Malaysia. Arrived here this evening from Kuala Lumpur. Will be leaving for Singapore on Saturday.
For those of you who don't know, I am now reunited with Mustafa and we are again travelling
together. We both arrived in Bangkok on the 23rd of May, he from London and I from Angkor Wat,
Cambodia.
Of course I am happy that Mustafa is here and we are travelling together again. But I am also a
little sad that I am no longer travelling solo and won't be doing so for a while, probably. It was
so much more of an experience travelling alone. It's of course more dangerous but that's part of
the excitement. There's less security but that makes things much more interesting.
It's much more of a fuller experience travelling alone - you have to think about everything yourself;
where to go, how to get there, where to stay, what to see, where to eat, etc. Every little thing
becomes an event that you'll remember and cherish.
You meet more people when travelling alone. You make more friends. But one thing you don't get is
to share the great experiences with a close friend. Sharing with new friends doesn't compare at
all with sharing with friends from childhood.
Anyway, let me continue where I left off a few weeks back….
SATURDAY MAY 6
Took the 7am bus from Vientiane to Savannakhet. The distance of 540 km or so took 9 hours, only an
hour more than scheduled. I was impressed. But wasn't with the interior of the bus - more than
half of the space was taken up by crates of beer!
There were five other travelers on the bus - a Brit and an American who were travelling together
and a Brit and two Canadians (Montreal and Winnipeg) who were also together. I hooked up with the
group of three and shared a room with them at the Mekong Hotel. There were only three beds in the
room so the Brit slept on a mattress on the floor. I offered but he insisted. A very nice guy from
Birmingham who I'll be meeting up again in Sydney, hopefully.
SUNDAY MAY 7
There were no buses going to the Laos-Vietnam border on Sunday so we were to spend another day in
Savannakhet. (Montreal and I were to head for Vietnam while Birmingham was to cross in to Thailand
and Winnipeg to return to Vientiane.)
Savannakhet is a very provincial feeling provincial town. It was so laid back. Much more laid back
- or should I say lazy - than Vientiane and that is saying something. The infrastructure and
level of development was like that of Sylhet but it's in no way as busy as my home town even
though the population sizes are similar.
Like the town, my three companions were also of the laid back/lazy variety though Montreal was
less so. I wanted to hire a bike bicycle and cruise the town but they didn't. So I went to hire
one on my own but couldn't find a bike! I didn't really look that hard though.
Apart from going to the main market, where I went mango crazy, we didn't do jack. Just bummed
around talking about how great travelling is. Actually, they were moaning a bit about the
discomforts of travelling in the majority world but I pointed out that it's all part of the
experience. You know, these days I seem to be able to put everything down to experience and enjoy
it, both at the time and later. Life is so good!
MONDAY MAY 8
Montreal and I took the 6am bus to the Laos-Vietnam border. On the bus we met an Australian from
Melbourne with whom we shared most of the mangoes I'd bought the previous day. But I was to leave
two of them on the bus, much to the regret of everyone. They were good!
This journey was the best yet (as I'd say in my current state of mind.). The distance of only
270km or so took more than 11and half hours, including almost an hour for a flat tyre. The road
was very bad to say the least with large pot-holes every few metres for the entire length of the
journey. Of course, we were sitting at the very back so felt their full effects. Oh, I haven't
mentioned that we were also packed-in like the unfortunate pickled fish also the victims of one of
Eric's outbursts.
Montreal didn't enjoy the ride at all and even Melbourne got annoyed by the end. I loved it all
the way through even when I was told that we may not make it to the border before it closes.
Actually, I kinda liked the idea of spending a night on the primitive border post!
We got there on time but before arriving at the border the bus was stopped by Laos customs police.
And it wasn't because of me this time! No, it was to stop these ladies smuggling live animals -
lizards, snails, birds - to Vietnam. The lady to my left dropped an iguana right by my side just
as the police boarded. Man, it freaked me out!
The bus terminated a short way from the border so we had to take motorcycles for the last km or
so. The crossing was pretty hassle free but again it took me longer to get through. Being used to
it doesn't make it any better, you know.
On the Vietnamese side we were 3km away from Lao Bao, the place to take a bus to the coast and
Dong Ha. The four of us, now joined by Rotterdam, took bikes again. And in Lao Bao we boarded
another smuggler's bus. (Actually, it wasn't a bus really but it had wheels and it moved so that
was enough.)
Apart from the four of us and two other travelers, one from Bangkok and the other from Illford ,
England I think everybody else was smuggling something or rather, from cigarettes to umbrellas. We
were stopped by the police twice but they found nothing and we didn't rat either! It was so
obvious that the people were hiding stuff under their clothes but the police seemed to ignore
that. Maybe they were only allowed to search the vehicle and not individuals. Anyway, we got to
Dong Ha in one piece. I split a room with Melbourne while Montreal split with Rotterdam.
It was a very long day!
PS: Congratulations on your engagement, Asif! Make sure the wedding is not before the last week of
November. I won't be back in London before then!
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