Laos kids gather to say hello.

Journal and photo by Nancy Olson

Lao has just maneuvered itself to my Top-Five All-Time Favorite Countries list. It’s a beautiful country with smooth, winding roads sandwiched between bright-green rice paddies and picturesque mountains blanketed in a patchwork of green forest and white mist. It’s breathtaking.

But Lao’s greatest treasure, I’m quite certain, is its people. As we drove past the rice paddies and hills of Laos, the roads began to climb. The team went on full alert as we entered a territory that had a history spotted with rebel activity, which, at its worst, has been responsible for the deaths of several tourists and a busload of Laotians. We didn’t know what to expect, so we prepared for the worse.

We drove into the countryside, and as we passed through the hills, the roads became speckled by little outcroppings of villages and settlements situated along R13, one of the country’s main arteries. In every single settlement, naked babies and young boys and girls with no need for any clothing below the waist stepped out of the jungle, peeped out of irrigation ditches, and scrambled out of modest little dwellings to wave (usually with both hands) and scream with pure glee the traditional Lao greeting of “SAH-BYE-DEEEEEE!!!!”

The kids have perfect little Chiclet teeth and wild, sun-bleached hair, and the young women sport broad smiles with Kewpie Doll dimples and brightly twinkling eyes. Young men carry long-barreled bird-hunting rifles and smile brightly as they wave at us with strong, sinewy arms and hard-working farmer hands. The elderly are just as happy to wave to the convoy as we drive through, but they are a bit more stooped and slower on the uptake. These country people are some of the most beautiful in the world.

Sometimes we stop briefly to hand Hella key-chain lights to kids, and when we do, we are swarmed by the whole village. These stops have to be brief, indeed, lest we give out our whole supply of lights in one shebang. Everybody smiles, waves, poses for photos, and says , which, of course, means “thank you.” As we pull away, we are barraged by dozens of screaming byes.

I’m convinced that the Lao people would do anything for someone in need, and that’s a comforting feeling when driving through this barely developed country. Whether we are checking into a guesthouse, walking through the streets, shopping in the markets, or stopping for gas, the people we encounter are polite, cheerful, and bedecked with big gleaming smiles.

This country has made me realize some things. One is that I would like to come back here with my own kids someday so they can see how people here live so free and happy in their simpler lives away from video games and traffic signals. Nobody dotes over the kids and worries about them doing tasks that would have American parents horrified. Secondly, people everywhere just love people, and family is the most important thing in the world. No matter how tough things can get, when you have family and community working together for a common good, life is just grand. Thirdly, everybody, no matter what their facial features, ethnicity, bone structure, height, or weight, is beautiful when they smile. Try to notice this sometime. You might be surprised.

Help support our cause: The LONGITUDE Expedition is the longest journey ever attempted with a focus on Parkinson's Disease. The Drive Around the World team aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by driving four Certified, Pre-Owned Land Rover Discoverys around the globe following lines of longitude. Readers are encouraged to pledge small amounts of money per expedition-kilometer via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking HERE. One hundred percent of donations received go directly to Parkinson's research, and all who donate $10 or more will be entered into a raffle to win an expedition-equipped Land Rover Discovery.

Monks walk past the LONGITUDE vehicles on their way through town. Every morning, the townspeople give them food for their meal buckets, and this feeds them for the day.

Today was a busy day, starting with a hospital visit. Tracking down information on Parkinson’s disease, in a country where the average life span is less than 60 years and the leading cause of injury is unexploded bombs, is tough. Luang Prabang, one of the biggest cities in the country, was once the Capital of Laos, the seat of royalty. Although I couldn’t find anything online about Parkinson’s disease organizations, doctors, or research in Laos, I still didn’t give up. When I can’t find anything online, or don’t have any contacts, my last resort is to show up at the hospital and see what I can discover. I arrived at the provincial hospital a couple of days ago, and found out that it was not the place I wanted to be. Although it was a hospital and made good use of the few resources it had, it certainly wasn’t a place where I would have wanted to end up. Everyone was friendly, but upon walking in, I knew that I would not find the information I was looking for there, as I saw people walking around caring their own I.V. bags.

I talked to a young med student, and despite the communication barriers, he managed to tell me that there was a bigger Chinese hospital just south of town. It took me a while, but I finally found the Chinese Hospital after taking some back roads. I was impressed; the place was beautiful. Apparently, it had been built just one year ago. The only strange thing about this hospital was that there was nobody there. I was able to walk in, talk to a few people, and find myself in the director’s office shortly thereafter. The director loaned me a book on health care in Laos, and I was able to set up an appointment for this morning, and here I am.

