Descending the Mekong on inflatable kayaks: January 2009

I am writing now from Cambodia after completing the Laos leg of our trip yesterday. Fast internet access has been Lacking since Luang Prabang and this is the first time I have been able to upload photos.

I have to say LAOS IS AMAZING!! The environment is beautiful, there are breathtaking temples to visit and the people are exceptionally friendly and welcoming.

After kayaking most of the way and taking a slow boat for the final stretch to Luang Prabang, we decided to spend two days here and explore.

Fork in the mekong North of Luang Prabang.

Luang Prabang is very much a tourist town, but it has managed to maintain a unique charm and beauty despite the heavy inlflux of westerners and the developement that ensues.

The night markets (above) are enormous and present vast array of local handicrafts and even pickled snake whisky.

Luang Prabang waterfront.

The old quarter of Luang Prabang is world heritage listed due its incredible array of Temples (Wats) that appear on almost every street corner. The most famous is Wat Xieng Thong (above) with beautiful ornate golden figures and facades.

Golden Nagas at Wat Xieng Thong

The main Buddha at Wat Xieng Thong

After exploring the local Wats with Jerry our Canadian friend, the three of us wandered into the main school and ended up being invited into a local University English Class. The teacher and students were wonderful and very excited to have us talk to them in English and answer questions. For us it was a great experience and opportunity to learn about University life in Laos and the challenges associated with higher education here.

(Above: the English students in Luang Prabang)

Luang Prabang offers exceptional dining and I quickly fell in love with the local cuisine. Below we have chicken stuffed in Lemon grass with a local lime/chili based dipping sauce. It was absolutely sensational but unfortunetly a bit of a speciality item and I did not see it anywhere else.

Sampling the chicken.

Unfortunately our time in Luang Prabang ran out quickly and we had to inflate the kayaks and prepare to head south for Vientine. In order to save time we decided to kayak half the way (230km) and take a slow boat for the remainder.

Fully inflated the Kayaks barely fit in our guesthouse room.

It was great to be back on the water and this stretch of river felt much more remote than the previous. It also felt much harder and the first day was agony for our muscles.

For the first 50k out of Luang Prabang there were plenty of villages along the banks but they became more sparse as we continued south. Boat traffic was dramatically reduced with only local fishing boats and the occasional cargo boat. No toursit boats run this stretch to Pak Lay anymore and it seems less cargo is shipped along this stretch than between the north and Luang Prabang.

The first three nights we camped out and set up camp as previously.

The scenerary was just spectacular with higher mountains around us as we headed south through the Anam highlands.

The river was generally getting wider and the flow rate noticeably slower. This was good in that the water was flat and easy to navigate but it also meant we had to paddle harder and longer to maintain our 50km per day pace.

For both of us the last couple of days were the hardest physically. There were times when I kept thinking I would rather being relaxing back in Luang Prabang with a chilled Beer Laos and it took all my strength to push on.

Local monks in their beautiful flowing robes traversing the mekong.

Annam highlands to the west during late afternoon.

Ths was my favourite campsite!! We set up camp just to the right, on top of this great big sand dune. Amazingly this great dune was deposited during the previous wet season when the river rose a full ten metres above the current water level.

Waiting for a large cargo ship to pass a paricularly narrow channel between the rocks.

Duncan enjoying some local stream water mixed with one purification tablet and a beroca to give energy and mask the foul chlorine flavour of the purification tablet.

On the fourth night of the leg to Pak lay, we stopped at a village late in the day to see if we could get some 'Feu', the delicous local noodle soup. The village was a bit larger than many of the others we had passed and had what appeared to be quite a large school visible from the river. It was a Beautiful village with some quite well developed houses nestled amongst the swaying palms, as well as many of the more traditional timber and thatched roof huts.

Immediately after climbing out of the kayaks we were greated by a crowd of smiling children and one lady who invited us up to see the village. after asking in our very basic Laos phrases wether there was a 'Hahn ahahn' (restaraunt) we were invited up and offered dinner and accomodation for the night with the family of the village head. Their hospitality was truly beautiful and staying with them was perhaps the most memorable experience of the trip.

Language was intially a major barrier as we sat down and were offered tea. No one appeared to speak any English and our phrasebook allowed only very basic dialogue.

However, soon a crowd of villagers had joined us including some teachers, one of whom was the local English teacher. Through him we were able to converse very effectively and learnt a tremeandous amount about the village and its challenges.

We were given a full tour of the primary and secondary school, both of which were basic and in need of some attention.

Our host family (above) and the newly built Buddha looking out above the village.

After staying at the village overnight we set off the next to Pak Lay in a local village boat accompanied by the friendly English teacher, Phonie, who offered to be our guide for the day and tell us about the region and show us some other villages.

After crossing the border into Laos in the morning, we finally inflated and loaded up the kayaks and hit the water at about 1430 (3/1/09). Between the two of us we had stowed tent, sleeping bags, mats, camping stove,gas, utensils, 7 days worth of food, 15 liters of water, first aid kit, kayak repair kits, 2 sets of clothes, one warm fleece, fishing gear, camera equipment, charts and maps, gps, hand held vhf radios, life jackets, mobiles and a variety of other items. The kayks have a maximium load capacity of 113kg (including passenger) and we managed to just about keep under this.

On the first day we kayaked untill dusk at 1730 taking in the beautiful sceneary. The first night we camped at a sheltered spot nestled amongst variouscropsandsome isolated famhouses.

