This morning we took the bus to Vientiane, the capitol of Laos. The guide from our trek told us that it would be a good trip because the roads are nice and not curvy like the ones around Luang Prabang. I think he must have meant that the roads were nice and curvy, even more than the ones in Luang Prabang. We spent about eight hours driving through the mountains in Laos on the windiest road I have ever travelled on. I felt so nauseous, especially when the boy in front of us and the girl in back of us started throwing up. The roads didn’t seem to affect Sonja too much because she read the entire trip. At one point on our trip the bus was full, but several people got on and sat in the aisle on bags of rice and other random items. One man decided to sit right next to me. As we were driving, he started leaning closer and closer to me, and I found myself leaning closer and closer to Sonja. However, pretty soon I realized that he had strategically taken over my arm and head rest on my seat. It made the rest of the ride a little awkward, but I’m sure he needed after riding in the aisle for a few hours. During our drive, we would sporadically stop so the locals could by produce from farmers on the side of the road and relieve their bladders. At every stop, it seemed like 20 people dropped their pants and went to the bathroom. Sonja was a little concerned that she might have to join them at one of our stops, but she was able to hold out until we found a proper squatty potty to use. My favorite part of the trip was when the farmers shoved boiled eggs and fried bats on a stick through the bus window in an attempt to get us to purchase them. We were hungry, but not that hungry. We’re holding out for fried spiders in Cambodia anyway.
We were up bright and early the next morning, but our guide took a little longer to get up. I think he was recovering from all the whisky he drank the night before. We played cards until breakfast was ready. Then we played more cards until our kayaking guide arrived. We spent the rest of the afternoon kayaking down the river back to Luang Prabang. It was a lot of fun, especially when we hit the rapids. By the end of the trip our arms we feeling pretty tired. We were so excited to get back to our guesthouse and take a shower. I’m not sure if I have ever smelled quite as bad as I did at the end of that trip. We showered, washed our clothes by hand, and then headed out to get a smoothie.
When the guide saw that we were falling asleep, the family made up our beds. They rolled out two mats on the dirty floor and covered them with a mosquito net. They continued to watch TV while we tried to fall asleep. I didn’t sleep well that night. I think it was the combination of being wet, sleeping on a hard surface, people in the room snoring, roosters crowing, my knees burning and oozing fluid, and the thought that I will probably have lice from using their pillow.
We stayed with a family that had four daughters and a son. They seemed to have more money than the typical villagers we had met. This is a picture of their house. On the bottom level is a TV with some plastic couches and chairs and a kitchen. The family was very concerned about my knees, and they brought me more eucalyptus to put on them. We watched some TV with the family, while the youngest daughter made us some great Laos food. Apparently the youngest daughter in Laos families is responsible for all the cooking and cleaning. We were served rice, a couple of vegetable soups, bamboo salad, buffalo meat salad, dried beans and pineapple. After we were completely stuffed, we watched Laos MTV and a gambling show. Since I’m not easily entertained by American TV, I found it difficult to stay awake watching TV in another language.
Towards the end of our hike, we arrived at another beautiful waterfall. You can climb all over the different levels and slide down the rocks. I was a little nervous to get in the water with my knees, but I tried to pop the biggest blisters, and then Sonja and I got in the water with our clothes. The water actually felt good on my knees and it was great to wash out my sweaty clothes. The only problem was we didn’t have a change of clothes, so we were wet until the next morning. There were several monks who were also visiting the waterfalls, and they wanted to take pictures with us. After we left the waterfall, we headed to a Laos village to spend the night.
Everywhere we went during our trek, my knees drew a lot of attention. I felt sorry for our guide because he had to explain what happened to my knees so many times, and then he had to listen to everyone’s advice about what I should do to help them heal. At one of the villages an older woman cut up some special leaves and put them on my knees. They don’t have a name for the leaf, but it is suppose to help me heal faster. I hope it works. The lady also told our guide that there was some special medicine for healing skin that she could make from one of the trees, but our guide told her we didn’t have enough time.
Our guide did not seem to be a fan of the Hmong people. He called them dirty and lazy. He said that the women typically get married when they are between 12 and 14 years old. The women start having children right away and every year for about 10 years. The women and children do all the work while the husbands hang out. The Hmong villages were very secluded and small.
The trek was incredible. I liked it much better than the one we did in Thailand because we spent most of our time interacting with the local people. We hiked around the hills outside of Luang Prabang and stopped to visit Hmong, Khmu, and Laos villages. We got to go inside the people’s homes and eat with them. The first village we stopped in was a Khmu village, and the people were celebrating something. All the men were sitting around gambling and drinking whisky out of a pot through a long straw. The women were making food and the children were swinging and climbing all over the vines in the jungle. This truly gave new meaning to the term “jungle gym.” The villagers offered us whisky, but we enjoyed water and fresh pineapple instead. Our guide was hoping that we would also get some chicken, but they hadn’t sacrificed it to the Spirits yet.
