Tribes decided

 

December 30 2022, Someplace in Laos between here and there

We’ve been on the boat for a little more than 12 hours and already the tribes seem to have separated. Some great, some neutral and one that is entitled.

One couple from Toronto In like her a lot. She doesn’t candy coat how she feels about things. She is the kind of a good friend everyone needs. Someone who will tell you the truth. It may not be what you want to hear but it frequently is what you need to hear.. She runs a blog www.travelingjudi.com I’ll have to remember to check her writing out, from time to time.

There are the two belles of the ball from Orlando, both on the younger side of the passenger census. Sisters and cute. There is the Australian couple. He used to work for the foreign service in the 70’s, so I assume he was a spy. I’ll have to see how he drinks his Martinis. There is the Anglo/Thai couple. Not the typical old guy looking for a Thai honey in Patya Beach. They met in Austin Texas of all places and have been together for something like 40 years. Boy, she is a talker. I don’t think she has ever had an unspoken thought, but she is sweet and funny.

Then there is the woman from J’Berg South Africa, via England. I get the feeling that life was pretty good for her, until it wasn't. She hasn’t had a positive thing to say about anything in the brief conversations I’ve had with her. At lunch in Vientiane she told Vieng out guide she needed some batteries for her Mini Mag light. They had to be AA, she repeated about 3 times, and when he asked to see the flash light, she pulled it away and emphatically said it needed AA batteries. I put her on the naughty list over that.

My nose has been running better than a Rolex. That and shortness of breath, really knocked me off my usual ‘Tigger-ness”. I was Eore all day. I wasn’t sure if it was Malaria, Dengue Fever, or a new variant of COVID 32-Omega. Then again I might just have been a darned cold. I grabbed my softest pack and stuffed it under my head and closed my eyes for the entire 6 hours. I don’t know if I slept or not, I just know I wasn't totally there. Got on the real boat, had a quick dinner of appetizer and soup and went back to my stateroom at 830 and was asleep by nine. I woke up after total blankness and said “Siri, what time is it”, It is 4:11” I was really happy with that. Seven solid hours the best I’ve had in a week.

Three cups of Laos’ answer to Starbucks and it as Easter Morning for me. Se has risen!

This morning was foggy so the planned 10am requisite village tour has been delayed until this afternoon. So instead we can learn how to say hello and good bye in Lao. Apparently they don’t know about Google Translate. I didn’t bring a sweatshirt. What do you need a sweatshirt for, past experiences in SE Asia is any clothing is too much clothing. It seems on the Mekong I the morning, you do need a sweater or light jacket. All I have is my purple parka which is a hint overkill.

1130am cruising along, and I think we are caught up for a while.

I passed on the language class. I really didn’t think I would retain much of it, without using it. Lunch was larger than my regular dinner. I have got to start saying ‘No’ but everything is too tasty. We nosed into the riverbank and gangway set and off we went to do the village walking tour. When I was in Syria I went to a museum at Palmyra, it was school field trip day. Children would run up to me and say “Hello” and run away hundreds of them. I tied ‘how are you?’ back, but eventually a teacher told me that the students only knew “Hello” in English. I kind of felt the same here, except in reverse. My crew mates were all “Sah Be Dah” everywhere. Over and over. I sort of felt bad for the villagers. Our wrangler Vieng coaxed the children to come with us, with a “Don’t give them money, but yo can buy them something at the store before we leave”. That damn Thai twat was handing out change to the kids. Apparently her hearing is not as good as her stupidity.

The ship's Purser Mr. Jimmy came up to me to find out which Thai airport I was flying out of so he cold set up transportation. I guess no one had ever done what I want to do, stay in Laos and cross over with the boat to Thailand. Vieng had to explain to him twice what I oped to do. I think it will work out.

Overheard today: “I like the younger ones”. I didn’t tell him ‘Dude, at your age hey arr ALL younger ones.’

My boat is (again) a bus

 

December 29, 2022 – Pak Lay, Laos

A few days to cover and it should be short. Just the regular complaining.

We got up ready to hear out to the boat. Boarded out mini bus and drove to the nearest Best Western hotel. What is the world is going on? Seems the river is too low for our cruise boat to make it to Vientiane. So our boat cabin is a corporate concrete box. Except for the not view it is the same as any other Best Western anywhere except Dhaka Bangladesh. I settled in and waited for notification on what to do next. Eventually I caved ad went in search of the rest of the group. Not on the second floor dining room. Not on the lobby, but a receptionist took pity on me and called the guide.

