The Great Laotian Nam Tha River Adventure

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When I said in the last trip journal that I wanted to get off the beaten track, I didn't know how true that prophecy would be. Alexandra and I got to this small town of Luang Nam Tha after a bone jarring mountainous ride of 7 1/2 hours, going no faster than about 40 km and hour. (I was recovering from a bout of the traveler's sickness.) The town is small, and only about 20 westerners or so seem to pass through each day -- either coming up from Thailand or coming over from the close (17 km away) Chinese border.

It turned out that our river rafting adventure with Wildside was not to be. The company was completely disorganized and gave us the run around the morning we were supposed to start and tried to put us into kayaks instead of rafts for the 4-day journey and then changed their mind and told us we had to do the 3-day the next day instead because they didn't have the equipment, but wouldn't refund us the equivalent money, so we asked for a refund (yet to be seen) and walked off with no transport out of town.

We took a tuk tuk (basically a small, covered truck with benches in the back) to The Boat Landing Guesthouse, where we found the most helpful American ex-Peace Corps proprietor, Bill, who gave us the lowdown on transport options to the border. Hooked on the idea of river travel, we waited around that day, took a bike ride, etc. and stayed in the charming bungalows by the river. That night we were told that a cargo boat was available for the 2-day journey to Huay Xai for about $100 (very expensive by Lao standards). Luckily we encountered Felix and Vanessa, a Swiss and Australian couple, who helped us negotiate the price to $90 and shared the cost and the ride with us. Little did we know what we were in for.

The next morning we walked over to the Boat Landing with all our stuff and saw the cargo boat. It was a longtail boat (meaning a 20 foot canoe-like craft that can fit 2 people abreast at its widest part -- no seats, just bamboo planking and plastic mats raised about 6 inches off the boat's bottom to keep you from getting wet.) The luggage went in the middle-front and was covered with a not-so-good piece of plastic. In the front, the first mate, with a hand-made wooden paddle steered in the rapids. Behind the 4 of us on a wooden seat, the captain steered. The power is a car engine that rotates a flywheel propeller.

We took off full of optimism about our great adventure around 9:30. I had visions of Catherine Hepburn in The African Queen (little did I know how accurate that would be). Each rapids (class 1-3) got us suitably wet, and with no seats at all we all had to rotate and constantly balance each other out to make sure the boat didn't tip too far to one side or the other and make it difficult to steer. For 20,000 kip ($2) we were told by the woman who spoke English at the Boat Landing that we would stay in the village and get dinner and breakfast the next day. No one in the boat spoke any English.

We stopped 2xs for bathroom breaks in the bushes and 1x for our packed sandwich lunch. Then around 4pm we pulled into the captain's village (Cam Ha?). I pulled on (the by now 50 lb) pack and 10 lb daypack and went up the side of the dirt/mud hill, past the simple temple, following this little girl who turned out to be the captain's daughter. We were motioned into the wood-slatted house and took off our shoes and climbed up the stairs. (A 6-month rainy season and mud and floods means that all houses here are elevated about one storey off the ground.) There was no running water and no electricity in this 300-person village. We milled around for 1 1/2 hours while dinner was being prepared in the waning light. Since we are so close to the equator, the sun sets a little after 6 each night. The little girls were fascinated by us, they asked for a Bic (pens) and pointed at my hair-clip, but we knew better than to give then anything. They then they started to show off for us, racing around, doing Lao variations of ring around the rosey, etc. Felix began negotiating with the older, gentleman (who we later figured for the town drunk) for a Lao beer when he came by to sell us one, and that got interesting with a counting lesson to boot in Laotian and English.

Food was served to us on a round bamboo table and 4 short bamboo stools. And I think about 20 people squeezed into the room and on the outside deck by the open door to watch us eat communal style. Dinner was sticky rice, chicken larb (gound up with spices), steamed spinach and some melon that tasted like cucumber. The family watched us eat and then ate after us from the same dishes. (We felt guilty for eating so much and for so long that we gave them a pack of crackers and cookies.) Out came the Lao Lao (homemade clear whiskey about 40 proof, made from rice), and everyone in the room shared the same 4 cups. We had to drink it because it would be impolite to resist and if we got close to finishing the glasses were refilled so I sipped very very slowly and intermittently.

For fun, I brought out my digital camera and took a picture of the drunk man, and he was so taken with seeing his own picture that I was gestured to take pictures of many people in the room. Everyone was amazed at this gadget and it was one of the most amazing experiences to watch people's faces as they saw themselves. Most, I don't think, have ever seen a picture of themselves. With only a few phrases from the Lonely Planet guide, we tried asking questions about people's ages and relationships and found out a fair amount. They were fascinated by the Lonely Planet book and some of the color pictures in it of Vientiane and Luang Prabang; I'm certain almost no one has ever been to those places. The captain's wife's father, who is 65 and looks 90 was amazed at us, the pictures, etc. In a country where the average life expectancy is 55, he is indeed an old man. Alexandra brought out pictures of her family and no one believed that her parents were in their 70s. Somehow we communicated that we would send the pictures to them and I think the wife wrote us their address, but we'll have to find a Laotian person to figure it out; if not, we'll try to sent the pictures to the Boat Landing c/o Bill as they would really enjoy getting them back.

By 8:15 (it felt like 10) the party was over and everyone including us were tucked into bed on pallets on the floor: the family was in the main (bed)room, all 5 of them sleeping next to each other; Felix and Vanessa in the front room where we had dinner; and Alexandra and I tucked in the food prep/kitchen area. At 4:15 am, as usual, the chorus of roosters began (A & I have a joke that the same 5 roosters followed us all over Laos). The wife got up with her flashlight and started the fire in the little stove on the deck off the kitchen. Slowly the rest of the family rose by 6am. We journeyed to the outhouse in the back (with a porcelain squat toilet that you throw water into to flush) and washed our faces and brushed our teeth with the water the daughter had hauled up the hill the night before. Breakfast of spicy ramen noodles and steamed bamboo and sticky rice and melon was served, again we ate first. The wife tried to sell us some cotton weavings that she made on one of the 2 looms under the house. Vanessa and I decided to support her efforts and purchased items for $3 and $5 each, without bargaining for the first tim ein a while. The girls outside were separating the stalks from the brown rice and hulling the rice before heading off to school.

We loaded up the boat at 7:45 and were off. The cloudy skies weren't worrisome, but we were all really stiff from the night and the boat ride the day before and knew it would be a long day. Sure enough, 2 hours later we were huddled under umbrellas in the pouring rain and showers that lasted until 1 pm. Dropped off at the mouth of the Mekong River at 3, we transferred to a frightening speed boat ride of a 1/2 hour to Huay Xai, then a scramble up the muddy bank to a tuk tuk, to the border crossing, over the river to Chiang Kong, up the hill and finally were ensconced back in Thailand that night at 5.

It was truly one of the most incredible experiences of this trip and I feel privileged to have been a guest in that house. They live in great poverty, and were just the nicest, hospitable people you can meet. Now, back in civilization I love my hot showers in Chiang Rai and am heading off for a 2 1/2 hour Thai massage and steam this afternoon. Tomorrow villages again and trekking.