Today we got up with the plan to grab breakfast and head to our new hotel that we had picked out (and paid for) the day before. We got there and the room they gave us was different than the one they showed us. This room was upstairs and had….carpet. We were in a hurry so we didn’t think much of it and just dumped our bags so we could get to the climbing place, rent a bike and grab breakfast. We got a bike and rented a rope. Michael took pictures of the crag topo book and I grabbed food. The climbing shop had a group headed out so they let us follow them out to the crag, which was good as it involved a complicated back road and small motorized canoe. We got there and unfortunately the rock was really damp. There were also several climbing groups on the crag we were at since it was the easiest one and they had tons of top ropes set up already. The local guides were trying to help us find a route to at least warm up on before we moved on to harder stuff to get away from the people but everything was just wet and slimy….not appealing! We decided this was not what we wanted to do so we headed back out to find the motorized canoe guy to take us back across the river. Michael went off to find him and almost got bitten by his scary guard dogs! Thankfully that did not happen and we did not have to take a side trip to Bangkok for rabies shots 🙂 We got back across the river and took our motorbike back into town just as the rain started. We definitely made the right decision not to climb! We returned the rope and waited out the rain before getting back on the motorbike to explore the countryside a bit on the bike. We headed over the river on a small toll bridge then headed out through the fields and beautiful limestone karst formations. There were lots of small villages and lots of cows. Michael spotted a sign for a lookout area so we turned off and paid a few thousand kip each (a few dollars) to hike up to a lookout point. While we were paying the rain started again so we waited it out under a little hut where the man taking our money was hang out. It was fun to watch all the cows go by. It must have been birthing season as there were a TON of babies, including some that looked very fresh and still had parts of their umbilical cords hanging off!
After the rain stopped and the cows moved on (all of 15 minutes later) we started up the very steep and muddy trail. We had about 250m of elevation gain to get to the top but it was so worth it! We had the 360 view all to ourselves and were able to hang out at the top taking pictures, eating a snack and even playing some cards. It was intermittently rainy including 10 minutes of full on downpour but we were in a covered hut at the top so we stayed dry. The trek down was precarious and at times full on dangerous because it had gotten so slippery on the wet rocks and mud but we made it down and got back on our bike to head back to town.
On our drive back we stopped to watch a woman weaving scarves and Michael bought one as well. Very cool!
When we made it back we found a lovely riverside cafe to have a drink and check our email but soon the ever-present stench of sewage found us and we had to leave. Unfortunately a lot of people drain their sewage directly into the rivers here and so with any riverside area there is always the risk of the icky sewage smell! We found another restaurant to hang out at where we could play cards, check email and hang out. We decided since we wouldn’t be doing any climbing we would head to Luang Prabang the next day so we went to book bus tickets. We then went back for some Indian food for my dinner then Michael got an amazing sandwich on the street for his.
We headed back to our hotel and realized how awful the scary carpet was. It had likely never been cleaned (vacuum cleaners don’t exist here) and smelled rather moldy. Most hostels here require you to take off your shoes before entering the building or your room but we definitely were wearing our shoes in here! We both just tried to make crazy jokes about the horrible carpet while we drank a little local whisky called lao lao and played a million hands of rummy while sitting on our bed. Pretty much pretending the carpeted floor was like lava and we might die if we touched it.
**Side note of mature content: So the other thing we saw here a lot of was transvestite and transsexual men. Some of them were just regular folks (operating shops or hotels, etc) and many were prostitutes or working at brothels. The level of prostitution in both Cambodia and Laos has been astounding and very out in the open, especially in certain towns like Phnom Penh, Vientiane and Vang Vieng but the trans population in this tiny town was a new twist. In other towns it has mostly been young women (or even children) that are prostituted in the open and no one bats an eyelash. It is very disturbing and adds one more layer of sadness to the poverty and corruption these countries face.
Mera and Michael Travel 