A Few Days IN Tha Khek (Part #1)

After being told we couldn't meet the people from the CDEA until next Wednesday, we decided to get away fom Vientaine. After much deliberation we decided on Tha Khek. About 6 hours south by bus, it wasn't to far to come back, and it looked like a pleasent place to spend a few days.

We arrived Thursday evening, getting a tuk-tuk to Tha Khek Travel Lodge. The Laos specific Lonely Planet had recommended this as a good place to stay. On this rare occasion it wasn't wrong. We took the more spacious and airy $10 room in the annex.

We spent the night sat on the covered patio area ajoining the main guest house. The owners also have a furniture factory across from the guest house, so the place is well furnished with an array of dark wood furniture. This gave our room a sense of luxury, especially with the high ceiling and rustic terracotta tiled floor. The similarly tiled patio, with it's multitude of pot plants had a South American /Mexican feel. Particularly when the ubiquitous Hotel California was played at full volume.

Next day we decided to take a walk around the town. Heading north we soon found the market. A typical South East Asian hotch potch of food, clothing and domestic goods stalls. A rabbit warren running in all directions, we wandered through, randomly turning left and right until we cam out the other side.

Hitting the main road into the town centre we realised that Tha Khek is very spread out. The long road stretched ahead of us, never daunted we set off, ignoring the calls of "tuk-tuk". (Sam says she is getting a bit tired of random men calling her tuk-tuk.) We walked the 2-3 Km to the so-called "quaint French colonial town square."

Some what delapidated by time and lack of repair, the place was looking less and less attractive. We carried on, doing a full circuit, walking miles. Every few yards smiling, and frantically waving children greeted us. "Sabadee", and a manic cheery wave, or testing their little bit of English with a, "Hello!" Each was returned with a smile and a sabadee. We were to some extent curiosities here. It was all a bit mad, and definately fun.

Remembering we needed to get some money we went to the bank, it had just closed. Oh well, no problem we thought, we'll go in the morning. We'd decided to head a couple of hours further south to another town the next day. We'd seen Tha Khek, so no point in sticking around any longer. Also the guest house kept playing Patience by Guns n Roses on a continuous loop. Ours (patience that is) was wearing thin, so it was already time to move on. Oh and to top it off, this place had no internet access anywhere in town. We needed to see whether the CDEA had emailed us the information we had asked for.

Anyway tonight was Friday night, we'd deal with all that stuff in the morning. We decided that it was time to hit an infamous Lao night-club. When we arrived at the night-club it was dead. We'd arrived an hour early, it didn't open until 9.00pm. OK no worries, we'd find a place to get a beer and wait for it to open. Easier said than done. No bars, anywhere! Loads of people sat drinking, knocking back Beer Lao, but not a bar to be seen.

We stopped at a shop that sold beer, so asked if it was alright to drink it sat outside the shop. Mr. Phong the man we got talking to, had spent 2 years in New Zealand as a plasterer. As we chatted he explained that there was no call for his trade in Laos, and it was his wife that ran the shop. He didn't do anything, or as little as possible, in typical Lao style.

He eventually went and brought out his brother-in-law, who he said had better English than he did. His was good enough, we'd been chatting for ages, but what the hell, the more the merrier. Mr. Cham Phong as he introduced himself, was a little worse for wear. Eyes on stalks but blatantly pissed out of his skull, we soon discovered why. Mr. Phong produced some elicit Lao Whiskey, the large bottle was filled with pieces of (as we were told) Vientamese bark. It wasn't for flavour. A shot and a short while later, this stuff made us feel strangely awake!

Mr. Cham Phong, ever the genial host, insisted on taking us to his house, situated through the back of the shop. Stepping into a large tiled floor living space he introduced us to his wife and her friends. All school teachers, these ladies sat around playing cards. It had been a "Teachers Day" in Laos. That explained the banging music coming from a school we'd passed earlier that day, and the school children carrying crates of Beer Lao across the playground.

After politely declining an offer to stay at his house as long as we wished, we said our goodbyes and made our way back to the night-club. Now in full swing, dozens of mopeds parked outside, we walked into the packed club and found a table. The only "falang" in the place, again we found that we were a curiosity.

The music was a mix of dance beats, Thai pop, RnB and Western rock. After about an hour we felt brave enough to hit the dance floor. Maybe a little due to the beer and Mr. Phong's whiskey. We walked onto the dance-floor, greeted by cheers and a ripple of applause. After strutting our stuff to some shite RnB, Sam expressed her dissappointment at not witnessing the famous Lao Line-dancing. She'd hardly finished saying this when the dance-floor filled suddenly. She got her wish. It was an amusing sight to witness. Happy we went back to the guest house, we had a early start in the morning.