'Peace, Independence, Democracy, Unity and Prosperity'

This title is Laos' motto and I only learned recently that Laos is a communist country, which made it the 4th communist country I visited. I guess that explains why I am such a socialist at heart!

To summarize, I loved Laos. I decided to go there after hearing very positive feedback from friends who just back from visiting. It was the most calming, peaceful, and tranquille country I have ever been to. The streets were so quiet, there was no haggling at the markets, and the scenery was spectacular. The population of Laos is only about 6 million which is less than the population of Saigon alone. The biggest city, the captial of Vientiane, has only about 220,000 people. I think what struck me the most about Laos was the absense of capitalism (for now, there are definite signs of change to come), it is very much: earn enough to make a living and then relax. I did not encounter any uptight or stressed people along the way.

Pha That Luang in Vientiane, the national symbol of Laos

I took the 13-hour overnight train from Bangkok to the border crossing and then a tuk-tuk to the immigration office to get my visa. For some strange reason Canadians have to pay the most, which I am still trying to figure out why ... In my tuk-tuk were 2 Americans, who are teaching English in Shanghai and we got along really well and were basically on the same itinerary that we ended up travelling together for the rest of the trip. I wasn't really worried to travel along to Laos (don't tell my mom) but it was a nice to have people to share the adventure with.

Sand bar in the Mekong delta. It's dry season so the sand bar is quite wide right now.

One highlight of the trip was throwing the frisbee around on the Mekong Delta and even introducing the game to some locals. We threw the disk around for a while then went to the river to watch the sunset. In terms of infrastructure, it is minimal - there is no railway system, bumpy roads, and only a few land and air connections to the surrounding countries. I travelled by bus to the other towns, not so horrible since I am small (one plus) and any time I began to feel squished I just thought about the 6 feet tall guys sitting in a fetal position around me ...

Travelling buddies, Dan and Ashley from the US and Yot from Thailand - we just arrived to Vang Vieng and heading to our cabin.

I got to do lots of outdoor activity - we went biking, caving, hiking, tubing (except my butt kept getting scraped by rocks because my tube was deflating) and swimming. Laos still has much of its natural environment intact since there is not a heavy demand for development and a booming population. If anything is going to deplete the land, it will be the growing tourism sector. I think Laos use to be a traveller's secret, but I don't think for much longer. I already saw lots of hotels and resorts being constructed.


So people are always making fun of me because I always seem to run into someone I know no matter where I am. Fate has struck again. Setting: I am sitting alone down a side-street alley for dinner. There is a middle-aged man next to me who is engaged in a conversation with someone across from him. I eavesdrop and hear this man is from Canada and I chirp in and say so am I. I assume he is from BC, he has the beachy look but he doesn't agree or disagree. He asks where I am from, I say Cape Breton and he eyes bug out and he says so is he. I say I am from Sydney and he then asks for my name and his eyes get even bigger, and I am thinking that he probably just recognizes me since there aren't exactly a lot of Vietnamese people in Cape Breton. He asks if I know Jonathan and I am still not putting the two together. And then he gives me Jonathan's full name and I still don't know who he is until he has to spell it out for me and says he's Jonathan's father! Jonathan is a good friend of mine from Queen's and we were neighbours in residence. His dad use to work at my stepfather's lodge in Cape North and now his family lives in Ottawa.

To really understand the significance of how overwhelmingly shocking it was to meet Keith, aka Jonathan's father, is that I am related to him through my stepdad, met 2 of his daughthers, almost met him in Kingston and Ottawa, and to finally meet him and sitting next to him nevertheless... in a small alley in Luang Prabang on our vacations is I think more than just a coincidence. Plus he is coming to Hanoi next month. It truly is a small world around us and as Keith put it the world is round.


Holiday is over and it's now back to work. I decided to finalize my return date even though things to tend to change last minute and I am coming back to Canada on April 25th. I thought it was time for me to somewhat plan my life and really think about what I want to do in the future. I been away 5 months today.