Kayaking to Vientiane

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Day 22 Kayaking to Vientiane from Vang Vieng

After a quite evening we rose early ready to hit the rapids with our Irish mates Carl and Martha. After a couple hour tuk tuk ride we arrived a our lauching point on the Nam Lik River. Following some very brief kayaking instructions is was afterall only our first time we boarded our two man kayak and set off. After some zig zagging down the river we finally got the hang of it before being beakoned to the side of the river for more instructions. We climbed up 7m above river level to evaluate the rapids. After some more brief instructions "stay in the middle... don't go left" . With this in mind we began back paddling to straighten ourselves up for a direct attack of the rapids. Only to capsize in the process!! Fortunately we kept hold off both canoe and oars and reboarded hestitantly. We comfortably made our way through the rapids, then it was Carl and Martha's turn to capsize!
Another 30 minutes of paddling in the beautiful sunshine, we arrived at our lunch spot and the 10m jumping cliff. Whilst our guides set to making us a fantastic Lao style bush barbie, Jez and Carl headed up the cliff to the "spot". After some deliberation and a quick demo from the guide. Jez won paper scissors rock and it was Carls turn to jump first. Jez then took the leap of faith coinciding with what might be described as a girly scream! (he strongly denies this!). After photographing another jump each, Carly decided to take the plunge. After some deliberation at the cliff face, and fits of legs shaking the final encouragement from Jez "come on Carls you've jumped out of a plane you can do this" and Carly lept , its a shame the video doesn't take audio well cos I didn't realise I had that girly of scream in me! (see video Carly jumps first followed by Jez). Glowing with adrenalin, we relaxed on the rocks for lunch. Thinking ourselves as pro kayakers now we boarded a one man kayak each, soon to realise it was alot bloody harder by yourself fortunately it wasn't too far and we reached our pick up spot where we boarded a tuk tuk for Vientiane. The trip would have probably taken just over an hour but as our tuk tuk driver stopped to pick up and drop off the locals it took two hours, with our tuk tuk maxing at 17 people (comfortably takes 8!) Johnny one of the local kids grabs a lift!
We eventually arrived at Vientiane to find most of our guesthouse choices (within budget) booked out. We eventually settled at Mixok (aka "the cell") filthy smelly, with its single window facing a brick wall but cheap. We locked our backpacks to the bed and headed down by the river for tea. Fortunately exhausted by our day kayaking we hit the pillow and crashed!

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