Time off in Laos - Reflexions of a nomad -

I knew it before leaving Canada. I felt it on the road. It hit me hard when I arrived in Laos. My quest is not to see more and more countries in Asia “while I’m here.” Nor travel without an end. I do not want to be an eternal tourist. My desire is to live in a different part of the world than the place I grew up with my future lover. This statement is so simple but extremely powerful. And it resonates more than ever inside of me.

Laos
It took me several days to identify what tormented me when I arrived in Laos. I realized that my heart was still in Myanmar. In Kuala Lumpur, my whole being remained in Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka, I wanted to find the state of well-being I was in during the meditation retreat in Cambodia. And in Cambodia I felt far away from Bali.

The long-term travel experience that I’m living is great except that the pace of the recent months prevented me way too often to fully appreciate the present moment.

Laos has been a great place for a time-off fulfilled with deep reflection, fun cycling and gastronomy. What was my joy to find some “green” in my daily diet! Green smoothies, green raw or steamed vegetables, salads, green tea and matcha tea and as a bonus real French pastries! Products that were nonexistent in my life in the last five months.

Happiness was also found when cycling around with ease in the cities of Vientiane and Luang Prabang. With my bag and a bottle of water in the basket, I was heading to one of my favorite cafes to work or simply wandering aimlessly before going to listen to the monks chanting. The slight breeze on the face (and in my hair that had lengthen) made me forget the oppressive heat and gave me an incredible sense of freedom. Don’t we say that happiness is found in little things?!

The “aimlessly” also echoed my mind when I arrived in Laos. For the first time since I travel, I entered the country without an onward ticket. Laos does not required it unlike all the other countries I have visited. Perfect because my next move was still blurry.

Travel and Travellers
I know that traveling on a short or long term is something many dream of. And many choose to realize that dream. It fascinates me to see a large number of backpackers who took a few months or even a year to explore parts of Southeast Asia. It has become so common, almost banal. At times, I needed to step back and remind myself to be grateful for what I was living instead of taking it for granted.

In a small village in Laos where I spent a week I met very inspiring backpackers in search of unique experiences off the beaten path. One girl had just started to travel by bicycle, another girl was heading to China and Mongolia and another one was traveling with a bag of under 5 kilos (while mine is about 16 kg!).

The comment I heard the most was about the desolation of the influx of tourists that directly or indirectly alter the culture and the environment. So everyone is trying to find his little authentic spot away of busloads of Chinese. But since “everyone” is traveling, it gets harder to find the road less traveled.

Other travellers told me they become a little jaded after a few months and less impressed by the landscapes they dreamed of seeing. I wonder if the fact of traveling between backpackers who have “seen it all” contributes to reduce part of the surprise of the next destination.

Some become jaded but continue their journey aimlessly with new friends they’ve met in a hostel. Others absolutely want to continue checking the countries out of their “bucket list”. The trip is no longer such an adventure, but becomes an “easy” way of living. But understanding the culture in less than 30 days (the average duration of a visa) is not always part of their itinerary. Not to mention the mini-vans full of tourists on the mission to stop at the most sites within the shortest period of time. Just enough time for a picture or a selfie.

It makes me sad when I hear travellers saying that in the end, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia … Southeast Asia is fast becoming all the same. Such a country is better, another is cheaper or another has become way too touristy. We are comparing all the time.

Of course there are similarities in terms of transports, markets, foods. But each country still has its own energy and its very distinctive attractions.

I think the order in which we visit countries greatly influences our perception. After experiencing the local buses in Sri Lanka, the bus ride in Cambodia will feel “normally rapid.” Luang Prabang seems richer when you arrive from Myanmar. Kuala Lumpur is rather quiet comparing to the chaotic Colombo. But I must add no matter from where you are coming from, the smile of the people of Myanmar and Bali remains remarkably warm.

