3 days kayaking through the Laos jungle river
After a fairly rough night on a night bus I arrived in the little village of Nong Khiaw at 7am one morning. My purpose of going here was simply: I wanted to do a 3 day kayaking trip from Nong Khiaw to Luang Prabang. That was it. Little did I know how much else was on offer around this little village. Lots of beautiful treks and rural areas and less travelled to villages along the river in the north. But for me and my tired body after my two day trek in Luang Namtha it was enough to climb up to the viewpoint and even that was just about what my shaky legs could handle as it was seriously steep but definitely worth it for the amazing views.
But the day after the real adventure started and my 3 day kayaking trip that we negotiated down to US$100 (I'm not going to go in to detail about the shittiness of the travel agent but all I can say is if you go there find an agent that agrees to take you to "the other river" not the one that starts in the middle of the village). We set off in the misty morning with clouds still covering part of the mountains surronding us on what only can be described as a lake calm river which meant lots of hard work for us.
We paddled on for about 6 hours witha quick stop for lunch on the beach, the first of the seven rice meals on the trip. We arrived absolutely exhausted to a river side village where we were greated by the locals that celebrated a party and thereby had run out of beer and the only available drink was the Lao whisky, also made of rice!
We heard music playing in a nearby house and before we knew it we had joined a local party where a herb and Lao whisky mix was served in big pots with bamboo straws, delicious and apparently can only be found in the country side.
The second day was the long day! We crossed the river where a tuk tuk waited to take us past tha dam and to the much longed for rapids. We were all a bit sceptical to the power of the rapids after day one and the first ones we encounter didn't impress us much. But at lunch our guide did a traditional Lao prayer asking to keep us safe for the rest of the journey and that got us thinking that maybe we had gotten a bit too cocky.
Indeed we had, the guide went first, followed by Viktor and Alexis. As me and Martin made it around the corner all we saw was the two of them in the water with the kayak upside down. Shit I thought as we headed for the the sideway current and bam there we were pushed up against a rock and in the water within seconds (in hindsight we think this is where we broke the kayak) because as we returned to help out Viktor and Alexis who was still swimming around in the river. Alexis with a paddle in the water and Viktor in the kayak on his belly using his arms to paddle, as I reached out to hand my paddle to Viktor, we tipped over again. We continued for a bit and this time we went last and as Martin said oh, this was an easy one, there was a dip, going straight down and for the third time we went inaand for the third time I laughed so hard I could barely get back in the kayak. A few items were lost in all the flipping but we managed to save the Lao whisky ever single time! It wasn't until later that we noticed that we were sinking and as it turned out there was a hole in the kayak.
We stopped and thinking our trip would be cut short but oh no. With the help of a piece of a tshirt, a fire made by us by the side of the river and some burnt plastic the guide in true MacGyver style fixed the kayak and we were on our way again.
The third day was meant to be the easy day, only three hours of kayaking. But it rained and was down to 12 degrees and windy (we put our feet in the river to warm up our toes). We did well though, powered through to the merger with the Mekong River and Pak Ou caves where we stopped to have a look around. As people stared at our flip flops and shorts outfits we ran up the steps to the not so very impressive caves (no one found it interesting enough to photograph) instead we spent most of the time by a fire before having lunch and continuing the last part of the leg down the Mekong river.
The joy, the pure joy as we left the kayaks behind and jumped in the mini van to Luang Prabang and after three days if rice for breakfast lunch and dinner the night market in Luang Prabang was like heaven.
I really enjoyed the trip, despite the sunburn, the blisters, somewhat frustrating guide and freezing cold on the last day it was a really good trip with a lovely group of people!
But the day after the real adventure started and my 3 day kayaking trip that we negotiated down to US$100 (I'm not going to go in to detail about the shittiness of the travel agent but all I can say is if you go there find an agent that agrees to take you to "the other river" not the one that starts in the middle of the village). We set off in the misty morning with clouds still covering part of the mountains surronding us on what only can be described as a lake calm river which meant lots of hard work for us.
We paddled on for about 6 hours witha quick stop for lunch on the beach, the first of the seven rice meals on the trip. We arrived absolutely exhausted to a river side village where we were greated by the locals that celebrated a party and thereby had run out of beer and the only available drink was the Lao whisky, also made of rice!
We heard music playing in a nearby house and before we knew it we had joined a local party where a herb and Lao whisky mix was served in big pots with bamboo straws, delicious and apparently can only be found in the country side.
The second day was the long day! We crossed the river where a tuk tuk waited to take us past tha dam and to the much longed for rapids. We were all a bit sceptical to the power of the rapids after day one and the first ones we encounter didn't impress us much. But at lunch our guide did a traditional Lao prayer asking to keep us safe for the rest of the journey and that got us thinking that maybe we had gotten a bit too cocky.
Indeed we had, the guide went first, followed by Viktor and Alexis. As me and Martin made it around the corner all we saw was the two of them in the water with the kayak upside down. Shit I thought as we headed for the the sideway current and bam there we were pushed up against a rock and in the water within seconds (in hindsight we think this is where we broke the kayak) because as we returned to help out Viktor and Alexis who was still swimming around in the river. Alexis with a paddle in the water and Viktor in the kayak on his belly using his arms to paddle, as I reached out to hand my paddle to Viktor, we tipped over again. We continued for a bit and this time we went last and as Martin said oh, this was an easy one, there was a dip, going straight down and for the third time we went inaand for the third time I laughed so hard I could barely get back in the kayak. A few items were lost in all the flipping but we managed to save the Lao whisky ever single time! It wasn't until later that we noticed that we were sinking and as it turned out there was a hole in the kayak.
We stopped and thinking our trip would be cut short but oh no. With the help of a piece of a tshirt, a fire made by us by the side of the river and some burnt plastic the guide in true MacGyver style fixed the kayak and we were on our way again.
The third day was meant to be the easy day, only three hours of kayaking. But it rained and was down to 12 degrees and windy (we put our feet in the river to warm up our toes). We did well though, powered through to the merger with the Mekong River and Pak Ou caves where we stopped to have a look around. As people stared at our flip flops and shorts outfits we ran up the steps to the not so very impressive caves (no one found it interesting enough to photograph) instead we spent most of the time by a fire before having lunch and continuing the last part of the leg down the Mekong river.
The joy, the pure joy as we left the kayaks behind and jumped in the mini van to Luang Prabang and after three days if rice for breakfast lunch and dinner the night market in Luang Prabang was like heaven.
I really enjoyed the trip, despite the sunburn, the blisters, somewhat frustrating guide and freezing cold on the last day it was a really good trip with a lovely group of people!
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