A tuk-tuk ride to the restaurant and some grub. I enjoyed it, most of the crowd thought 3 star was too hot. Then

off to the regular tourist trail. A couple important temples, none of them over 200 years old Siam trashed the city before heading home in the 1800’s.

Then to a big Arc triumph that was made with cement from the USA. The purpose for the cement was to build a new airport. Of course it went to building a monument.

Back at the hotel for drinks and dinner I feel crappy and went to bed at 9pm. 4Am wake up and flopped until 6 since we had to be on a bus for a 2 ½ hour ride to a small boat to take us to the big boat. What can you say about a bus ride? The wheels on the bus went round and round.

Then a jetty and out boat to the boat. I am all peopled out so kept to myself and dozed most of the 7 hours. On the boat cabins assigned, safety briefing and now dinner.

As I told you it was going to be short. That and I still do not feel well and seem to have left Alieve back home. I’m going to try and stay awake until 9pm. I am such a big girl.

The wheels on the bus ...

 

December 27^th 2022, Vientiane, Laos

Well I think I am here. As a friend said – If you wanted to relax you could stay at home, but you like adventure. - Well I have had about enough adventure for the next couple of days.

Over breakfast yesterday in Bangkok I made a flight reservation using Air Asia’s app for a Lao Airlines flight too Vientiane at 2pm. Lots of time to get to the airport and jump trough the ticketing process and then of course the “formalities”.

At the baggage counter I present the e-ticket and she can’t find me in the system. Like I was expecting anything else? Of course not! Computer keys clicked and Thai exchanged among the staff. Maybe since it was booked today it isn’t in the system yet. “Where did you buy the ticket?” - Air Asia app. - “You nee to go see them” – But?!?….. - They are at counter ‘F’, you are at counter ‘S’. I broke out my binoculars and could barely make out the big ‘F’ at the other end of the terminal. - Sigh! Okay.

At ‘F’ there are two young people in Air Asia red vests, clearly marked as trainee. Blah, blah, Lao Airlines, row ‘S’ .. etc, etc. -- Blah, blah, this is Air Asia. This ping pong goes on for a few minutes. No raised voices, just each side stating their situation. At last the male trainee says come with me. So back to ‘S’.

My telephone is handed from hand to hand, more blah, blah. Finally a supervisor comes over, looks at the phone information and says “You made the reservation for tomorrow, the 27” I looked and sure a Hell, I had the wrong date. I wish I could blame it on the computer, or the airline or the clock, but I just wasn’t paying close attention when I made the reservation. I handed the Air Asia trainee a small handful of paper with the king’s picture on it and thanked him profusely.

Now to fix my mistake. The supervisor says the entire flight is booked for today. Maybe I could go on the standby list. Okay that is an option. The awaiting hotel in Vientiane what booked pre paid booked for two nights and I had already requested them to change it to tonight and tomorrow, I can’t do that again. Fine, please put me on the Stand-by list.

A very short time later the supervisor came over and said I was very luck and they had a cancellation and I had a seat. There was a change fee (of course) of 30 USA bucks, but that is a small price to pay from my point of view at this moment. Some fooling around with dollars to Bhat and I watch the conveyor belt swallow my checked luggage.

Thai TSA is like every other TSA and even though I am nearly in my bra and panties I still beep. Uh … elbow repair bionic implant perhaps? That did the trick. Next stop, and I do mean stop – Exit Immigration. I checked my watch when getting in line 1205. Four officers for general public, and one for crew members. AS expected from the bureaucracy the Crew Member officer can not even think about asking a normal passenger to come to his kiosk. 1245 and I was past that gauntlet.

The plane was on time, only 15 minutes late and it did look like every seat in the house was filled. I doubted that I was very lucky when the supervisor said that, now I was a believer.

In Laos more paperwork and lines for Visa On Arrival, but it went pretty smoothly. A $7 (USD) taxi ride and I was at the hotel. The an at reception said he had personally allowed my last minute change of the booking and there was not charge. I am not sure what the hotel is trying to be. Maybe post modern Paris. Are deco chairs in the large wine room. Furniture that looks like it was poured when being manufactured instead of assembled. Regardless of their style. My room is very large and will do nicely for the next two nights.

With a huge relaxing sign and some horizontal time on my bed just enjoying the calm, I was here. Yes it was an adventure.

------

Around 7pm I decided to venture out for dinner. There is a nice promenade along the Mekong and I knew from YouTube that there was food served along it as well as the night market. I walked along and past numerous temporary restaurants and then I was into the area which was obviously not the right direction, because there was no one and the lighting was getting spaced further and further part. A U-turn and back to a likely looking spot with fresh seafood on display and a charcoal brazier. It looked as good as any.

