8. Nov 5. The River Adventure starts

 We needed to just pack for an overnight stay and leave the rest of our bags with the driver for the overnight River Camp.  That meant changing our luggage around so that we just took one bag.  I decided to use my carryon bag, a Patagonia MCL.  It’s a soft sided fabric bag —MCL stands for Maximum Carryon Luggage.  I’ve used this bag for almost a decade now and it’s been worth every penny.  

We are organized enough to get to breakfast early and quickly order a fried egg for breakfast, a plate of fruit (banana, mango and dragon fruit), fresh baguette and coffee/tea, brush our teeth.  I’m out front with 10 minutes to spare.  I think that’s a record. 

Our ultimate destination is to Nam Et - Phou Louey Naitonal Park a conservation area.  It’s supposed to be a short drive but the road is known to need repairs so extra time is necessary.  We’ve already been driving for a few hours when we make a stop at a Hmong village Ban Tha Jok.  We walk up a dirt road looking at various homes and yards and it feels great to stretch our legs.  The village homes have bamboo fences to keep out large livestock.  Around one property, there is a long fence where the owner has used bomb shell casings for the pickets.   We walked around the fencing an notice that the open air shed has also used shell casing for the support posts.  I think it’s a grotesque display of the munitions as there would have been a huge risk of gathering the UXO and having someone decommission it by removing the detonator.  

Pickets of bomb shell casings along one of the properties.  

We have also seen scrap metal parts being used as an anvil.  The foundry in a village can melt down the metal and reshape into tools cutlery or other household items. 

We continue our walk and see a soccer field.  It’s a rough hard dirt field, not the grass covered versions you see in Canada.  Further along we see a house with a wreath above the door.  It apparently signifies that a baby has been born in the house. 

The wreath placed above the door lets people know that there is a new baby in the home.  Visitors must wait at least 30 days from the baby’s birth before entering the house.  

This village had lots of flowers, bougainvillea, poinsettia, chocolate lilies, etc.  

Chocolate Lillies.

As we walk in the village, Judith has always been a head turner whenever we come to these ASEAN countries as she’s taller than most of them and has very white hair.  Children are fascinated.  She is very opposite in looks to the residents in height, skin tone and hair colour.  

Many of the residents use woven baskets to carry goods including firewood and produce. 

I have been curious about some snacks I see hanging from many of the food vender stalls.  It turns out they contain a bunch of prawn flavoured deep fried snacks.  Phonsy purchases a couple of bags for me.  I only wanted to have a taste so I immediately give one of the bags to the young girl staring at Judith.  She readily accepted my offering.  I open my bag and give it a taste and I’m immediately transported to my childhood because it taste like the prawn crackers I used to have when I was young.  I get Judith to try one  and she finds it acceptable or at least that’s what she told me.  I give the rest of the bag to another kid that’s starring at Judith.  

We continue on the road.  The scenery is beautiful.  There’s high clouds, big mountains and wide valleys. 

On our way we pass by many communities.  We decide to stretch our legs at Ban LongKham, another Hmong ethic group village.  I believe the Hmong is the largest ethnic group in Laos.  Here there are many weavers at work on the main road through town and we check out their work.  

The weavers in this village were making very complex patterns.  You can see the 20+ bamboo bars attached to the warp threads  that are used to create the pattern.   Compare that to the Textile Museum in Vientiane, where there were only two bamboo bars on the sample I tried.  

We also investigate a nearby stack of drying hard wood.  I’m not sure of the species, but these were very substantial planks, some of which were over 6 inches in width and 4 feet in width.  I could envision them being used for tables.

We arrive at Ban Son Koua just before noon. It’s a sleepy little village in Norther Laos and just happens to be the starting point of our eco tourism excursion into Nam Et-Phou Louey National Park.  Our tour will involve a boat ride into the park, a boat ride night safari to see wildlife, an overnight stay in one of the rustic cabins and then a boat ride back to our starting point.  

We are delayed in leaving because the local gas station has run out of gas and they need to go to the next station 14km away to purchase the gas for the boats.  The vessels we are taking are known as longtail boats, similar as the ones we rode in back in on our 2017 to Bangkok.   The boats are narrow and passengers ride in a single line.  The boat is driven with a small gas engine mounted on the transom at the stern and the propeller is mounted on a very long shaft.  The propeller shaft just enters the water at a shallow angle and this keeps the boat’s draft to a minimum.  

While we are waiting there is a pomegranate tree and I’m tempted.  But there’s no way to reach the fruit.  Dang.  I also look at the looms being operated beside the tour operator’s office.  All very intricate patters.  Everyone seems to be a master weavers.  

