PDR - You're In Laos

Laos...


Land of waterfalls and rivers
with their sandy riverbanks
Land of a million butterflies
amazingly colorful, big as bats
Land of dense, thick rainforest
trees so powerful, they take your breath away,
And cicadas singing
serenades everyday.

Green gloomy hills
and limestone cliffs dooming up upon you
Majestic and impressive

Land of the endless friendliness and smiles
genuine ones, just go off the long past discovered tracks...
Land of PDR,
the nations' mindset of Please Don't Rush

But also Laos...
Land of the burnt down forests,
is it just ignorance, or lack of care...?
Laos, the trash along your roads,
a common thing though in Asia it seems..
Oh Laos you grow so quickly
is it too quick to handle?
Big bridges being build
next to fragile bamboo homes...
Some villages, they just lost their souls,
overwhelmed by this great tourism, us, falangs..
The strangeness wich is so human all around the world
'the grass is greener on the other side'
Posters of idyllic European landscapes on your walls
But I fly to the other side of the world to see yours...
What a strange world we create,
beatiful Lao lady, I would love to have your tan
and you buy whitening cosmetics instead

Does it matter anyway?
Our hearts smile and love in the same way

Laos, country that took my breath away,
Amazed me, impressed me, taught me and left me
without words but poems in my head...


Dear all, when I wrote this I was travelling through Laos - I don't know if you can call it a poem and I never wrote one before, but it doesn't matter how you call it. It was beautiful because the words came into my mind bit by bit, day by day, with every new experience which would fill me with amazement, happiness, joy...
I travelled for two months through this amazing country, most of the time together with my great dear friend Raphael and accompanied by more great persons along the way.

We had adventures, wandering through the jungle, visiting tiny local villages in the middle of nowhere and getting stuck there because the people are just too wonderful to describe. We wanted to live and share with them.

We discovered hitchhiking in Laos (and probably Asia overall) is working pretty well, despite of the confusedness of the people ('What you do? You go, there, bus station!) and traveled our way from north to south like this, meeting even more great, sharing people.

We made a tour on the motorbike. A week around Pak-se, the two of us, one bike, one backpack, one tent. On the road, discovering hidden pieces of paradise, overwhelming nature (loads of waterfalls), camping, celebrating Lao new year with all the water-throwing and beer drinking that comes to that.. More more more unforgettable moments.

Rediscovered the meaning of 'relaxing' on the 4000 islands, one week of completely chilling out.

And ended our trip with the perfect hitchhiked ride from the border near Pak-se to Bangkok, 700 km in one go, whooohooo! A sleepless but nice ride with a friendly, goofy Thai truck driver.

Two weeks ago it was time to continue my own way again. It was strange to part after seven weeks of travelling together, we had an amazing time, we learned so much from each other, shared so many things... And collected many many many unforgettable memories.
But the time to go our own ways was there, we both have more amazingness awaiting us.

The past two weeks, I have once again put my effort in learning (more of) thai massage by repeating the course in the Lahu village. It was just so overwhelmingly clear that I want to do something with this... I just needed more practice, learn more, to gain more confidence in it and to continue with this... So it seemed to make sense to practice and learn more, now that I still had the possibility and I am still in Asia...

But not for long anymore my dear friends. Budget is running out, time to work... And what is a better place for that, than... Australia!?!
Yes yes, I have my working holiday visa and in a week (!!!) my flight will take me Down under.
It was a difficult decision, because home, friends and family start to wander through my mind more and more, making me miss them quite a lot. But it's not time to go back yet, this travel isn't finished yet... I want to go on, down under, to meet some more friends, to get to know some far away family, and work my ass of to build up a budget again.
And create some more incredible memories... :)

Which doesn't mean 'home' isn't being missed. But it's with me in my heart, always.

Thank you for following me and keeping me posted, I really appreciate to hear from you all ... :)

Love, Francis