Speedracing the Mekong

Don takes a break from his speedracer mask during the speedboat trip
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AM sez:

Our first experience (back) in Laos was to head down the mighty everpresent Mekong to Luang Prabang, the major town of the north. We heard that the speedboat was better and faster, but we didn't realize this meant an open. sun exposed rowboat shaped 'vessel', barely wide enough for 2 of us to squeeze in hip to hip, that went 60km/hour over sandbars and through narrow channels of rock. A full helmet with mask was required. As Robert our Californian boatmate said, your whole zen changes at that speed (man). Since we made it intact, I can say we really enjoyed the interesting lava rock, background mountains, interesting village life, and most of all, the idea that we were travelling down the Mighty Mekong.

your whole zen changes at that speed

Inside main temple, Luang Prabang
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Luang Prabang is a really nice and beautiful town - unlike anything we encountered in Thailand. We reunited with Linda, drank porridge-like Lao rocket coffee, and played games at a temple festival.  We then headed up by boat on an offshoot of the Mekong to an amazing town called Nong Kiaw. A very small place set on either side of a bridge with amazing views of green cliffs, and really charming people that seemed to be going about their daily lives despite the small but steady flow of western tourists. We did a little hiking and explored some deep caves, but mainly enjoyed hanging out and absorbing the laid-back Lao atmosphere. My favorite night was at the end of the new year's period (which seems to have lasted a long time!), when the usually shy Lao people were singing and dancing on their porches, and an electrical storm lit up the silhouettes of giant rock faces every few minutes as we sat on the bridge to listen and watch.

View from town of Luang Prabang
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Our last move in Laos was a hike in the Nam Ha protected area near the border with China.  We chose the hike because the area has actually been restricted in its use to protect the environment (a rarity around here!) and the "hill tribes" have consequently been relatively untouched by tourism (unlike in Thailand where we heard they haved dropped their traditional economies and clothing to sell trinkets to tourists as they hike through). The trails we used were simply the routes the people from the villages used to hike to town and back - a pretty rigourous journey over high ridges just to go to the market!  Unfortunately, we didn't realize we'd also be sharing the path with a new found friend -- leeches!  They hadn't been around just a week or 2 before, but now with the start of rains, they were all over sections of the path. They would 'stand' upright on the ground, grab onto your boot, inchworm up pretty quickly, and then drop inside and latch onto your ankle. Really freaky at first but we quickly learned to spot them at the boot stage and flick them off (with your fingernail and not your finger pad lest they latch on there!)

Laotians love Bocci ball, dont know what they call it
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We survived and actually rather enjoyed our hike, staying in the villages, and hanging out with the village chief (these days democratically elected every 5 years and wearing a Houston rockets tank top). I had a tearful goodbye with Linda before we jumped on the bus to CHINA...