At 7am we were both stood on our ecolodge terrace in our wet Mahout suits ready to get our morning bath one last time with our new hairy friends. Meeting with the elephants we had our usual "Boun Boun" and were getting quite used to the daily routines already but it was time to say goodbye.
With bags packed we still had a few things planned for our last day and next up we were to trek an hour and a half through the rice paddies, streams and jungle to a Khmu hill tribe village. Today was another scorcher though when we arrived at the village our welcome didn't feel as warm, as mothers with their children close at hand pierced us with their gaze. We got the impression that people from Luang Prabang- the Laos Lowlanders- can make money out of bringing people here but don't necessarily share it, and have heard stories of villages turning into "human zoos". Just before we left for the day our guide told us that people often bring presents for the children and that certainly seemed to change things. A small tuck shop opened and we bought two bags of sweets that are apparently their favourite. Within seconds we had about ten tiny hungry bellies around us with their hands out. If we had planned the trip in advance we would have preferred to bring something more useful and sustainable, but the children's huge grins were lovely to see. After they had their fair share the mums also crept forwards and were soon sharing in the sugary goodness and instant friends!
The village itself seemed really clean and well made, there was a school and a few huge satellite dishes that hinted more contact with the outside world than first impressions gave. However, it was still a poor community by our standards, with whole families sharing one simple room in their wooden houses with woven walls. We only stayed for an hour but I would like to have stayed longer as the gangs of little ones were great fun to watch and I was taking some lovely photos of their brilliant expressive faces.
The moment we started to head towards our final destination, the Tad Se waterfall, the sky turned a terrific black thunderous colour as dramatic clouds gathered overhead. Ten minutes on and our blazing day had turned within seconds to a mudstorm! We had to tackle steep paths that had literally turned into waterfalls themselves and every step would see us ankle deep in thick clay mud. Our boots reached three times their original size with all the clumps of dirt underneath and we slipped and slided every second as the ridiculously heavy rain pounded around us.
Forty minutes later we looked like we had swam through swamps to reach the staggering collection of waterfalls, each pouring into beautiful steamy blue pools before creating another cascade down the stepped edges. Most people visit here in the morning so it was quiet when we arrived and there was no-one swimming at all. Our guide said it was too cold but that wasn't going to stop me as I jumped in. He was quite right, it was blooming freezing! A few moments later and everyone else seemed to join in, jumping off steep ledges and swinging from ropes into the pools. It didn't take long before my constant shivering saw me out and our guide, even though fully dressed was clearly ice cold. He had been a great guy over the last few days and we had learned about his wife and history, so we thought we had better go and get him back in the warm. We found out them that during the high season he doesn't take a day off in months and so we really wanted to get out of there and send him home to his family!
It had been utterly incredible and soon we arrived back in Luang Prabang to our nice cheap hotel. What on Earth would we be doing next?! In a week in Laos we had done so much, a year's worth of excitement at home! We walked back to the office we had booked the tour with and were presented with a university degree in Mahout training- that is going straight on our CVs!
The next day we wondered how to follow our time with the elephants but were quite easily taken with the option of doing nothing at all! We managed to eat lots and Laura went for a 3 pound massage where a small girl jumped over her back, clicked every bone in her body (literally) and gave her a few healthy punches for good measure! Whilst Laura got beat up on I started a mammoth internet session sorting out the pictures we had taken in this beautiful country. Laura eventually joined me to sort out our lengthy blog and the day bombed past.
In the evening we checked out a top chill out bar serving great pasta and pizza called the "Hive Bar". Having nothing planned for the next day as we had to wait an extra night for the flight to Hanoi we decided to get a little merry and relax after the last five weeks of utter madness. It was our first drink since we started as we regularly have early starts or strenuous days so our 3 pound jug of strong Sangria into which they had added a little extra whiskey, coupled with two free pints of beer that we were thrown in with the food left us feeling almost drugged up as we slipped further into the Laos relax-mode and stared at the pretty lights for longer than we would usually care to! The bar was playing perfect late night beats and we stayed for ages chatting drunken babble. However, we are still not that hardcore as by the time 8pm hit we were ready to stumble back to our hotel for another sound nights sleep. At home we would not have left the house by this time!
