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Well we made it back all in one piece and had a pretty amazing experience to boot..what more could our adoring readers ask for?..yes it makes us feel very loved knowing we have people out there actually interested in our barmy adventures and also we feel like proper bloggers!
On valentines day (sob!) we snuck around our 14 bed dorm in the morning and eventually managed to exit without waking too many people up. At 8:30 we set off from Luang Prabang in the back of a rickety truck (don't panic it's over now) amidst wishes that we don't get lost, eaten or worse..just what you want to hear before a trek! It turned out to be a private trek too as no one else had signed up..awkward!..but we soon got chatting to our lovely guide Chimi or Jimmy or something in that region about Laos and whether or not he was married (not as strange as it sounds as we did get onto the topic of marriage in Laos). After a 50 minute very bumpy and dusty truck drive we hiked for an hour through paddy fields, farms and forests to reach a lovely little tribal village inhabited by the Khmu people who were originally from Cambodia. The children were adorable and all wanted to come and witness the 'pink western people' (it was hot!!). We managed to bend the door to their hole in the floor toilet the wrong way before leaving but on the whole didnt anger too many locals!!
We then set off again for a 3 hour climb high into the mountains to visit the Hmong tribe where we would be having lunch. Bearing in mind that it was 37 degrees and 11 o'clock and we were possibly as close to the sun as one can get, we were absolutely exhausted by the time we entered the village and of course this time were just described as red! The children here were once again very anxious to greet us and show off their skills on stilts. They were also very pleased to receive the elastic bands off our lunch (very sticky rice) and started seeing who could collect the most. It was rather strange to see the babies just crawling around in the dirt over the rocks and next to the lake but they were well guarded by their older siblings who were always patting them, checking their eyes and picking them up. Apparently most families in those villages have 10-12 children?!? so we had fun trying to guess who belonged to whom!!
After purchasing a bracelet from one little girl we set off again into the mountains. This final couple of hours was the biggest killer it has to be said as it was just SO hot! We were also rapidly running out of water but the promise of our homestay Khmu village just around the next bend kept us going. As the Khmu people live lower though we had to exercise our other muscles so we do feel we've had a good workout! When we reached the village it was all very calm and quiet with children playing in the fountain and adults lounging in the shade. The adults always looked a bit more wary of us so we stuck to the children in general!! It didn't take long for us to collapse onto our beds which were made out of bamboo and on stilts in a bamboo outhouse. They were surprisingly comfy and it was nice to have our own space again!
We enjoyed wandering around the village and asking our guide about the people we were staying with (they seemed to like keeping themselves to themselves). We came to the conclusion that they were the wealthiest in the village as they were the only ones to own a motorbike and a television. There were actually only 6 of them living in that house: a grandmother, the parents, a son and his 18 year old wife who had just had a baby. Must admit it was rather eerie to see her walking around with her newborn baby when she looked younger than us!! Some girls in the village get married as young as 14 though so she was considered quite old for a mother!!
We were served a delicious but filling supper of very very sticky rice (we had to eat it with out fingers and ended up rolling it into rice meatballs!) and some vegetables and chilli..I also got a chicken leg as I wasn't 'vegetarian' unlike the other person on my trip :) we felt a little awkward afterwards as people just kept coming to stare at us so decided to get out the cards that my darling brother got me for Christmas. The television was turned on once the generator started up and suddenly our house became the social hub for the whole village! Everyone had to pay 500 kip (0.04p) to watch to contribute towards generator costs but Tess and I are on a tight budget (!!) so instead we became the village babysitters.
All the children came rushing up and first watched us playing speed (yes the pressure was enormous but I (Flo) won that round..Tess had won all rounds prior)! We then felt we had to entertain them so started teaching them how to make card houses. Unfortunately as there were so many of them every time anyone breathed card towers came crashing down around the table and everyone got a little frustrated! I then had the bright idea to write my name in cards on the table..all the girls loved this idea and thought my name was some sort of pretty pattern so it wasn't long before 'flo' was written all along the table! Tess made friends with an adorable little girl who decided to start covering the whole table with cards (we were frantically trying not to lose any in the process). Soon we all joined in and the table was efficiently covered with cards..only to be mushed up as we decided that was fun too..my poor cards!
The girls then decided to go inside and give the hovering boys a turn. They decided to teach us a game so they dutifully dealt out the cards and proceeded to scratch their heads before putting down what seemed like the most selection of cards. Tess and I kept being told we were doing it wrong (mostly by having our cards shoved back in our hands as communication was basic!). Eventually our guide decided to reveal that this was a made up card game and they all found it hilarious that the silly western girls couldn't tell a made up card game when they saw it..we are not amused! We then moved onto Rock Paper Scissors which got pretty chaotic with everyone playing everyone! The hand game was next, the one where you pile your hands on top of eachother and then the bottom moves his to the top etc (a favourite in my fam!) which they especially loved with the 4 white hands in the mix! Having then reverted to Rock Paper Scissors we realised we were bored of it so I decided to teach them the Gun Bullet Shield version. Not exactly 'U' rated but the parents were all watching tv! They eventually got the gist and enjoyed shooting eachother far too much! After that we were shown how to wiggle a chopstick so it looked bendy and how to make an invisible catapult from some cigarette packaging (we'll show you when we get back!). The girls came back and we all spent a pleasurable 20 mins learning how to achieve the ultimate wiggle! Tired and with grubby hands and cards (sorry nick but they are now well travelled cards) we all retired to bed - we felt we were pretty good babysitters!!
Tess will update you on today's excitement later..supper time and we're exhausted!!
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Your secret(ish) admirer Missed you so much on valentines day and blame you for it therefore you owe me big time!! Love you and miss you so much xxxxxxxxxx
YKW HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!