Luang Prabang....Again

Yes, we are in Luang Prabang again. Just arrived today, via the same darn crowded, hard-seated, two-day boat journey as last time. It is a long story, but needless to say our transportation has not been necessarily efficient, easy or smooth here in Laos so far. The bane of this insane loop we made was worth it though, a little excursion to the jungle to fly around on zip lines and sleep in treehouses. More on that to come. I think it has been almost a week since our last post, and we have been busy, so settle in, Em is at the keyboard and she can be a bit wordy....

I think we last left you at the peak of the water festival here in Luang Prabang. We spent one day fully emerged in the festivities which included a very large morning market engulfing most of the main streets, followed by an afternoon on the Mekong where it was one big party. The party consisted of throwing water and flour on people and rubbing grease on the faces. In addition, there were fun activities such as firing rather impressive homemade rockets off of bamboo platforms, and climbing races up bamboo poles to get to the goodies dangling from the top of them (it took a good hour before the first person was able to reach the top of the pole...very entertaining, especially when some falang gave it a whirl). The streets of the city were mayhem as well. Full on dousing, loud music, dancing, and probably too much Beer Lao and Lao lao (the local whiskey). We partook as long as we could stand, then sought solace in our room till the water was put away. The next day was the big processional and apparently even crazier water throwing, but we opted out of it and took a bus north to our next destination.

Having fun at the celebration on the Mekong (we had our own bag of flour, so were able to get some revenge!):

I'm watching the bamboo pole climbing competition here. Is it just me, or do I look like a giant?


Rocket launching:


There were two things we really wanted to do in Laos. One was to rent motorbikes in Luang Prabang and drive a big loop in the northern region. We quickly discovered that it was not possible. They no longer rent motorbikes to foreigners in Luang Prabang - the most believable reason we heard being that the tuk tuk drivers were losing business, so they organized themselves and got the government to put a ban on it. The other thing we really wanted to do was the Gibbon Experience which is where you spend three days in the jungle sleeping in treehouses and gliding on zip lines over the forest canopy. This had a jumping off point near Huay Xai, but we didn't do it on the first run because we thought we'd be driving there on bikes. No problem, we'll rent bikes in a town farther north of Luang Prabang...or so we thought.

So off we set...our first experience on the public buses of Laos. We were able to jump on the bus just as it was leaving, and one of the first things the driver did was hand out not one, but two plastic bags to each person on the bus. This turned out to be a wise choice on their part. What a road! And what a driver! Beautiful, stunning scenery. Curvy, hairpin turns and an aggressive driver. Made for all kinds of good entertainment for us as we made the five hour journey.

We learned two important things about how the buses work here. Number 1: people show up 1-2 hours early to secure a seat and the bus will leave when it is full, which could be an hour before the scheduled time. Number 2: They don't stop for pee breaks....ever. I was reminded on that journey how quickly we can lose our modesty. Here's a funny picture: Me standing at the front of the bus full of locals and a smattering of falang, gesturing with my hands towards my crotch because "toilet", "loo", "restroom", and "bathroom" weren't working and pleading for him to wait two minutes. Unfortunately the villagers here didn't understand those words either, so we (me, Keith and another tourist) ran like mad for the most secluded spot in the village we could find and did what nature demands. The funniest thing is that literally 2 km down the road, the bus pulls over for its apparent scheduled stop (along the side of the road) to a chorus of relieved sighs from all the locals after which they filed off the bus, spreading out to find their own bush, tree, whatever! He could have just told us! Too funny.

We stopped that day in a small town called Udomxai. It is described in our book as nothing more than a pass through town where three highways intersect. But we found it to be a beautiful and pleasant town. The new years festivities were in full swing, but on a smaller and more mellow scale than in Luang Prabang. It continues to delight us how easily the locals are amused. One bucket of water thrown creates shouts of joy, giggles, screams and hoots. Throw that water on a falang, in a falang-less town like Udomxai, and multiply that amusement by 10. We were literally cheered by a truckful of men passing through as we took our buckets of water with a smile. We got our second Laos massage here. We are growing quite fond of their technique...a nice cross between Swedish and Thai. This one was a nice experience: laying on a not-so-clean mattress in a rickety wooden building and listening to the waxing and waning sounds of the celebrations around us: kids playing in the river, drunken shouts, sing-alongs to bad Asian music, water splashing, screams of delight and laughter. Nice.

