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<title>Luxagraf | Travel Writing from Lao (Pdr)</title>
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<li>Lao (Pdr)</li>
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<main role="main" id="writing-archive" class="archive">
<h1 class="hide">Writing from Lao (Pdr)</h1>
<article class="h-entry hentry odd first">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2006/02/little-corner-world" title="Little Corner of the World"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2008/siphondon.jpg" alt="Little Corner of the World" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2006/02/little-corner-world" class="u-url" title="Little Corner of the World">Little Corner of the World</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2006-02-28T20:13:00">February <span>28, 2006</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Four Thousand Islands</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/laos/" title="travel writing from Lao (PDR)">Lao (PDR)</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="14.130915842740961"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="105.83782194571636"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
It's difficult to explain but the further south you go in Laos the more relaxed life becomes. Since life in the north is not exactly high stress, by the time we arrived in the four thousand Islands we had to check our pulse periodically to ensure that time was in fact still moving forward.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry even second">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2006/02/cant-get-there-here" title="Can&#8217;t Get There From Here"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2008/attapeulight.jpg" alt="Can&#8217;t Get There From Here" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2006/02/cant-get-there-here" class="u-url" title="Can&#8217;t Get There From Here">Can’t Get There From Here</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2006-02-24T20:00:03">February <span>24, 2006</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Attapeu</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/laos/" title="travel writing from Lao (PDR)">Lao (PDR)</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="14.806085524831946"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="106.83689115944449"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
The most magical light in Laos lives on the Bolevan Plateau. For some reason not many tourists seem to make it out to the Bolevan Plateau, in spite of the fact that the roads are quite good, transport runs regularly, the villages peaceful, even sleepy, little hamlets. In short, the Bolevan Plateau is wonderful, and not the least in part because no one else is there.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry odd third">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2006/02/safe-milk" title="Safe as Milk"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2008/usbombs.jpg" alt="Safe as Milk" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2006/02/safe-milk" class="u-url" title="Safe as Milk">Safe as Milk</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2006-02-18T19:54:24">February <span>18, 2006</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Sekong</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/laos/" title="travel writing from Lao (PDR)">Lao (PDR)</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="14.623949505069236"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="106.5756225437582"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
You would think, if you were the United States and you were illegally and unofficially bombing a foreign country you might not want to stamp "US Bomb" on the side of your bombs, and yet there it was all over Laos: "US Bomb." Clearly somebody didn't think things all the way through, especially given that roughly one third of said bombs failed to explode.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry even first">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2006/02/everyday-fourteenth" title="Everyday the Fourteenth"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2008/hinbunriver.jpg" alt="Everyday the Fourteenth" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2006/02/everyday-fourteenth" class="u-url" title="Everyday the Fourteenth">Everyday the Fourteenth</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2006-02-14T19:50:35">February <span>14, 2006</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Savannakhet</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/laos/" title="travel writing from Lao (PDR)">Lao (PDR)</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="16.560435757136183"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="104.75026129218114"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
We piled four large bags, four daypacks and five people in a six meter dugout canoe. The boat was powered by the ever-present-in-southeast-Asia long tail motor which is essential a lawnmower engine with a three meter pole extending out of it to which a small propeller is attached — perfect for navigating shallow water. And by shallow I mean sometimes a mere inch between the hull and the riverbed.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry odd second">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2006/02/water-slides-and-spirit-guides" title="Water Slides and Spirit Guides"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2008/konglorcave.jpg" alt="Water Slides and Spirit Guides" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2006/02/water-slides-and-spirit-guides" class="u-url" title="Water Slides and Spirit Guides">Water Slides and Spirit Guides</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2006-02-10T19:47:12">February <span>10, 2006</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Konglor Cave</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/laos/" title="travel writing from Lao (PDR)">Lao (PDR)</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="18.06285035750356"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="104.49783323740189"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
