The Day We Almost Drown in Two Feet of Water and Other Adventures in Laos

We are waaay behind on our blog and trying to catch up.  We've been struggling to write about our time Laos (February 19-March 13).  Some stories are just better told in person (especially when Brian tells them!).  However, we'd be doing one of our new favorite countries a disservice if we didn't at least try to share some of our adventures with you.  So, here goes… 

The Days We Spent with the Real Village People

~February 22-23~

Our first stop in Laos after crossing the border from Thailand was Luang Nam Tha.  This was also the first place on our entire trip where we were fortunate enough to get to stay in a village, the Khmu village of Ban Nalan.  In Ban Nalan, we started to see the beauty and the tragedy of Laos.  Although the village is only 20 kilometers outside the city, it is very much off the grid.  No roads and no cars or motorbikes, no electricity, baths are taken in the river or at the communal water pumps, cooking is done over fires.  Stephanie's not exaggerating when she says the peace of the village brought on her best night's sleep in months despite being curled up on a mat on the floor.  However, we learned that Laos is one of the fifty poorest countries in the world and our guide pointed out the poverty of the villagers - for example, since their days are consumed with farming their own food, the villagers lack an income and thus have no money to buy medicines, clothes, or other necessities.

Our fondest memories from Ban Nalan are of its youngest villagers.  We scared a few of them - one little boy dropped his water jug and ran away to hide as soon as he caught a glimpse of Brian (had to be the beard) - but when we brought out some balloons we suddenly found ourselves with 20 new best friends.  We had a total blast playing around and have decided that balloons, like smiles, transcend language barriers and are an essential item in any traveller's pack :-)

Our group ROCKED!! - Brian, Steph, Thyjs, Riley, Dave. 

Our guide said the bug was edible so Brian took him at his word. So far he's still alive.

Looking at the village from afar.  Can you spot it to the upper right of all the smoke?

The Khmu village of Ban Nalan!

With no roads, the guys used these bamboo poles to carry a generator into the village.

Practicing English.

It's fun to stay with the K-H-M-U, it's fun to stay with the K-H-M-U!

Yep, Brian's balloon blowing-up skills are jaw-dropping.

That's a real baby, not a baby doll in her arms.  It's not uncommon to see young children taking care of their siblings while their parents work.  

This was the best meal we've had on our trip - hands down.  

Thank goodness for technology!  Dave was able to use this app on his phone to point out all the constellations.  being that there's no electricity we could see bajillions of stars!

The Day We Almost Drown in Two Feet of Water

~February 28~

Having accomplished such feats on our trip as hiking a glacier and climbing into a volcano, we figured kayaking down the Nam Ou in Nong Khiaw would be a piece of cake.  And it was…for everyone in our group except us.  We managed to capsize in every single mini-rapid, each time flailing around like fish and trying to grab the kayak and oars before they floated away without us.  At one point after the kayak tipped, Brian yelled to Stephanie, "Save yourself!" so she doggie paddled (yes, doggie paddled) ashore.  When Steph reached a sand bank, she turned around to look for Brian only to find him in the kayak going down the river backward, making Yeti-esque noises.  If that wasn't humiliating enough, even when our group stopped paddling, we couldn't catch up with them.  

It's good to be humbled every now and again and we have the Nam Ou to thank for that.

The Nam Ou.  Don't let her beauty fool you - she is dangerous (especially if your names are Brian and Stephanie Plum)

We passed these water buffalo on the way up river.  I swear they were laughing at us on the way down.

At least we were still all smiles at the end of our kayaking adventure due in large part to our awesome guide, Vong.

The view from the bridge at Nong Khiaw is already amazing but it looks even more spectacular when you weren't sure if you were gonna live to see it!

Love at First Sight: The Day We Locked Eyes with a Slow Loris 

~March 3~

When we signed up for the Nam Nern Night Safari (http://www.namet.org/namnern.html), we knew the following about it:

1. It's a project that creates financial incentive for local villagers to protect the endangered tiger and its prey (not only would the villagers be paid for preparing our food and serving as guides, but for every animal we saw money would be deposited into the village fund).
2. The itinerary included taking a long boat upstream to an "eco-lodge" where we'd spend the night.  After lunch and dropping off our packs, we'd go further up river to the launching point where we'd have dinner and wait for night to settle in.  Once it was dark enough, we'd float down river and our guides would use a spot light to point out animals along the river's bank.

Before the adventure kicked off we were already fans just because it combined so many of our favorite things: animals, boat rides, animals, sleeping in the jungle, animals, community buy-in, and did we mention animals?  But we became staunch Nam Nern Night Safari enthusiasts when our guide spotted a slow loris.  We all stared at it and it stared back.  And then, living up to its name, the loris slowly climbed up a bamboo shoot.  When it could go no further, it just stared at us some more.  Brian and the loris definitely had a moment because Stephanie has never found him to be speechless and yet there Brian was without a single word (but with the biggest smile on his face!).

One of our awesome guides pointing out birds we might see on our ride upstream.

Some more of the animals we might see!

Stephanie practicing her spotting technique. 

Some of the villagers we passed on the way to the substation.

The boat guides have to do a lot of navigating -- look at all the rocks!  These guys were incredible. A few hours later, they guided us down all this…IN THE DARK!

We stopped off at a village so our boat guides could give their arms a break and, surprise!, look who Stephanie found.

At some points the water was so shallow that everyone had to get out of the boat and push…except Steph :-)

Our sweet accommodation for the night!

After they cooked our dinner over this fire, our guides shared local legends with us.  One of them was about a dirty boy looking for somewhere to sleep.  No one from the village would let him in their house.  One lady finally did and when she woke up the next morning there was a pile of gold where he had been sleeping on her floor.  Turns out all the dirt on him was actually gold!  So, if we show up to your house awfully dirty after our travels, remember this story ;-)

Unfortunately we don't have pictures of the animals we saw (our camera isn't that high tech and we didn't want to chance it going overboard) but here's the count of everything we spotted.  Score!

Enjoying coffee the next morning with Shahreen from NYC!  

Even if we hadn't seen a single animal, we still would've had an awesome time because our guides and fellow safari-ers, Nate, Shahreen, and Fabian, were awesome.

  Some of the villagers waving good-bye!

The Days We Volunteered at the Center for Kids Who Can't Read Good and Wanna Learn to Do Other Stuff Good Too 

~March 8-12~

Ok, that's actually not the name of where we volunteered, but we couldn't resist a throw-back to the movie Zoolander.  While waiting for our Vietnam visas in the lovely city of Luang Prabang, we discovered Big Brother Mouse (BBM), a publishing project working to increase Lao's literacy rates (http://www.bigbrothermouse.com).  One of the other initiatives of this Lao-owned and operated not-for-profit is to help young adults improve their English speaking skills.  Given that neither Brian or I are certified ESL/EFL (English as a Second Language/English as a Foreign Language) teachers, we felt comfortable volunteering at BBM since they are simply looking for English speakers to converse with students.

The students we met were truly inspiring.  Many of them left their families to attend university and can only afford to go home once a year, if at all.  Other students became novices (like temporary monks) because that is the only way they are able to continue their education.  Most were learning English on their own and had to find time in between working, going to school, and attending to their studies to practice.  

Our evenings spent at BBM were the highlight of our time in Luang Prabang and we can only hope that students got as much from us as we got from them.       

Look at all the books!

Just some of the students at BBM!