When I arrived I was startled. The person I had made an appointment with wasn’t around, but apparently he had left word with someone, and people had been gathering data about Parkinson’s Disease. A wonderful Lao woman named Singkham helped me find the information and people I needed to talk to. By consulting the computer, they found that there is one person with Parkinson’s Disease in the Luang Prabang area. He was once an official of some kind and is being treated for the disease. With some help, I managed to track down the Dr. who made the diagnosis. We were unable to meet, because he was busy at the time, but I hope to communicate with him later via e-mail. I wasn’t able to track down the patient, unfortunately, but hopefully I will manage to contact him in the future.

After leaving the hospital, I was on my way to locating the UNESCO office, as Luang Prabang is an official UNESCO site. This city is amazing! It is flanked on two sides by rivers, the Mekong being one of them, and mountains. The land is carpeted by a jungle landscape; it seems as though any seed you could toss on the ground here would become a giant lush, green work of art. You can walk down the street and see French buildings, traditional houses (built on stilts), and golden temples. All this beauty, the availability of cheese, the relatively quiet feel of this place, and the somewhat romantic remoteness of this place is a great combination. I will definitely come back here.

The city’s small size doesn’t mean that things are easy to find. In fact, I struggled with almost everything I was looking for. Our hotel manager, Tom, helped me find the UNESCO office. Although it seemed obvious when we got there, it took us about ½ hour to find a place that was about a five-minute walk from the hotel. In our defense, we had asked a least half a dozen people where the office was, and we got a lot of different answers. Walks are usually great, but you have to pace yourself in the tropical heat and humidity.

After I made to the UNESCO office (which was the old French Customs house), they were willing to talk to me about what they were doing. I talked to Emmanuel, and he shared with me his excitement about historical preservation and what they were doing in Luang Prabang. He said Luang Prabang was unique in how the city’s architecture seamlessly flowed from French architecture, to traditional, with gardens stitching everything together. He encouraged me to walk down the back alleys to appreciate the real beauty. It was exciting to hear how he loved his work.

On the way out, I met an intern, Laura, a young French woman. She was heading home for lunch as I was leaving the office. It was fun to talk to her, as we gave each other a hard time for the stereotypes of our countries. I asked why French people complain so much, and she asked me why Americans talk so loud. We had a good time hanging out.

I spent the rest of the afternoon (per Emmanuel’s advice) driving and walking around the city, looking down the back alleys, and genuinely enjoying my own company. There was a place you had to climb 190 steps to overlook the city. This was a great perch, and there was even an old Russian anti-aircraft gun sitting up there, a distinct mark of an era that is hopefully gone by!

Tomorrow we head toward the China border and more adventures.

Help support our cause: The LONGITUDE Expedition is the longest journey ever attempted with a focus on Parkinson's Disease. The Drive Around the World team aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by driving four Certified, Pre-Owned Land Rover Discoverys around the globe following lines of longitude. Readers are encouraged to pledge small amounts of money per expedition-kilometer via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking HERE. One hundred percent of donations received go directly to Parkinson's research, and all who donate $10 or more will be entered into a raffle to win an expedition-equipped Land Rover Discovery.

The monkey's name is Rambo, and Nancy VERY nearly bought him for $15...

Photo by Todd Borgie

Help support our cause: The LONGITUDE Expedition is the longest journey ever attempted with a focus on Parkinson's Disease. The Drive Around the World team aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by driving four Certified, Pre-Owned Land Rover Discoverys around the globe following lines of longitude. Readers are encouraged to pledge small amounts of money per expedition-kilometer via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking HERE. One hundred percent of donations received go directly to Parkinson's research, and all who donate $10 or more will be entered into a raffle to win an expedition-equipped Land Rover Discovery.

Local farmers pick rice in a Lao paddy.

Journal and photo by Neil Dana

I don't know if you read my account of Cambodia in the World Bytes section of our website by clicking HERE. , well you should. Just click on the "Neil's Cambodian Adventures" to read it. The reason being that Cambodia was the most amazing country I have visited this entire expedition.....until now!! Laos is more than I ever imagined. Talk about smiling people and a countryside that is overwhelmingly scenic. It is truly spectacular, and the single greatest thing about it all is that it is still relatively untouched by westerners. Of course, I do say relatively because there definetely is foreign influence, like the French colonization and the small number of travelers who do frequent Laos; however, in comparison to everywhere else I have been, except Cambodia, it is light years behind the globalization boom.

