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Published: September 4th 2006
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Kayaking to Vientiene
the view from our lunch stop looking at the last set of rapids Why catch a bus when you can kayak?
Why indeed?
At least that was our way of thinking that lead us to decide to take the water route rather than the road.
We started the day bright and early, jumping into a bart bus we head off for an hour till we reach the small village of Ban Lok. It is here we disembark and are given the safety talk which was all well and good till he mentions - "If you capsize, make sure you stay hold of the boat, and avoid the whirlies, because they will suck you under the water. If you are in one, just wait till you hit the bottom, then use your legs like springs to push your way to the top of the water and swim out."
"Ok.... so how deep is the water?"
"Oh.. maybe 10, maybe 15 metres"
Meanwhile he grins and smiles the whole way through. Prince Cristoph, myself and Andrew hesitantly look and one another, the 4th member of the kayaking crew, Lenika from Holland, giggles nervously.
As there were 3 kayaks, 4 participants and 2 guides, one kayak (or really more like an open water sea
Kayaking to Vientiene
no capsize no fun - the crew that had alot of fun kayak) would be without a guide, and as Andrew and I are such ol' hats at river adventures now, we took up the challenge.
"We've got life jackets after all" I declare, "And I've been canoing at school camp"
(Let's not boast too much about my Frankling River experience or our recent Mae Tang adventure)
We set off, taking a while to get our rythum together, and after a bit of grumbling and "No, you just keep on paddling, I'll steer" we hit our first set of small rapids, coming in at the wrong angle and end up capsizing.
"No Capsize no Fun!!" cries our crazy guides.
Yep, that's just what I was thinking as I bobbed to the surface under the kayak, and struggle to get myslef out from underneath it.
Oh well, we say. At least we've capsized before the big rapids and we know how to get back into the kayak etc. All good.
We are more observant next time and make sure we follow the guided boat at the same angle..... all good.. all good... all...ahh!!!
Up we flip agin, this time I'm oput from under the kayak, my feet are facing the right direction ie. down stream, and we both hold onto the beastly raft while we head down grade 3 rapids, at times having 1 - 2m waves of churning brown water rise up in front of us.
Why catch a bus indeed?
Once again back on the kayak, we head for the 2nd lot of rapids which were smaller than the first lot. Should be easy. We make sure we've got the right angle.... the boat rising and smashing under the water as we hurtle down the river, nearly made it... crap.
Once again, we capsize.
So, after making it back on the kayak again - this time with much more dificulty as I am soaking wet, and have no upperbody strength anymore, I must have looked a bit distressed, as the guides begin to talk amongst themselves and then suggest the Christopher swaps places with me to join Andrew while I paddle safely up front with one of the guides.
Sounds great to me. Thanks Kristoph.
Wishing the boys luck, we all head off again, plunging into the last set of rapids. Yay! I stay up, we pass a waterfall on our right.. I'm at the end.. and we're in the water!!! What??
"No capsize no fun!!" chant the guides. yeah mate, I've had about enough fun I can handle.
The boys were very close getting through the final rapid, but unfortunately got unstuck along the way. What's the saying about too many captains on one ship??
We pull over for lunch as the guides cook a top bbq off wet coals (how?) and rice, bananas and baguettes. The last of the rapids conquered, it appears the only way now for us to sink is to fill us up with food!
We relax on a big rock, watch the river go by and admire the massive colourful butterflys that just sail around us. We wait as another company comes down with their MASSIVE group of 17 people!! Bags not. And leave them to their cooking and then head off ourselves. The rest of the river is quiet, and actually quite hard to paddle in in some spots.
As we have water fights and listen to one of the guides sing traditional Laos songs, it's pretty easy to see why you'd miss the bus for this.
We meet up with our Bart bus carrying our luggage, and head onwards to the capital of Laos, Vientiane. The four of us decide to stick together for the next couple of days, and book ourselves into Joe's Guest House "A great place for single women travellers" according to Lonely Planet.....
hmm... nice choice boys.. 😉
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