The dramatic black karst limestone mountains ringing Ban Na Hin grew darker as the light faded. I was sitting alone on the back porch of our guesthouse watching the light slowly disappear from the bottoms of the clouds and wondering absently how many pages it would take to explain how I came to be in the tiny town of Ban Na Hin, or if such an explanation even really existed.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry even third">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2006/02/lovely-universe" title="The Lovely Universe"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2008/vangveing.jpg" alt="The Lovely Universe" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2006/02/lovely-universe" class="u-url" title="The Lovely Universe">The Lovely Universe</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2006-02-04T23:43:28">February <span>4, 2006</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Vang Vieng</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/laos/" title="travel writing from Lao (PDR)">Lao (PDR)</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="18.92544862065573"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="102.43755339150223"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
I would like to say that I have something memorable to write about Vang Vieng, but the truth is we mostly sat around doing very little, making new friends, drinking a beer around the fire and waiting out the Chinese new year celebrations, which meant none of us could get Cambodian visas until the following Monday. We were forced to relax beside the river for several more days than we intended. Yes friends, traveling is hard, but I do it for you.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry odd first">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2006/01/i-used-fly-peter-pan" title="I Used to Fly Like Peter Pan"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2008/gibbonexperience.jpg" alt="I Used to Fly Like Peter Pan" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2006/01/i-used-fly-peter-pan" class="u-url" title="I Used to Fly Like Peter Pan">I Used to Fly Like Peter Pan</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2006-01-21T19:42:47">January <span>21, 2006</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Luang Nam Tha</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/laos/" title="travel writing from Lao (PDR)">Lao (PDR)</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="20.853678554651314"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="101.19094847224211"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
The next time someone asks you, “would you like to live in a tree house and travel five hundred feet above the ground attached to a zip wire?” I highly suggest you say, “yes, where do a I sign up?” If you happen to be in Laos, try the Gibbon Experience.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry even second">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2006/01/hymn-big-wheel" title="Hymn of the Big Wheel"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2008/bluemilkwaterfall.jpg" alt="Hymn of the Big Wheel" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2006/01/hymn-big-wheel" class="u-url" title="Hymn of the Big Wheel">Hymn of the Big Wheel</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2006-01-19T19:37:46">January <span>19, 2006</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Luang Prabang</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/laos/" title="travel writing from Lao (PDR)">Lao (PDR)</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="19.827433510057354"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="102.42279051308633"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
Jose Saramago writes in <cite>The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis</cite> that the gods "journey like us in the river of things, differing from us only because we call them gods and sometimes believe in them." Sitting in the middle of the river listening to the gurgle of water moving over stone and around trees I began to think that perhaps this is the sound of some lost language, a sound capable of creating mountains, valleys, estuaries, isthmuses and all the other forms around us, gurgling and sonorous but without clear meaning, shrouded in turquoise, a mystery through which we can move our sense of wonder intact.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry odd third">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2006/01/down-river" title="Down the River"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2008/mekongslowboat.jpg" alt="Down the River" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2006/01/down-river" class="u-url" title="Down the River">Down the River</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2006-01-17T20:13:26">January <span>17, 2006</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Luang Prabang</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/laos/" title="travel writing from Lao (PDR)">Lao (PDR)</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="19.875064447947235"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="102.13199614056808"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
Morning in Chiang Khong Thailand revealed itself as a foggy, and not a little mysterious, affair with the far shore of the Mekong, the Laos shore, almost completely hidden in a veil of mist. The first ferry crossed at eight and I was on it, looking to meet up with the slow boat to Luang Prabang.
</span>
</p>
</article>
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<span class="h-card"><a class="p-name u-url" href="https://luxagraf.net/">Scott Gilbertson</a><data class="p-nickname" value="luxagraf"></data><data class="p-locality" value="Athens"></data><data class="p-region" value="Georgia"></data><data class="p-country-name" value="United States"></data></span>, except photos, which are licensed under the Creative Commons (<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/" title="read the Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 deed">details</a>).
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