Traversing Rural Laos Pt I: The Mythical Casino
This is the first blog post of my time in Laos, which lasted about 11 days. We made our way through the North of the country. I’m currently in Kuching, the biggest city in Malaysian Borneo, recovering from a crash course in scuba diving in the Semporna Archipeligo. If you want to read my other posts covering Asia, please click here.
Laos is a stunning place to visit. The entire country is made up of vast mountain ranges, sliced through by the mighty Mekong River and others throughout the country. It is also one of the least densely populated, with a majority of the country still living village lives instead of moving to the (relatively) cosmopolitan cities of Luang Prabang and Vientiane. Laos also was heavily bombed during the Vietnam War (The North Vietnamese would reinforce supplies south through Laos, as they knew the Americans would not enter — and risk a greater conflict). China also appears to be taking advantage of Laos through sketchy diplomacy and debt-trap deals.
The country is also one of the less prosperous of Southeast Asia, and it can be seen through the simple, bumpy 2-lane roads throughout. Laos is Landlocked (the only in SE Asia), with China to the North, Vietnam to the East, Thailand to the West, and Cambodia to the South. I read that 10 years ago most of the roads we took were unpaved, and our string of ~100km bus rides that would have taken an entire day now only take three or four hours.
Laos makes up for all of this with its incredible scenery and countryside, as we saw mountain after mountain, curve after curve. While civilization itself has not taken over, it has sadly appeared that logging (mostly to China) is prevalent, as swaths of mountainside would be clear cut, a scar in the fertile forests
Huay Xai (“Hoksay”)
Our journey to Laos started with a bus ride from Chiang Rai, Thailand. Curiously enough, we were the only two people on the once-a-day bus route, though the bus stopped various times to load and unload cargo. Immigration was quite a breeze at the Friendship Bridge & Border between Chiang Khong and Huay Xai, and with our passports garnishing a shiny full-page Laos Visa, we soon checked into Little Hostel in Huay Xai (seriously, the hostel has 8 beds total).
While most people come to Huay Xai for The Gibbon Experience (a 3-day, 2-night expensive journey with over 10 huge ziplines), we passed and asked Amor at the Hostel what else there was to do. This and that got brought up until she brought up the Kings Roman Casino, 60 km north at the Golden Triangle (border of Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand).
She described it as a lawless and quasi-illegal (yet perfectly safe) playground for the Chinese. Somehow, Laos sort of ceded 40 sq km of land to China as a “Special Economic Zone”, where a Hong Kong company soon set up the casino complex. Sadly, it is mostly the Burmese and Chinese who are employed there; no economic benefit for the Laotian people is apparent. While typically seedy activity happens, what shocked us was hearing that, among other things, one could purchase tigers, pythons, and other critically endangered species in plain view there. Even stranger is that there is no easy way there, Huay Xai has no airport and it is over 12 hours by bus to Kunming (“Quemming”, a 6.6m pop Chinese city near SE Asia). Apparently, that does not stop the Chinese from coming in droves by car and bus. (Amor brought up the influence of the Social Credit Score in China, and that perhaps the Chinese can do things at the Casino that would escape the prying eyes of the Chinese Government).
We never made it. Instead of renting a typical gas-powered motorbike, we were coerced into renting an electric scooter from The Gibbon Experience Office. Instead of going ~30km on an hour’s charge, it ended up going about ~7km on a charge. Though, we found this out 31km from the Casino and 29km from the hostel. Bless the Laos peoples’ hearts, as we asked four families if we could charge the bike for an hour, and they all said yes at varying points throughout the day. The highlight was that much of the road paralleled the Mekong, and we got some stunning views of the mountains of both Laos and Thailand across the river.
In some ways, I’m happy I didn’t make it there. Primarily, I am no gambler. But more importantly, I think seeing these endangered species in cages would have crushed me. Still, the whole thing sounded like a mountainous Atlantis, an impossible structure and operation in the most unlikely (and remote) of places. For now, and perhaps forever, it will remain a mystical fable in my heart.
Luang Namtha
Less exciting was our short stop in Luang Namtha. Getting there was a different story. We got back to the bus stop and boarded the bus (a small van). Lena got a front seat, while my seat was smooshed in the back corner. I did not fit. It fit four people across, and sure enough, it was full. Then it got worse. The bus driver started handing out barf bags like candy to everyone. I said nope, and got out of the van before it left, said to Lena “I can’t do this”. In a miracle, Lena offered that we could sit in the front together (it could fit two semi-comfortably), and I was elated and relieved to be with her and not stuck in the back with the barfers.
On the other hand, Lena’s plight had just begun. The labyrinth roads of Northern Thailand were still etched in her mind, and she was super nervous about getting carsick on another windy journey, this one four hours. She took a Benadryl (FYI, Dramamine is Benadryl), but that was not enough for our clinically insane bus driver. This man floored it where ever he could, even (and especially) on tight turns. He went 90 (km/h) where the speed limit was 30, and laughed when someone threw up. Lena soon took a second Benadryl.
We made it to Luang Namtha, staying at the comfortable, upscale (for a tiny town) Zuela Guesthouse. It seemed to be popular with families and couples, and not so much with the backpackers and solo travelers.
Luang Namtha since 2015 refers to the newer of two towns, with the old town 6km south. The reason for this is due to the USA heavily bombing the old town in the 1970s, presumably because of the Vietnam War. A huge shame seeing the sheer scale and effects of US destruction to this day, especially in neutral countries.
We honestly weren’t able to do much during our time there. We only had two nights before we headed onwards, and the only thing to do in the town was trekking in the acclaimed Lam Ha National Protected Area. Given the immense heat and humidity, and our whirlwind bus ride, we decided to lay low and soak up some R&R and town vibes (and mentally prepare for the next bus) before heading onwards on our next stop in rural Laos: Uodomxay (oo-dom-sigh), which I will cover in the next blog post!
