Vientiane,
Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
As I mentioned before, we decided it would be much nicer to kayak down the Mekong to Vientiane instead of riding the pov wagon. We figured we had an easy straight run down the river. During the course of the day we found out that as a kayaking duo we have the grace and agility of two old women on a log. Two other couples who got to the river in the same sawngthaew (van) as us and took sea kayaks instead of our (supposedly) proper river kayaks, glided effortlessly past us and we didn't see them till lunch. It was a catalogue of ineptness from start to finish. If we weren't going round in continuous circles we were veering off one way or the other, seemingly totally unable to keep a rhythm. Richard the organiser was a sound chap and as we were the only two on his trip we chatted with him all the way. He demonstrated some basic kayak skills like surfing the rapid - where you go through the rapid, then at the bottom break out of the current into a calm eddy at the side. You then turn around and paddle back into the current and float on top of it. Of course one of the key things skills is keeping the boat straight so there was no way we were bringing this off, being turned around easily by the river. Before lunch we attempted a grade 3 rapid that all the others had just shot through no problem and halfway through we found ourselves out of the kayak in the cascading water, then swiftly being spit out the bottom, Kerry with a mangled paddle in one hand and both coughing up water. From his vantage point in the eddy Richard explained that our line was spot on until halfway through when Kerry was forced to lean to far and went overboard, followed quickly by me. I followed this up further down the river by jumping off a 10 metre cliff at a jaunty angle, badly jolting my upper back in the process. We rode the remaining few km's in to Vientiane with the two other couples in a sawngthaew in a stony silence.
Sawngthaews are pick up trucks with tarpaulin stretched over a metal frame in the back, that pick people up anywhere. By the time we were nearing the capital, driving through torrential rain Kerry started laughing as she clocked her surroundings. Rucksacks were piled everywhere, rain was ripping through the back, the French - U.S. couple blocking a gap in the roof with a plastic mack that a Korean girl quickly pulled out of her daybag, her boyfriend sat across from us appeared to have narcolepsy, sleeping sat up through the entire journey. In addition there were the local pickups, a mother and daughter on their way to market carrying ALL the fruit and veg for their stall. Along with a woman, her sick husband and their toddler. The man was laid down the middle on the rucksacks looking like he had a bad fever, his wife mopping his brow and holding him. And their son was placed carefully on Kerrys lap to look after. So this humble van became a family car, a minibus and an ambulance all at once. Amidst the chaos, unbelievably the driver still beckoned to more punters roadside to get on board!! "Come on. Sure there's room for more! what are you waiting for?" Unbelievable.
