Laos represents everything that Southeast Asia could be. It's quiet; Life is slow and easy. Even the capital, Vientiane, is anything but a big noisy megalopolis. Lao also has a very low population density. Except for a few towns, most of the population resides in agrarian villages. Geologically speaking, Lao is made up mainly of mountains and rivers.
My partner Roy and I went on an exploratory trip to try and find some rivers near Vientiane. We had a couple of leads, but we were relying on a Lao friend of ours and a contact we had made through email. It would prove to pay off big-time.
We arrived in Vientiane and immediately felt relaxed. The Lao people are friendly and as helpful as they can be. We contacted our Lao friend and our new contact and arranged for some excursions.
On the first day, we drove out of Vientiane toward Vang Vieng. We stopped along to way to visit some recently discovered Buddhist images carved into the cliff-sides. They were discovered when a road was cut into the jungle for harvesting trees. One of the most interesting aspects of this "find" is the fact that the date etched into the stone predates what was thought to be the beginning of Buddhism in Lao by 1,000 years!
We carried on and arrived at Vang Vieng. This is the former CIA airstrip where they did all the 'legal' gun and drug running. Vang Vieng is on the Nam Song river. We drove upstream 20 kilometers to the put-in. This river is runnable only during the rainy season. October is near the end of that season. There was still plenty of water.
It was quite pleasant with a gentle flow and an occasional wave-train. We saw some Common Sandpipers, White Wagtails, Chinese Pond Herons, Little Herons, and Black Drongos. We paddled past villagers working their rice fields. Every single one made it a point to wave at us as we passed. We also saw a very vivid double rainbow arching from one massive mountain to another!
We arrived at Vang Vieng a little after sunset. As usual, we were met by a lot of children. They most likely hadn't seen kayaks before. We weren't in real kayaks however. Our buddy has several Sevylor inflatables. They're not much fun to paddle, but they're easy to transport.
The next day, we hooked up with our Lao friend to explore another river - the Nam Lik. He took us well past where we were the day before. The Nam Lik river has water in it all year. We met the village headman at the village where we hope to start our river trip the next time we're in Lao. The children raced out of their classrooms to see us foreigners. We were surrounded by beautiful little kids. They were very shy, but their curiosity couldn't keep them from getting closer to us. Eventually, we won them over with smiles and what little Lao language we knew.
The is a larger river than the Nam Song. It's still a small river, but bigger than what I would call a creek. We did some trekking to a bend in the river where we were told there would be a rapid. Well, it wasn't much of a rapid, but that's not what we were there for… this time.
The scenery in this part of Lao is outstanding. It's like being in the middle of a 360 degree postcard. There are huge limestone karst formations climbing straight up into the clouds with lush verdant valleys below. There are large areas of rice paddies everywhere. Water buffalo and cattle roam freely amongst the lowland vegetation. Villages are small. Bicycles seem to be the main mode of transportation. Tacraw is popular in Lao. Tacraw is a game like volleyball except the players use their feet and head to volley a wicker ball back and forth across a chest-level net. It isn't easy to say the least.
We will return to do this second river next month. Sometime in the future, we hope to paddle the Mekong below the falls. There are freshwater dolphins in these waters and according to our buddy, they are common.
Cheers,
Dave Williams
http://paddleasia.com
Phuket, Thailand
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