OnTheRoad

Sorry for the silence mes amis, but I have returned to the land of 24 hour electricity and internet now, so I will now update you all.

First up, the trekking trip which I neglected to provide photos of, or any details; photos are now in the photo collection and details of the trip will follow shortly.

I've just been up in Nong Khiaw and Muong Ngoy, a fair way north from here. The weather was very pleasantly cool overall, with some wicked thunderstorms and lighting. I'll cover the trekking, then get back to this.

So, the trekking trip was overall pretty wicked. The mountain biking on the first day qualified as mountain biking only in that we were on real mountain bikes (which is a novel experience over here). The biking itself was just along a plain unsealed road, which was less exciting than the biking Peter and I did the day before (see a couple of posts back) on the same bikes.

Still, the guides were good fun and it was nice to be back on a bike again. My rear was a little saw after the last days biking, but numbness set in quickly enough. We crashed in a Lao village by the river, after a huge dinner and a Beerlao.

Second day, we were driven back down river a few km, where we crossed and began the trekking. Lots of climbing, great views and almost the whole way in blessed shade to keep the sun off us. I must be getting used to the heat, 'cause the whole thing seems reasonably simple, not as exhausted as I feared.

We see lots of burnt out areas as we get closer to our destination village. Many steep areas are also burnt out, even though they cannot be farmed, as the burning off of land is not an exact science... The individual areas are generally left fallow for several seasons before being burnt and replanted, allowing the soil to restore itself, which is a sound strategy.

We reach our overnight stop, Ban Long Kong, around 12:30, well ahead of schedule. Having three (reasonably) fit young guys presumably speeds up the pace. After chilling out for a few hours of recovery, reading and whatnot, we head up to the nearby Hmong village to play soccer with the kids and check out the area.

Later that night Skye and I reveal our near complete lack of song knowledge while the kids sing us their repertoire. This includes some english ones such as "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and "Old MacDonald", which were taught to them by previous visitors. The Lao national song is also pretty cool, or perhaps it just sounds that way coming from the throats of a horde of small children :D

Next day, we trek up out of town to check out a few caves. All in all, pretty easy, but with my gammy hip I can't take to much anyway :D The caves are good fun - we're told a story (via translators) by the headman of the Hmong village about how he was a teacher back in the Vietnam war and how they hid out with the kids in this cave. It was bombed while they were there, and you can see the shattered stone when you go to check it out.

Final day, we say our goodbyes to Ban Long Kong and trek back out a different path to the river. Again we make good time, but we rest over lunch and a quick nap afterwards before getting onto the river.

Kayaking and swimming in the river is definitely good fun. Whenever you get too hot you can provoke a water war with the others and get soaked to the skin pretty quickly; heat problem solved.

So, overall, the trekking is highly endorsed. Great places, great guides, great people, all good. White Elephant Adventures, Luang Prabang. They don't seem to have a website, otherwise I'd hook them up a link (maybe I should offer to make one for them?)

Following the trekking action, we hung out in Luang Prabang for a day, before Peter headed back to NZ and I went north to Nong Khiaw.

Nong Khiaw did not really excite me so much, not a lot to do, but I did get some reading and relaxing done. I jumped on a boat up to Muong Ngoy the next day, much more fun there. I sat down for a drink with three Irish girls at about three in the afternoon and didn't end up stopping until tenish, when the lights went out and we all went home.

Next day, kayaking up the river. Great views, but my batteries were (and still are) flat, so no photos. If you look in the collections, there are photos taken by a French guy I met, Laurance or Florence (I'm not sure, the accent throws me a little), who has generously helped me out.

On the way out from Nong Khiaw, the annual boat races were taking place. They race in teams of 30, I am told, for a distance of 800m each time. All the villages around take part, with 18 different teams entering. I hung around for a couple of hours to watch these (no photos, but all pretty cool. One of the teams appears to be sponsored by Emirates, the airline - random).

Now back in Luang Prabang, off to Chiang Mai tomorrow, so next time you hear from me I'll be reporting from there.