Laos, Feb 2005



We arrived at one village to find a pre- wedding party going down. A couple of swigs of Lao Lao for confidence and we all joined in.





The villagers got together with our guides and cooked us a great meal. I so wish there was less of a language barrier


Lunch by the river during our kayaking trip.Our guides told us the people in these villages were not used to tourists, but we didn't really believe them at first - it's used as a selling point to get people to come on the trips. These guys were initially staring at us as if we were aliens. It took no time at all to make friends though.


Ugly people simply do not exist in this country.

In the smaller villages they live with no electricity, no medication and no schooling. If they see a 'Falang' they think we are either a doctor or some type of alien. We’ve had people stare in absolute amazement – others have asked us to help them with cuts and grazes. We were told that the people in the eastern villages were unaccustomed to tourists. We had a really funny moment when we were sat on a riverbank having lunch during our kayak trip. We’ve been travelling with a fantastic couple from Seattle called Mitch and Yvette. Mitch is a 6ft plus, really well built, African American. His hair is braided into short plaits that stick out. The villagers just didn’t know what to make of him. They all crowded round, staring. I think it must have been the first time they’d seen a black guy. Suddenly Mitch jumped up and pretended to scare a bunch of the kids. It was hysterical, not just kids, but adults scarpered screaming! They were all laughing at the same time though and within minutes were back for more of him.

It was wonderful to stay in that village. We spent the day just playing with the kids and chatting to the villagers. There was a pre wedding party going on so we were all invited to swig loads of eye watering Lao Lao whisky and dance around with them in the village square.

Pigs, chickens, dogs, cats, water buffalo and cockerels roam about the village and the streets. Once food has been eaten, dishes washed and beds prepared there is little else to do but go to sleep. They have to go to bed early...they need to be up at dawn to start working again. I find myself often having to remind myself that it is 2005.

Part of me wishes that they were more developed, the other doesn't. Why should we be so arrogant as to want to will our lifestyle on these people? Everything is shared here and the people are always laughing and talking, not just with us but with each other. They are not hungry at all. Their lifestyles are however incredible humble. The kids have great childhoods, always playing in the river and running around and there is always a school or learning area of some sort. Their Dads are always around to play with them too. One particularly great game I’ve seen them play is digging themselves huge bowls into the sand on the banks of the river and just sitting in them laughing and talking, content to be in the cool. Every now and again, a huge mud fight will start. Not a care in the world. Nobody is going to hurt these kids or snatch them away. They couldn’t care less what they are wearing – most of them are just running round in pants. No nastiness because they haven’t got the latest Nike trainers.

We went on a biking and kayaking trip into the countryside east of Luang Prabang. On the last day we were asked to take our rubbish out of the kayak to the jeep that was waiting for us, but to leave our plastic water bottles in the boat. As Evette and I were walking back up the steep river bank towards the village about 20 kids thundered past us, running, as if for their lives, towards the water. They were after those bottles. The fishermen use them as reels and the women use them to collect the water they boil. For the first time I saw Laos children that were not smiling and not saying hello. Anyone would have thought there was a huge heap of gold or diamonds in that boat.



I'm certain that western luxuries would destroy the innocent joy of these places, but its unfair that the people are not inoculated against disease. They also do not all have access to clean water. Hospitals are far and few between – some of them are hundreds of km away. Bearing in mind that the village might only have one moped, and that's rare, you can see how children die from cuts and grazes. We all take it for granted that we get a tetanus jab. Not here. They practice spiritism and animism in many of the villages and use many medical treatments from the forest, but we spoke to the village chief of one place we stayed. He told us he had 9 children. Three of them were dead. Each time I enter one of those villages I picture Oxford Street, with all its traffic, drunks shouting, singing or fighting on the footpath, cyclists and drivers arguing, shops and pavements packed with so many bodies you have to walk on the road to get by. Such a different world, where ours is by no means the better one.

Laos - the most chilled place on Earth

The kids here are all so cute - in fact everyopne is - it's a nation of beautiful people


Monks receiving their daily alms


We went on a three day kayaking trip visiting villages in Laos along the way. This was daily lunch by the river.

24th Feb 05, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Back to what this journal is supposed to be for. We are six months into the trip. We leave for India the day after tomorrow. Since I last wrote we have covered Laos and some of northern Thailand. Meanwhile back home Rachel is slowly becoming famous. She’s appeared in Zoo Magazine looking really gorgeous and was partying with Bono the other week. Jim and Van are married. So is Katy K. And both Lynn and Shiff are talking rather too much about gardening for my peace of mind.

Laos was wonderful. I'll stick to the European spelling of the country although it should be spelt without the 's'. They have the best coffee, great croissants, the lushest mountain scenery, the worst roads and transport, the friendliest manner and they are all drop dead gorgeous. Regardless of whether they are two months old or a hundred and thirty two (as some of the old ladies seem to be). I've seen some of the most fantastic faces. Huge almond eyes with skin that is at once lush and smooth and covered in a million wrinkles. Toothless, black stubbed smiles that light up faces and beam friendliness. I wish I had more courage to ask to take photos. I’m even more reluctant to ask since I found out that some of the older people still believe that if you take their photo you steal their souls!

Laos is very much a land of opposites. Wooden shacks on stilts with thatched roofs sit in the shadows of huge French colonial style houses. In Viantiene and Luang Prabang locals sip their Lao coffee and eat croissants, the boom of Lao state radio feeding out propaganda in the distance. Nobody bares it any attention.

A few kilometers away in the hills and lush valleys of this beautiful land, locals sit in a circle on a dusty floor sharing sticky rice and Lao Lao whiskey. Ten year old girls with faces of angels but the expression of grandmothers tend to the children, wash, clean, fetch water and wood and help to prepare food. In the bigger villages they have schools and maybe even a hospital. The kids can all speak a little English and love to try to practice when they meet you.