We had scheduled a kayaking trip with Green Discovery today - the same company that we would spend 7 days with in Luang Nam Tha. We had some extra time in Luang Prabang, and wanted to do something active besides walking around the town. We showed up at their office, met two other people who would be joining us, and then piled into a tuk tuk. The ride to the entry point was 1.5 hours north of town. We picked up an additional 3 people along the way; they were finishing a 2 day/1 day kayak trip.
Overall, the day was enjoyable but it was rather short. I remember two decent sets of rapids, and a handful of smaller ones. We had 2 or 5 kayak overturn, but thanks to our (James & my) mad paddling skills, we avoided capsizing. I jumped out of the boat at one point for a quick swim and the water was extremely brisk. I was used to the warm waters of Thailand - the water in Nam Ha river was much colder.
Two hours into our trip, we mad an abrupt lunch stop. We had a nice picnic lunch of sticky rice, vegetables, beef, chicken, and fish. After devouring a fair amount of food, we jumped back into our kayaks and set off down the river. If the morning had been exciting, we reached the doldrums in the afternoon. The pace of the water slowed to a crawl, and there wasn't a rapid to plunge down. After another couple of hours, we had already reached our take out point. I think that all of us wanted to go longer, but our guide said that there wasn't another suitable spot to pull out for several hours. When I got out of the boat, I realized that I was a bit sunburned. I had put sunscreen on my face & arms, but not my legs. As a result, I had a sweet burn on the inner part of both calves. I would regret not using sunscreen during my massages over the next few days.
After getting back to town early, James & I set out to find him a Lao stove. It's basically terra cotta in the shape of a bucket, with a thin metal heat shield wrapped cemented to the back of the pot. The top has 3 raised areas with holes in the center, and a small tray in the lower portion of the bucket. Wood is put on top of the holes & burned - the ashes fall once the wood burns. I steel pan is seated on the top of the bucket and voila! Lao cooking at its finest.
James had some issues getting to Phousi market - he vomited twice along the way. We quickly found a stove and grabbed a tuk tuk. We got back to the guesthouse & he continued to vomit. I had a massage appointment, so I left him with some water and a small block of banana bread that I bought last night.
I had my favorite masseuse, so the massage was great. At several points during the massage, I'm not sure what she was doing because there is no way that her hands could rub that my spots at once. After my 1.5 hours of bliss, I headed to the night market for dinner. I assumed that James wasn't feeling good, so he wouldn't want to come to dinner. I went to my favorite vegetarian stall to get some spring rolls & fried vegetable noodles. While I was in line, I ran into a guy from San Diego. We ended up talking about motorcycles for awhile. After dinner, we decided to go to Hive, the trendiest bar in town.
I showed up drunk, at the guesthouse, at 12am. The room was a mess - there were water bottles strewn around the room, and it looked like animals attacked James' backpack. There was one thing missing though - James. I finally noticed a note on my bed from James:
Two hours into our trip, we mad an abrupt lunch stop. We had a nice picnic lunch of sticky rice, vegetables, beef, chicken, and fish. After devouring a fair amount of food, we jumped back into our kayaks and set off down the river. If the morning had been exciting, we reached the doldrums in the afternoon. The pace of the water slowed to a crawl, and there wasn't a rapid to plunge down. After another couple of hours, we had already reached our take out point. I think that all of us wanted to go longer, but our guide said that there wasn't another suitable spot to pull out for several hours. When I got out of the boat, I realized that I was a bit sunburned. I had put sunscreen on my face & arms, but not my legs. As a result, I had a sweet burn on the inner part of both calves. I would regret not using sunscreen during my massages over the next few days.
After getting back to town early, James & I set out to find him a Lao stove. It's basically terra cotta in the shape of a bucket, with a thin metal heat shield wrapped cemented to the back of the pot. The top has 3 raised areas with holes in the center, and a small tray in the lower portion of the bucket. Wood is put on top of the holes & burned - the ashes fall once the wood burns. I steel pan is seated on the top of the bucket and voila! Lao cooking at its finest.
James had some issues getting to Phousi market - he vomited twice along the way. We quickly found a stove and grabbed a tuk tuk. We got back to the guesthouse & he continued to vomit. I had a massage appointment, so I left him with some water and a small block of banana bread that I bought last night.
I had my favorite masseuse, so the massage was great. At several points during the massage, I'm not sure what she was doing because there is no way that her hands could rub that my spots at once. After my 1.5 hours of bliss, I headed to the night market for dinner. I assumed that James wasn't feeling good, so he wouldn't want to come to dinner. I went to my favorite vegetarian stall to get some spring rolls & fried vegetable noodles. While I was in line, I ran into a guy from San Diego. We ended up talking about motorcycles for awhile. After dinner, we decided to go to Hive, the trendiest bar in town.
I showed up drunk, at the guesthouse, at 12am. The room was a mess - there were water bottles strewn around the room, and it looked like animals attacked James' backpack. There was one thing missing though - James. I finally noticed a note on my bed from James:
Suddenly, I felt like a big jerk. I was out having a good time while James was in the hospital! I sat down on the bed, and searched through my brain for the next action. I needed to go to the hospital. I needed a map. Lonely Planet book. I looked up the location of the hospital, and went downstairs. I asked the guy at the desk if he had seen my friend, and he confirmed that he went to the hospital. I mentioned that I was going to walk to the hospital, and the guy tried to assure me that it wasn't possible. My clouded judgement made it hard to concentrate on what he was trying to say - something about it being far and having no lights... When he realized that I was leaving anyways, he offered to give me a ride on his motorbike. The town was basically closed down for the night, so there was no way that I was finding a ride to the hospital.He was right - it took us about 15 minutes while speeding on his motorbike to arrive. The Lonely Planet map had been outdated - the hospital had moved since the book was published in January. Thanking the driver, I wandered inside to try to find James. I found him writhing in pain on a basic bed with an IV in his arm. Another one of the guys from the guesthouse was there, as was their tuk tuk driver. James recounted the story of how he was in so much pain that he crawled down to the front desk to ask them to take him to a doctor. The doctor told him to go straight to the hospital - he couldn't help. James was dehydrated from 7 hours of vomiting & diarrhea, and he couldn't hold anything in his stomach. The doctor gave him a shot of some pain killer, some pills, and walked out of the room.
There were two beds in the room, so I slept on the other bed. It was as comfortable as lying on a steel truck bed, and about as cold because I didn't have any blankets. We were in Laos - there was no form of central heat and the cold spilled in through the glass-less window. I had one blood-stained sheet that I shivered underneath for most of the night while James was sound asleep under a warm blanket. I couldn't ask for a blanket, as the nurse disappeared & couldn't speak any English. I guess this was my punishment for abandoning him at the guesthouse when I went to get rubbed & fed.
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