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At home our parents are always very strict about car safety. If we forget to put on our seat belt even one time, we get in trouble, probably because it’s the law. “Click it or ticket!’” as the signs say in Georgia. But in Asia, there is no law like that. There aren’t even usually any seat belts. You can hang out the sides of the car, stand on the roof, or even sit on the driver’s lap and no one cares. For instance, in Cambodia and some other countries, the backs of pick-ups are fully loaded with 20 people or more. But the most unsafe part is the roads! Where there are roads, they’re mostly all old and destroyed. One of the holes in the road could easily send someone who wasn’t holding on to the pick-up flying. It’s amazing how unsafe it is. We see tipped trucks all the time! Not pick-ups but the big huge ones, like 8 or 12 wheelers.

In Laos we experienced some very unsafe things compared to Cambodia though. Some more than others. To me the biggest one was the tuk-tuk ride to the Buddha caves. It was a 45-minute ride on a partially dirt road in an open-ended pick up truck. It wasn’t the missing door in the back that was creepy though; it was my dad. He stood on the back bumper because he didn’t want to get sick. He only did it on the dirt road with all the huge rocks and bumps. I don’t know why he would do it there and not on the paved road. Really I don’t why he even did it. Maybe he’s just a big kid. I felt like a parent, because I kept telling him to come down, but he wouldn’t. Too bad I couldn’t ground him.

The boat ride across the river to the Buddha caves was better, even if the seats moved and were just wooden stools. At least it wasn’t dangerous.

Then there was the mini-bus ride through the mountains from Luang Prabang to Vieng Vang. It wasn’t that it was dangerous, it was that it made you sick–real sick. I felt like I was going to puke even with the anti-motion sickness pill I took. I do this really strange thing where my stomach gets real hot, then my head gets hot, then I feel like I’m gonna throw up. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. This time I didn’t, but Asher did, all over herself and mom.There was no warning at all. She just blew, everywhere. That was when mom regretted giving Ash a chocolate milk, in a bus, swerving around mountains. We had to stop on the side of the road to take off Asher’s clothes and put them in a bag. We just wrapped mom’s coat around her. Mom on the other hand couldn’t take off her pants because all our bags were tied to the roof of the van. The worst part about that was that it made the whole car smell. Luckily the two other couples in the van–Australian and Dutch–weren’t mad and used the stop as an excuse for a smoke break.

A little further down the road at a town high in the mountains, we bought mom a skirt, so she could change out of her pukey pants. We also bought me and Kieran new $2.50 coats because the open windows were letting freezing air in. After a 15-minute break in the foggy, cold town, everyone felt a bit better. Next we made our way down the mountains to the next pit stop where it was nice and warm so we didn’t need our coats. We got ice cream there and played with a funny little puppy that was scrounging for food. Luckily, no one else threw up the rest of the way. We felt better when we heard from the people that were in other mini buses that they all had people throw up. The difference was since they were adults, they actually warned the driver to stop before they lost their lunch. We haven’t really done any bad travel since then except for the tuk-tuk to the Buddha park in Vientiane where we got a flat and had to take another one. Goodbye, and so long, McKane is gone.

Technorati Tags: Cambodia, Family travel, Laos, Luang Prabang, Round the world, Round-the-world, RTW, Safety, Travel, Vang Vieng

Laos is a fascinating little country located smack dab in the middle of Southeast Asia, wedged firmly between Thailand, China, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Once known as the Land of a Million Elephants, the official emblem of its power was the rare albino elephant, a mascot recently re-adopted by the communist government in Vientiane. Laotians are pleasant, mellow people, always smiling and offering a friendly “sabadee,” and the lumbering yet enigmatic elephant seems a fitting symbol for their laid-back society. But there’s much more than meets the eye to this lazy jungle paradise.