In the morning I wrapped my legs and practiced walking around while we waited for our tour guide to pick us up. We weren’t sure what to expect on this trek or how it would compare with our trek in Thailand, but our previous experience taught us not to pack five bottles of water in our backpacks or even extra clothes since we probably wouldn’t be showering. Our bags were so light, which made them easy to carry during our hike.
That night we got ready for our two day trek that was starting in the morning. As I was sitting on my bed, I started to get nervous about the fact that my knees were covered with blisters and so swollen that you couldn’t see my knee caps, and it was becoming more difficult to bend them. I couldn’t imagine trying to do a hike like we had done in Thailand, much less sit on a raft all day and exposing them to more sun. I decided I should probably get some bandages to cover them up, so I went down stairs to ask the guesthouse owners where a pharmacy was located. When they saw my legs, two of the girls made funny noises and ran out of the room. They came back with eucalyptus and started rubbing it all over my blisters. I couldn’t believe they were willing to touch my knees. The eucalyptus really took away the burning sensation, and Sonja and I went to the pharmacy to get some bandages.
In the afternoon we visited a waterfall. We drove out to the waterfall with a German couple and some Swiss girls. The German couple told us all about their Gibbon Experience. Sonja and I had really wanted to try the Gibbon Experience, but we never heard back from the company. The Gibbon Experience is run by a company that takes you out into the jungle in Laos, and you travel from tree to tree by zip lines and sleep in the trees for two nights. After hearing the German couple’s experience, we are glad that we skipped it. They had to hike for ten ours with only a sandwich to split between two people. They had to walk in and out of water up to their waste, and they had leeches all over them. When we arrived at the waterfall the Swiss girls told our driver to come pick us up in three and half hours. I didn’t understand how we could possibly spend that much time at a waterfall, but it was amazing. The waterfall was huge and you could hike all around it and swim in the little pools of water. We had a great time, and the water felt so good on my legs.
The next day we relaxed in Luang Prabang and tried to recover from our sunburns. We spent the morning walking around the city. As we walked around the city, I seemed to attract a lot of attention. Everywhere we went, people stared and pointed at my red blistered knees. They were definitely pretty ugly looking. We tried some interesting street food and found a little shop that sells the best smoothies for only $.30.
When we arrived in Luang Prabang, we found a cheap guest house called Vilay. Then we spent the rest of the evening walking around the night market. I think I must have been hungry because I kept looking at all the food. We shared a pineapple, and I bought a smoothie. I really didn’t want to have rice for dinner after the stuff we ate for lunch. Food is cheaper here than it was in Thailand. We saw lots of places in the market that had cheap food that looked delicious, so we made plans for where we wanted to eat during the next few days. On our way home from the market we stopped by a travel agency and booked a two day trek. I am most excited about trying the rafting again. It was so fun when we did it in Chiang Mai
When we arrived in Luang Prabang, we found a cheap guest house called Vilay. Then we spent the rest of the evening walking around the night market. I think I must have been hungry because I kept looking at all the food. We shared a pineapple, and I bought a smoothie. I really didn’t want to have rice for dinner after the stuff we ate for lunch. Food is cheaper here than it was in Thailand. We saw lots of places in the market that had cheap food that looked delicious, so we made plans for where we wanted to eat during the next few days. On our way home from the market we stopped by a travel agency and booked a two day trek. I am most excited about trying the rafting again. It was so fun when we did it in Chiang Mai.
The next half of our trip was much better because we sat sideways so we could stretch out our legs. We couldn’t talk very well because we had helmets on and the boat was really loud, so an hour into the second portion of our trip, Sonja started signing to me. I had no idea what she was saying. Apparently she was asking me if I knew sign language. I knew the alphabet so we started spelling out sentences to each other. It made the time pass much quicker. The driver even decided to get in on our sign language. He motioned that my knees were as red as the boat, which was true. Sonja was so sweet and tried to cover them with her arms, but I think the damage was already done. I am pretty sure I will have some very blistered knees.
We stopped half way through the trip to have lunch. I was so excited to have a break from the boat and to eat something. When I opened my take-out box that the guest house gave me, I noticed that my fried rice looked peculiarly like the fried rice from dinner the night before. Whatever it was, it wasn’t good. It was cold, super sticky, and tasted awful. During lunch we talked to one of the boys that was in our boat. He was from Mexico and was out travelling by himself. He told us about the flesh eating disease he got when he was in India and how excited he was to try cheap drugs out here. He told Sonja, he would give her his coveted seat in the front of the boat if she would buy him some opium. She politely declined. Then he asked us why we weren’t even curious to try such a glamorous drug as opium. While we were eating we noticed some tourists who had decided to swim downstream from where we were. Sonja and I laughed as we discussed whether we should tell them that they were swimming in everyone’s toilet water. The toilets on our stop were squatters that emptied into the river, and at least twenty people had used it while we were there.
