Hut, bus, coach bed...hut. That was but one excellent series of nights sleeps that we have encountered and endured on our happenings in Laos! Due to our somewhat tightened schedule, the 'missioning' from one end of the country to another has been intense. Including sampling a wide range of sleeping arrangements (no - not with other people. In most cases).
Alas, I get ahead of my self. After my attempts at engaging with the Lay culture in the capital (yeah, yeah, made it to one temple....but I'd only been in the country 20 hours!), I was off on the bus up to Vang Vieng to join Klo and her band of Merry Mancunians for birthday booziness! Hmm...good wedge of t-totalness there, me thinks! Arrived there to find that Klo had not in fact responded to me coming to meet them all, and so sauntered into a little bar and munched on the much famed fresh spring rolls of Laos, and with 'Lap Lap', a minced beef 'salad' with plenty of spice. Yummy. A nice Israeli chappy kept me entertained until the Klo raised her feverish head to acknowledge my presence in the little town - 3 hours later. hahaha. Yes, so at 10pm on Tuesday, a tottered into a midden of a room awash with chocolate wrappers and general clues of gastronomical gorging. They had fallen victim to the local delicacies of 'magic shakes and pizza.' One shall not go into the gory details, but they still weren't as fresh as they may have wished on Wednesday morning for the much celebrated and anticipated 'tubing', Happy birthday Rachel! haha. I, mean while, was a smug b*stard, and was all excited post-detox.
For those at a loss at this casually mentioned activity, namely 'tubing', I shall enlighten you. I am aware that my varied audience will vary in its excitement and, erm, yeah.
Tubing - the sitting of oneself in a large, rubber inner tube that once lay snuggled and dry on the interior of a tractor. This over-sized, industrial rubber ring is sat in my its owner (woe betide he that loses it!) and floats down the muddy waters of the Nam Song river, stopping off at the many wooden bars that line the river down-stream. If the current whisks you past the bar - tough. Unless you successfully grab a bit of rope and are fished in by some nice type. Yes, the culmination of sitting in a rubber ring, drinking, leaping off zip-lines and rope swings into a fairly fast flowing river over the course of 6 hours or so is definitely the safest activity I have ever engaged in. HAHAHA. the first bar that we managed to squirm ourselves out of our tubes into was great - it had a massive rope swing that you had to scramble up a rickety wooden ladder to reach...and then pathetically, I screeched "this is really scary" as it swung me out significantly higher over the water than I had anticipated! The next bar and another beer, a spot of muddy volleyball was undertaken, followed by a quick slide down the zip-line into the river! Hurrah! By the time we had made it to the last bar (we managed to successfully float by 3 others as mooching down the middle seemed to be a good idea...), shooting off a massive swing with a nice chap from Leeds, at the SAME time and letting go at the highest point was not a bit daunting at all. Must be those power buckets. Comedy times. Impressed? We managed to last all night too!
The next day we ate burgers, and chocolate and eggs and EVERYTHING. Because we felt like crap. And looked it. And probably smelt it. Such attractive young ladettes. Complete with wife-beater shirt that holds testament to our japes in bright green (I am, shamefully, wearing it right now in Vietnam. Can take the girl out of Blackpool....).
Next stop, Luang Prabang, the former royal capital in northern Laos. Since Klo had managed to bag the last seat on the coach, I had a prime-time location of the seat right next to the driver! Excellent views of the staggering mountains of Laos, but no nodding off as I'd have fallen down the steps and out! Since we hadn't been blessed with a warm shower in about six weeks, we decided splurging and spending 3 and a half GBPs, which included: single beds that were adorned with crisp, white sheets that we actually wanted to sleep in, a mini-bar, a TV, air-conditioning AND hot water for a truly great shower. A tonic for the soul, to be sure! Temples a-plenty, and an array of French-era architecture that simply generated a chilled out and elegant ambiance. Ventured around Wat Xieng Thong based near the northern tip of the peninsula formed by the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers, and lost Klo (not the keenest admirer of temples compared to the temple fiend I appear to have evolved into), so tottered up the slopes of the 100m high Phu Si hill, and watched the sun fall into the lush green mountains surrounding Luang Prabang. Very tranquil indeed. And it was quite the chilled day we required as intense adventures lay in our stead the following day...
