Kayakking

On the third day of our trek, we were all happy not to have to walk a step further. We exchanged our hiking boots for buoyancy aids, helmets and paddles and prepared for an exciting day of kayakking through the rapids of the Mekong River!

Of course, Chris and I were the people whose kayak flipped. Khit, our guide, immediately did a superhero dive into the water to help us right the kayak before we slammed into the rocks. Exciting times! It didn't matter much that we were wet through afterwards because less than ten minutes after our flip, the heavens opened and it continued to rain for the rest of the day. We couldn't believe it! What a change in the weather from the heat of the previous two days when we were trekking up the mountains, showering in our own perspiration! Just goes to show that the beginning of the dry season could still be tormented with huge rain storms.

We were both relieved and sad when we finally returned to Luang Prabang after kayakking. Khit and Jin arranged to meet us all that evening and took us to a local club for a dance where there was a live band playing. This was apparently the first time they'd taken farang with them to a club and it meant a lot to all of us that they wanted to show us this part of their culture. I must admit, it was strange to be in a club in this small, innocent town. Jin told us of the difficulty for them now to find a wife - firstly, they're no longer under 20. Secondly, they've been exposed to the ways of farang, so a traditional village marriage doesn't appeal to them anymore. He explained how there's only a limited number of women in Luang Prabang who would 'understand' them - those who work first hand with farang, I presume, and who have also been exposed to 'the West'. Strange times for these young men who grew up in tiny villages without access to what we might call the 'modern world' but who now spend all of their days taking tourists round and explaining their culture to those from Europe, America and Australia who in turn, teach them about their ways...