While in Laos, we spent an afternoon with Lenou Sypasurt, a young man with an extraordinary vision for his country: to increase literacy among children. With money he saved from working as a dishwasher in Australia, he rented a small house near Luang Prabang and converted it into a library and classroom. Above is a short pro bono video we produced about Lenou, his library and the kids who visit it to help raise money and attract volunteers. Enjoy, and visit his site if you’d like to help out!
Tag: Laos
Overland Travel Stops: 4,000 Islands & Kratie
The land border between Laos and Cambodia is just a dusty little town filled with dollar noodles and stalls selling batteries and flip flops. Yet just beyond in each country are two little gems worth a day or two stop whilst traveling overland. Southern Laos possesses the 4,000 islands, also known as Siphandon. A riverine archipelago in the Mekong, most of the islands were submerged due to heavy rains. Yet the three largest and only inhabited islands remained, all encircled by cheap waterside bungalows adorned with hammocks. A good book and a fruit shake were the order of the day, a welcome retreat from weeks of daily activity.
A Short Loop Around the Bolaven Plateau
If there’s any one place that can reflect the experience of the Lao people and their land, it’s the Bolaven Plateau — a beautiful place marked by a tragic past and facing a challenging future. The Bolaven Plateau is an elevated region in Southern Laos named after the Laven ethnic group that historically dominated the land. During the French occupation it was deemed fitting land for growing coffee, a crop they still grow today. In 1901, the ethnic groups that populate the Plateau heavily revolted against the French occupation. But it was the Vietnam War that earned the region most of its scars.
Vientiane: Moving at the Speed of Laos
The world is changing fast, especially in Asia. Yet Laos seems resistant to the pressures of modernization and globalization; its capitol city Vientiane as evidence. There are no high-rises or mega malls, and few if any movie theaters (that I noticed). Entertainment is mostly limited to karaoke bars and bowling lanes and the city has a curfew of 11:00pm. Lao women working or entering government buildings are required to wear a traditional sarong and most ride on the back of motorbikes side-saddle. It’s a quiet city in which you can wander into the courtyard of a nearby Wat and hear little more than the sounds of monks shuffling by.
I did not go tubing in Vang Vieng
Wherever we’ve gone, we’ve seen young European travelers wearing the same t-shirt emblazoned with the words: “Tubing in the Vang Vieng,” an activity travelers through Southeast Asia have deemed a right of passage. But floating down a river among drunk backpackers and stopping at riverside bars was not a passage I was interested in taking and so we had planned to skip Vang Vieng altogether. I’m glad we decided not to.
Luang Prabang: Traveling Back in Time
Strolling through the sleepy streets of Luang Prabang, Laos is like being transported in time. For me, I was living in the 1942 classic movie Casablanca, wandering through colonial hotels and bars replete with wooden shuttered windows and courtyards filled with lush green palm trees and exotic plants. Ben felt as if he was in old Havana, Cuba with the dated cars, dilapidated sidewalks and children riding on rusty bicycles. With a world moving so fast, it is incredibly invigorating to be in place so firmly planted in the best of times. Luang Prabang has naturally attracted tourists but its UNESCO world heritage status has prevented the crumminess that tourism has brought to other Asian cities. All store signs are carved in wood and the narrow streets make passage by tourist bus impossible.