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19th
September
The
rain continued through the night, becoming seriously heavy and
noisy. It was still torrential at 6am.By 7 it had eased off and by
the time I was up at 7:30 the sun was out. I looked through the
bathroom window to see a river where one was not visible before. Out
on the balcony I could see my bungalow room was an island with steps
leading to a bottomless black watery abyss. It looks like I’m going
to have to swim for my breakfast this morning! Well the flood was
only knee deep; the whole complex looked very wet from the nights
inundation. I went to breakfast and met grumpy Joe; who had been
cursing his kids earlier for not going to school.
 “Hey
Dave look at this; I have something to show you”.; For the first
time Joe showed some resemblance of enthusiasm as he led me to the
river bank. “Look at this: What do you see?”. “A pile of sticks” was
my honest if bleary eyed reply” . “Look” Jo pointed to the wood and
I saw a beautiful emerald green snake. “My daughter saw it this
morning. Don’t touch it’ it’s poisonous” he advised. “Ok” I
replied; “I’ll just get my camera
I
returned hurriedly to see the reptile still coiled and waking up. I
waded up to the stick pile; camera in hand with Joe pointing out
that he didn’t want me to be the first snake bite victim. The snake
was not too agile so I snapped away getting as close as I considered
safe; with only a Nikon 18-200 lens for protection.
Back
for breakfast I had pineapple pancake orange juice ad coffee. J
arrived as I was about to see how flooded the area was. The road
disappeared into the river. It looked deep but was just a big puddle
for 10 metres or so round the bend. I collected J and walked to the
VLT Natural Tours office where I had arranged a day walking tour.
A
truck turned up a little late; but we soon were on our way to
collect the others on the mountain trek. 2 Thai girls boarded;
followed by a man with a yellow wet sack. He was the guide; though
he didn’t introduce himself until I introduced myself and J to the
Girls. The girls names were long and unmemorable; I couldn’t say
them anyway. I asked the man who ws with them he was and where he
came from he was Deng “where you from” I asked “I am the guide”
Oh well good start; at least I knew who was who now.
Deng
and the Thai Girls continuance to chat. A half hour drive on decent
roads took us to a smart suspension bridge where we alighted. There
was a second guide See, who was in the front of the truck. He could
only speak a few words of English; but was able to speak Thai
fluently.
It
was a stunning spot to start the walk, crossing the wide river Deng
hadn’t done any real guiding up to this point being more interested
in chatting up the Thai Girls and share Thai jokes than doing any
worthwhile job. I think they had been on tour with him on previous
days. The Thai Girls could speak English quite well.
  We
were soon at a small Homong village of a few shacks along the river.
It was very spread out and not obvious that it was a village at all.
We stopped at a village house where a lady with enormous oversized
spectacles, demonstrated her craft of sewing a flower motif over a
paper pattern.
We waked to a junction at a concrete canal and took a level walk for
a km or so. Several girls dived fully dressed into the stream;
repeating it a few times as
they saw us and our cameras
We
took a right turn in to scrubland and a winding path which became
slippery. there were two or three bamboo bridges which were easy to
cross. From here the narrow path ascended a little and then once
out if the bush, gave wonderful views of the Karst peaks and emerald
rice fields. We walked a long a water course for a while and the
guide flagged down a passing tractor; one of those 2 wheeled Chinese
made contraptions that a seen all over Asia. The guide announced
without apology that he was lost so we lurched along a waterlogged
track for several kilometres.
Mother and child on tractor trailer
Our first stream crossing
We
turned off past river crossed by an improvised ladder bridge. 10
mins later we arrived at a narrow but deep stream which involved
wading waste deep in cool water. The depth was surprising; but given
the huge amount of rain the previous night I shouldn’t have been
unexpected. We had to wade very deep. I made sure my money etc was
in the top of my pack and my camera well out of the water. The
second guide See was very helpful.
The beguiling Landscape of the Vang Veng Area
Trek team with guide Deng
 The
scenery was beguiling; more so than the sodden terrain which was a
muddy morass in places. Some parts of the route were spectacularly
steep; walking on a narrow ledge below undercut cliffs. We dropped
down to some lovely rice meadows and a cluster of wood houses; where
the guides prepared lunch on an open fire. We had kebabs; fried rice
in plastic containers bread and fruit.
