Surviving Trekking in Luang Prabang

The bus journey to Luang Prabang from Vang Vieng was definitely the worst one we’ve had in our three months! For anyone who remembers travelling the Dubrovnik to Sarajevo bus with me 4 years ago it was the exact same as that….seven hours over the most beautiful scenery, but in a crappy un-air-conditioned bus, over the hilliest, bendiest raods, feeling very unwell and a bit hungover!

We were so glad to arrive in lovely Luang Prabang and quickly checked into a great cheap guesthouse in the city centre. Luang Prabang is a small city, with a huge French influence. It’s world heritage listed, so everything has to stay in the original French style. Its got loads of lovely bakeries all along the main street.

The first night Mark was still feeling really unwell so we just had an early, alcohol-free tonight to recharge the batteries. Wednesday we decided to do some proper sightseeing so Mark and I and an Irish fella called Gary walked around seeing the sights. There actually isn’t much to see and the day was pretty miserable so we just had a quick walk round. At sunset (which there wasn’t any cos there was too much cloud) we walked up to the main Wat in town which has a view of the whole city. The climb up the million steps (OK maybe a few hundred) was a job and a half. I’d say the view would be really spectacular on a sunny day. Our main aim for the day was to get a trek booked for the next two days. Gary agreed to join Mark, Farah and I and while looking we bumped in a German called Jocken so the 5 of us decided to search together.

Between us we came up with our ideal 2 day trek which included a 3 hour cycle, an hour elephant ride, a 2 hour trek, an overnight stay in a mountain village, another 2 hour trek and 4 hours kayaking back! Sounds great doesn’t it?

As Wednesday was Hallowe’en a few of the pubs in town were holding Hallowe’en parties, so being Irish (well me and Gary anyway) we had to go, just to be social!! (It really annoyed me the way most foreigners think Hallowe’en is an American festival, but don’t get me started on that one…) What we’d planned to be one or two turned into five or six. I stuck to the pink gays (cocktails) which were 2 for 1 all night, and me and Mark managed to win a free t-shirt and cocktail.

We weren’t badly hungover starting the trek Thursday morning, but our heads weren’t too clear either! The three hour cycle from Luang Prabang to the elephant camp was definitely the most challenged I’ve been on the trip so far. Having done loads of cycling we thought it would be a doddle…yeah if you consider 2 hours of uphill on dirt tracks easy!! Gary and Jocken did, but not me and Mark. Farah struggled a bit too but nothing like the two of us. I think our guide Tong could already see that the two of us weren’t the fittest people he’d met!

After a yummy lunch we got to do our hour’s elephant trek. This really was the highlight of the trek. I was a bit nervous at the start, but we’d promised Mark’s mum we’d do an elephant ride, so I was determined. Once we got on though I was fine. It was really great fun. Mark felt a bit motion sick but other than that we loved it! I even got to ride on the elephant’s neck for a minute but found that a bit scary!

We then got to spend an hour at the most amazing waterfall. It was so beautiful. Mark wasn’t well enough to go swimming but the rest of us went it and climbed up the whole waterfall and did some proper exploring. Unfortunately it was really cold on Thursday so we didn’t get the full impact and were freezing coming out.

We then started out trek up to the hill tribe village. We were only about 20 minutes into the trek when it started to lash rain. Yep, rainy season ended a week ago, but the weather all over the world seems to be crazy so I don’t think that mattered. The locals said they’ve never before seen rain like this in November. Smart Mark decided to do the trek in flip-flops despite being told to wear hiking boots, so needless to day trekking in the mud wasn’t too easy for him! I was just delighted to have justified carrying round (well Mark carrying round) my heavy trekking boots unworn for the last three months! We got to the village soaked just before dark. The village is a khmu people village, really simple, miles from anywhere. The people all live in very basic bamboo huts, with electricity for only 3 hours a day. They mostly live off agriculture and there are animals roaming everywhere. I'm still not sure how I feel about this kind of ecotourism - on the one hand we are bringing money into the villages, but on the other the locals are getting corrupted by our western values and seeing all the expensive stuff we have. Apparently a lot of the villages in Chang Mai in Thailand where this has been going on for years have been wrecked by it. Anyway, once we washed (in the water trough) and dried off we settled down to a nice dinner and an evening in the home of our host family. They didn’t speak any English and once the electricity came on were glued to some Thai soap, so we mostly chatted with our guide Tong. Poor Tong has had such a hard life. He’s only 21, his dad died when he was 6 and one of his brothers also died. His mother is in her 60s and lives with his 35 year old deaf mute sister. His brother is married, so its left to Tong to support his Mum and sister who live in a similar Khmu village one day away. He was one of only two people from his village to go away to college, and while studying he met a girl who he went out with for three years. But when she finished college her parents insisted she go back to her province and wouldn’t let them get married. He couldn’t move away to be near her cos he needs to support his own mother and sister, so he had to let her go and may never see her again. It was all very hear-wrenching!!