On our last day in Laos we awoke suddenly as I head-butted Laura hard on her forehead. In my dream I was trying to pick up a tree that I was trying to plant, but every time I picked it up the roots would break. I tried extra hard and that's when our brains collided. After that I couldn't work out if I was hung over or not!
A few moments later we were eager to leave and check our messages from home after our new updates. The evening before we had finally spoken to our parents for the first time after over a month of just reading each others adventures. It is so nice to see how excited friends are at home seeing what we are doing and we are really appreciating hearing about everyday life there too. Reading about normal stuff that we take for granted at home really excites us and we're looking forward to coming back for some seemingly mundane things despite our excitement at all we are doing out here. It is nice knowing that for a few days at least a washing machine and a sofa of our own will feel like another version of paradise!
For the afternoon we set out to the Kuang Si waterfall with plans for all over tans (apart from our arms and faces we are still white English newbie travellers!) Packing iPods and swimming gear with plans of ultimate relaxation we were disappointed when we realised our taxi was shared with a number of other tourists and we were given just an hour and a half to ourselves. The waterfall was again magnificent and the camera was in constant use. We trekked past inviting pools before reaching the mother of all waterfalls- it was ginormous! Whilst lining up another camera shot I spotted a cheery man wavy excitedly at me- my smiley mahout teacher! This guy is a serious dude and within a minute we were taking photos together whilst he dressed in my hat and shades. From here we climbed the steep slope to the top of the waterfall and crawled on our hands and knees right across the fast flowing river at the top for a view over the edge of the cliff face. Suddenly, whilst right at the top we realised our taxi was waiting at that very moment! All we had done was walk to the top, we had not swam or sat or had a single ray of sunshine hit our pale chests and worse, it had taken 30 minutes to climb up here. As we skidded back down the slope we secretly hoped they had gone without us so we could continue enjoying this beautiful retreat, but after a further 30 minutes return journey making us over half an hour late we saw a circle of people waiting for us looking somewhat displeased. Ohh, did we feel guilty!
Not quite satisfied with our plans for the day we opted to head for something that has been more reliable- delicious Laos food. As we headed into town we were met with a spectacular dry lighting storm across the sky. It was so powerful that it turned the streets to complete darkness as the towns electricity repeatedly cut out for long periods of time. It made for a very interesting candlelit dinner at the restaurant! Yet another perfect meal later and here I am writing this with Laura snoring like a tiny mouse beside me. I might go head butt her again!
The moment we started to head towards our final destination, the Tad Se waterfall, the sky turned a terrific black thunderous colour as dramatic clouds gathered overhead. Ten minutes on and our blazing day had turned within seconds to a mudstorm! We had to tackle steep paths that had literally turned into waterfalls themselves and every step would see us ankle deep in thick clay mud. Our boots reached three times their original size with all the clumps of dirt underneath and we slipped and slided every second as the ridiculously heavy rain pounded around us.
Forty minutes later we looked like we had swam through swamps to reach the staggering collection of waterfalls, each pouring into beautiful steamy blue pools before creating another cascade down the stepped edges. Most people visit here in the morning so it was quiet when we arrived and there was no-one swimming at all. Our guide said it was too cold but that wasn't going to stop me as I jumped in. He was quite right, it was blooming freezing! A few moments later and everyone else seemed to join in, jumping off steep ledges and swinging from ropes into the pools. It didn't take long before my constant shivering saw me out and our guide, even though fully dressed was clearly ice cold. He had been a great guy over the last few days and we had learned about his wife and history, so we thought we had better go and get him back in the warm. We found out them that during the high season he doesn't take a day off in months and so we really wanted to get out of there and send him home to his family!
