Intrepid

Tom and I have had three adventures that I would call "intrepid." The first was the wonderful, yet muddy hike we took in Thailand on the hill tribe visit along a river and through rice paddies. The second was in the national park on Koh Lanta, the gorgeous island. We hiked through the jungle led by a sign that said it was a two hour hike. After 30 minutes of nothing but uphill 24 inch steps in the tropical heat, I was completely wet and unenthusiastic. I kept being lured by images of beautiful sea beaches. At several places the trail was blocked by fallen trees and other organic debris or a bridge was cobbled together with limbs.

After an hour the trail ended on the small road that we came from. No views, no payoff. Still I felt at the height of intrepidness yet very pleased it was over. Our third and last planned adventure came on Saturday in Nong Khiaw, Laos. After loving Luang Prabang and soaking up its ambiance for four days, we thought it was time to try a boat on the Mekong River. We had nothing planned and found getting information very difficult, unlike Thailand. It was hard to make a plan because it was the rainy season and the river got filled with floating debris from mudslides downstream. Most of the townspeople were on the riverbanks staring out at men in the water who were trying to safeguard their boats. Everyone was mesmerized. After formulating a travel plan and going online to make reservations with hotels or airlines, we would find out new information, such as the only road to Vang Vieng and onto Vientiane was blocked because of the storm. We had to make airline reservations to fly from Luang Prabang to Vientiane, the capitol, so then we could fly to Bangkok to make our departure flight. All of this led to a decision to hire a car to drive us north to Nong Khiaw and then take a boat up river to Muang Ngoi Neau. Our driver spoke no English, but understood "toilet" and also stopped at a Hmong village along the way. The car ride to Nong Khiaw was in place of an eight hour boat ride and we still got to see most of the scenery. We stayed at Nong Khiaw River Side Rooms, which was rated the best by Lonely Planet. Our bungalow was perched on stilts above the river with gorgeous karsts straight ahead. An absolutely gorgeous spot.

Our room had a mosquito net over the bed and a ceiling fan, with windows with no screens. The bathroom had a no-flush, eco-toilet (which promotes constipation).

The room was unbelievably hot during the day. We asked the Dutch guy who is the manager if there were any portable rotating fans. Some air movement was going to be essential for me. He asked if the ceiling fan was not working; we said yes. He said they had no other fans. I asked if there was a place to buy one. I am not proud of myself, but I was desperate at the thought of there being no way to escape the heat. Fortunately,it did cool down at night because the ceiling fan did not penetrate the mosquito net very well. I know I am writing about intrepidness, but .... We hired a long boat to take us to Muang Ngoi Neua about an hour a way along a beautiful river route. The water is muddy but the rising karsts are so incredibly green. Bright, bright green. Mountain rice is also growing. The vegetation is jungly. I think the water is shallow; there were no life jackets.

Some people kayak with adventure companies in this area, but again it is not high season. Our driver has his mother on board. He introduced her as "mama"; she looked to be about 90 and was belching and smiling and eating seeds. She sat behind us and as soon as we took off, she lay down on the bottom of the boat for a nap.

At one point she called out and the boat pulled ashore. Suddenly two young girls came down to the muddy bank and helped her unload her packages. She must have been supplying a small store. Lots of Beerlao. We passed several fisherman along the way and made another stop to drop off cardboard packages and about 48 eggs, and ... Beerlao. Our destination was actually a very poor small muddy village, Muang Ngoi Neua, in a beautiful area.

There is no access by car, only boat. The rural Lao know nothing about promoting tourism, yet they have gorgeous natural beauty all around them. The women have looms and do embroidery but no one is selling anything. We came across a coffee shop and three guys were sitting around with one Lao hippie playing the guitar. He spoke good English and asked us where we were from. When we told him California, he started playing "Hotel California." They were drinking Lao Lao, local whiskey, and offered us some. I told him it was too early and he said that their customs were different. We tried to walk to a local cave about an hour away but turned around after thirty minutes of mud crawling through pastures and dung laden paths. We saw rice paddies and pretty views. We returned to the village for lunch of curried pumpkin and chicken. The whole trip was about the boat ride there and back. We passed some kayakers who turned over in the rapids. They were fine, but our trip was intrepid enough for me.