We’re all invited to have a look at the village by our park guide Sum Lee.  The village is an integral part of the Nam Et River - Phou Louey Mountain National Park.   The conservation and management work of the park involves a protected portion of the park where human access and wildlife harvesting is prohibited (with the exception of the eco tourism camp).  Surrounding this protected portion, there is another section where pre-existing villages can continue to live and where land is allocated to the villagers for farming.  The protected area is important as it has a large biodiversity.  The area was once used by locals as a hunting ground, however, villagers are now encouraged to protect the wildlife and receive revenue generated for the community from the tourists’ wildlife sightings.  A military officer is stationed on site and patrols to ensure compliance.  

During the tour, we see a central water tap that is used as a clean water source for consumption and bathing.  The installation was funded by eco tourism operations.   The tap is also used for bathing.  

We sign waivers and both of us discover that our overnight bags are too big to fit into the 20L bags.  I pull out what I think are core travel items and put them into my dry bag and find I could use on more.  The large bags remained the driver, Noy and he’s staying in the village to wait for our return the next day.

We are a walk down to the water’s edge to board the boats and take the 90 minute ride up the river to Nam Nerm camp where we will all stay overnight.  It really was an uber fun trip racing up river.  Nam Et River is relatively shallow and given the current water levels, we scraped a few rocks on the way up.  Each boat has two fabulous handers. Besides the steering at the stern, there was a steersman at the front who would push off using a bamboo pole.

We board the boats down a steep dirt path.  

There are many rapids as we go up river making the ride pretty thrilling in spots.

There was a lot of bailing going on behind me.

When we got to Nom Nern camp, we’re provided with a short tour of the site and assigned cabins.  I notice how rustic it is.  The bed in my cabin has a bamboo frame, a thin mattress, a thick duvet and mosquito meeting.  There is no electricity; we’re really roughing it.  

We come back to the central area and the boat operators have prepared lunch.  It’s a communal meal eaten with fingers. consisting of sticky rice, vegetable and pork.  We eat it (yes it’s yummy) and then get ready for another excursion through the protected area.  

Banana Leaf tablecloth

Bombing trash found at the base of this tree.  

This excursion includes a night safari as animals are more active at night.  We all get ready to get back into the boats and head off.  We’re just underway and I feel something has bitten me on my right leg near my ankle.  I reach down to find a small leech and so I pick it off me and flick it into the water.  When I look at my ankle, there’s a small trace of blood.  Oh crap, I’ve know I’ve been leached.  It’s the second time in my life with the first one in 2017 on the island of Borneo.  

We land at the sand bank for our barbecue and the 4 boat operators have quickly tied up the boats, began two fire pits, put water onto boil and started preparing dinner.  We talked to the two guides Phonsy and Sum Lee and sat around one of the fires while the other was being used for cooking our dinner.  It consisted of sticky rice, freshly stir fried vegetables, pork slices, and scrambled eggs for Judith.   

Meal preparation

The meal was excellent, using bamboo leaf “plates” to eat from.  Then we sat around the campfire and each of us introduced ourselves and talked about our families.  It was quite special to learn about the village’s boat operators families and life.  They are all farmers growing rice and corn and do the eco tourism work as a part time gig.  It’s pretty lucrative for them, but only seasonal.  The corn is grown on the very steep grades of the hills.  I’ve been on very short sections and know just how steep these hills are and how difficult they are to walk on, let alone farm on.  They need to grow enough rice and corn to support their families and farm animals (mainly chickens and ducks) for the year.  They have cows and water buffalo but these forage in the fields.  We’ve seen pigs (they’re very little), turkeys and goats.     

Sitting around the campfire

Soon it was time to pack up and get ready for our night safari.  The boats would be punted downstream back to the camp without turning on the engines.  We were provided with instructions about the safari.  There would only be one tracker looking for animals.  He would shake the boat to let us know when we should turn on our flashlights and point them where his was pointed.  It was a very effective strategy.  The tracker would scan his light where he knew animals would be.  Animals will reflect back the light in their two red eyes.  It’s very effective because we saw 3 Sumba deer, 3 Palm Civet cats and an Asian Water Lizard.

The night safari tracker.  There was another tracker on the other boat.  

It was marvellous to drift downstream in the dark.  The moon was almost full and our guide Sum Lee indicated that that would reduce the number of animals coming out because it’s not dark enough.  We arrived back at the camp and a small campfire is quickly started.  It’s very cold, mostly because we didn’t bring enough warm clothing.  I try to warm up as best as I can, but its less than 11 degrees or so.  I decide to sleep in my clothes because I didn’t want to loose what little body heat I had by changing.  Sum Lee offered an extra blanket and both Judith and I both jumped at the offer.  It turns out I used almost none of the gear I brought with me.  The only things I really need were my cameras, power bank (for recharging my phone and watch) and toothbrush.  Everything else stayed in the bag.  

It will an early rise tomorrow as we will get in a forest walk starting at 6:00 am.