After returning to Nong Kiew I settled into continuing to relax by playing guitar and reading books. It was only when going out to look for something to eat that I met Jordan, and American who somehow or another had decided to buy a canoe off a couple of other tourists and was planning to canoe about 100 km back to Luang Prabang. At this stage I wasn't exactly sure where I wanted to go, but Luang Prabang a city I had already been to twice was not on that list, so I kindly declined. Throughout that afternoon and evening I ran into him a few more times and while he had found a guide, which took a lot of effort, he had not found someone to join him. It was only late in the evening after we had watched a Movie at a local movie house, which consisted of small rooms with cousions, TV's and DVD player was I finally pursuaded to join him on this adventure. Only as he expected it to take three days which would still give me enough time to make it o the Chinese border by the 23th of of the month.
Having not done any planning myself I got up early in the morning, packed my bags and made a rush to get food and supplies together, ready to leave at the agreed time of 10am. Sitting in the Cafe eating breakfast, our captain Jordan arrived having still not readied himself to leave. So I took another two hours before we were finally ready to go, with rope, footballs, sticky rice and coca cola. All loaded up with supplies, Jordan, our guide and I, started to long paddle downstream, with amused looks and smiles from the locals who couldn't understand why we didn't just take a normal boat.
Initially it was hard going as the current was slow and after turning a corner a substantial headwind greeted us. But we continued.
After was while the road departed the river and we came into an area of untouched forest and spectacular mountains, with villages untainted by road trade and tourism. Occasionally we would be passed by locals on boat or pass locals fishing or working in the river. Our guide made conversation with them in order to sus out out much progress we had made and where exactly we were. Lunch was held on the side of the river.i
By the evening we had to look for a place to stay and after visiting a village where an aunt of our guide lived, eating some food and watching the kids play we to moved on to find a place a little further downstream to stay. This was a process of landing near a village and putting our guide to work on finding a place to stay.
We were actually quite fortunate as the uncle of our guide and previously done a lot of trade down the river and was thus known by everyone. So upon leaving our guide father had to the guide that he should mention his name and opportunities might arise. From this it emerged that actually relatives of our guide lived in the village where we had landed and agreed to put us up for the night. Unpacking all our stuff from the canoe and walking up into the village, we were greeted by the now familiar looks that comes with being a 'falang'. A quick bath in the river with the locals before wandering around the village and using the guide to translate find out more about the lifestyle, which apart not having any access to fresh water apart from a stream was much the same a the other villages that I had been in.Dinner consisted of sticky rice, bamboo soup and chicken which was freshly slaughtered and payed for by us was the usual high quality. While I dug in, being fairly used to this style of eating with the hands, Jordan ate with some skepticism about the hygiene as I had in previous situations. The solution for which was a can of coke after the meal. Of course none of us got sick over the three days. After dinner was cleared, I was invited to play guitar to the family and some friends which had come to joins us, so I played and few tunes which was thoroughly enjoyed even if they thought it a bit odd. After that Jordan spent more than an hour stuffing around trying to achieve a camera trick, to show off, but never managed to do it and my impression that everyone in the room thought he was slightly crazy.
We went to bed and woke up to head off for a second day, gifting a football to the village as a general gift for their hospitality, loaded up the canoe and headed down the river again.
Today was a long day and after being sunburnt on my hands the day before, I strapped them up in bandage and that with orange hat and brown shirt on, must have made me look like crazy man. Today the scenery remained beautiful but the occasional rapids stared to increase in complexity and danger. In a way we were fortunate as inexperienced canoers that it was a gradual build up allowing us to train on the earlier ones so that we had more control on the later rapids. Occasional miscommunication made the rapids all the more interesting and on this day we managed to avoid scraping a rock by a hairs breadth almost knocking our guide into the river. But we survived. Progress was slow however and differing opinions on the distance we would still need to travel brought us some concern as to whether we would make it on time.The rain also proved to be an issue with intermittant rain making the canoeing somewhat less pleasant but there was little we could do but keep on paddling. After finding a bit of shade under which to consume lunch and have a rest, we continued and to our joy arrived at the point where the road joined the river again indicating that we had travelled half way. This gave us new found optimism and energy and we continued for a few more hours before again stopping of at a village and again sending the guide in to find us accomodation. This aggain proved no difficulty and we unloaded, bathed and washed our clothes in the river before going to the local store to buy a few beers. Slipping and sliding on the path that had now turned to mud because of the rain, we made it back to the house we were staying in and shared beer, whisky and food with the family with the TV on in the background. This village along side the main road was connected to the electricity grid. Dinner was social and more translation occured, them asking questions of us and us asking questions of them. Of significance was the fact that two of the men had large tatoo's from the knees through to the midriff. This was done because in their generation it was done in order to attract a partner. This tradition has fallen by the wayside since but the two brother probably in their fifties or sixties still wore them with pride and keen to show them off. After dinner we prepared for bed by hanging mosquito nets in the living room, some thin mattrasses and then of to bed.
