Vientiane,
Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Monday, July 28, 2008
Early start to get out of the guesthouse and pack our very small day sacks with enough stuff to be out in the jungle for two days and one night. We arrive at the tour operator to meet the people we will be going on the tour with, a dutch couple who were great fun and two french girls who were rather to serious and dull for my liking. The transport to the village where we started the trek from and where we would pick up our local guides for negotiating the forrest trails was around 3h away by road in the back of a truck with makeshift seating. The paddy fields whipped by with the looming mountains an impressive backdrop, dark and ominous clouds hanging overhead. At the village we meet our guides and are welcomed with interest from the locals. The primary source of income for the village being bamboo baskets which are being weaved by men women and children around and about. We stock up with the food for lunch (which was bought at local markets on the way) and water (6L each!) and head off on the trail. The path is mostly a passable road by car for the first hour, surrounded by dense but low level jungle, whoops and calls of birds and animals, many of which we have never heard before. Trekking onto more footpath type paths eventually brings us, after another couple of hours, to the Tower. Standing 20ft off the ground and 25ft in diameter with a simple wooden floor and open to the elements - this is where we would be staying the night. Reading some of the info and checking our numbers we realise that we are 8 people, the maximum for the tower being 10 in total for an overnights stay. The reason we checked we due to the appearance of a group from Spain and Isreal at the village, they had got an independant taxi to the village and hired a guide separately form the tour that we were with to take them to the tower. As our lunch was being prepared by the guides they arrived, taking up most of the space, drinking whiskey and playing German techno from their portable loud speakers much to the annoyance of our group who had paid $90 each to see wild elephants. Clearly the elephants weren't going to appear with the music and cigarette smoke and noise being created. The rain and electric storm came mid afternoon and we wanted to trek rather than sit around playing cards. So we went for a 5k trek through the jungle and through the rivers spotting insects and very very large spiders on the way. When we arrived back we had diner and the others had peanuts (forgetting to bring food with them). We were pretty pissed off as unsurprisingly no elephants turned up at the salt lick after dark and the Spanish couple talked very loudly into the night. They even took the sleeping bags and moquito nets so that our group was squashed together and barely covered. The guides also therefore had no protection and slept on wooden boards exposed to the flies and cold. Dopey in the morning from restless and uncomfortable sleep we ate breakfast and packed ready for our major trek. It was to be 15km through fairly dense jungle and swollen rivers. Disappointed from not seeing the elphants we were all quite excited when we found fresh tracks and broken bamboo, but we never found them up close. Tough trekking through the jungle, fortunately there was some cloud cover so the heat wasn't as intense as it could have been. Stopping for lunch by a river we all went swimming eating leftovers and fresh Laap a traditional Lao beef salad with sticky rice. Eventually back at the village we said goodbye to our guides and headed back to Vientiane. Once back we found a guesthouse with a very comfy bed and aircon and TV. The ducth couple were getting on an 18h coach trip straight away and we said they could shower and change before heading out for which they were very grateful. That evening we made the most of the hotel by ordering pizza and beer on room service!
In the morning we packed and headed to the bus station for the 7h mountainous bus journey to Vang Vieng.
