The time spent in Vang Vieng so far has been wonderful. I had been warned about the "Rock and Roll" tip in town as well as all of the drugs washing around here (and of course the obnoxious falang that accompanies that scene) but my friends and I have spent most of our times on several treks to avoid that segment of VV. The mountains are beautiful here, as they have been in every city we have visited so far. The landscape here is wonderful and it seems like each gorgeous panoramic view of misty mountain tops and bright green rice fields trumps the previous one.
Grace and I have re-united with a English couple we met in Muang Ngoi and we are staying at the Organic Farm about 4km outside of the city center. We've met some great friends there and have been extremely busy during our first two days in town with a litany of different activities. I met a couple from Europe that is traveling through Southeast Asia via New Zealand and we three went on a six hour trek to a hidden cave at the top of a limestone peak. It was a 1500 meter climb up slippery rocks due to the terrential downpour the previous night. We barbequed some beef skewers at the top of the mountain then descended down 500 meters, climbed another 500 and another descent to the cave. The terrain was rugged and varied and certainly not for a novice hiker. Grace's decision to split from the group and do a low elevation cave tour was probably a good idea. We first traversed a fast moving river at waist level, which would not have been so worrisome if it weren't for the expensive piece of photography equipment in my backpack. We even had some moderate rock climbing along the way and the way down ws treacherous again due to the slippery conditions. It was an exhausting six hours but well worth it as the cave was amazing with huge stalagamites and an interesting amount of strange wildlife dwelling inside.
The next morning we woke up at six to help out around the farm, some basic chores to prepare the goats for milking. We swept the barn, fed and corralled the goats and Katie, Paul and Grace milked although I had to run to the shower as I was volunteering at the primary school at ten a.m and had to eat breakfast and clean up before I went. I'll go back tomorrow to help make goat cheese and will hopefully get some milking in tomorrow. The primary school was phenomenal, the class was big, about 35 kids, but very polite and enthusiastic and a pretty good level for their age. We had a lot of fun and the kids chased us down the main street as we rode away on our bikes back to the farm. We had a quick lunch then proceeded on to a guided rock-climbing trip, where we tried to tackle two intermediate level climbs. We first climbed about 200m to a cliff face and each took respective turns on the mountain. I volunteered to go first and made it up the first 5b climb about 80% before running out of gas and coming down. Paul got to the same level as me and the girls both did pretty well also, each going up about 50%. I took a shot at the 5a climb on the other side of the cliff face. This time I decided I would get to the top or fall trying, and luckily the result was the former rather than the latter.
We six headed into town for one last big meal together, a huge Korean BBQ feast with prawns, bacon, silverside beef and big baskets of mixed greens and glass noodles with chilis and peanut sauce. Grace, Fredricke, Nadia and Michael, all of whom are staying at the farm and have become friends, will depart tomorrow, while Paul, Katie and myself stay behind. We are probably going to hunt down the famed "blue lagoon" outside of town, check out the boat race during the Full Moon Festival and do some more teaching and work around the farm. I'm going to do a three day trek once I hit central Laos so I'm looking to relax as much as possible the next five days before I go. I'll study some Chinese and probably get a bike rental and cruise around town a lot.
I'm getting kicked out of the internet cafe now so it's time to go. I'll have more to post later this week!
man zou,
~Christopher~
