Monday 17 January 2005

Week 100, Day 661

Another eventful week on our journeys. After the two day cooking course in Chiang Mai, Alex and I decided it was time to work off the bulge and do a three day trek through Thailand's northern mountains. We were in a group of 11 people the first day, where there was a little bit of walking and a lot of drinking involved that evening. The day's trek saw us pass through a village that still practices sacrifices to dictate how the new year was going to be (sacrifices of the animal variety, not the human as I originally thought) and had a baby monkey in captivity, apparently in order to eat its brains once a little older. His mother had already been devoured by the tribal people. They claim it's good luck or something. Whatever!

The village we camped at that evening was the same one I had stayed at only two years ago, only at the other end of it. We all drank until about midnight, sat around the campfire and tried to learn Thai words from a villager who was looking after us. Alas, Alex and I didn't get very far. I think the man tried to tell us the name for a pig, when we were asking the name for a dog. Misunderstandings like that are bound to happen when communication is solely through pathetic hand signals and animal noises!

The next day saw the group separate as some were only doing two days. We ended up in a group of four - Alex and myself, along with an English couple older and more travelled than us - Alan and Sal. They told us of the many stories and encounters on their travels through South America and Africa, including bribing police officers and being held up by terrorists. We started the second morning off with some elephant riding. Our elephant insisted on stopping to eat along the way, and then putting us through the pain of having to smell its loud and horrendous farts. And then the walking began. Up and down, up and down, around mountain tops on pathways that were the width of your feet and I dared not lood down the steep slopes. But it was all worth it and several hours later we camped at a small hunting ground by a stream. There was a very cute puppy there that we played with and some hilarious chickens and roosters. Sitting drinking beer while soaking our weary feet in the cold water has been one of my favourite events so far.

Our guide, who we called Jackie (as in Jackie Chan) cooked another declicious dinner for us. One of the men staying at the hunting ground passed by with a skewer that had a tiny green frog at the end. He then proceeded to charcoal it over the fire to my utter disgust. That night, the four of us sat around the camp fire talking, while I tried to spot some shooting stars.

On the third day, the trekking wasn't so hard, but equally as rewarding when we made it to the top of the mountain and looked out to the other mountain ranges. We had lunch in a village and got bombarded by some village women trying to sell us jewellery before going rafting. All in all, it was a great trip but left me quite knackered.

That night was our last night in Chiang Mai, and having previously gone to the markets, I figured I would buy a few items that hadn't left my mind. We had fun haggling with the Thai and was impressed with some of the purchases we managed to get, including a nice pair of Diesel jeans Alex purchased, a beatuiful amethyst necklace for myself and some little souvenirs for other people. We met up with Alex's best mate's brother, Fraser and his girlfriend Alice who had returned from a border run, before deciding we were zonked and had an early night.

The last three days has seen Alex and I travelling long distances to Laos. We took the local bus to Chiang Khong, on the border of Thailand and Laso. Though it had a very thorough air con, the bus was tiny! Poor Alex was so squashed in I thought his legs might snap. The Thai lady next to me kept falling asleep and resting her head on my shoulder, while I tried hard to position myself, albeit awkwardly, so I didn't sit on her or squash Alex too much. Luckily, two hours into the trip she left and we had the three seater to ourselves. We stayed by the Mekong river that evening in a lovely guesthouse.

The next day we crossed the boarder. Basically, we arrived at the Thai immigration on one side, crossed the river on a 20second boat trip to the Laos border, got our visas (which we were pleasantly surprised to find is cheaper than organising it before you get there) and then caught a slow boat along the Mekong river for a two day trip. One thing about travelling in this part of the world is that you come to realise that style and comfort are not words the natives are familiar with. Instead, they opt to use planks of wood for seats, meaning that the 7 hour boat trip leaves your arse feeling sore and numb at the same time. Still, the scenery was beautiful and it was nice to talk to some of the fellow tourists on board.

The stop overnight was at Pakbeng, a small village that now thrives on the business of passing travellers. We found ourselves a reasonable guesthouse and had dinner at a restaurant overlooking the river. It was our first proper Lao meal and I enjoyed it more than some of the Thai dishes we had had before. We then had drinks at our guesthouse with some people we had met off the boat. This was after walking down the 'main' street of the town and being offered several illegal substances by locals, despite the fact that the laws here are pretty tough! Bizarre. I tried my first bout of Lao whiskey and found it even more potent than the Thai 'Sang som' variety, yet it is so easy to drink when mixed with soft drink. And here Alex and I were thinking we were going to have a more sober time in Laos. Hmmm.

The evening was an event in itself. After sleeping for an hour or so, I awoke to the sound of rustling and nibbling in the corner of the room where our bags were. I woke Alex up and just before he turned on the light I saw something move. It had been as I feared. A rat. I did the girly squeal thing as we tried to coax the vermin out. He tried to climb the walls but kept failing, and finally made it through a tiny gap in the roof. After that, I couldn't sleep. We turned out the lights and I could hear the rats in the ceiling scurrying about. About an hour of tossing and turning, I finally turned on the light and tried to read. Finally feeling sleepy, I turned the light off and tried to sleep again. Ten minutes later, I heard the same rustling, turned on the light and saw another rat shoot back out under our door. Argh! Lying down with the light on, it took my about another hour before I feel asleep again, waking up to the sound of Alex turning the light off again. As expected, ten minutes later, I heard the rat noise in our room again and decided that I had to just leave the light on all night. At 4am, I heard the local chimes and drums begin in the distance. It sounded like some kind of religious ritual, but it was really pleasant and soothing. The music was like nothing I had heard before and i eventually fell asleep to it. In the morning, while packing my things away I discovered that one of the rats had successfully managed to chew through the front of my small backpack in search of food. What he found was an empty food packet. I was furious!!

Today's trip was even longer and more drawn out though the scenery a lot nicer - lots of jungle, lots of rocks sticking out of the water and lots of funny Lao children running to the shores to wave to us. We are now in Louang Phabang, the second largest city in Laos and will probably chill out the next few days as we work out where to go. Who knows what else our travels will bring!



x
Vanessa