We depart 11am from the hotel, as planned, said our goodbye's to friends departing, and welcomed one new passenger for our trip south. We stopped down the street at a western grocery store next to the Joma Bakery Cafe to buy lunch to eat enroute later. We bought some Doritos for about $4 (pricey, I know, but after several weeks without seeing any familiar salty snacks, we were craving them). We also got some oatmeal cashew cookies and then two sandwiches from the Joma Bakery.
Our next stop was at the COPE visitor center. COPE is an organisation that provides locally-made, high-quality prothetics for those who have lost limbs in explosions caused by unexploded bombs that were dropped on Laos during the Vietnam war. There are an estimated 80,000 remaining cluster bombs and pineapple bombs still undetonated across Laos, many located along the Ho Chi Minh trail area of Southern Laos and in the hills and mountains near the Vietnam border in Northern Laos. COPE also helps provide prothetics for those injured in vehicle accidents.
The COPE visitors center is an educational facility where locals and international visitors can learn about when and where the bombs were dropped, what they look like, and what to do if you find an unexploded bomb to enable crews to come safely dispose of it.
Although Lao people are very forgiving and welcoming of Americans, despite the history between our two nations, diplomatic relations have definitely been affected and the Laos government is still skeptical of receiving any aid or assistance from the US -- as is seen by their demonstrated response to building a monument to the dead killed in the conflict with the concrete from the US that was offered to help rebuild the bombed out runways in Vientiene after the conflict ceased. Wouldn't you be skeptical, too, if your country was the recipient of more bombs per square mile than any other place in history?
It was a very sobering part of the trip, and I was encouraged at how much COPE was doing to help those affected return to as much a normal life as possible. I bought several items in the giftshop to give as gifts. Thought I could have gotten these same items for a fraction of the price elsewhere, I was happy to be supporting a good cause and even gave a little extra as a donation.
We were now hungry and it was definitely lunchtime, so we dug into our sandwiches as we boarded the bus. The Joma sandwiches were positively delicious! I only wish we had bought more....
On our way out of town we stopped at a food market that locals use for our Lao guide Porn to pick up some items to cook at the campsite for our dinner tonight. We would be camping next to the Tad Leuk Waterfall at the Phu Khao Khuay NPA this evening.
The market was very colourful and very much not anything like what we have in the west. Everything is open air. The only thing refrigerated was the meat from the butcher and a few sodas. Porn bought Coriander, some large cuts of beef, tomatoes, onions, bamboo shoots and a very large bag of sticky rice to put into the cooler in the back of the bus. We'll see what he makes of it later.
We then had about a 1.5 hour drive before we stopped at small town at turn-off to national park to buy water and beer for the evening. Then it was a 30 min drive on dirt road into the park and to the waterfall and camp.
There are two large streams tha feed together just before Tat Leuk. The waterfall itself is quite powerful at the moment with a 2-3 story drop of fast-rushing water. Our Stray guide says that during the dry season the water flowing over is quite tame and people are able to swim in both the upper and lower pools.
The camp overlooked the waterfall drop, and the roar of the water was constant in the background. The food hall (a large timber pavillion with tables and chairs) was right on the edge of the rock overlooking the water and next to it was a large clearing where the tents are usually set up. As it was expected to downpore that night, the park ranger and his friend set up the 5 tents for our group on the very large porch of the visitor's center (a large building with simple exhibits about wildlife, vegetation, and conservation in the national park) that was just a dozen meters or so up the hill from the food hall.
Phu Khao Khuay NPA was home to several dozen elephants that were living and breeding quite successfully, but there have been issues with poachers and the park authorities have to do regular surveys to catch and prosecute poachers. The sentences are fairly harsh, including fines and jail time. For an elephant you could possibly lose your life.
While Porn began making friends with the park rangers and starting preparations for dinner, the rest of us went along the path to find a swimming spot upstream where water was calmer. Just downstream from where the two streams met there was an large, shallow eddy. The water was cool and refreshing in the hot afternoon sun.
I'm not sure how long we were down there, but it felt great just sitting an relaxing in nature's cool pool. Stephen decided to play a game of seeing how close he could get to the current in the center of the raging stream without being drawn in. When it was time to head back, he drifted downstream to the eddy closer to camp while I brought back his shoes.
After changing and getting our tents ready, we headed down to the food hall to check on dinner. Porn was cooking away over an open fire that was very smokey, and so we sat down and broke open the Doritos with a beer.
There was an annoying cat that kept jumping up on the table and howling at us for some food. It got so annoying that every time we removed her from the table she made it back that we had to lock her in the men's bathroom across the room.
The food hall was surrounded by trees with little breeze and the air was so still, humid and scorching from the day's sun that Stephen and I went down the steps to sit along the waterfall on the cool rocks with our feet in the cool water. It was the only way to keep from sweating immensely. Down by the waterfall everything else was drowned out by the sound of the falling water and it was very soothing and relaxing.
It was getting dark, so we went back up to the food hall in anticipation for dinner. Food was served shortly after dark, the tables lit only by small oil lamps made from old M150 beverage bottles. Porn had made grilled beef strips marinated in lemongrass, with steamed bamboo shoots, the reheated sticky rice, and Porn's special homemade dips (think Lao version of Salsa, one a roasted tomato juice and the other a tomato and onion puree, both with with coriander and local spices for taste and chilis for heat). It was absolutely delicious!
The ranger and his friend were getting really drunk now off of their Lao Lao moonshine, which had a stick in it. The ranger kept talking to our Stray guide, the gist of which was something about our guide being a stud and wondering which gal from the group he was going to hook up with that night. Our guide tride to explain that isn't how his interaction with the group works, but the ranger couldn't wrap his head around it. In Lao culture it is absurd to them to think a guy is single by choice unless he is working the field. Their idea of a young man's motivations is very simple and doesn't allow for men to be motivated other than through physical desire in these circumstances. But our Stray guide was a proper gentleman and definitely wasn't swayed by their prodding.
We went to sleep fairly early as it was so dark and there was little else for us to do. Besides, we would be getting up quite early. The tents were spacious and we had small padded mats to sleep on, but there was poor ventilation (I think because we set them up so close together, and the wind was being blocked by the building and the other tents. Stephen was sweating just lying still. I put in my ear plugs and fell to sleep quite quickly.
In the morning I would discover Stephen had turned himself around and had his head practically out the the door to the tent. He had turned around trying to get any air he could -- he had been kept up by the sweat trickling down him and in the middle of the night was trying anything to resolve the matter. Poor guy.
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