It made me realize how much the impression of a country is subjective. How our perception can be biased by our way of living, our health, our energy of the moment, the people we cross on the road, the climate. Someone who gets robbed in Cambodia will consider the country dangerous and the one who will be sick in Myanmar will recommend to avoid local food.

While locals want to wear Western clothes, backpackers all have the same “local” look a little worn-out. Tops with local beer or trousers with elephant designs are sold in series at any night markets across Southeast Asia. Some seem to be dressed up to go to a beach in Mexico while we are in a conservative Buddhist environment.

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They attract us, inspire us and tourists never get tired of looking at them, myself included. They are a bit like superstars in Southeast Asia. Everyone constantly takes pictures of them. The problem is some tourists forget (or ignore?) to adopt a respectful behaviour when taking pictures of them.

There is a religious tradition in Buddhism called the morning alms. I wrote about it in my first article on Myanmar. Every morning at around 6 am, monks walk barefooted in silence in a single file carrying their alms bowls in front of them to collect sticky rice and other donations of food from locals. Unfortunately this religious tradition has turned into a must-see tourist attraction in Luang Prabang. It became an iconic image for the country. At first, I didn’t want to go and then I decided to go see how bad it was.

Vendors are now selling sticky rice in the streets so tourists “can live the experience.” I saw a Japanese man being “almost forced” to buy some rice from a woman that left him without any explanations whatsoever. After a minute, he had given all the rice and the woman had taken a picture of him in action. He left. I read a few papers about it and all the bloggers say the same. They were shocked to see the disrespectful behaviour of some tourists. If you’re interested in reading more about it, I recommend you this article by Grandtourismo.

At 5:30 pm, I developed the habit to go listen to the monks chanting. While seated discreetly at the back of the small temple meditating, I could hear tourists walking in to take pictures with disturbing clicks and left as fast as they entered. I try to imagine the same scene in a church where tourists would walk in just to take pictures during a mass …

I was talking about this with a novice monk at the temple I kept going to. Of course it disturbs the monks in their practice and he was telling me how things have changed in ten years now that the country sees more and more tourists. Monks appreciate when tourists take the time to ask them questions and discuss with them. So if you plan on traveling to a Buddhist country, I encourage you to engage a conversation in a respectful matter with monks while visiting a temple. You will walked out with a way more enriched experience than if you would have just taken a picture with no story behind it.

The flip side of a nomadic life
The “reflexive rest” I took in Laos had shown me that I am tired of living in this tourist environment. I want to be in a “local scenery” for more than a week instead of continuing to be just “another tourist” at the market or at a local restaurant. I want to have a break instead of adding another country to my short list while I’m here. I want to be part of a community. All of this thinking actually comes down to what I wrote when I left Canada back in September 2015.

I realized that I need more than a month to have a real impression of a country. A country that I do not visit as a tourist on holiday, but as a nomad who is looking for a new home. I feel like a butterfly flying around some cities instead of living the country in depth. I try to see what the country has to offer but I especially I want to feel it.

To be alone on the road in a continually changing environment is not what I find the most difficult. This is an excellent exercise to learn about yourself, to adapt to change and to gain in confidence. No, the most difficult is to be in continual planning of the destinations, arrangements, visas, flights, transportation, itineraries and so on.

An exciting job that always transports me in the future instead of living the present moment. With each entry date comes an exit date. Where to go?, for how long? … Always questions, always decisions to make. Enough to lose the reason why I travel.

I know and I advocate that happiness is within us, but I am still looking for it in this new environment where I want to take up residence.

My original plan was to continue my journey to Vietnam “while I am here” before returning to Bali. With all these thoughts I decided instead to give myself a month of “present moment” without any decision to take. I am returning to Cambodia again to do the same meditation and yoga retreat I did in January. A month to learn, clear my head, nourish my heart, re-energize my body and let life unfold before my eyes. My birthday gift.

On a final note, while there was a thick fog in my mind about where to go next I went for a drink in a small bar in Luang Prabang. The owner asked me to take a card that I share you.