Nota Bene

Before our very eyes, technological progress has once again bolted ahead at full gallop. It’s all we can do to keep shutting them (or opening them wide) in astonishment! In literally just a few years, countless AI this-that-and-the-others have gone from being things like dim-witted but tireless talking parrots, to intelligent tools able to solve complex problems – real tough ones that require a ton experience, knowledge, and creativity. It’s like, the day before yesterday – AI was an amusing toy; yesterday – an assistant taking routine work off your hands; today – it’s a highly capable colleague at the next (virtual) desk. And, naturally, we’re growing ever more anxious about what might come tomorrow.

Let’s be honest: all the nervous excitement about AI and its revolutionary – even apocalyptic – impact on humanity is surely being fueled by the prospect of trillion-dollar IPOs. Not to mention the equally trillion-scale investments in building data centers and in AI-related development. The economic forces at play are so powerful that they inevitably sway minds too – including through all sorts of PR campaigns (how could we ever do without them?). Even so, there’s no denying the qualitative leap: it’s huge and plain for all to see. And I – a dyed-in-the-wool techno-optimist all my life – have actually started having doubts… Is everything going to be ok and kept under control? Or could certain frightening digital events be on the horizon?

Watching it all unfold, I sometimes get the feeling we’re unlikely to get through this without some serious upheavals. But whether or not there’ll be an AI apocalypse – that will take prophets (techno-evangelAIsts and philosophers). Meanwhile, saving the world from the more down-to-earth digital bada-booms is… without a doubt, our job :-).

Read on…

On the main street of Vientiane, the capital of Laos, stands this rather confident-looking structure. What’s more… it’s of a somewhat unusual design for Southeast Asia:

It’s called Patuxai, and it turns out it’s an “Arc de Triomphe”. But that figures, since Laos is a former French colony (and you still quite often see and hear bits of French here). So, if Paris has its own Arc de Triomphe, then there’s got to be one like it here too! But with a Laotian architectural accent :)

It’s fun listening to the locals’ take on it. They’ll tell you that foreign funds were originally granted to Laos to build a new airport, but the local authorities decided otherwise – and built this arch, complete with fountain and promenade. To which the locals responded by dubbing the structure “the runway” :)

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ສະບາຍດີທຸກຄົນ!

Let me continue my tourism tales in and around Vientiane – the capital of Laos. Located 25km from the city center by road (15km as the crow flies) is a rather curious little place that goes by the name of Buddha Park. Here, on a relatively small patch of land (180x100m), stand around two hundred assorted Buddhist and Hindu statues, sculptures, and all sorts of other stone installations.

They look pretty ancient; however, the park was built either in 1958 (if the internet is to be believed) or in 1959 (if our guide is to be believed). Not that it matters. Anyway, these aren’t historical artifacts but relatively recent “faux antiques” made of… reinforced concrete and, in places, simply brickwork under a layer of cement. But don’t let that put you off; the place is still very charming and visit-worthy.

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Ooh – déjà vu! These scenes out the window sure looked familiar – but of course they did: I was only here last month!…

And here are some of our guests flying in!…

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With our tourist weekend in Luang Prabang over, it was time to get down to business. The next couple of days in Vientiane were pretty much all work, work, work (meetings, introductions, handshakes, negotiations, and so on – business as usual), but we still had some time left over for sightseeing: perfect! And the highlight, without a doubt, was the Lao Art Museum.

I’d say it’s a very strange place…

First, it’s sumptuous – a real masterpiece:

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Now that we’ve covered the campsites, it’s onward and downstream on the Sayan Oka River!…

In places, the beauty all around us was simply off the charts:

Read on…

ສະບາຍດີ folks!

Back to Laos – for a continuation of my tales (and pics) from the Luang Prabang side…

Curiously, the city is the country’s alternative capital (the government hopped back and forth between Vientiane and Luang Prabang several times), which is why traces of investment in urban infrastructure from days of yore remain here. And since back in those ancient times it wasn’t all about buses and subways, what they built were temples – some of which have survived through to today.

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Today’s post is all about the campsites we stayed at on our summer rafting trip down the Sayan Oka River, of which there are many and in different flavors, but which all turned out to be decent. Even though there was a pretty heavy stream of rafting tourists (every day we crossed paths with one, two, or three groups), and on top of that fishermen started showing up farther downstream (they come upriver in motorboats through some fairly rough riffles), we always found a nice little spot to spend the night.

Sometimes it was in a forest:

And very nice they were too:

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In Luang Prabang (Luang Phabang) in Laos, the Kuang Si Falls should be first on any visiting tourist’s itinerary! It’s an utterly unique-looking cascade of waterfalls and travertine terraces. Here’s the main waterfall (50+m high) ->

And the terraces farther downstream:

You can even swim:

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Hi folks!

Back to my habit of mixing things up both chronologically and geographically, today’s report isn’t from Southeast Asia (Laos); it’s from Buryatia – just north of Mongolia. Actually, Laos is directly south of Buryatia, but I digress…

First – quick recap…

Our Sayan Oka River escapade: ~280km to cover on the water, with a couple of rapids and countless very interesting riffles along the way. We started at the Buryatian village of Orlik, and from there it’s all the way down to Verkhneokinsky (Irkutsk Region). The elevation at the start is ~1370m, and at the finish it’s ~560m. That’s a total drop of ~800m. Along the way the river cuts through the Eastern Sayan, where it gets pretty wild in places. That stretch is roughly 170–180km long (depending on how you count it); the rest is the warm-up/run-up at the beginning, plus coming out onto the plain and floating down to the finish at the end. Everything in-between is in the mountains. The most interesting and most action-packed segment of the whole run is the Orkho-Bom gorge, which is 65km long – though I never did figure out exactly where it begins or ends.

The first two days of rafting were fairly calm: we just cruised along with the current – only occasionally paddling over to where it ran faster. And now and then we came across some shallows and easy little riffles.

But then we came to the start of the mountain section – waaay over there, just before those mountains, was the left turn into the gorge. And we’re off!…

Read on…