It gets dark at around 6pm and is not light untill around 7am. The nights were a litle colder than expected and we werevery thankfulto have warm sleeping bags. In the morning we awoke to a very thick mist that hung over us and was so moist that everything was wet and you could feel the water droplets on you face as you walked. It was so thickthat visibility was around 100m and we couldnet see thailand on the oppoiste bank.

As we prepared a hot cup of tea, a few fishing boats appeared out of the mist and began casting there nets in the sahllows near the kayaks. Their catch consisted of catfish and a range of small perch-like fish.

At this point I was getting hungry and decided to dig up some local worms for breakfast. Ok just joking... Not that desperate yet. I was simply intrigued by what had dug up a huge area of the beach leaving mounds everywhere and was fascinated to discover these enormous worms.

By 080 we had packed up camp and were on the river again. It was cold at first but teh exercisekeptus warmand by about 1000 thesun came out and the river livened up with many boats passing us in both directions. The river traffic consists of many small fishing boats like that shownabove and most of these have small prop shaft engines. Thenext size up are the speed boast whichfly along the river at about 50kmh carting transporting tourists and locals upanddown the river. Then there are the much larger toursit and cargo boats that are called 'slow boats' whccih travel at 25kmh. The largest are the cargo boats such as that shown below. These were typically loadedwith rice and localporduce, timber or building materials. Someeven had a crane attached to the middlefor loading.

Then there was us, the only western style kayaks on the water and source of much interest and amusement to the locals. Every time we stopped they would crowd around and greet us calling 'Sabai Di' and then come and touch our kayaks.

The kids were allways thefirst to greet us when westopped at a village and would crowd around as we struggled with our phrase book to explain what we were doing. Virtually no one spoke any English and our Laos was entirely dependent on a few phrases from the book,which was fine except that we couldnt pronounce the words properly and half the time they couldnt understand us anyway.

(Below) One of the local childrenwho watched us pack up camp on the second morning.

The late afternoons are the most beautiful on the water as it is not too hot,any wind has died down and the water is still (below).

However, the river is not entirley calm and serene as shown here. Duncan learnt this hard way as we entred a narrow turn in the river and flow rate doubled. We thought we clear,but just after the bend the water was much more disturbed with large backeddies, upwellings and whirlpools. Duncans Kyak got spun rund in a whirlpool and capsized. I was about 30m ahead and quickly turned around and began paddling hard to get back to him and the kayak. Duncan was fine and all the packs were well strapped to the kayak and did not come loose. But with all their weight Duncan couldnt flip the kayak back over in the water, so he grabbed ahold of the back of my kayak and the front of his and I paddled like crazy to tow us to the shore.

This worked fine and their was no real problem, except that it had to happen in front of a local village and quite soon a large crowd had appeared on the bank to cheer us on. They were very friendly and helped retrieve the large water container that had come loose, and after a round of attempted communication,we were on our way again.

(Above) Back in calm water enjoying a leisurly float down the river.On the 3rd day of kayaking we went through some more narrow parts in the river and cameoff the kayaks a couple of times. But this time we had the gear stowed much better and could flip them over between the two of us and climb back in and continue on without evening needing to go shore.

This is where this type of kayaks isgreat. They are sit on top style and are self draining, acting more like a sleandour raft in the water. Due to the large airchambers running down each side and the high pressure they can be inflated too, they are extremely stable making it easy to climb back in whilst still in the water.

On all the nights so far we have cooked our own meals inthe evening. This consists of rice with TVP (textured vegetable protein), some Thai style Tom Yum stock cubes and local vegetable that we buy through out the day and is served in a stew or soup consitancy. It actually tastes really good!

For lunch there are plenty of villages where we stop and with a combination of our limited Laos phrases and some gestures, we ask for a resaturaunt or place to eat. Most villages have a basic restaraunt style kitchen set up to cater for locals trabelling up and down in boats or the odd tourist.

(Above) A slow boat moored bleow a small town where we stopped for lunch and to explore.

(Below) Here is the local communal kitchen where these ladies cooked us up a beautiful Laos soup with rice noodles, a bit of meat,local vegetables,coriander and a mix of spicesand chili. It was Delicious!

Duncan enjoying the localcousine as a group of the local villagers looked on.

We stopped for an hour at this village and therewas one man who spoke a bit of English. We learnt that the popualtion was around 200 and that this village was a student town with a school and boarding house where childrencome from sorrounding villages.

School wasnt going at the time we were there, but it consisted of one large building divided into 5 classrooms and a large dormitory which was full of children. WE were told the school had 3 teachers.

(Below) A curious student approaches us outside his school.

Around the village.

Village houses overlooking the river.

Our secluded camp site on night three. This spot was so quiet and beatiful.It was great to sit back and relax at the end of a hard days paddle and just watch the water go by.

On the water for the final stretch to pakbeng on Day 4. We built up travelling around 50km per day.

In places the river bank was shrouded in dense rainforest that I wished I could go and explore.

At the end opf day 4 we arrived into Pak Beng,the largest town on the route to Luang Prbang. The first sight we got was of this stunning resort at the outskirts of town. This is main entrance and dining room and the rooms are separate bungalows overlooking the river. After 3 nights of camping we couldnt resist the idea of a hot shower and a comfortable bed so we treated ouselves to a night here.