George Fetherling's Travel Memoirs 3-Book Bundle

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George Fetherling. George Fetherling's Travel Memoirs 3-Book Bundle

Indochina Now and Then

Dedication

— ONE OF THE THIRTY-SIX STREETS —

— LANDS OF CHARM AND CRUELTY —

— SOUVENIRS —

— UP THE PENINSULA —

— DODGE CITY R&R —

— TRAIN 170, OVERNIGHT TO BANGKOK —

— BANGKOK NOIR —

— HÔTEL SPLENDIDE —

— TELEGRAMS FROM ANGKOR WAT —

— THE HORROR —

— A BISTRO TALE —

— GOING TO MARKET —

— DIPLOMACY —

— THE VICTORY GATE —

— CAPITAL SPLENDOURS —

— THE MELTING BUDDHA —

— THE TARGET ZONE —

— AMONG THE HMONG —

— THE VIEW FROM PHU SI —

— BUDDHAS AND BATS BY THE THOUSANDS —

— THE YOUNG OXONIAN —

— A ROOFTOP TOAST —

— GONGS AND OTHER REMNANTS —

— TIDAL ACTIONS —

— DOWNPOUR —

— THE MAN IN THE GLASS COFFIN —

— A BROKEN JOURNEY —

— CRACKS IN THE EMPIRE —

— ENDGAME —

— TO HELL AND BACK —

Photo Insert Part 1

Photo Insert Part 2

About the Author

Copyright

ALSO BY GEORGE FETHERLING

Running Away to Sea

One Russia, Two Chinas

Copyright

Отрывок из книги

George Fetherling

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The nearest town to the Plain of Jars is Phonsavan in Xieng Khuang province. There are two ways to get there from Vientiane. You can take Highway 13 north for 350 kilometres or so before turning east on Highway 7. About midway between Vientiane and the turnoff is Vang Vieng. On first acquaintance the place pleases you with the way it’s been kneaded in among the green-covered karst mountains. But it shocks you with its bigness as you’ve been passing through so many villages and hamlets along the way. They have names such Ban Phonmuang, Ban Senxum, and Ban Nammuang. Ban means village or simply dwelling. These are little brownish places, usually on some stream or river, with industrious but unhurried people (and animals). Laos has the lowest population density in Southeast Asia and one of the slowest metabolisms.

Vang Vieng is far enough south that it might be called the point at which the north begins. This is one factor that fills it with Western backpackers, including thrill-seekers hoping to be sold opium or lesser drugs. Or greater ones for that matter, such as, if reports are to be believed, powerful machine-rolled marijuana cigarettes soaked in liquefied heroin. These were one of the commodities that used to be available to American troops in Vietnam, presumably part of some secret North Vietnamese attempt to further demoralize them. Few activities are more dangerously illegal than drug-taking in Southeast Asia, but the practice continues all the same, despite constant pressure from the United States and some of its allies. (Other allies have begun to rethink the issue, given that 40 percent of the population of Laos are tribal people and that many of them are dependent on opium, which is a commodity in decline in the face of amphetamines — which the Lao call by the Thai name, yaa baa or “craziness drug.”) Young Westerners, particularly those who push farther north and try not to stand out too starkly, have been known to lose all track of time. Doing so, they court a second kind of trouble, as long overstaying one’s visa is another of the most felonious crimes under the Lao criminal code, which has existed only since 1990.

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