Indochina Day 8, Trekking

Saturday June 4^th

R.I.P. Toni Nichols July 20^th, 1955 – June 3^rd 2011. I have lost a friend, but Peter has lost a wife and Jess has lost her mom. Great lady, taken much too soon. Life is not fair.

I walked for about ten minutes from my guesthouse to met my day tour group. There were four of us, David, a 62 year old Australian from Canberra., Kate, a 24 year old American girl, her 25 year old Argentinian boyfriend, Fernando and me. We boarded a small truck with an open cab on the back for the drive to the Tiger Tracks elephant camp. That was the starting point for our trek. We had to take a short motorized canoe ride across the river. We had a half hour to wander around and look at the elephants and watch them as they were eating sugar cane. It was interesting to watch them snap the cane on their teeth using their trunk and feet. Then we set out with our guide Yorda. The weather was very hot, about 35 and the humidity was high.

The trek started out on gradually sloping land along well worn dirt paths. We walked through lush woods and farming areas. We forded several streams, either by wading through the shallow ones, or crossing the deeper ones by a log or a couple of pieces of bamboo. Along the way we saw several local people farming or collecting plants. It wasn't long before we were all soaked in sweat. Yorda was wearing blue jeans and t-shirt and a hoodie! I was sweating just looking at him. I was in a bathing suit and dry fit shirt and my Keen sandals. Anyway, the path began to climb and we passed a couple of remote small farming villages. They people slash and burn hillsides to plant sticky rice. We could see the evidence of their methods and at a couple of points we could see them on the other side of the valley planting. In the village there were lots of opportunities to take some excellent people pictures, particularly children.

As we went up further, we walked through some more jungle type vegetation. The sound of singing insects was pretty much constant, but a couple of times we went past a couple of trees that must have been loaded with cicadas because the sound was deafening and hard on the ears. As we climbed the two younger people fell behind and were having difficulty keeping up with the rest of us, so we had to wait for a bit. At one point I was walking and watching my feet and walked under some low branches and a piece of bamboo smacked me in the head. I reached up and felt my head and when I brought my hand down it was soaked in blood. I was wearing my Easter Island dewrag it is was drenched in sweat and blood. As I walked the bloody sweat ran down my forehead, into my eyes, down my nose, on my neck and shirt. I was so wet with sweat the blood wouldn't congeal. We stopped for lunch under a bamboo shelter and Yorda gave us a chicken fried rice wrapped in a banana leaf, but the company forgot to give us utensils, so we had to eat it with our fingers, native style. After the cooling off break, my head dried up and the blood slowed.

The trek lasted for about six hours of actual walking time. We walked through three villages and saw lots of beautiful scenery. Just as we were finishing the trek and had arrived back at the river, it began to sprinkle. We got back into the motorized canoe which took us downstream for about ten minutes to a waterfall. The rain came down harder. I didn't care about getting wet, it actually felt great after being so hot, and I had my dry bag for my camera and wallet. When we got to the waterfall it was pouring. There was another swimming pool there and I went straight in. The water was a nice cool temperature and felt wonderful. I wanted to rinse my clothes and wash out my Easter Island hat. The rest of the group went further along for a cup of tea or a beer. I went to the washroom after and saw the cut on my head – it wasn't very big but must have been right by a vein.

I joined the group and we had a bowl of spicy chicken noodle soup and a beer and watched the pouring rain. By this point we were a bit chilly and the soup felt good. Finally we got back in the canoe again for another ten minute ride downstream to the Elephant Camp. From there we boarded our truck for the return trip to Luang Prabang.

When we got back, I saw there was a massage spa right where we were dropped off, so I decided to go for a massage to warm up a bit and loosen up the muscles. It felt great. I found out later that the rest of the group had gone elephant riding and had a bicycle ride to get there. Apparently it was a pretty challenging ride and Jame wiped out going downhill and got a couple of nasty scrapes and bruises.

We all went of dinner together and then headed back to the room for the night.