Local backpacker

My cousin which picked me up told me of horror stories. How the Lao treated the Hmong like crap, the murders and robbings.

It was around 7 pm so I asked if we could just crash at his friends place. He said it was a really bad idea since some nights, robbers come and break in or come to harm the tenants. I choose to stay in a rather expensive hotel since we couldn't find any cheap place to stay.

I personally thought Veintiane was a rather boring city. After spending a few hours at the Putaxay. We went walkting around for a few hours then decided to take a taxi truck to my cousins village. The ride was around 4o mins, which later brought us to the muddy dirt roads.

After arriving, my cell phone couldn't get any signal so it took 20 mins to contact my cousin. After all of this I found out that her house was only a few blocks away in American terms.

The four days I spent with then were great. My cousins sons where my age. We went crusing around on scooters trying to pick up village chicks. Me, being from the states, had no idea how to talk to the girls here. So I just sat around or chased chickens around.

The day after, I got the chance to see a bull fight. The villagers were trying to put some younger and unexperince bulls together. What they do is take two bulls and face them together and let them fight till one looses and runs of. This was pretty crazy, since your 20 feet away and a 700 lb bull could be running in your direction any minute.

After we left Red Dirt (my cousins village translated from Hmong). I headed up to Vang Vieng since I read some good things about this backpacker haven. Vang Vieng is a small town built up from tourism and backpackers. Every single store, cafe, resturant is meant for a weary backpacker. The food was horrible since it was catered toward westerners. On the other hand there is plenty of places and activities for the adventurist. I went kayaking, which was quite boring since it was rainy season and the river was high so there weren't any rapids. The next day I took up tubbing. We went down this river which was probably deeper than it was wide. Along the river there were bars and giants swings. It was probably the coolest thing in Laos. You had to climb up about 20 feet to a platform then swing off. This was amazing, after landing in the river after a 18 feet drop you had to swim like crazy cause the river current was so strong.

The next day I went rock climbing. I've done it indoors before but what was to come next was a totally differnt thing. We walked for 25 mins, had to cross this rice paddy feild which took another 20 mins. After a short 8 mins rest, my guide and I hiked up the most dangerous trial ever. Sharpe rocks, 70 degree climbs and bamboos everywhere. After reaching the destination, we where already two to three hundred feet up which made it even more frightning. This was the coolest out door site that I've seen. Made of lime stone, there where stag tights hanging all over the place. This made the climb enjoyable and the veiw was phenomenal.

The next day, I decided to take it easy. So I opted for a bike ride. I had met a Nepalese girl from England earlier and we went to a place where there was swimmng and a cave. When we approach the park, there was a 10 thousand kip fee. I tried to bargain with the boy at the entrance since he was Hmong, that didn't work out so well. The swim was incredible. The river was probably 25 feet wide and 15 feet deep. There was a couple swings and a tall tree where I did a few flips and later climbed to the highest branch and jumped off. Ouch!!!!!

After staying in Vang Veing for five days, it was time to leave. My cousin, Jusleen and I headed north towards Phonsavanh. Phonsavanh was a great place to be. It was high in the mountains and the weather was cool with a nice breeze. I took a tour to see the Plain of Jars. Very interesting!!! We went to three sites but the first site was the best, also scattered with bomb craters. On the second day, I called my cousin, Neng, and went to see her in the morning with the intention of leaving that evening. In front of Neng's house was a dirt road then right behind that was an airfeild. She told me of the Xiong family history. My cousin, told me that her father and my father use to do airjumps onto the field during the secret war. There was a building off to the distance where General Vang Pao and the rest of the Hmong soldiers burned because they were being over taken and losing the battle. Today, a new runway exist at the east side of the field and the other side is used for golfing and cattle grazing.

She told me about my parent's marriage and how her father took care of 23 orphans. She also told me more stories about her father, the secret war and how my two uncle's and our family escaped execution.