Internet there. Don Dhet has no power system; they use generators. If I understand correctly, Don Khon got power about a year ago. (But that has to be qualified. There is another island called Don Khong, and that could have been the place that got electricity, since it is larger and more populated.) I may find cyber cafes and be able to post to the blog, but I may have problems. The two islands have distinctly different personalities. Don Khon is the “quiet” island where I plan to stay at first. I think that mostly mature travelers go there. Don Dhet is popular with the backpackers and is known as a “party” island. In fact, it is said that there are places there where any food—a milk shake, pancakes, etc., can be ordered in “happy” form for an extra 50 cents. Think of backpackers as the modern form of hippies to figure out what that means. My guess is that I will have opportunities to post to the Internet at least on Don Dhet where there are more tourists, but that no place where I stay will have wi-fi. I’ll have to go to cyber cafes based on the hours that they have electricity and when they have computers available. It should help that the partiers will probably sleep a lot later than I will, but that only helps if the cyber café owners open early and haven’t been out partying also!

After going to the cyber café this afternoon, I may go to a local physiotherapy place that is said to have massage and sauna for about $3. Then I think I will go fetch Ratachek to eat Vietnamese food.