Listen To It Grow…

“The Vietnamese plant the rice. The Cambodians watch it grow. The Laotians listen to the rice grow. The Thai harvest the rice. And the Chinese sell it.”

This saying is attributed to the French colonists in Indo-China, but I haven’t been able to find an original source. Yes, it smacks of colonial stereotypes, but I’ve heard it a couple of times from local people on this trip in different contexts: a wariness of Chinese economic domination; the industriousness of the Vietnamese; and as a dig at the pace of life in Laos.

I’m not sure it’s such a put down. Compared to the frenetic pace of Bangkok and Hanoi, the more relaxed pace in Laos is quite welcome. We disembarked from our Mekong River cruise in Luang Prabang. It was, for a brief period in Laos’ turbulent history, the royal capital. Today, Luang Prabang is a laid back provincial town of some 55,000 people, at the junction of the Mekong and Nam Khan Rivers. The town has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its historic temples and its blend of European and traditional Laotian architecture.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t enjoy our time here much. There’s been a cold bug circulating through our tour group, and it finally hit Liz and me. Of course, mine being a man-cold was ever so much worse, not that you’ll hear word of complaint from me, despite the intense suffering. No, not a peep.

As I lay on my deathbed, Liz and the rest of the group went off to visit a local village. They were treated to a traditional welcome ceremony with prayers from the elders. Cotton threads were tied around the visitors’ wrists for good luck. The village is known for its hand spun and woven fabrics. These traditional crafts were demonstrated along with a lesson in noodle making. Yes, Liz actually cooked, and I missed it!!

The next morning, we were up before dawn to offer food as alms to the local Buddhist monks. Being a monk or nun isn’t necessarily a lifelong commitment. Most people spend at least a few weeks at some point in their lives in this strict spiritual discipline. While living as monks or nuns the focus is on learning, meditation and prayer. They depend on offerings from the public for food. Any excess is given to the poor.

It’s the real deal. People take this very seriously, getting up early to cook pots of curry and noodles to donate to the monks. We bought bamboo containers of sticky rice, and a stack of chocolate bars for the younger monks. Buying the food seemed a bit like cheating, but Buddhism is a very practical religion, and our group leader, Chit assured us it was fine – good karma is good karma.

One final note – as well as spiritual learning, the young monks and nuns, some as young as 6 or 7, are also given a practical education in all the regular subjects. Education in SE Asia is not free unless you are a monk, so for some this is the only way to get an education. Chit has been a monk several times, and in fact that is where he learned English, which has allowed him to get a good job and support his family. I’m not sure what level my karma is at – I suspect I’m still coming back as a garden slug – but I don’t mind buying a little rice to support that kind of program.

Then we were off to Vang Vieng. What used to be a full-day drive between Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng now takes little more than an hour by high speed train. The train was financed as part of China’s Belt and Road program, connecting Vientiane, Laos’ capital, with Botan and China’s high speed rail system in the north. The railway is a real engineering feat, given Laos’ mountainous terrain. By my estimate about 2/3 of our journey was tunneled through the mountains – not much for scenery, but still impressive.

Vang Vieng is set in a beautiful valley surrounded by karst (steep limestone) mountains. The town itself leaves something to be desired, in my geriatric opinion. It has acquired a reputation as a party town and is thronging with 20-somethings, looking for… well, you name it. You may recall the news last November when 6 tourists died here from drinking liquor laced with methanol.

The government has been making an effort to clean the city up, but it still bills itself as an adrenalin destination – zip lines, paragliding, rock climbing, hot-air balloons… and of course, parties ‘til the wee hours. We did a pleasant half-day kayak paddle on the Nam Song River. There were a few riffles and class 1 rapids, but nothing to get your pulse racing – more of a pleasant drift. We visited a couple of small caves and went for a swim in the blue lagoon (actually more green). All in all, like Vegas, Vang Vieng is interesting once, but I don’t need to ever visit again.

Our final destination in Laos was Vientiane, the capital, and probably the least interesting place we visited. It gave the vibe I usually get from government cities – self-absorbed, a bit pretentious, but somewhat hollow. And yes, I include Ottawa and other western capitals in that category. There are the usual grand monuments, and a few nice temples, but I think I’m becoming a bit jaded when it comes to temples.

Laos is one of the poorest countries in SE Asia, and tourism was seen as a way to change that. I do not begrudge people wanting to build a better life for themselves and their families, but there need to be guardrails. Unchecked tourism, like unchecked capitalism can become a social cancer. I hope Laos can avoid becoming a tourism casualty. As I said, the government is instituting measures to control some of the environmental and social damage. And it’s not just westerners. There are lots of drunken, rich, hedonistic Asian tourists flocking to Laos as well.

Rural Laos is lovely, and I’m really looking forward to the motorcycle portion of this trip in a few weeks. Riding through those mountains will be incredible. As for the rest, well, I wonder what Laos will look like when this young lady has children of her own. I hope there’s still time to sit back and listen to the rice grow.

You can check out the rest of the photo’s for this section in the gallery.

Note: I’m a bit behind on my posts. The nearly lethal man-cold is dragging on. We’ve actually been in Vietnam for about a week now. I hope to catch up in the next few days… if I survive.