Apologies for the delay in posting -have only had intermittent access to internet and then had problems with the blog site. After arriving at our lodge in the jungles of northern Thailand on Tuesday we completed a "Survivor" style challenge. The shelter built by Sam and I out of bamboo and banana leaves received 10/10. We also ate chicken roasted over an open fire that had been alive and clucking a couple of hours earlier. Magnificant! On Wednesday we did jungle first aid course. I got to run through the jungle carrying the back end of a stretcher made of bamboo and rope that was carrying on of the girls on our team. The rest of Wednesday morning was a walk through the jungle and a challenge to make tea using only things we found in the jungle (apart fom the tea bags!) are the skills we had learned on the previous day. Wednesday afternoon was "Flight of the Gibbons", a zipline and bridge
course through the jungle canopy. Had so much fun - I was grinning like
an idiot the whole way through it. After that, we treated ourselves to a much deserved Thai massage - 150 Baht (US$5) for one hour! On Thursday we did a shortish bike ride through some magnificant scenery. I know, I'm running out of adjectives to describe the things we are seeing but there are breathtaking views around every corner on every day. We rode into a beautiful little resort where we freshened up, had another stunning meal and then flew to Luang Prabang, Laos.
We hit the local markets straight away once we arrived in Luang Prabang. Apart from gifts, my best purchase was a slingshot, but it cost me 10,000 Laotian Kip!!! Luckily, the conversion rate for the local currency (Kip) is USD1 = 8,000 kip. When you go to the ATM, the default withdrawal amounts are 500,000 kip and 1,000,000 kip. I am currently saying 1,000,000 kip in my head with my best Dr Evil voice (I bet you are doing it too now). I am planning on selling the house in Sydney and converting the proceeds to kip, so I can be a billionaire several times over! In your face Donald Trump!
While I'm typing this, I'm eating what I hope will be the first of many chocolate cinnamon scrolls for the day (US$0.60 each). There is a lot of French influence here, so they have some great pastry houses and roadside stalls.
Rode 40km through the countryside of Laos on Friday morning. At one village mid-morning there were a few kids in the street that we gave some toys to (fluffy koalas and balloons). Word must travel fast because there was then a stampede of children from the local schoolhouse that came and greeted us. At the village where we stopped for lunch I had a great time playing catch with a dozen or so kids. We used one of those high bounce balls that I had brought along. I left it with one of the elders in the village as I didn't want to imagine the carnage that would occur if I gave it to a particular child.
I gave the slingshot a trial run and was happy with the results. One of the local guides gave me some good tips. Following lunch we hiked for about 3-4 up very steep terrain to a remote rural village populated by the Mong people, a minority ethnic group. Even in an area this remote, a lot of people in our group can't be without their mobile/email/internet and one girl in the group noted that network coverage was better in the village than in her own home in Port Macquarie!
The afternoon sunlight was perfect and we all took heaps of photos. Some of them looked like they belong on the cover of National Geographic.
After a beautiful dinner of soup, beef Lap (a traditional spicy Laotian dish) and vegetables, we gathered around the campfire and (18 of us) then slept (or tried to sleep) in a large single room guest house.
Stupid
roosters in the village had no idea when dawn is, so they gave a group
performance at 10pm, 1am and then 4am. Most people had a poor night's sleep, but I think I set the record of only 20 minutes the whole night.
On Saturday morning we hiked back down and got a boat up the Mekong River back to Luang Prabang. Went out for afternoon tea at a pastry house that our local guide rates as the best in South East Asia. Consumed a grossly inappropriate amount of pure fat and sugar and then hit the markets again for some rapid fire shopping before dinner. Enjoyed some post dinner drinks back at our villa and then went to a nightclub at about 10.30pm. Had a corker of a time and took way too many embarrasing photos. Got to bed around 1am and then up at 6am this morning to watch a procession of monks.
Planning on heading out to a waterfall today, then some more shopping and then the flight to Hanoi, Vietnam. Tonight we'll be sleeping in the overnight train bound for Lao Cai in the far north of the country. Tomorrow we will start a 3 day trek through some remote area so this may be my last post for a little while. Au revoir!
