Laos - Trekking - Luang Prabang

So, after dropping Elephants back at the camp, we came back to the lodge and had some breakfast, before setting off on our trek.

Our guide Souk had told us the whole trek should take around 4 - 5 hours, travelling through the Jungles, fields and Minority Villages along the way.

So we set off, the weather not looking wonderful, but I figured the overcast day might keep the blistering tempretures down a notch. Unfortunately, after around an hour of walking, the clouds parted, and the onslaught of heat began.....

We crossed over the Nam Khan river on a wonderfully safe bamboo bridge, and headed into our first village. The village was home to two Lao minority groups. All the houses were made of bamboo, and for a village holding around 100 people, there was only one tap pumping fresh water for showering and drinking.

As we were walking around the village, all the kids came running out to us to say "Sabadee!" and to laugh at us aswell, as big tall white people are seldom seen in this part of Laos, so we were somewhat of a novelty for them!
I asked these girls if I could take there pictures, which they said yes to. After I took it, I showed them on the screen of my camera, andthey thought it was the funniest thing they had ever seen. I love how something so simple, that we as westerners take for granted, can amuse these kids to no end. Its little things like that you just don't see at home.

Once we left the village, we walked through the forest for a while, before we began trekking through a clearing. Our guide explained to us that the clearing was once covered in the same trees we had seen previous, but now to make more money, the farmers burn all there land so they can make rice fields to export around Asia. I had noticed alot of burning land on my various bus trips throughout Laos, which now all came together in my mind. It was good but sad in the same way. It was ruining the wonderful forests and jungles of Laos, but building the economy, which Laos is in desperate need of.

We continued trekking through the fields for about an hour, before Souk lead us along a different path towards a mountain. He explained to us that if we went to the right, we could be in the next village with 20 minutes, but if we go to the left, we can get a great view of the country side but it will take longer. It was more of a statement than a question, so considering the trek had been reasonably easy so far, we just followed.

As we got closer and closer to the mountain, I began to realise just how difficult this next part might be. The path was beggining to become non existant, and was getting steeper and steeper by the meter.After almost 45 minutes climbing in a strait line and on an almost 90 degree angle, I started to not feel so great. I had drank enough water, close to 1.5 litres already, but I was getting hotter and hotter, and more and more lathergic as I climbed. I knew I didn't really have much choice but to climb, as they only way back was down. Which now that I was about half way up, looked quite scary!

After another 20 minutes of climbing (which felt like an hour), I finally made it to the top, dripping with sweat, bright red in the face and feeling like a truck had hit me. I basically collapsed on the ground for about 15 minutes, drinking another bottle of water trying so hard just to cool down.

So, as the picture depicts, I sat there, like this just trying to feel better!

After about 20 minutes, I could feel myself starting to come good, and with Souks promise that the rest was either downhill or flat, we set back off again.

We stopped for lunch about half an hour later, but considering I had downed around 2 ltrs of water in the space of 2 hours, there was no way I could fit anything in. So I sat there munching on some sticky rice and the equivilent of beef jerky, only the buffalo variety!

After we finished, we stopped in at a school where Ville showed off his soccer moves with the village kids, and kicked the ball around for about half an hour. The kids loved it! Towards the end, we had produced quite the crowd watching and cheering.

We then set off for another 2 hours of walking back towards Luang Prabang. After about an hour of walking, a thunderstorm came out of no where and brought a welcome relief from the heat, even if we did get drenched.

At around 3pm, we found our ride back to Luang Prabang, and collapsed into the seats of the Van. I estimate we probably trekked for around 18k's all up, which means I had just had not only the most active day of my trip, but quite possibly the most active day of my life! Any weight I had put on in the past 2 months travelling would have all just fallen off!

As difficult as the day was, it was still an awesome experience, and one I would do again and again....however hopefully the second and third time would be a little easier than the first!!