Chris> As we trekked up Elephant Mountain on our second morning, Steph's boots gave her more and more blisters. We were all exhausted from the day before's over-extended journey the company had tested on us, without mentioning the need for different footwear to cross streams or water bottles that closed shut. This lead to much complaining on our part between ourselves. Elephant Mountain had us exhausted by 10am. As we dragged our feet, I wondered why we decided to trek through the world's epicenter for malaria mosquitoes...
Khit soon cheered us up by carving us each a bamboo walking stick for the uphill climb. Sao went for bigger vines and even full palm trees to clear the way and clearly mark the new trail for the next trekkers. Down in the valley we crossed over a stream or two and stumbled upon a grapefruit tree. It was almost surreal - an oasis maybe from our exhaustion. The grapefruit was delicious but the acid made my stomach much worse for the rest of the day.
Today's trek required a third guide, Sao, armed with a bayonette, as we were taking a brand new trail that had just been cleared. Now Laos has the unfortunate status for being the most bombed country in the world after the US carpet bombing campaign during the Vietnam War, with unexploded ordnance still abundant - another thought that came up every so often I took a step.
We stopped for lunch in a village where many of the women and children had never seen a foreigner before. The boys all stared from the doorway as we ate more of our sticky rice. I don't remember much from the afternoon since my weakened and dehydrated body just focused on each step. After reaching the end of the trail just before dark, we were all relieved to hang up our boots. We were staying in the village leader's house. This village was on a paved road, had electricity, some brick houses and some people also owned a bike. The family cooked bamboo soup for us, and for them, buffalo in its own blood. I stuck to sticky rice. Khit stayed up late again to tell us more about his country and answer all our questions. He shared his dream for seeing eight countries in the world. He also wishes to live until he is 85 and have 24 children: 12 girls and 12 boys. He laughed. In truth his first dream is to see Australia. We encouraged him to use WWOOF to work on farms for free and couchsurfer to stay for free along the way there. This should enable him to see his eight countries without too much expense. But I'm not sure how good he is with the internet for arranging flights and the online visa site for Australian visas. Hopefully he will stay in touch. I want to help him with this, if he wants.
Steph and I realized that we have never been to a country like Laos and we have never met people like this. We were up again this morning to the sound of chopping wood and people talking in the street at 5h30. We see the mountains rise misty above our little village. Roosters crow and dogs play. The village is full of morning smells, floating up from smoky wood fires and spicy food simmering in blackened pots. Today (day 3) we'll jump into kayaks to descend the rapids of the Mekong River all the way back toward Luang Prabang.
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