The next day we went to a couple of tour companies to inquire for a jungle hiking tour. We already had visited a couple, when we met Justine who also was looking for a tour operator and we got very interested in one of the offers. As the price was still pretty high, we decided to have a look for other people to join So that we could reduce the price. Whilst talking, we met Sonja and she had the exact same plan. So we decided to come back and meet in the evening to finalize everything.
Chrisy and I already had rented a scooter and so we put on the helmets and started the engine. I was driving and she sat behind me and held on for her dear life. Luckily it is not busy on Laos roads and the roads are in pretty good shape. So we cruised outside of town and through the rice paddies. We wanted to go to a waterfall and to get there we had to take a dirt road. We went the wrong junction and ended up on a small path with cows right and left of us. We managed to go through them and then after realizing we were on the wrong way back again. The area had a couple of brick factories and we saw many bricks piled up on the ground around the building were they burned the bricks.
On the way we saw many people in the paddies just starting with the planting of the rice. Some of the kids didn't have joy in the planting process, but more in playing in the mud and water. It was very amusing watching them play.
We came to a rice paddy where one lady and her two young daughters just started planting. I had the spontaneous idea to stop and ask if we could help them. So we stopped and as we didn't speak the same language, I asked her with hands and legs if it would be ok with her. The mother nodded and so we took off our shoes and jumped into the water. The little girl started to scream and cry loud when she saw us coming. So the mother send her with the little older girl away. We took some rice plants and asked the lady to show us what we had to do.
The water was half knee deep and the ground was soft, muddy and slippery soil so that with every step you sink into the ground and you can feel the mud slid through in-between your toes. We had to take a bundle of rice plants into one hand and take a couple of single plants into the other and push the roots into the ground. With a space of 15-20 cm between we placed one plant after the other one into the ground, wishing for a strong and successful healthy plant to grow. The lady and some ladies from the surrounding paddies started laughing and were very surprised and delighted about our joining. We received many smiles and thumbs up. The sparkling in the eyes of the locals was amazing. We sent probably a good hour with them until we were almost finished and we ran out of seedlings. So we waved goodbye and left them. We have to pay a big respect for all the locals for doing this back breaking work on their fields. It was a good eye opener to appreciate every single rice corn you get on your plate.
We washed off the mud from our legs and arms in a small canal flowing buy right next to the rice paddy before we jumped back on our scooter. After hearing about all the unexploded bombs once dropped over Laos by the americans in illegal air operations, I am not sure if I would do this again! But it was a great experience and good Karma Yoga and I really hope and wish that this field brings a good harvest for the locals!
We went next to the waterfall. We passed through little settlements with charming character. The butterflies on the path to the falls were of beautiful color and shapes. It is only a small waterfall, but we enjoyed the refreshing temperature of the water and put our feed inside for a while.
On the way back to town we saw the golden top of a temple on top of a hill and decided to drive there. We found our way up the steep hill and encountered this big golden roof. A very caring and funny care taker came and took 10000 Kips from us as an entry fee. He opened the door and let us into the simple inside where a big buddha statue was. He insisted that we would take pictures and started smiling when we showed him the picture. Back outside we walked around the building to find more statues and a little prayer cave with Fred Firestone statues inside. The care taker followed us and waved and pointed at things. It was so sweet and cute!
We met Sonja, Justin and Kate who joined our plans at a tour agency and we booked a 3 day trip into the jungle. I originally wanted to stay overnight in the jungle, but as the others wanted to do both nights at a home stay in the local villages we had to adjust and signed up. We would leave next morning. On our dinner on the market I was able to get Chantal and Mark to sign up for the same tour as well.
Mr. Wood, our tour guide welcomed us and we had a stop on the market where he bought some food for the next few days and we proceeded 1 hour outside of town. There we crossed by boat a little creek. It had a strong current and our boat man had to work hard and skilled to get us to the other shore. There we went into the dense jungle on a small bath. Everywhere we saw colorful butterflies. It was very humid and the water was running down on our body. Luckily we had the trees around us and didn't have to worry about the sun too much. The jungle amazed us with all the noises.
