South East Asia

Bit of a thought dump here. The night market last night was great and I recognised many fellow travellers from previous stops, including Adam who I keep seeming to run into. I opted not to go to bowling, which is the main evening event here and get some rest instead. I’ve had a chill morning exploring the city with Harry (it’s barely a large town but for Laos it’s big) And have had another restful day before night market in bowling tonight.

I didn’t want my journal to become a Direct retelling of events but it sort of has become that. It’s hard to capture all of the thoughts whilst also being able to describe all the stories so that’s what this entry is for.

It’s been interesting transitioning from south to north Thailand, then into Laos. It has felt like the further I have gone the poorer and more rural it has gotten. It’s noticeable from a few things.

First of all the cost. Accommodation has actually been fairly consistent, £6 to £10 a night with a little correlation in quality or price. But the cost of food and transport has been steadily decreasing from 150 Baht (£3.75) from a meal in Bangkok to 25,000 kip in Luang Prabang, The outlier being Pai which is a bit of a tourist hotspot. Transport further up Thailand also drops in cost from 200 baht (£5) for a 10 minute drive in Bangkok to 200 baht for a three hour journey from Chiangmai to Chiang Rai. Laos actually has been a little more expensive for short journeys As there is no Grab or Bolt apps to book cheap taxis or motorbike rides and the tuk tuk mafia bump up costs.

I noticed the transition in vehicles too. In the south everybody can afford a car and often can afford to modify it too with custom lights, souped up engines and colourful anodised metal parts, particularly on the Tuk-Tuks. In Chiang Mai and Pai cars were present but often swapped out for motorbikes for convenience in the cities, with the odd colourful part or custom wrap on mopeds. Chiang Rai Was even more separated with a few cars in the city and few bikes outside. I also noticed that the majority of the cars here had a dark window tint , absolutely an illegal level in the UK, so you couldn’t see inside. In Laos, cars are old and battered as are most bikes and lorries with many people riding scooters out of cost saving rather than choice. You see a few mopeds carrying large items that could really use a car for Transport, and seeing a moped with A home-made Sidecar is not uncommon. In Thailand I was impressed with the Quality of the roads in general, much better than England on average although I guess they don’t have to deal with the effects of freeze thaw erosion. In Laos however, if you go outside of the city the roads are terrible and full of potholes, sometimes disappearing altogether and turning to dust and rocks.

The ethnicity has also subtly shifted. Down south people have a light tan skin, brown hair and probably look more typically Thai. Further north and particularly closer to the Chinese and Myanmar borders, the skin has a slightly darker tone hair is darker and denser with more oriental facial features.

Laos has a large Chinese influence now with many Chinese tourists flooding in due to the new Chinese-built railway that’s slices down the country all the way from China through Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng down to Vientiane. This has helped to funnel Chinese money and influence into the country, physically and metaphorically cementing their influence.

In Thailand where is bottled beers like Chang, Leo and Singha (~100 baht or £2.50 For a large bottle), and recently legalised marijuana (600baht Or £15 per gram) are priced high to draw out tourists’ money. In Laos Laobeer dominate at only 20,000 kip or £1 for a large bottle. Drugs make money in a different way: occasionally the police will read one of the few bars that have drugs on the menu/hostel that has a lot of people doing drugs. They will take them to a nasty prison for the night telling them that they will be locked away for years then the next morning offer them to pay a few hundred dollars to be set free as a bribe. I’ve heard stories of it happening to a few people even if I haven’t seen it so I will Be steering well clear.

Some of the photos and videos are a bit out of order here because I’ve since added a little bit more to this entry after arriving to Vang Vieng.Meer informatie