Leaving Increidible Laos

We left Luang Probang in a small boat; the ride was two days. I enjoyed very much this ride because it was slow and relaxing. It was interested to see on both sides of the river the beautiful jungle and often times many hill tribe people working on the land. Some other children were selling fresh fish and some others were selling snails. I saw many fishermen fishing along the river with nets and sticks. When we stopped a few times some villagers were selling small barbeque fish. They also had a dead squirrel and half of a barbequed armadillo for sale. We could see on both sides of the river the terrible deforestation which has been done both by foreign companies and by the local people who use slash and burn style farming. Sometimes both sides were practically naked due to the deforestation that the hill tribes do in order to plant their crops. It is so sad to see so much devastation; we could see miles of forest cut down. I was really sad because I couldn’t go swimming since I could see garbage and sewer water going into the river at times.
I was in Luang Probang three years ago, but I didn’t have the opportunity to travel like this time. I didn’t know that this city is a holy city. I do understand now why since there is a temple every other block in the city and they seem to compete which one has the biggest Buddha in the city. The temples are beautiful decorated with many statues of Buddhas, and there so many young people and future monks studying there. I wonder if that is the reason why Laotians seem so relaxed and most of them don’t worry about the poor situation in their country. Laotians are very polite and they want to help us all the time. When we entered Thailand, I could see a big difference between these two countries. Of course Thailand has some serious problems too, but not to the extent that Laos does. I remember seeing children and entire families in very poor conditions. What I like about the Buddhist religion is that they are pacifists although they do participate in political action at times. I remember reading in a book how some monks killed themselves by self-immolation during the Vietnam War to protest the injustice of the U.S. backed Diem South Vietnamese regime in the early 60s.