The menu had a seafood salad that sounded interesting. I still had a full day in case it turned out to be more than interesting. Spicy? Not Lao spicy please, but some spice please. Shrimp, octopus, unknown fish, sliced carrots, onions, bean sprouts and a great dressing. One bottle of BeerLao and water and I was in Anthony Bourdain heaven (well not quite, since he is in actual heaven, but you get the idea) It really was good. I mean really. About the equivalent of $6 Uncle Sams.

Night market was back past my hotel, I could almost make out the lights, just a few kiosks past “F”. Hundreds of 10 foot but 10 foot blue tarp covered sales areas. It was not a tourist mecca, it was for locals. Sure there was the occasional knock off handbag, or wearing apparel but t was for local consumption, bot the tourist trade. I passed thousands of people and only saw a small handful of western faces.

I wanted two things. A leash for my iPhone and a curling iron. I ordered a curling iron from Amazon a week before leaving home. AS of today it still hasn't been delivered. No luck on the phone handle, but found a curling iron. $20 USD? No. $15 USD? No. $10 USD? Fine. I probably could have gotten it for less, like $3 USD, but what the heck?

In bed by 1030pm and slept mostly until 0630 and here we are at breakfast.

Plan today is get my nails done find a Laos Lonely Planet and change some USD into some new and strange paper. I have my notes written by the staff to give to the Tuk-Tuk pilot and will head out in a second or two.

 

December 26 – Boxing day 2022 – Bangkok, Thailand

When we last left out intrepid traveler she was waiting for a flight from Tokyo to Bangkok and hoping to get the fancy seat she paid for instead of the cardboard box the airline said that was available. Well thanks to Ms. Nakamura I did get a nice fancy seat and it was on a bulkhead. Handsprings and back flips !! So what do you get for extra $$ on Japan Airlines? You get fuzz slippers, a small kit with a mask and toothbrush. More legroom if you are not on a bulkhead and maybe ½ an inch wider seat. The TV might be a hint larger. Quite frankly, the economy seat with a bulkhead from Seattle to Tokyo was a better ride. Free advice, if you can get a bulkhead set in economy don’t waste the extra $$ on the slippers and toothbrush.

My seatmate was the absolute Sphinx. Not a peep out of him for 7 hours. He did take my ice cream though. That communication was all in pantomime.

Exiting the plane in Bangkok, a JAL employee was holding a page with my name in BIG letters. Huh? Am I getting a free hotel suite? A limo ride to Laos? Free upgrades for life? Alas no, They want my printed itinerary that is was given in NRT that said this flight was regular economy and not Premier Economy so they could change it on their forms. Never mind thatt the SEA – SF – NRT as still on that same sheet and the SEA – NRT flight that I did get was actual regular old economy. As long as they got confirmation the I wasn’t going to take advantage of them, they didn’t care that I felt that they were taking advantage of me. That discussion will be dealt with once my Reebok are back on USA dirt.

BKK was a mix master. Immigration was smiles and Merry Christmas. The airport shuttle was ready to levitate me to my overnight hotel. Passport and credit cards were exchanged and I had a room. The receptionist asked me when I was leaving and since I didn't have a firm air booking to Laos it told he I didn’t know. She informed me than check out was 24 hours from right now. What? No 10am or 11am without an extra fee? Is was great !

The room is huge in relation to the hotel in Tokyo. The bed was billed as a King Size. I swear you could have placed two of my at home Queen sized beds on it and still had room for a toddler.

Six hours in the Land of Nod and things are looking up. Breakfast just like at the Hilton in any large US city. No eels on the menu. I made fight arrangement from here to Vientiane at 2pm so have plenty of time to get on the next silver tube.

-- So for now – that is all the drama.

Getting there is half the fun. ------- Not !

9 am Christmas morning, Tokyo Japan

Well I was expecting to write from Bangkok, guess life doesn’t always live up to expectations.

If you are a first time reader of mine. Do not expect a travelogue, I write my experiences, and might include a bit of the local scenery.

So – let the bitching begin!

Sunday – 5 days before the flight. The arrot companions need to go to “Parrot Camp” which is 20 miles away over (now) snowy back roads. My car is not snowable. I can get nearly anywhere, except back into my actual driveway. So a great friend with 4×4 drove me and Dorothy and Greenster to camp. Whew! Thanks Von, no parrot skeletons when I get home.