The following morning it was raining, os we held off packing the canoe until the rain eased. Unfortunatly this did not happen so in the rain to took our stuff down the slippery banks of the river, at which point I slipped and was covered in mud, as was my backpack, guitar and my umbrella broken. Not happy, I was stroppy with the other guys to get things happening and after a fully clothed dip in the river to clean myself we were off. Wet and not particularly looking forward to a long day in the rain. It didn't really let up until late in the evening, although it did get lighter. Utimately the rain did us a favour as the pace of he river really picked up and we where cruising down the river without too much effort. More rapids ensued including one which had a 50cm drop and got the adrenalin pumping but we made it through safely. Disagreements as to the best course of action increased, communication started breaking down after two and ahalf day on the boat and discussion over the appropriate techniques increased. All do to the increasing complexity of the rapids.
Early in the afternoon we reached the bridge crossing, a sgn we had been waiting for for some time which meant we were near the merging with the mekong. After a quick lunch underneath the bridge,we turned a corner which revealed a beautiful karst in the distance which warranted a stop off on an island in the middle of the river for photos. While the others were busy with photos a young boy appeared from the other side were he had been fishing. I had some peanuts which I offered him and which he enjoyed. So much so that he disappeared and came back with a small fish in his hand, which he offered in exchange for the whole tin of peanuts that I had. I really like those peanuts and had little I could do with a fish that I declined the deal, instead giving him our left over sticky rice and dried fish which he took and disappeared. By this stage the impromptu photoshoot was finished and headed on our way and within half and hour we were on the wide mekong river.
This river which was much busier with tourists boat visiting a nearby cave, looked came but being about twice the size of the river we had previously be on, moved with a much larger force. And the first and only set of rapids we came to tested our skill to the outmost and last minutes changes in direction because of the current were frequent. But again we made it through exhausted and exilirated at our achievement.
Following the rapids it was a long row all the way to Luang Prabang, which we had now committed ourselves to getting to by the end of the day. After some false impressions of the end we arrived in Luang Prabang in the late evening and and settled into our hotel rooms. I decided to stay one day before leaving to prepare to cross the border. During that day I decided I would try to contact Tee. After receiving information that he was indeed around town I wandered around looking for him. But a wandering tourist is prime meat for the Tuk-Tuk driver and many offered to help me. After I said I was looking for Tee, one Tuk-Tuk driver phoned him for me and told me he would be there in 10 min. So I waited and was disappointed that it was no the Tee I was looking for.After having no luck on the street I went to the tour company that he worked for and asked to contact him. They had his number and after a short phone he arrived 10
minutes later. By this stage it was to late for lunch but he offered to take me to his home again. I agreed and checked out of the hotel, still having to pay 50% of the room fee and drove past the market, where I purchased more pens and schoolbooks, before heading out of town and across the river again to Tee's house. I had clearly impressed the houseold as that night before dinner the whole family coalesced and a ceremony was held in thanks to me and to 'pray' (for lack of a better word) for safety on my further travels. The family animist by religion believe that figuratively speaking your shadow is very important for your wellbeing. If your shadow departs you which can happen whenever then you are more prone to illness. The ceremony which involved a chant will placing string around my wrist, eating chicken and drnking rice whisky, was aimed at ensuring that my shadow stayed with me. It was one of the most moving moments f my travels. This was followed with a large banquet meal where the rice whisky glass was passed around the circle. A very pleasant evening.the following morning, Tee drove me to the bus station to take the bus to Lam Nam Tha, from where it is easy to cross the border into China. The bus trip is again long and what is interesting is that the quality of the main road is one of the poorest I had experienced in Laos even though it i a significant tourist and freight route. But obviously not important enough to repair. But after 8hrs of driving and almost arriving in Lam Nam Tha, a left hand turn takes you on to the most modern and sophisticated road in Laos. Why you ask? Because this is the major trade route from China through to Thailand and the whole road was financed by China in order to facilitate that trade. It also acts as an early sign of the immense development difference that become apparent upon crossing the border. After settling into a hotel I ate and hung around waiting for Marga and Nelleke whom I had met in Phonsavan to arrive so that we could travel into China.
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