I should have known that when I saw the sign for Highway Thirteen that this would be one of those more interesting trips. It all started with the bus trip to get the bus for the trip. The vehicle was one of those "Sawngthaew"s but a big one. I was the only one in it until 5 young Americans climbed in. They dawdled and fucked around so much that both the driver and I got mightily pissed off. I then had to endure their conversations until we reached the rendezvous with the VIP bus to Thakhek. Sometimes there are people that for reasons completely unknown make you want to jump up and throttle them. In this case I knew the reasons. They were self opinionated, brash, loud and incredibly insensitive. The archetypal stereotype. But these guys were not stereotypes they were very real and the shite coming from their lips had me sitting there fuming, holding back some very nasty and provocative statements. Fortunately I was able to curb my more aggressive tendencies.
The main bus trip more than made up for the unpleasantness of the preliminaries. The view on either side started with very flat and dry agricultural lands with hints of big round mountains/hills to my left (East). After about 2 hours we began to see in front of us some even more impressive hills. Finally as the sun was setting we had some scenes of spectacular kharsts that made my mind go into excitement drive at the thought of riding through them in a few days. All the while this was happening there was the entertainment on board! There was a television screen up front that at first had this Laotian Wayne Newton clone (if you have ever seen Wayne Newton you'll know exactly what I mean if not I am very sorry. The image however is shlocking he is fat and chubby with oiled hair buffont style). Anyway this chap was crooning away Laotian pop ABBA style. Every once in a while he would wave his arms around in a wimpish fashion. It was very amusing. After this there was a french film dubbed in Lao which was full of gratuitous violence and mayhem. It was so OTT that you had to laugh. The two Bhuddist priests in front of me were in fits. After this I put on my headphones and finished the journey to the sounds of Ben Harper, John Butler trio, The Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Green Day - "Don't want to be and American Idiot" - can't think why not.
Arrival at Thakhek was the usual struggle to find the tuk tuk of choice and price and to find a hotel. This accomplished, I walked down to the river bank to call back the ghosts of 75'. Boy I got it in spades! You could see clearly the temple Danny and I were standing in front of all those years ago. The spades came with lots of explosions all around me. People were letting off very big firecrackers for Tet/Chinese New Year. The first loud bang transfixed me to the spot. Was I somehow travelling back in time? Had my addled brain done the biggest flashback ever with the cruel twist that I was now on the wrong side of the river? Reality flooded back in with more explosions. These were definitely happy bangs as they were accompanied by laughter and squeals of the kids. I wondered over to a small resteraunt and sat for dinner. I was served by the cutest little Laotian girl. She would have been all of 10 years old. She was dressed in a classic little girl party dress, all frills and ruffles and ribbons. She very proudly showed me the families decorations for New Year. She was bossing what were clearly her younger siblings around. Chivying them away from the "falangs". These other two girls were similarly attired but being much younger were oblivious to their clothes and focused on having fun. It was so sweet, so cute. It made me glad I was a Dad with similar memories of my two in their kiddie years.
I had a meal that was very nice and amazingly cheap. The whole lot (grilled chicken, papaya salad, sticky rice and a beer Lao) came to 35,000 kip. I walked back to my hotel through the "Fountain Square" I swear to you it is unchanged from 37 years ago! It's just that there are much more weeds and the feeling of unkemptness is very strong. I love it. It has a charm all of it's own, this place. It could never grow on you, there is not enough to sustain it. It will just always be there and that is more than enough.
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