After the most uncomfortable night’s sleep ever on a hard wooden floor with torrential rain beating down all night, we set out on the second leg of our trek Friday morning. The rain had left the track really mucky so Mark found it very difficult in bare feet. Plus it was really cold so we were all shivering setting out. Walking along in the cold and wet, surround by green I was thinking to myself I could be home out walking on a Spring day at home in Kilkenny…that is until a loose elephant stopped us in our tracks!! We didn’t know what to do. Tong laughed, then panicked and ordered us all to run back towards the village. It was all very dramatic, but eventually Tong and another local managed to coax the elephant into a clearing in a ditch while we all ran for our lives one by one behind her massive legs! There are no wild elephants left in Laos so this one had escaped from one of the nearby camps, bringing with her her chain and destroying the path on her way! So that made the rest of the journey even more difficult for the barefooted one!

Eventually we made it down to the riverside, and started out on our four hour kayak. We had imagined finishing off our trek with some leisurely kayaking down the river, being brought along nicely by the current and being able to relax and take in the scenery! Not so!!! Not being the best at anything sports bound or water bound, me and Mark were of course the slowest of the group. It really was like a kayaking race and I think Tong was pretty annoyed with our slowness!! By the time we stopped for lunch Farah and I had the sorest shoulders ever, while the boys were all complaining of lower back pain. Lunch was a quick disgusting pork soup full of MSG and then it was back for the second leg of kayaking. This was a bit more fun as there were loads of rapids to go down, which surprisingly I really enjoyed. However, lunch wasn’t agreeing with me and we had to pull over quite a few times when I thought I might spew! We were also freezing cold. Its definitely the coldest weather I’ve felt since early August in Sydney. By the time we finished we were all shivering and aching. Getting into the warm shower in our hotel when we got back was the best feeling ever!! You’d think after all of that all I’d want to do is sleep, but no silly me goes into an internet café to write up her blog!!!

I make the trek sound really negative, but it really wasn't. While it was difficult and challenging, we got to see the most amazing scenery, experience proper village life, and hey, we survived a loose elephant!!! It was definitely a worthwhile experience.

After finishing up on the internet, I needed to go out and buy myself a bloody warm jumper for the evening. We went back to our Hallowe'en night haunts of the Hive and Lao Lao gardens bars - both very trendy western style bars. All bars in Luang Prabang close by midnight cos there is a curfew in town because all the locals get up before 6am to give alms to the monks. Me and Farah decided to get up Saturday morning to join them. We bought some sticky rice and bananas from the local girls and joined in with the hundreds of others (mostly tourists I have to say) lining the streets as over 100 monks came along with baskets collecting what we had to offer. On the other side of the street, beggar children were there with even bigger baskets taking what the monks would give them from theirs. It was all very cool and surreal to watch, but the number of tourists there, especially from the 50+ tour group 'my camera is bigger than yours' brigade who all fought over each other to get the  best pictures of the monks and beggars! However, this giving of alms is still done by locals in most buddhist villages around here.

Back to bed for a while, more internet, and now definitely time for a massage to get rid of all the tension from the trek. Then its on to the islands for me and Mark where we hear there is also rain, despite the rainy season having ended weeks ago!!