Acclimatisation Trek - The Heat is On!!!!

We did it!!!! We finished our first trek!

We were woken up at 6, ready to set off on our trek with only a little bit more packing to do. We then came down to a breakfast already prepared for us. We then walked down the street to ‘green discovery’, our trekking agents, to load our packs onto the Ute/truck ready to drive to the markets and our first real adventure.

At the markets most of us were in for a real culture shock...The odour of all the meats hit us as soon as we arrived. Some of the group had to go into the markets to buy the food for the three days. 1,138,000 kip (Laos money) later and we were off to the village to start our trek. As lunchtime came near, we stopped at a little restaurant on the side of the road, and got to use our first squatter. (Ed. some of the screams will live with me for a long time ;-))

 When we arrived at the village where we were to start our trek it was too hot so we were driven even further into the jungle, thankfully, to a cooler place with more shade. And then we were off!


The humidity was really bad so much so that you would start sweating before we even had our packs on. Fortunately the hike that day was only a couple of hours, but it felt like a lifetime, especially with most of the group not being the best hikers.(Ed, Hmmmm???) We had to make sure we were drinking enough water so we wouldn’t die of dehydration! (Ed. little and often ) As we emerged from the bamboo jungle, we were gobsmacked to see where we were sleeping, and even more gobsmacked when we found out it was part of a waterfall/stream bed, and that we were going to have to sleep on rocks. (Ed. Its a hard life folks!)

It soon became dark, as we had took our time getting there. The guides prepared fried rice for our dinner, unlucky for us; we weren’t really prepared for the spices they’re use to (Ed. speak for yourself ). After dinner we settled down and had hot chocolates, while some went to bed. Some of us stayed up talking for a bit including Miss Nottle, Miss Posner and others.


Miss Posner told us all that the freakiest thing happened at the hostel, she said that her towel had the letters ‘M P’ embroiled on it. Everyone looked at her quizzically, because the ‘M P’ was not for Mel Posner, but for Mixay Paradise, the Guesthouse we were staying in. Before me (Sarah), Mikaela, and Posner went to bed we had to go to the toilet, in the bush/jungle. Posner started to wander through, and then jumped back out in shock screaming because she saw a frog. (Ed. the force is weak in this one!) So we made Nottle lead us in so we could go to the loo. (I’m not sure but I think they held hands while doing the business ;-) )

The guys being creative with photography :-)



Litter sweep - leaving the camp as we found it

  We woke up to wet tents and sleeping bags because it ended up raining the night before and the water had run down the river bed/rocks and under our tents. We all had to walk carefully up to where we were going to eat breakfast because it was slippery, but some still managed to fall on their bottoms. At least breakfast was familiar having bananas and porridge. (Ed. yes and I didn’t even get a mentionL) We very quickly demolished our food so we would beat the heat of the day on the trek.

During the trek, Mat came across a small, green, tree snake, so we all kept clear of that reptile (Ed. Highly poisonous). We arrived at the camp at 12.30, only having walking for some 3 hours. There was a small river/pool that we were able to swim in, all of the boys jumped straight in, while the girls were more cautious. As we were leaving, Narakorn came up and said that his shoes had turned into an ants nest and his towel was a leaf collector, this was soon followed by his sudden dancing and shouting of having ants in his pants (Ed. they hurt bad folks...I know ).  He then ran into the water thinking he would get rid of the ants but ended up slipping on the slimy rocks and falling flat on his arse in the murky water. Dinner soon followed and many people were quick to retire to their tents.



Girls and Guys with attitude



Everyone woke up in a better mood the next morning all knowing it was the last day. We rose at 6:30 to dry tents and the smell of freshly cooked omelettes. We were a bit quicker to pack up this time knowing there were deadlines to meet that day (Ed. Australian Embassy visits). As the heat started to intensify one or two people experienced waves of nausea with a couple not able to keep their breakfast down. (Ed. don’t worry folks they all survived J) The last day was the most adventurous, climbing though muddy fields and seeing buffaloes, there was buffalo poo all over the place and Luke managed to make a perfect shoe print in one pile.

As we arrived in the village, we saw many cute children and animals. We were greeted with a ceremony and they gave us food and good luck bracelets. The Ute/trucks were already waiting for us and we were soon off to out hostel. We had a big dinner at a predominately western restaurant, so it was nice to eat something familiar. We are now off to bed happy and content our first major task is under our belts :-)


Love to all!

Sarah and Kateland