Taxi: Talat Sao to the Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge: 13.7 miles.
Van: Friendship Bridge to Udon Thani Airport: 37.3 miles.
Plane: Udon Thani to Phuket: 719 miles.
Total: 770 miles
This was last weekend’s three-part journey to Phuket, Thailand, where I watched my housemate Alex race in a triathlon, for which he’s been training since arrival in Laos. His journey was a bit more grueling, but took almost the same amount of time:
Swim: 1.2 miles
Bike: 56 miles
Run: 13.1 miles
Total: 70.3 miles
I arrived in the evening on Saturday after work, just in time to check out the small village that is the Laguna Resort, and to wake up early Sunday morning to watch the “Laguna Phuket Ironman 70.3 Asia Pacific World Championship” (a phrase repeated often enough throughout the day to memorize). The race began at 7am on the beach, where hundreds of spectators and racers in neon swim caps congregated (about 800 people were participating in total). The races was started in four waves, divided by age group, which each sent hundreds of people running toward the water and chaotically battling to begin swimming. After completing the ocean part of the swim, it was a dash back across the beach and into the lagoon, and I boarded a ferry to cross to the other side, where the transition area and finish line were. I spent most of the day in this area, watching the racers come back in from the bike leg a few hours later. The biking gear was intense: so many fancy bikes and absurdly aerodynamic helmets (the kind that look like aliens, see: helmet and alien, very similar). At the bike dismount area, bikers came in at full speed, before stopping to quickly unclip their shoes and then sprint into the transition area for the run. A few minutes later, they emerged for the final leg of the race. For an 8-hour sporting event, the energy levels were extremely high, and there actually wasn’t a dull moment spectating. Because of staggered start times and various skill levels there were always people participating in different events at any given time, and the people-watching was at its best. Perhaps unsurprisingly a triathlon brings out a fair share of fanatics, eccentric expats, and other characters, so there was lots to be seen.
the first two waves of swimmers in the ocean
Some notable racers, aside from Alex, that I watched cross the finish line:
-the winner, an American who finished in just under 4 hours, and got to run the last few meters with a “little” Thai elephant
-the oldest man (73) and woman (63)
-a man with a prosthetic leg
-someone who shared a birthday with the king, which was a source of much excitement
-people who danced, carried their children, drank a beer, held hands, and waved flags (this one was every single Italian racing) across the finish
another wave waiting for the start
The Phuket Ironman 70.3 coincided with a particularly auspicious day in Thailand, the king’s 83rd birthday, and little reminders of this important holiday were many. The king’s “color” is pink, so all of the race volunteers wore pink shirts in his honor. The announcers reminded everyone of the special day every so often with cheers of “long live the king!” In the Triathlon expo there was a special tent dedicated to him, with the opportunity to sign birthday cards and read about his many accomplishments (a musician, a leader, a photographer, an athlete…the list is basically never-ending). King Bhumibol is currently the world’s longest serving monarch, and is a beloved figure in Thailand, so this was quite a serious holiday. His picture is everywhere—larger than life at the entrance of resorts, gracing the tops of Burger King and KFC, in the airport.
some of the Thai king’s birthday cards
After the day-long event, we went to the post-race awards dinner in the evening. The event featured a buffet dinner (and lots of exhausted athletes going for seconds and thirds), celebrities of the triathlon world, and, naturally, a ceremony for the king’s birthday. Each person lit a candle, and joined in a group chorus of the Thai national anthem and the “King’s Song,” sung four times in a row. It has an amusing sprightly and upbeat melody that has been stuck in my head ever since.
Finally, we decided to venture from the resort to see a bit of the rest of Phuket after dinner, so we took a car to Padong, one of the most popular backpacker towns on the island. Even on a Sunday, it was lively into the night, with more lights and late-night shopping than we are used to in Vientiane. The beachside town had many of the mainstays of Asian tourism: fake Raybans, roadside pad thai, local beer t-shirts (Singha for Thailand). By night at least, it was nothing particularly spectacular, but was a fun place to wander and continue to notice the vast differences in development between Thailand and Laos, which is easily forgotten in our comfortable daily lives in Vientiane.
In general, I’ve found Laos to be much more developed than I had assumed before I arrived, but leaving the country and crossing into Thailand is definitely a contrast. When I cross the Friendship Bridge, sometimes I feel like I’ve crossed back into the United States. The roads are nice, in four lane divided highways with familiar-looking signage. Some of the changes are subtle, but the roads from Nong Khai to Udon Thani (in northern Thailand, leaving Laos) seem strikingly clean and ordinary. Padong seemed like a small marvel at night: since I arrived here, I haven’t been in a bigger city than Vientiane, where there is not nearly as much light and commercial activity. Just twelve hours after exploring these lively streets of Padong, I was back aboard a tuk-tuk, riding the dusty roads back into the Lao capital, just in time for Monday night’s lessons.