Monday – 4 day before flight. 12 inches of snow. Not even a track from another car on the street.

Tuesday Wednesday – same thing

Thursday – 1 day before flight. Begged a ride from my wonderful next door neighbor for a ride to the pick up location for a ride to SeaTac airport. He has big massive 4×4 truck and inched down the three blocks to cleared streets. He dropped me off around 8 am for a 3 pm bus. I got lucky and caught an earlier bus.

I went to check in for an over night stay at a hotel I have stayed with many times in thee past. Check in is at 3pm. It is now 1:30 “That will be $30 early check-in fee”. I held my breath and stomped my feet and she finally said “$25 is the best I can do”. I felt like I was in the marketplace in Cairo, only she was much more difficult to haggle with than most carpet salesmen. It was 16 degrees (-9c) and a wind out of the north. Here’s your Ice money. I would have said blood money, but it would have frozen.

The room was as expected, so white I needed sunglasses and enough pillows for a huge pillow fort or a neighborhood pillow fight. The flight I am on, on Friday, has been running late the last few days. I log on and see how late. 30 minutes. Not so bad. I can still make the connection tomorrow. Wait. Tomorrow it says CANCELED. What?? How about some notice Alaska Airlines?

What to do? Worry, worry. Fret, fret. Well, duh. Call the airlines. One ring dingy …. “… all our agents are busy. The estimated wait is 38 minutes. If you would like a call back in the order received press 1”. So I press one, and get confirmation they have my number.

I wait 20 minutes snuggled in downy luxury and decide. The airport is in easy walking distance, I walk over and talk face to face and if the call comes in then I’ll deal with that, then. By the way, it’s now 15 degrees.

The terminal is a madhouse. Crowded, all courtesy left at the curbside. People running around pushing through like the are bomb squad team member with a live bomb that they have to get someplace else to disarm. The line to ask questions at Alaska Air is so long, it would be tomorrow before I got to an agent. Wait. There is no one at the bag in kiosk. What the heck, what the worst she can say? No. She said, yes. So An actual 40 minutes later she and I gave up. United had one seat available. Whoops! No seats available. Korean Air has a flight but no way to get seat assignments. Fiddle. She really tried. I mushed though the throngs back to the hotel room. It’s been over an hour and no call back. I’ll call once more and press 1 for a call back. Only this time it is 3 hours wait time.

An hour and a half Alaska calls! The woman listens to my tale and says, there isn’t anything I can do for you, let me transfer you. Christ on a crutch! “Hello this is Tonya in Arizona … “..So I blah, blah, blah her my situation. She starts checking. After 45 minutes, she says “I can get you on a Japan Airlines to Tokyo tomorrow at noon from SeaTac”.-- Tonya I love you!! I can still make the connecting flight from Tokyo to Bangkok!! Tonya I really, really love you.

Good night.

Friday – Flight day. Up early and it was raining and turning the streets to an ice rink immediately upon lighting on anything solid. Including the sidewalks. I didn’t fell like doing my best Dorothy Hammel or Three Stooges walk to get to the airport this time so took the shuttle. Everything went smoothly at check in. The schedule was 30 minutes than normal, but still plenty of time to connect in Tokyo.

Get ticket, get gate off to get electronically strip searched. No problem, well one problem. I am at the

south most part of the terminal and TSA Pre is at the most northerly. In case you haven’t flown commercially since out were born, airports are big. About ¾ of the way to pre check I notice regular TSA has no line. The guy tells me that I still can keep my shoes on, but will have to have my laptop come out. I can live with that. Of course I get secondary. At last I got to keep most of my clothes on. Back the way I came to the tram which for the south terminal is behind where I checked in with JAL. Get off the tram and start looking for the gate and the intercom lady says the gate has been changed to back in the middle of the main terminal, eventually I got there, my Apple watch said I had walked 1.2 miles and done 12 minutes of exercise and it wasn’t even noon.

Then the wheels fell off the bus. Next was an hour, then two. Still possible, but going to need to do my best Florence Joyner and hurdle through NRT. We get on the Renton made flying bus and I find that this plane does not have the fancy economy seats I paid for. I was able to snag a bulkhead seat, but it is still normal economy. Could be worse, could be middle seat in the back against the toilet. ……. and we wait … and wait. I can see Bangkok fading into the sunset. The flight attendant offers me to move across the aisle to the empty 4 on the bulkhead. That will guaranty me an empty seat next to me. No fuzzy slippers, leg rest and extra ass kissing from Premium Economy, but this is about as good as it gets. 1230 scheduled departure, push back from the gate at 1729. looks like more adventure.

