I had such a good time in Laos and made some great friends so we decided to go back for a visit. Flight from Hanoi to LP was no problem. The airport is so small in LP, we were the only plane! I think there were as many passengers on board as people working there. Upon exiting the airport I spotted Tom with a sign saying ‘California Dan’. We both laughed and hugged each other, then set off into town. I felt very comfortable coming back here and feel like I know the area well. We found great accommodation and went to Phone Travel to check out our tour options. There were a few things I noticed off the bat; one was the river being very low and two, the streets being very crowded. Phone had been busy and more than a few recommendations had come from ‘California Dan’. When we showed up to the office Thi was very happy to see me. The funny thing is that last time Colby and I were here, I was convinced his name was Dhi….Colby even said he thought it was Thi but I was sure of it being Dhi….well, found out it is Thi but sounds a lot like Dhi when they say it. They took us out to the large waterfall for free in the afternoon where we hiked and jumped from the cliffs and rope swing. The water was a beautiful blue green and it was stunning. We decided to do the elephant trek the following day and got the VIP service again. Since it is high season they are sometimes having groups of 6 out there to do the all day elephant experience. The problem with 6 people is that there are only 3 elephants and one of the best things about it is getting your own elephant for the day. Sooooo, they agreed to only add 1 person to our trip and gave us a discount on the price! That next morning we met Stefan from France and all set of for the trek. It was amazing again. I was able to pick Miss On (my elephant from last time) out of the line-up. I also brought pictures of my last trip for everyone to share. Some for Thi and his family and some for Tom and his family. Everyone was excited to see the pics and we all joked about them. The trek was beautiful as the weather has changed and the leaves are a different color. We went up into the mountains then descended back to camp. It was a fun ride and my mahout brought a really cool instrument that is only made in Thi’s village. It is a buffalo horn but there is a slit in the middle and a reed placed in there. So both ends are open and you breathe in and out to make sounds. Super cool. After a traditional lao lunch (better than last time) we did the mahout training and a show of what the elephants are capable of. Turns out these elephants used to be used for labor and were brought here to this camp 3 years ago. This must be heaven for them. They did show us that the elephants are capable of carrying large loads and moving heavy lumber. It was cool. Then the best part…we went down to the Mekong River (which was very low) and did some swimming with the elephants!! Last time there was one elephant that was very good at shaking his head to bump you off. We played like bull riders and all had tons of laughs. The thing is, this time he was way way better at it. No one could stay on and I got tossed a few times pretty hard. It was hilarious and exhausting so we headed back for a chill night at Utopia and some great conversations with other travelers and passerby’s.
At some point during the day Stefan and Tom started talking about Patank (patang or something) which sounded to me a lot like bocce ball. Apparently Tom was amazing and Stefan thought himself to be fairly good too. We decided that night to see what we were made of so the 5 of us (Tom, Thi, Stefan, Rachel and I) headed to a Patank bar and grabbed a ‘field’. It was the farangs vs. the locals. Foreigners vs. Locals…we mopped the floor with them two out of three games `It was Stefan and I vs. Tom and Thi and after our best of three match Rachel wanted to join in so her and I took on Tom and Thi. Tom predicted a 7-0 skunk and that is exactly what happened….except for that it was Rachel and II with 7 and them with 0!!!
We had to get up bright and early the next morning to rent moto bikes and check out Tom’s village. Thongpet aka Tom is Khmu and his village was about a 20 minute moto bike road out into the cuts. We rolled into his village and everyone came out to say hello. It was so cool! He introduced us to his father and sister’s and nieces and nephews then toured us around their very modest home. Tom then mentioned that Khmu people do home-brew….WHA!! I wanted to see it all…the ingredients, the process and taste the finished product. They use rice as their base then add some yeast after soaking it for a few days then place the mix in a pot and seal it with wet ash/cement for 1 week at which time it is ready for drinking. They have two kinds so we grabbed a pot of each to do a taste test. I also picked up some yeast to bring home and play with (and also for the home brewer friends of mine) so that will be interesting.
On the way out to his village we stopped along the road at a ‘market’ to pick up food which was buffalo meat, buffalo innards (couldn’t really get a specific on that but it looked like stomach or intestines) and some vegetables. After tasting some beer we had a delish lunch with Tom and his friends. The leader of the village came by to say hello and we started eating and drinking….and drinking….home brew and lao lao….might not have been the best idea because all of a sudden half the village was in Tom’s house and drunk. We were dancing traditional Laos style and laughing a lot. We had planned to go back to LP later in the afternoon but decided that we were all too buzzed to drive back and had to stay the night. That was an ordeal that I didn’t have to deal with. See Rachel had gotten sick after lunch and drinking then took a nap….after a bit more drinking with the boys it was my turn for a nap. Apparently neither Tom nor Rachel could wake me in the evening to go speak with the police and village leader so Rachel and Tom had to deal with it on their own. The thing is that when you do a ‘home stay’ you have a note from the travel agency and have paid fees in advance. We didn’t have a piece of paper ‘ok-ing’ us to stay the night and Rachel had to pay off the police…about 5 bucks I think. Then she and Tom had to pay the village leader a few bucks and we were good to go….Round two…more drinking, food, dancing and laughing. Tom’s mom had come back from collecting and selling mushrooms so we all got to hang with each other. Rachel had started to braid the girls hair and eventually had a small line waiting for her services while Tom, his friends and I sat across the floor tossing back beer and lao lao in a traditional style which means one glass shared around the group…very cool. We all drank too much and this was the first time that I wasn’t happy with it. I woke up the next morning with a few missing parts of the night but apparently we all had fun and went to bed without too much of a fuss. We were all super hung-over the next morning as everyone aside from me had been sick at one point during the day/night. At 7AM we jumped back on the bikes and headed back to town. What a day and night. Crazy fun.
That evening Thi invited us to his house for dinner. He lives with his sister and her husband (the owners of Phone Travel) along with a few other family members. Right upon entering, Tom walks up to me with a spoon and shoves it in my face….it is a cat’s paw and they eat it…not a cat like in your house but a jungle cat they assured me. I tried it but didn’t find much meat and wasn’t into chewing cartilage and bone. Dinner consisted of cooked duck in duck blood, cat bits, vegetables, rice and snails. The snails were my favorite part and had been cooked with the perfect seasoning. After a few beers and dinner we called it a night early as we were all still hurting a little from the previous night’s festivities.
Colby request that I grab him some herb used as an ingredient in the peanut/liver sauce we ate with goat and duck (and I had with dog) so I asked if Thi could grab it at the morning market and leave it at the travel agency…no problem he said. I was expecting a small, sealed bag of peppercorn type things but was given what could be described as a dried bouquet of flowers….what the effe am I supposed to do with this?! I couldn’t put it in my backpack cause then everything would smell like Maw-Can so I had to strap it on the outside of my small bag….and have been carrying it around ever since. I am going to log the travels of this herb as it has already been aboard a flight, 3 buses, 2 mini buses, and 2 boats….and I haven’t been the only one schlepping it around as Maarten was helping me with my luggage from Halong to Nihm Bihn. Anyway, off to Vang Vieng…round 2~!!!
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