It had been utterly incredible and soon we arrived back in Luang Prabang to our nice cheap hotel. What on Earth would we be doing next?! In a week in Laos we had done so much, a year's worth of excitement at home! We walked back to the office we had booked the tour with and were presented with a university degree in Mahout training- that is going straight on our CVs!
The next day we wondered how to follow our time with the elephants but were quite easily taken with the option of doing nothing at all! We managed to eat lots and Laura went for a 3 pound massage where a small girl jumped over her back, clicked every bone in her body (literally) and gave her a few healthy punches for good measure! Whilst Laura got beat up on I started a mammoth internet session sorting out the pictures we had taken in this beautiful country. Laura eventually joined me to sort out our lengthy blog and the day bombed past.
In the evening we checked out a top chill out bar serving great pasta and pizza called the "Hive Bar". Having nothing planned for the next day as we had to wait an extra night for the flight to Hanoi we decided to get a little merry and relax after the last five weeks of utter madness. It was our first drink since we started as we regularly have early starts or strenuous days so our 3 pound jug of strong Sangria into which they had added a little extra whiskey, coupled with two free pints of beer that we were thrown in with the food left us feeling almost drugged up as we slipped further into the Laos relax-mode and stared at the pretty lights for longer than we would usually care to! The bar was playing perfect late night beats and we stayed for ages chatting drunken babble. However, we are still not that hardcore as by the time 8pm hit we were ready to stumble back to our hotel for another sound nights sleep. At home we would not have left the house by this time!
On our last day in Laos we awoke suddenly as I head-butted Laura hard on her forehead. In my dream I was trying to pick up a tree that I was trying to plant, but every time I picked it up the roots would break. I tried extra hard and that's when our brains collided. After that I couldn't work out if I was hung over or not!
A few moments later we were eager to leave and check our messages from home after our new updates. The evening before we had finally spoken to our parents for the first time after over a month of just reading each others adventures. It is so nice to see how excited friends are at home seeing what we are doing and we are really appreciating hearing about everyday life there too. Reading about normal stuff that we take for granted at home really excites us and we're looking forward to coming back for some seemingly mundane things despite our excitement at all we are doing out here. It is nice knowing that for a few days at least a washing machine and a sofa of our own will feel like another version of paradise!
For the afternoon we set out to the Kuang Si waterfall with plans for all over tans (apart from our arms and faces we are still white English newbie travellers!) Packing iPods and swimming gear with plans of ultimate relaxation we were disappointed when we realised our taxi was shared with a number of other tourists and we were given just an hour and a half to ourselves. The waterfall was again magnificent and the camera was in constant use. We trekked past inviting pools before reaching the mother of all waterfalls- it was ginormous! Whilst lining up another camera shot I spotted a cheery man wavy excitedly at me- my smiley mahout teacher! This guy is a serious dude and within a minute we were taking photos together whilst he dressed in my hat and shades. From here we climbed the steep slope to the top of the waterfall and crawled on our hands and knees right across the fast flowing river at the top for a view over the edge of the cliff face. Suddenly, whilst right at the top we realised our taxi was waiting at that very moment! All we had done was walk to the top, we had not swam or sat or had a single ray of sunshine hit our pale chests and worse, it had taken 30 minutes to climb up here. As we skidded back down the slope we secretly hoped they had gone without us so we could continue enjoying this beautiful retreat, but after a further 30 minutes return journey making us over half an hour late we saw a circle of people waiting for us looking somewhat displeased. Ohh, did we feel guilty!
Not quite satisfied with our plans for the day we opted to head for something that has been more reliable- delicious Laos food. As we headed into town we were met with a spectacular dry lighting storm across the sky. It was so powerful that it turned the streets to complete darkness as the towns electricity repeatedly cut out for long periods of time. It made for a very interesting candlelit dinner at the restaurant! Yet another perfect meal later and here I am writing this with Laura snoring like a tiny mouse beside me. I might go head butt her again!
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