Because of its strategic location, Laos (actually pronounced “Lao” by backpackers and other politically correct travelers) has been a pawn in many of the region’s military conflicts. Even Dax, who is our resident history expert (no matter that my undergraduate degree is in history—he knows more), was unaware of the extent of the “Secret War” which our country conducted in Laos during the 60’s and 70’s. Both the US and Vietnam had agreed at the Geneva Accords to stay out, but neither had any intention of letting the other gain a foothold in the country. Thus, each conducted full-scale covert operations. The Vietnamese were more brazen in their defiance, deploying more than 60,000 personnel to eastern Laos, while the US sent in small teams of CIA operatives, “advisers,” and military personnel to spearhead a Lao defense. Many of these undercover Americans had to renounce their citizenship, deny any association with the government, and agree to suicide if captured. In this bizarre war, no one wore uniforms. Nothing was official. The ultimate black op. The secret American airbase in Long Cheng was one of the busiest airfields in the world, but did not appear on maps and is not currently open to visitors. The country is the most heavily bombed per capita in the world and hundreds of citizens still die each year as a result of encounters with unexploded ordnance (UXO).

Along with this checkered geopolitical past, Laos has long borne the nefarious distinction of being one of the world’s foremost producers of opium, a vertex in the famed Golden Triangle. According to recent reports, the government claims the country to be officially poppy-free and therefore devoid of heroin and opium as well. We certainly hope this is true, but our brief experience indicates otherwise. Ever since we entered Vietnam, Tom has been regularly approached with offers of illicit goods and services and Laos was no different. Actually I take that back. It was different. Whereas before he was only approached if alone or with one of the big boys, the enterprising dealers in Luang Prabang drove up on their motorbikes and offered their wares even when he was flanked by his wife and all four children. Now before you conjure up any frightening images in your mind, understand this about Southeast Asia: the drug peddlers we’ve encountered aren’t the sleazy, scary type, but amiable, clean cut businessmen who wear windbreakers and are happy to walk away when you say no. This doesn’t mean we condone their activities or want to chat with them, just that we accept them as part of the landscape and don’t freak out when they approach.

We’ve grown so accustomed to the dealers, that at times our reactions might seem strange. On our last night in Luang Prabang, we met with our traveling friends, Tim and Rea, to say a final goodbye before our paths diverged. We’ve followed similar paths through China, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, and run into each other at least four times along the way. As they’re soon heading to Australia and we’re going to India, this was going to be our last meeting for the year. After a nice dinner together, we hung out on a street corner and chatted until most of the town had gone to sleep (this is about 10:30 in Laos). We reminisced about places we had been, discussed the Lao kids, and laughed about all the drugs we had been offered. We even changed one of our favorite hawker refrains, “Hello, Banana?,” into “Hello, Opium?” We said our final goodbyes and parted, sad that we wouldn’t be seeing each other again soon, but glad that we had formed a new friendship. Our little clan hadn’t made it 50 feet down the road when a little man pedaled by on a bicycle and furtively yet cheerily asked, “You want opium?” After a pregnant pause, we all burst into laughter. The dealer, only mildly surprised, stared at us for a moment and then rode away.

These propositions have led to candid family discussions about drugs and drug use, not much different than those we have at home. The kids know drugs are dangerous and forbidden, yet at the same time, we want them to understand the reasons for their prevalence in some of the areas we’ve traveled. Their accessibility does not speak as much to the character of these countries as to that of their tourists. For a long time, Westerners came here specifically for cheap drugs, and if our powers of observation are accurate, some still do. In Vang Vieng, where we went tubing on the Nam Song River, the tube proprietors practically begged the backpacker crowd to refrain from drug use, but in a town where you can get “happy” pizza, their pleas are largely in vain.

The bottom line is if travelers didn’t want drugs, then locals wouldn’t sell them. Until our fellow foreigners stop buying, we’ll have to put up with the solicitations. We like to tease Tom that something about his appearance prompts the offers….perhaps the goatee or that dangerous look in his eye? We just have to remind the kids that once we get home, the proper response to “You want opium?” isn’t to laugh uncontrollably or tease their dad about his grooming habits.

Technorati Tags: Family travel, Golden Triangle, Laos, Luang Prabang, Opium, Vang Vieng, Round the world, Round-the-world, RTW, Secret War, Southeast Asia