Stepping into Laos is like diving into a tropical island reef out of a 40-story building in the middle of New York City. You immediately enter a slow, peaceful, and different flow. Everywhere you go, your senses are peaking, from visually stunning rice fields amongst towering mountains, to the smells of lush tropical rain, or feeling the changes in climate as you climb up three thousand feet from sea level, and even the slight fear of the rebels who have killed tourists and locals before and who live in the next three-hour stretch of winding roads through the steep hills that harbor them.

Rebels who have killed tourists? I met a woman yesterday who flew to Luang Prabang from the border because she was scared of what she had heard about the road we were about to drive. She had heard that there had been killings on this road, Rte. 13. She must have received some wrong information, or maybe the tour agencies just try to scare tourists into flying in order to make some more money? Either way, from what I have read and researched, there are rebels in the hills that we are passing today, but they have not murdered anyone in about a year. However, when we awoke this morning, we heeded warning to our guidebooks that said the next stretch of road is the location of the rebels. So we didn't stop to set up convoy shots and take photos.....unfortunately!

The sights and people we passed today were magnificent. Waking up to a rice field reflecting the warm morning sun's rays, lush green foliage, clouds, and dew was quite a serene scene. Then we piled into our cars and headed into the "rebel" mountains. We all agreed to radio silence so we didn't warn anyone we were coming, in case they were listening! I guess it doesn't hurt to be overly cautious. However, what we discovered in our five-hour drive was quite the opposite of any threat or danger. We saw small children everywhere waving at us, screaming "sabadi!" which means hello, with immense smiles and wonder in their eyes at the vehicles we were driving. We saw woman carrying goods and cooking food. We saw many people just sitting around and relaxing, or just stepping outside of their small house to see what all the commotion was about, four Land Rovers driving through their peaceful neighborhood.

Now of course, since this is "rebel" territory, you are guaranteed to see your fair share of gun-totin' Laotians, and that is just what we saw. I saw a small child, literally about 10 years old carrying a semi-automatic rifle (an M-16). We also saw many other young men, or teenagers, carrying guns, some rifles with extremely long barrels, most likely meant for hunting birds or some mountain animals, and some machine guns. But with every gun came a nice genuine smile. These people were not a threat to us; they were very friendly and even let us slow down to a stop to take a couple pics. Even though all these people are so nice and friendly, I guess it only takes a few bad people to give a whole area a bad name, which must have been the case in the past. The Lao people are wonderful, and even though we get to spend a week here, I really want to come back and spend months and months in Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. I guess on some other trip. As for now, as you know, we only have a limited amount of time due to our schedule and goals.

So after driving through fantastic countryside, we arrived at Luang Prabang. This town is a very special place, as it sits along the Mekong River, and is also the old Royal center of Laotian history. As we sat at the riverside, gazing into the chocolate-brown Mekong River, which is a quarter mile wide, we drank some iced coffees and sat back and just relaxed. Aaahhh, what a peaceful place. Luang Prabang is filled with Buddhist Temples and is a very small town. There are plenty of restaurants, cafes, and places to buy all kinds of Laotian goods, which are some of the coolest I have seen yet. There is also a really cool Red Cross where Colin and I walked in the pouring rain for 1/2 mile, getting drenched and loving it, to receive a massage and sauna for $4. The sauna was the best part, I must admit. I was floating around Luang Prabang all night after that sauna. We went and ordered some food, and I ended up drinking two pots of smoked Laotian tea, which was delicious, mmmn, mmmn.

Then we went and perused around the night market, which is a beautiful display of vendors on the main street selling goods. However, like said before, these items they have for sale are the most beautiful and ornate things I have seen yet. The silks are plentiful, the quilts are very intricate and colorful, there are beautiful paper lamps for lights, vases, wood carvings, and all kinds of shirts and wonderful clothes that will turn any non shopper into a mall rat. The coolest part of this market, though, was the overall feeling that was present. It was very peaceful, with people walking here and there at a leisurely pace, and the Lao people smiling at you and saying, "sabadi", hoping you will buy something, but not insisting, just calmly letting you look and enjoy what they have to offer. It was a feeling I have not felt at a market before; usually people are yelling at you to buy something, or tugging at your arm, or begging. This was what shopping should be like everywhere: you walk around a place that is very scenic and peaceful, and the people working don't come up to you and try to sell you something. You literally get to look around and see what they have and also get a very fair price. There isn't much haggling or bargaining going on since the prices are fair and the people aren’t here to play games and try to rip you off.