About 10 hours later 0350 Circadian rhythm time, 2050 local time. Te BKK flight is somewhere over Vietnam by now. We transit passengers are ushered to an area where out connecting flights have already been set up. The nice lady informs me that my next flight to BKK is at 610, and I am welcome to stay in their premium business lounge until then. By now my internal clock is at 0500 and I can’t sleep on a plane. So 6 hours in the lounge, not my first choice, but the food is nice there and the WiFi is free. I whine a little, and confirm the time. Yes, 610pm tomorrow evening. Whoa!! 18 hours in your lounge ? No way, Princess Zelda. ! “How about a hotel?” She said words like – no hotel – pandemic – quarantine – and a bunch of other current buzz words. I step away from the counter and count to ten twice before I go into full blown American Karen. After slamming pens and paper I scribbled my scowl on the paper she shoved in front of me. Then was told to sit over there. I am not sure if this was a ‘Time Out’ or just needed more time to fiddle with paper work. Ten minutes later she comes and whispers something to me. The women here are exceptionally quiet, but she was whispering. The third time I asked her to repeat what she said “We have you a hotel”. She was whispering so the other passengers didn’t hear.

More paperwork. Then escorted through quarantine and vaccination check. It would be so much easier if I had a collar and a tag. Then immigration where I filled out the form in Blue pen and had to redo it in Black pen. Customs was a “Keep it moving, tourist” A shuttle bus ride, and check it and by 6am body time I had a room.

Nice room, funny room. Compact room. Squirt toilet. Throw away house slippers and leather hallway?? slippers. Two sets of P.J.s. Real P.J.s as well as all the rest of the stuff you’d expect. Lights out and a Valium and the day was forgotten.

In the morning, breakfast. I declined the eels, but did partake in the Miso soup, pickled ginger and salted plum. There was also some scrambled eggs, a very un-French croissant and weak coffee. Putter around for a bit and back to the airport.

The seat to BKK is not in Premium Economy as purchased, but in the middle either on the aisle or window. How about me buying an upgrade to Business?

The SEA to NRT was only 1/3 filled in business. They might be up to changing my seat for an extra Benjamin or two. Well that would happen, for and extra 15 Benjamin's. Uh, no. You don’t understand I want an upgrade, not to buy the plane.

Now in the business class lounge, had some soup and a salad and some (not weak) coffee and have a few hours yet before boarding for Bangkok, I think, I hope.

 

 Decision made - Laos 2022 !!

Where to go ? After nearly 2 years in the same city, except for the very infrequent trip to the Emerald City the time has come.

Time to get on a big aluminum tube, light a fire and soar to a different time zone. But .... where to? I'd love to go back to Italy there are still places to see and new memories to create. Wait a minute! I just got an email from a cruise line offering me a free flight to their 10 days in the Java sea. Yes! Until I read the reviews. The ports are 20 miles from the advertised city. The advertised two days in a particular city actually means, arrive at 10pm and depart at 5pm. I guess technically it IS two days, but less than 24 hours. Hmm ... Southeast Asia? I like that part of the world. The food is good, the cost of lodging is reasonable, the culture totally different than I normally experience. True, sometimes the food or the water will lock you in the loo for a day, but I can experience that from a pint of Cherry Garcia and not leave my house.

Okay. Southeast Asia. Thailand? Possible, but the parts I have visited had so many tourists they were like a high humidity mosquito-ridden Disneyland. Well at least they aren't singing the tune to "It's a small world". (Crap! now it's stuck in my head, and I can't make it stop!!) Cambodia, I like. I know there are places I haven't experienced there, though 3 weeks would be too long. Myanmar? I love it! Current political situation puts me off.

Someplace new to me? Vietnam? Great reviews from Trip Advisor and friends who have recently visited there. Unfortunately I watched the nightly travel review of Vietnam in the 1960's and 70's and they kind of put me off from going there. Maybe someday, just not today.

Then there is that other country in the same area, Laos. Not as touristed as Thailand. Some of the Cambodian influences. Wasn't as acknowledged as much as Vietnam by Walter Cronkite. Hmmm ... possible. I took a cruise down the Mekong river the first time I visited Cambodia. The same company is offering a 10 day cruise up the Mekong in Laos. Clean sheets every night, transportation, food, a good introduction to the country. A little bit of Nanny care before being set free on my own. I think that's it! Besides, I get to be the first of my friends to visit Laos!

So three weeks. Ten days in the Mekong, a couple days in transit and we shall see where this leads.