Traveling Alone

Rather than do my poor interpretation of a travel log, I will refer you to a much more detailed and pictorial source on traveling in S.E. Asia. Take a look at "travelfish.org". It is a really good source for travelers in the area along with photos. Plenty of great information about the area and the attractions. There, I discovered I am "flashpacker" because I stay in lodgings from $10-$20 rather than backpackers who are classified as less than $10.



There are many people of different ages traveling as couples or alone in this category, they are different nationalities and gender filling the restaurants, kayaking, sight seeing and just generally "touring". Interestingly, they all have to communicate in english so it is far easier for me than many other tourists.

Then there are others, including the Muths's, who are real adventurers and do things as they did like riding a bike around SE Asia(Ouch, my taint). Check out their blog at "themuths.blogspot.com".

Me, I find it really liberating to be on my own while traveling. If you have ever been in a situation where you have two couples trying to decide on, for instance where to eat, and three agree but there is a one person hold out and the hold out tyrant gets his or her way because the others don't want to make a scene, you can understand the attraction of traveling alone. Living in the same hotel room with another person and being together for 24/7 is oppressive for both. Overall, travel is sometimes fatiguing and when cranky people are tired they become a pain the ass (myself especially)and can make life unpleasant for those around them.

I first traveled alone to Europe with a backpack in 1972. Previously, I was in the army but that is like traveling with an athletic team as you are always hanging out with guys who want to do the same things. Traveling alone is quite different as you are always looking out at strangers rather than in a group with another person. I must admit, it was difficult to adapt but as time has passed and I have more experience, I am much more comfortable traveling alone than with someone else. Maybe it has to do with getting to be an older male. You look at some of the other social mammals such as lions and elephants and the males detach themselves from the herd to hang with other males first and then alone as they age. I just chalk it up to genetics and do not assume any guilt for getting annoyed when I spend too much time with people.


OK, so maybe, just maybe, I am the one to get cranky. At least this way I don't inflict myself on anyone else.

I just finished reading "On The Road" by Jack Kerouac. Funny, I can remember reading "Roughing It" by Mark Twain when I was traveling in Morocco in a VW van with 6 other people on the road from Amsterdam in the "Marrakech Express". That was about his trip out west to San Francisco. Now, I am traveling in Laos and read a book written about traveling the same route some 70 years later. The Beat Generation fueled by bennies and hard liquor and tea and bop, celebrating life and birthing the hippies.

Final page:

"the evening star must be drooping and shedding her sparkler dims on the prairie, which is just before the coming of complete night that blesses the earth, darkens all rivers, cups the peaks and folds the final shore in, and nobody, nobody knows what's going to happen to anybody besides the forlorn rags of growing old,"

Vientiane

This is my favorite city in SE Asia. The French occupation for many years left its influence in the ways of good restaurants with a fusion of French and Lao food. The city itself was designed and rebuilt by the French and the architecture is similar to what one might see in Miami south beach or New Orleans except without the iron work on the balconies. Sort of art deco as the corners of buildings are rounded and there are many sidewalk cafes.

The pace of life is much slower here as compared to Thailand and people do not seem to be as stressed as they are there. Thailand is an ancient kingdom that is controlled by the aristocratic families of the minor royalty ans well as the police and military. The wages of the common folk are kept low to enhance the profits of the wealthy. In the People's Democratic Republic of Lao however they at least pay lip service to "equality and amity". While the people don't have much as far as material wealth they are all fed, have clothes and seem to have positive attitudes. In Thailand, one gets the sense of frustration amongst people because of the rising expectations of acquiring new cars, TVs, motor bikes, clothes, etc. Also, the traffic situation there is getting very similar to the west with too many cars, not enough parking and traffic jams.

I have found some tennis here which is great. In Thailand I was reduced to having to play with the old guys in doubles (older than me even) playing pitty pat tennis. Here I pay about $5.50 per hour to hit with a good player which includes his fee, court fee and a ball kid to run around and fetch. He is a polite kid about 20 who loves to run and hit the ball hard..great for me. I am still running a bit but I find it a lot more interesting to get excercise playing rather than working out.

It is winter here so the weather has been a bit cool. I am still in flip flops and shorts but soon will need a jacket at night. In about 2 months tho' the temps will get hot again and I will have to head south to the beaches. In the meantime I plan to travel for the next 30 days in Laos and then pass over to Cambodia then Vietnam.

One of the fun things about traveling like this is how many different and interesting people I meet. Last night I talking to an Aussie guy who works for a mining operation going on in the boonies. Evidently there is a lot of gold, copper and silver in them thar hills. I was glad to hear of the environmental precautions they are taking as they mine. Evidently in the region he is working there are many unexploded bombs from the Vietnam war, mostly dropped by the USA. The bombs were left over from WW2 and the estimate is 30% did not detonate and now must be dug up and disposed of.

Laos is "the most bombed country in the world" During the Viet war, B52's flew out of 4 bases in Thailand to bomb N Vietnam and the Ho Chi Minh trail. If they could not ID targets in N Vietnam, they would not drop the bombs randomly in Hanoi but returned to base and dropped them over "thinly populated areas in Laos" before landing. Basically, we bombed Laos into the stone age. 66 million people live in Thailand, 87 million in Vietnam and in the middle, 6 million people in Laos. The people that survived in the country had to live in caves.

Now, though, there seems to a sense of better things to come. Many countries are contributing to building an infrastructure of roads, water works and sewage plants along with bomb removal teams from many nations working to clean things up.

Right now the South East Asian (SEA) games are going on here for the first time. A new stadium was built along with a sports complex to host the event. Last night Lao beat Malaysia in a soccer game 2-0 and the town went crazy. People were riding around 2 or 3 on a motorbike carrying flags along with milling crowds on the street fresh from the stadium with all their "Go Lao" t-shirts and headbands. It really was fun to see all the people so happy. A Lao guy I talked to said this is history for Lao as the only demonstrations before were always orchestrated by the government. Every TV in the capital and probably all over the country were tuned the match. All the additional traffic cops and military guys brought in the event were part of the crowds clustered in front of TV's at the sidewalk restaurants ignoring the traffic which wasn't much for two hours.

I was planning on going south sooner but now I am going to stick around for the rest of the games. The kid I pay to play tennis with me is playing #2 for the national team and I have to be there to watch and lend support.