Another great thing I have noticed about Laos are the children. They are clothed, have food and shelter, and are in the streets all day playing soccer, laughing, riding bikes, eating and just having a healthy young life. These people have a very good life here and are not going hungry or "poor." Even the hill tribes in the extremely remote areas have enough rice and crops to eat.

Lao is a very special place, and having only been here for two days now, I do not know it extremely well by any means, but I definitely know I love it. In fact, tonight, after the market, I was in such a peaceful and mellow mood, I walked back to our guest house, picked up my guitar, and walked to a temple that was lit up by the half moon and some lights. There were two monks at the entrance to the grounds. I walked in and asked them if it was ok to walk around and play guitar, and "yes, sure, no problem" was their answer. There were four temples here and many other stuppas, and they were all along the Mekong River under the moonlight. It was precious, and I played guitar for hours and hours, just chillin' in one of the most serene and beautiful places in the world.

Neil

Help support our cause: The LONGITUDE Expedition is the longest journey ever attempted with a focus on Parkinson's Disease. The Drive Around the World team aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by driving four Certified, Pre-Owned Land Rover Discoverys around the globe following lines of longitude. Readers are encouraged to pledge small amounts of money per expedition-kilometer via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking HERE. One hundred percent of donations received go directly to Parkinson's research, and all who donate $10 or more will be entered into a raffle to win an expedition-equipped Land Rover Discovery.

Nancy and Chanda try to escape a giant man-eating statue in Vientiane's Buddha Garden.

Help support our cause: The LONGITUDE Expedition is the longest journey ever attempted with a focus on Parkinson's Disease. The Drive Around the World team aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by driving four Certified, Pre-Owned Land Rover Discoverys around the globe following lines of longitude. Readers are encouraged to pledge small amounts of money per expedition-kilometer via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking HERE. One hundred percent of donations received go directly to Parkinson's research, and all who donate $10 or more will be entered into a raffle to win an expedition-equipped Land Rover Discovery.

A Buddah in Vientiane.

Journal and photo by Justin Mounts

Sawasdee khrap! Parlez vous Francais?

Welcome to day 267 of the LONGITUDE Expedition. Today we are in the capital of Laos, Vientiane. Now, just a walk down the street will leave you somewhat confused. Glancing around at the buildings, you will see several different styles of architecture presented, which may leave you wondering exactly where you’re standing. First, there are the traditional simply styled buildings and elaborate temples that one associates with Southeast Asian cities. A twist of the neck in one direction will present you with visions of grand French architecture, and a turn in the other direction with put you face-to-face with the cold, hard lines of communist-style bomb-shelter-like buildings.

Vientiane is completely different than what I expected. Here in the middle of Laos, you can find some of the best French food outside of Paris. Plus, they have a Scandinavian bakery that is out of this world. Who knew that in the capital city of Laos, I would find some of the world’s best cuisines? I mean, sure you usually expect to find great food in a capital city, but this is only a city of 133,000 people.

I spent the day wondering around the city past many different types of shops and restaurants, and after adopting a dog (Chauncey—who later ran away), I got caught in a rainstorm. After the rain passed, I continued through a myriad of temples and wound up face-to-face with an arch that sits in the middle of the main thoroughfare. This arch, styled similarly to the Arc de’ Triumph in Paris, is an impressive cap on top of the other buildings in Vientiane.

After a final stop past the local souvenir market, I decided to call it a day. After all, tomorrow we’re back on the road heading north, and I need some rest.

Until next time, I wish you well from the far side of the world.

Help support our cause: The LONGITUDE Expedition is the longest journey ever attempted with a focus on Parkinson's Disease. The Drive Around the World team aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by driving four Certified, Pre-Owned Land Rover Discoverys around the globe following lines of longitude. Readers are encouraged to pledge small amounts of money per expedition-kilometer via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking HERE. One hundred percent of donations received go directly to Parkinson's research, and all who donate $10 or more will be entered into a raffle to win an expedition-equipped Land Rover Discovery.