After a gross breakfast of cold, weird tasting eggs, our guesthouse helped us cross the river into Laos and to get our Visas. Then we headed for the speed boat that was taking us to Luang Prabang. I think the guesthouse description of the speed boat was perfect. However, they forgot to tell us how much space was on the speed boats. When a little boat pulled up to the dock, we didn’t think that it was for us. We didn’t see how it could possibly fit seven people and their luggage, but somehow we crammed ourselves into it. We sat with our knees at our chins and our small packs between our legs for the first portion of the trip. My feet were asleep, and I doubted my ability to ride in that position for six hours. I was so glad when the driver stopped to use the bathroom. We strapped our small packs to the front of the boat, which gave us a little more breathing room. The ride was beautiful, and I was only a little nervous when I saw lots of rocks poking out of the water and when the driver would lean forward and grab the steering mechanism with two hands. Honestly, I would definitely recommend the fast boat over the slow boat. The slow boat takes two full days to get to Luang Prabang, and although the scenery is beautiful, I think I would prefer to do the journey in six hours.
Today we will be taking the fast boat to Luang Probang. When we purchased our tickets, the guy got a funny look on his face and said that he needed to tell us a few things first. From the look on his face, we thought he was going to try to talk us out of going on the fast boat. He told us that the ride would be very fast and bumpy, and we would need to wear helmets with a shield to protect us. He assured us that we would be safe since there haven’t been any accidents this year, and there was only one accident last year. Apparently last year a boat flipped over because it hit a rock, but the ticket guy assured us that everyone was okay, and it only flipped because it was dry season and a rock was sticking out of the water. He assured us again that everything would be okay because we were taking the boat during the rainy season and the water level in the Mekong River will be high.
We took a walk along the river and while we waited for our guest house to make us dinner. Dinner was absolutely delicious. They had a small buffet with fried rice and noodles, potato curry, vegetables, and pineapple. I'm glad I ate a lot because the meals the next day were pretty gross.
After church we relaxed for a couple of hours at our guest house while we waited for the bus to come to take us to the Lao border. When the bus arrived, it was full of people, so we were put in the back corner with the luggage. The bus was actually very nice. It was clean and had air conditioning. However, being in the back of the bus as we drove on twisty roads filled with potholes and having a driver who took his foot on and off the accelerator every five seconds, made us feel like we were going to throw up. We tried to fall asleep, so we wouldn’t pay attention to being sick. The ride was supposed to take three hours, but it actually took five. We were so excited when we arrived.
We spent the rest of that evening walking around the city of Chiang Mai looking for church, but we couldn’t find it. Sunday morning we tried to find the church again. We asked several people, but nobody seemed to know where it was. On our way back to our hostel we finally found a sign that led us to the church. We were so excited, and we walked as fast as we could back to our hostel to change into skirts. By the time we got back we were dripping with sweat, so we rinsed off and headed back to church. It was great to be there. We ran into several other Americans that were also visiting or working on projects in Chiang Mai.
On our way back to our hostel, we stopped at an orchid farm. It was beautiful, but all I really did was look around for a bathroom to use.
When we got down the hill, we visited a beautiful waterfall , and then the rest of our hike included walking back and forth over a stream. When the guide told us about some other activities that we were going to do that day, the girls asked whether the activities would require them to go up hill. I think they were determined that none of the activities were worth doing if they required hiking uphill. I think we were all pretty tired from the lack of sleep, hiking, and heat, but I'm glad we didn't miss out on rafting down the river. It felt so refreshing!
When we finally arrived in the village, we walked around a little bit, and then some local girls gave us a massage. Considering how dirty we were, I couldn’t believe they actually touched us. We spent the evening playing cards and visiting. Then we tried to sleep. However, the bamboo floor and the roosters crowing at 2:45 am made sleep a little difficult. Today we have been very tired, but the hike out was a lot easier than the hike up to the village. Part of the way through our hike, the guide told me that my flip flops were doing well, which made me feel better since he didn’t seem to happy that I wore them. I must admit the hike would have been much easier in real shoes.
Our guide told us that we needed to eat a lot during lunchtime because we had a strenuous hike ahead. Our plan was to stay the night with some of the hill tribes in Northern Chiang Mai. If you look closely at the first picture you can see a little village on top of the hill. Our guide wasn’t kidding when he said the hike would be a little strenuous. Actually the hike wasn’t bad, but the heat and humidity made it difficult. About three-fourths of the way into our hike, Sonja stopped and started to throw up. I think the heat had really gotten to her. I also had (still have) heat rash down my arms. We were grateful when we made it to a waterfall to cool off. We gladly immersed ourselves in the water. When we finally made it to the top of the hill, our guide pointed out that we would be staying in the village on the next hill over, so we continued to hike a little longer. The last picture is taken from the top of one hill looking toward the next hill we needed to climb. I don’t think the American girls with us enjoyed the hike, but I actually thought it was a lot of fun. Thailand is so green and beautiful.