Day 9

Today a group of eight of us students went to the Waterfall and Bear Sanctuary whilst the other half went elephant riding. The bears were great to see and were surprisingly smaller than I had expected. We proceeded to walk further up the hill where we discovered multiple small waterfalls followed by a large waterfall at the very top. At the main pool there was a rope swing tied to the end of a large tree that people were swinging off and into the water from a height of around 3-5 metres. Although many tourists were wearing bikinis and no shirts we decided as a group to remain covered whilst we were there even though it involved completely wearing our clothes. We thought that by doing this we would be respecting the locals and their culture. Josh, Elísabet and myself all climbed up the tree and swung off into the water multiple times, even though Elísabet almost hit a group of tourists in the head with the stick used to grab the rope.

I thought these waterfalls and natural pools were absolutely amazing and is not something you can see or experience very often in Australia. The theme parks at home or any man made amusement ride does not even compare to the natural beauty of the waterfall. Whilst climbing up the tree and swinging off into the water was stepping out of my comfort zone, I am glad I did it and had the courage to try something new.

We departed back for our hotel and had a small car accident where the bus driver stalled on a hill and reversed, knocking over two concrete posts. Luckily, nobody was hurt or injured.

I decided I wanted to spend a bit of time with Amelia and Jo (as I have mainly been spending my time with other students) and so went shopping with them at the local night markets. After purchasing some items we headed over to the nice restaurant across the water only to find that the bridge to get their had been washed away only a day after we were walking it last week. The food at the restaurant was delicious and the setting was incredible. The tables were very low on the ground where we sat on cushions with our feet and legs in an enclosed pit underneath. Jo gave a lovely speech on how proud she is of all of us and what a great time she had. For our hard work and good behaviour she allowed for us to have a few beers that night, which we appreciated very much.

Later we invited Abby and Elísabet to come back to our room to hangout. It was nice for the five of us to reflect and discuss our time in Laos and what this trip has meant to each of us individually. I really appreciated this as it gave me an opportunity to see what I have experienced through the eyes of somebody else and through a completely different perspective.

Day 8

After a six hour bus drive from Nong Khiaw we arrived at a restaurant on the Mekong River for lunch. After enjoying lunch with the magnificent view we departed on our boat to the other side of the Mekong River to visit the sacred Pak Ou Buddha. The caves were amazing despite the long walk up the steps to the top, which only a few of us walked up to see.

After enduring the heat and humidity we headed back on the boat to Luang Prabang and settled in to our hotel. Us boys collectively decided to pamper ourselves and clean up our dirty feet at the spa parlour, getting a manicure, pedicure and scalp massage.

Dinner was great as it was a self-serve BBQ buffet where you collect your desired raw ingredients and cook them using the coals built into the middle of the tables. We then spent the rest of the night at the local markets, purchasing gifts to bring home.

Reflecting back on my original expectation of Laos people when I was in Bangkok, it was not what I expected. Because Laos is considered to be one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia, I expected to be hassled by locals and begged to purchase items from their stalls. However, this was not the case. This goes to show that it is not necessarily the amount of money a person earns but rather their cultural values that characterise who they are as a person. This is something that I came to realise today and is why the Lao people are so easily loved and understood.

For example, tonight at the markets a lady was trying to over charge me for two necklaces that I was going to buy so instead I approached a lady a few stalls down with the same necklaces. The first price that the lady had offered me for the same two necklaces was cheaper than just one from the other stall. I had also ran out of Lao kip and the lady kindly offered to accept US dollars. I came back as she had waited for me and I saw her there with her son sitting on her lap and husband by her side. I tipped her an extra USD$1.00 for her patience and honesty when it came to giving me a price. The lady was shocked but gladly accepted the tip thanking me over and over.




I know we were told not too tip too much as they can be offended but I hope by doing this the lady will realise how much I appreciated her honesty and flexibility despite how desperate she may be for money to support her family. Although it was not much it still felt nice to do this as opposed to bartering down to the cheapest price possible. This supports my belief that everyday we should all engage in one random act of kindness without any hidden agendas, but merely just to give back and demonstrate kindness to others. This is something that should be adopted by everyone and something I intend to do at least everyday if I can remember, if not at least a few times a week.

   

Day 7

We awoke this morning to find Jo had three leeches attach themselves to her leg during the night. After searching our entire bodies we were lucky to find that we were free from any leeches.

We got back on back on the boats after a delicious breakfast cooked by the locals. I was once again blown away at the natural sights of the forest as we drifted downstream on the Nam Nern River. Our tour guide Khankeo told us that the boat drivers/cooks are paid KIP$50,000 per day which equates to approximately AUD$7.00. Whilst I considered this to be an appalling statistic, Khankeo said however that this was a good wage


for them especially because it included food and accommodation. I took a little time to think about this and came to the realisation that these locals were so happy with their job of driving the boats up and down the river and catering for us foreigners. I guess it comes back to the fact that it is all relative; although their income is not very high to us to, compared to what other locals are earning this is considered to be quite high. So if they are earning above the average income and doing what they love as a job then what is the harm in that? Us just being there is helping as we are providing them with work. If we could just create more ways to increase the tourist numbers for this attraction then we would be contributing a great deal.

We spent the rest of the day travelling on the bus, stopping by the hot springs to dip our feet in the boiling water. It was incredibly refreshing.

We finally arrived back in Nong Khiaw for dinner, ice cream and came across some other tourists from New Zealand and had a chat, sharing our experiences so far. Before bed we chilled out with Amelia, Jo and a few of the other students listening to some music whilst looking out over the river.

Day 6

After a quick breakfast we went to visit the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) where we met with officials who gave a presentation of the organisation. I was surprised at how much they valued our opinions and ideas. We offered several ideas and business concepts that they could adopt to increase their program awareness. I personally feel this had a significant impact on the development of this group and that we have contributed to their cause.

After proceeding to the Khmu Village for a delicious traditional Lao lunch we visited a primary school. Even though they were on holidays the teachers and students came to the school dressed in their uniforms just to spend the morning with us. We had the children doing activities that specifically were aimed at promoting wildlife conservation in Laos. I actually really enjoyed interacting with the kids and showing them a fun way to learn through song and dance. I guess it goes to show that you do not have to necessarily speak the same language to portray your message to an audience or even engage with them. This today was purely achieved through hand signals/actions and body language. The kids had a ball and it was great to see them enjoying themselves. We proceeded to hand our donations to this school and awarded the highest achieving students with a stationary pack for their hard work. It was obvious just how much this meant to them and I hope it has encourages them to want to further pursue their education and for other students to strive for this also.

The most amazing experience was the ride on the boats upstream to the National Protected Area. After reaching a high point of the stream we stopped for a “picnic” arranged by the cooks and boat drivers. We then headed back downstream on the boats (without the motors this time) where we began our night safari looking for native wildlife. Although we saw hardly any wildlife besides a few deer the sound of flowing water, crickets and view of the fireflies flying around in the darkness was an amazing experience and one which I will never forget.

We came back to the jungle huts to a camp fire before heading to bed. For many of us, the boat rides and night safari were a big risk as there was a good chance of tipping over (especially against the strong current). However, in saying this, everybody gave it a go and as far as I know there were no regrets and everyone had a great time. What an amazing experience, keep the adventures coming!