The next day took us to an even smaller town called Luang Nam Tha, not as pretty as Udomxai, but more geared for tourists. And we found some bikes to rent! But the price was ridiculous as was the quality of the motorbikes. Nevertheless we rented them for just a day and drove out to another small town to enjoy more scenery and get off a crowded bus for a day. Finally we were able to firm up some plans for the Gibbon Experience and we set off the following day on a doozie of a 'bus' ride.

We tried to be prudent and got to the bus station an hour early only to find the bus completely full (I forgot to mention - on the bus from Udomxai to Luang Nam Tha, Keith counted 20 proper seats and 39 people!). They told us no problem, another bus is coming. Not much of a bus - the back of truck with benches and a rack for luggage on the top. Some funny facts from this ride:
- 1.5 hours waiting at station
-1st stop - 1 km out of town for petrol
- huge traffic jam after some fight between a Chinese construction crew and a Lao man
- 2nd stop - 3 km out of town at the bus driver's house to pick up his lunch
- people in our 'bus' : 5 on each bench, one on floor and lots of cargo on the floor, 6 in the cab
- rusty braces holding up this overloaded luggage rack that are snapping one by one
- terrible, terrible, dusty, bumpy, curvy, bumpy, back-breaking road (we were literally bruised from banging our backs into our metal backrests)
- ran over a snake. driver stopped to pick it up and take it home with him for dinner I suppose
- Even after 6 hours of this Keith saying, "but it's a good experience, right?"

Here is a look at our 'bus':


We arrived at our destination, which was no more than a small village with one 'guesthouse' (more of a homestay) which is also the pick up point in the morning for the Gibbon Experience (their truck comes from Huay Xai in the south).

That night in rained and stormed like crazy and continued to do so in the morning. The family kept saying that the truck wouldn't make in on those roads that become instant mud pits. Nevertheless, they arrived right on time, and whisked us off for one more hour of bumpy road riding to the start of our jungle experience.

The Gibbon Experience is really a cool thing. Gibbons are a small type of ape that are endangered. As a conservation project a foreigner set up this tourism experience to generate money. We pay slightly expensive rates to sleep for two nights in treehouses that overlook the jungle canopy, and spend our days sliding on zip lines and hiking in the jungle. They in turn get our money and pay it to locals who act as forest rangers to police illegal poaching (they are frequently ex-poachers themselves) as well as employing the locals as guides and cooks for us. Really a cool concept, and it seems to be working. They are expanding their cable network all the time and with no advertising are booked up well ahead.

We went in as a group of 10, but were split up into two groups after the initial introduction. Our group spent most of the first day walking to treehouse #4, which ended up being quite a brutal walk. Thanks to the recent rain, it also gave us our first experience with leeches! Yuck. Those suckers are fast. We spent that night at the house getting to know each other and falling asleep to the sounds of the jungle and praying for no rain, hoping the ground would dry up for the next day. Each treehouse is slightly different. Most of them have a toilet (hole in floor), and shower (#4 being the exception - we had to shower in the waterfall), and great pads and plush comforters. 'Kitchens' are on the jungle floor where the guides prepare wonderful meals and zip them into us.

This is treehouse #1 as seen from where you launch. A relatively short cable ride:


Dinner at Treehouse #4 with our treehouse mates:


The second day we got up early, walked back to the main hub of treehouses, settled into treehouse #3 and spent the rest of the day zipping around on the cables. There are two or three really long lines that give amazing, fantastic views of the jungle. It is really hard to describe the experience. A bit scary each time you launch yourself off a little platform with nothing more that a harness and a roller (and a second safety line), but oh, so very fun. The treehouses sit about 30-40 meters up and are built on strangler fig trees (huge trees with an immense root structure). Treehouse #3 was a nice sleep as well. There were rumors that a pit viper had taken up residence in the roof, but luckily we never saw it. Something else was living up there, but I think it was just a rat or squirrel (too loud to be a snake). The next morning we woke to a mysterious fog, and the incredible sound of the Gibbons singing. They have such a unique and interesting sound. We never saw any, but we got a good listen at them and feel good about helping in a small way to save them. That last day, we just zipped around, checking out the other treehouses and shot fun movies while flying through the air. A short one hour walk out, and a 3 hour bumpy and dusty ride and we were back into Huay Xai - right where we started our Laos journey.

Keith's self-portrait midway on one of the more spectacular cables:


Zipping!


A bear! The Gibbon people saved this little guy after it's momma was poached. He is cute, but getting big fast. They are trying to figure out what to do with him as he is quickly becoming too big and aggressive to be a pet much longer.


The next two days are the same as a couple weeks ago. Two days down the Mekong. You can read the previous blog to see how that went.