Our adventure day in Nong Khiaw we decided, would be a day trip on the Nam Ou River, a tributary of the Mekong. Eight of us fair skinned travellers from 5 different countries boarded our long boat at 9.30am and headed upriver...first to a normal riverside village. Bit like Wanganui but different, perhaps Wanganui 200 years ago!
The village had some 25 families who mostly live hand to mouth. They grow rice, hunt and fish to survive. There was a small school for juniors, two classrooms with about 15 children in each. While they are poor (and Laos is among the 20 poorest countries on Earth) they still managed to have satellite TV. There were probably 5-6 sets in the village and if something important was on, more likely English football than the All Blacks v Springboks, families would gather together to watch. The village is quite communal and although they can individually own pices of land, maybe 5 hectares, they will work together on each other's farms to get the work done. This little fella in the red hat took a liking to Diana and spent half an hour welded to her finger.
Secondary school for these guys is in Nong Khiaw about an hour boat ride away. They have to board during the week either at accommodation at the school or with relatives. In the evenings they would probably work at a restaurant to help pay the costs of boarding and getting back home for weekends. Laos kids are expected to stay at school until they are 16 but this isn't policed and in many cases it is beyond the means of their parents to afford them schooling.
Our little group trekked for an hour and a half through paddy fields and jungle to a waterfall. The temperature was around 34C so we were well pleased to be able to dive into the pool at the bottom of the waterfall. Only problem was that when we were half way back to the river we needed the waterfall cooling off pool again.
Back to the river and we boarded kayaks for our 2 hour journey down the river. We discovered that the management persons of the company we trekked with had discussed Diana and my suitability for the kayak leg of the adventure. The main criteria that initiated the discussion was the colour of our hair! Clearly we were past the rough and tumble of kayaking through rapids. The bloody cheek of them! Fortunately they didn't totally insult and decide we couldn't do it. Although I am sure that the combined age of any of two others was less than my age and more than likely less than Diana. Once 'discussed' I did outline to the rest of the paddlers and management that NZ has an enviable record of the boating type. Gold medals at the Olympics, more NZers than any other nation at the Americas Cup and I threw in the invention and development of the Hamilton jet.....most of this detail was missed by the Lao but none of the other nationals argued....! We then surprised ourselves by getting through all the rapids, albeit with a kayak full of water, and not falling out at all. That couldn't be said by all those on the river that afternoon. We had a great day out.
Getting back to the World Heritage listed town of Luang Prabang involved a 4 hour ride in an open back little Mazda type truck (saungtaaou) sucking petrol fumes. We thought the minivan journey up was challenging!! We got back in one piece.....it wouldn't be correct to say "safely". There were no safety features obvious on the vehicle and the driving is an adventure in itself. The green T-shirt men here are tuk tuk drivers touting for our business. All good hearted banter and totally non-threatening.
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