8/11/08

VangVien Activity Day

We were ready to meet the minivan at 9:30am this morning. We were all quite nervous but excited about the day ahead.

The minivan with kayaks already loaded stopped at several places around the village. The next to get on were a couple from the Netherlands who were very friendly to talk to. Then a couple from Swindon, followed by two friends from Perth and a couple from Sydney. Everyone was very chatty.

The minivan then left the village heading towards the Nam Song river. The roads here are none existant, dirt tracks with pot holes everywhere creating clouds of dust and producing a very bumpy road.

We passed many huts and shanty houses, kids running around and cattle wandering the tracks! At one point there was a massive bang as one of the cables attaching the kayaks to the van snapped! The driver and 2 men hanging onto the van at the back jumpd off to survey what had happened, laughed at each other then jumped back on again and off we went!

We arrived at the starting point, the bank of Nam Song river. We were each given a waterproof bag to put belongings in and then followed our guide, Yen, across a man-made footbridge (consisting of 2 planks and a few posts every now and again, one post was a basket filled with huge stones!). At the other side of the river Yen pointed out a celebration going on and explained that it was a local wedding.

We continued to follow our guide to the 'Water Cave' where we were to begin our first activity - tubing (rubber rings) through the cave. Caz, Mel and I were really apprehensive to join in this task, particularly after seeing the tiny entrance to the cave (there was little head room between the cave roof and the water). Thsi was not for someone who is claustrophbic!

We summed up the pros and cons and safety (haha) and decided to attempt it. We were each given a head torch with a basic battery pack to sling over our shoulders. I soon found this dropped into the water and tried my best to keep it out! Then we each got on to a tube and hand paddled over to the entrance and the guide rope! Thankfully our guide went first and we followed his lead in through the small entrance where we had to really duck down - goodness knows how taller people managed to get through! I could now see the importance of the head torches because it was pitch dark. We continued to pull ourselves deeper into the cave with the aid of the rope and it opened up to reveal stalactites and stalagmites, sparkling with salt crystals. We came to a section where there was a bit of a strong current and we all held on more tightly to the rope. A couple of times Caz lost her grip of the rope but was pulled back in to the group by group members!

We reached a shallow area of water and got out of the tubes to then crawl through more of the cave and again reach an opening with more spectacular rock forms. As we had all taken our shoes off, our feet were all sore frolm the rocky ground. We then had to wade through water and return in a circle to where we had left the tubes. Back on the tubes we repeated the same route but in reverse until we could see light at the end of the tunnel and exist the cave! We all felt really pleased for completing the activity and for getting the experience.

Next a lunch had been organised for us, BBQ food, fried rice and a baguette (French influence in Laos meens the bread is really nice!). After lunch and a few photos we returned via the same path to the van where a local joined us from the wedding with some Laos rice wine speaking French and insisting that we listen! We got back on the minivan with this local and started off for the next part of the day, kayaking. The local guy was trying to get the group to go to the wedding. The van stopped when the guy shouted this was his house and got off!

We arrived at another section of the Nam Song river bank and the kayaks were unloaded. Most of them were double kayaks and as Caz and Mel went in one I was left to join our tour guide in his. I was actually relieved to be doing so because he had a good knowledge of the river,where the rocks were and how to pass through the rapids. At one point he shouted to everyone to stay down the left-hand side of the bank in order to pass an island in the middle. This required paddling and aiming the kayak round a left-hand bend. I was first through, the guide turned our kayak round so that he could watch and shout advice to others. I watched as Caz and Mel had picked up spead due to the rapids and showed difficulty in directing the kayak round - they went flying into the bank into a load of bushes!! It was really funny, neither were hurt but they were stuck and wedged up on the bank. The guide jumped out of my kayak and went to assist them back into the water.

We were soon on our way again. We started to come across bars on the river edge, famous to VangVien. We all pulled up at one and were given an hour. There was music pumping out from the speakers, and a lot of drunk people wandering about. There was a huge water slide and swing. The scene was like something from an 18-30's holiday. The water had created a huge mud bath near the bar and people were rolling about, wrestling and throwing mud at others!

Soon we were back on the kayaks and continued down the river for a further 20 minutes where we ended the day. I really enjoyable day!