Whitewater in Laos

"Foolish to the point of insanity" Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul Warnke on US Stratergy in Indochina



WHITEWATER IN LAOS

After I came back from whitewater rafting, I had forgotten how physically draining the whole thing is. Imagine being on a rowing machine for seven hours. You basically can't stop rowing the oars at all all day, and I felt a little big like a slave on a Roman galley. Having said that, it is pretty spectacular, and very exciting. The rapids weren't as big as they are on the upper portions of the Nile, but they're still amazing, with huge waves several feet high.

I went back the following day to try the same thing in a kayak, and that was much more extreme, particularly when we crashed into a bed of bushes, and the boat capsized.

* * *

Laos is a tiny laid back hippy of a country. It seems to be dimly aware that countries exist outside Indochina, but isn't too fussed about them. No one seems to worry about anything. Their national museum is particularly trippy with a giant Pepsi can and a builder's hard hat ending the section on Laotian history.

* * *

I met a genuine Vietnam War Veteran the other day, along with his much younger Laotian wife.

"Did you know," the Vet asked me, his eyes slightly wild, but his voice proud "that we killed more people in Laos than the whole of the Asian Tsunami? Just in this one country! And yet no one back home even seems to have heard of Laos! They don't even know its a country!"

He laughed about this, and I really wasn't sure of what to make of the whole situation. I wonder what his wife thought about it all.

* * *

Anyway, I have left Laos, and arrived in Thailand now. The North and the South are both incredibly beautiful, although the capital Bangkok seems to be a bit more like a destination for drunken package tourists. And my wallet was stolen there, which didn't really help my opinion of the place.


Currently I am volunteering on a project on Ko Phi Phi , an island in the south. Its bloody hard work, but the island is beautiful, and the people here are great.


Hope all is well in the UK.


Michael