We had lunch in a small hut. A banana leafs were our table cloth and plate at the same time. We had some sticky rice, a kind of salsa and a aubergine hummus. It was so delicious.
The different green colors and huge leafs where all around us and we enjoyed the view when we came to a higher point from where we were able to have a look over the vegetation.
After around 6 hours we arrive in a small town. We had a swim in the river after watching the small boys jumping naked from a rock into the water. It felt good to wash the sweat of the day away. Afterwards we walked through town and followed the daily life. Kids catching chicken or shooting each other with bamboo guns loaded with little berries. Dogs sleeping or chasing each other, pigs in little stalls with their babies around them, chicken with their babies looking for food. And then we came to this house where we heard a lot of voices coming from. We just wanted to pass but a guy almost fell down the stairs when he saw us. He came down and was saying someone in Lao to us which we didn't understand. So he grabbed my hand and pulled me up the stairs. Or at least that was what he probably thought. In reality I was pushing him up the stairs as he was already so drunk and he almost fell down by the attempted to climb up the wooden ladder.
Inside where many people, sitting on mini chairs around big chars filled with a liquid and they were sucking on bamboo straws. We got gestured to sit down and a lady pushed a straw into my hands and made clear I had to drink. And I had to drink a lot. The liquid is called Lao Lao and is a type of rice wine. Almost every town produces their own Lao Lao and I had the pleasure to drink two different batches, where one was definitely better then the other one. So we were sitting with them around the jars and sucking on the big straws. The chief of the town made sure that everybody drank. And as there is a rule that you have to drink and the difference is topped up with water again. It is very important to stay onto of the counts of how many cups have been refilled again. As a man need to drink 8 and girls 4 little refill cups!
Until 2 years ago there wasn't a real road going to this village or electricity. Now they caught up with civilization.
We were very fortunate to stay with a very clean family and had a good nights rest with the mother and daughter of one of the houses, as our group got broken up into groups of two for the night.
Next morning we had breakfast and started our hike. For lunch we had a jungle lunch with banana flower, banana sprouts and other sprouts which two of the local ladies which joined us from the last town and collected it on the way. As it rained for a couple of days it took a little while to get the fire started. The pot and spoon were build out of bamboo and it soon started to smell delicious.
We still had some sticky rice and when the food was ready we served it in a bamboo dish. It was absolutely delicious. It almost tasted like tuna!
The coming path was amazing through beautiful jungle. For the night we stayed in a house all together after we had a little swim in the river close to the village.
Mr. Wood did a good job in preparing the meals for us in the evening and morning. After a few more hours of hiking the next day we left the jungle again and were encountered with the human clearing to be able to grow their rice
We had two young girls which joined us and prepared lunch for us before they returned back to their town again.
We also had to hike through the leeches area of this track. It was awful, even if it is funny looking back. We were attacked by a thousands of leeches and were even running so they didn't have time to stick to your shoes and then slowly but persistent climb up your hiking shoes. Every so often we would stop and try to flip the leeches from our shoes or ourselves off with a stick. We felt like in a movie called "The attack of leeches".
The last 20 min went through rubber and rice plantations.
We arrived at a river which we had to cross and from where we were supposed to be picked up. We didn't have to wait long before our van came. As he wanted to give the car a cleaning, he crossed the river and on the way back, he got stuck. All attempts to get him out failed. Then another truck got organized to help pulling him out. As the steal rope broke all the time as it was too old, this stayed unsuccessful as well.
The local kids enjoyed the entertainment.
So did the old ones.
After 1 1/2 hours Mr. Wood organized another transport for us and we left the van stuck in the middle of the river.
As we wanted to leave the next day, we tried to book a bus. An attempted to book it with our tour agency. When he wanted to over charge us, I gave him some feedback, which resulted in upsetting him as he lost his face and he almost wanted to get the police. It was an very interesting experience. In the end we got bus ticket for the regular price, but left an upset Laos man...
More pictures here.
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