A two day adventure tour! Hurrah! Elephant riding to begin the day...and it was somewhat more intense of the old stomach muscles than anticipated when we saw the angles of the slopes these giants had to contend with! Eeek! Nearly sank straight down out of our bamboo throne! After feeding the blighters some yummy bananas, it was time that Klo, our guide, and I set off into the Laos terrain as intrepid hikers! In the blaring heat, we walked through vast open rice fields, enveloped between the immense mountains, then struggled our way through jungle vegetation and water-ways in the scorching heat of mid-day. Finally arrived in a small village of the Hmong people, one of the 84 ethnic minorities that reside throughout Laos. Their belief system is that of animism, and we had the privilege of meeting the village shaman, a chap who is believed to possess the ability to cure sickness and exorcise bad spirits from the sick who come for his aid (although there was a brown bottle of paracetamol loitering at the back of his medicine shelf...not that we doubt or anything...). The onward again until we reached the second village at where we would spend the night, the 'Khamu people'. But, we were successfully drenched by the rainy seasons, well, erm, rain, so were more than relieved to see our lovely bamboo hut! Yes, yes, the hut did not happen to have A/C, nor was there hot water in the trough with the bucket...but it was ace!! Yet, it was playing with the village children that totally mad it worthwhile...one minute I was tentatively trying to chatter with the little critters, next I was the pink pyjamed Pied Piper, with a entourage of many small persons imitating whatever obscure sound and body movement I could conjure up! hahaha. Fun, fun, fun. Next day, up early and a little bit more trekking for us, and then an afternoon on the river kayaking. Lush. But tiring....alas, no time for showers, as the bus was leaving to Vientiane at 6pm. So, it is a night bus...with a bed for us! Quite the luxury!
Passed a none eventful day in the capital, then again a night on the bus in a southerly direction for us. This time, not quite so luxurious as only a reclining chair...and the bones were definitely beginning to crave a nice, solid bed type thing...but to Pakse...and then down to Don Det, a small island which is part of the 'Four Thousand Island' chain. Gorgeous. And another hut. But it was for only 10 Kip a night...which ius 25pence! Wicked! AND, we had hammocks! A mooch around the paddy fields, and a day out on bicycles to see waterfalls (aka, rapids) and the beach (aka, muddy shore of the river) and all was swell. Then we met a right rabble that got us all started on various international stereotypes, and apparently, us good ol' brits, are down as describing everywhere as "dodgy, heaps of amazing brilliance!" Hmm, maybe I do say those words on occasion...So, James (posh boy who is on his gap year...'oh, reeeeaaalllllyyy', and Tait, an American boy living the hippy dream in Hawaii, both of which had a wicked sense of humour, so we all got along swell...especially after a spot of indulgence in the local spirit, 'Laos Laos'. Marvellous. And then we discovered cinnamon swirls on the celestial bakery (only one on the island) and sore heads were cured. Klo nearly died on a white water rafting extravaganza, whilst I adventured with the boys to pizza places of great promise, composed silly songs and drank milkshakes that should never have been imbibed. Hairy night. Scary morning. And then we disbanded like all merry men...for Klo and I...to the great land of 'Nam!
So, to Pakse for a bus to the border. Yikes! T'was not merely a bus, but a vechile of torture that we should never of boarded....a 12hour journey transpired to be that of 24hours....complete with deliveries of rice every half-hour along the way, getting rained on at 6am at the border crossing, Chloe having her purse stolen with her bank card, and on arrival at our final destination, discovered we were in fact in Danang, and not in Hue as first anticipated. But, survival is the key.
GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM!
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