We
walked through dense bush; climbing steeply at times. The path was
saturated and muddy after the nights rain. Walking on a steep muddy
path with mud caked soles was tricky.
Vertical Ground
Jason and the Thai Girls
Going
up was bad but going down was not a lot of fun. There was nothing
solid to hold onto, as the sodden stumps of cut bamboo were oozing
with water like overcooked cabbage. Anyway
I managed to keep upright for most of the time and eventually
dropped down to a spectacular thundering waterfall. The cool water
was refreshing; however the rocks were slippery and the current could
easily take you off your feet.
 
Me in action near the falls
The
guides were very helpful helping us through the waist deep and fast
flowing water. J and the Thai Girls were at the falls first and
having a lot of fun in the chest deep water. A diver climbed up to a
rock above the falls diving spectacularly into the torrent.
This was as far as we were going; so retrace our
muddy steps over the pass to the valley. We passed our lunch stop
where white buffalo were wallowing and continued through dense
scrub. Up again along the vertical rock wall and an hour later
joined a wide track.
No Its not me: I may be known by my less
adventurous friends
as 'Dangerous Dave' But leaping off
waterfalls is not my game!
Instead of going along it; Khoum pointed to a set of
steps going up a tree. "oh a tree hide? Its a bit late for that” I
thought! Well it wasn't a tree hide; It was one narrowest and
wobbliest rope bridges I had seen. The deck wasn’t exactly level as
it was inclined at around 30degrees. the river flowed fast ;
swollen with the previous nights torrential rain. Now as a veteran
of many rope bridges this was comparable with may I had uses in
the Himalayas . This one looked seriously exiting, yet held no fear
from me. The wires were encased in concrete and the bamboo decking
looked new.
"Be careful" called the Khoum "Only one at a time" J
was following and held back as I took my first steps on the wobbly
bridge. Several steps over the torrent of the river, I heard a loud
crack and had a sensation of falling; grabbed out at the wire and
found myself falling sideways. The wire prevented me from turning
upside down and was left momentarily dangling helplessly about 10
metres above the river on the now wildly swinging bridge
I managed to get myself into a reasonably vertical
position. But as I tried to get up I was immobilised. My leg had
fallen through the decking to mid thigh and I appeared to have been
impaled on the remaining broken wood. The guide with the help of J
tried to part the bamboo strips which were jamming me in the
precarious position. After a short struggle I managed to get free. I
looked down at my leg half expecting a bloody mess; but somehow I
had got away with a few scratches.
I continued across the bridge; watching every step
with the guide following closely behind. The walkway was not exactly
level; it was inclined at about 30 degrees in places. J followed
gingerly; he saw the whole incident close up. He told me afterwards
that He was amazed that I had the balls to continue after that! I
told him that I'd had my moment that day and lightening wasn't going
to strike twice.
I was just sorry I broke the Bridge!
The
Thai Girls didn’t follow. I asked Khoum and he told me that they
refused to go across. I wonder why! He told me that a boat was
coming in 30 minutes more. As it was now 5:30 the 5pm finish in
Vang Vieng had long passed the deadline. We waited 40 minutes
before a van driven by Vong the Manager drew up with a 2 person
Kayak. I said sarcastically that I hoped I wasn’t going to be doing
any canoeing at this late hour.
Vong paddled furiously across the fast moving water. To my surprise;
one of the girls decided that risking the bridge was less of an evil
than drowning in a canoe. She gingerly crossed, keeping her eyes
close on the bridge deck. The second girl was ferried across by
Vong in the canoe.
The
drive back passed without incident; other than my hat blew away. I
thought I looked pretty stupid in that hat; so I hoped that some one
else would find it and look stupid instead. I stayed with Vong in
the Office as he wanted to ask what I thought of the Tour and book
bus for the journey to Luang Prabang. Vong Asked Me about the
Bridge. I told him that the guide gave good warning; I just think I
was not as careful as I should have been. J and I were traveling up
country at the same time so we decided to travel to Luang Prabang by
bus or minivan the following day. .
All text and Images © Dave Perkes 2007
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