River Kayaking
10/6/2006
This morning we left Vang Vieng in songtaos to go to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. However, about midway through the trip we stopped to go white-water kayaking. The kayaks we used were two-person kayaks, and I went with one of the guides. The kayaking was pretty good, but the guide I was with didn't speak English, which made it a little less fun. There were only 3 sets of rapids, and somehow my kayak tipped on the first set. I'm not sure why, but at least I can blame it on my guide partner since he was the one in the back thus controlling where the kayak goes (at least that's what I'll tell myself). We were the only ones to tip involuntarily. We stopped for lunch at a rocky spot on the river, and apparently the rocks were pretty slippery. I learned this when I was climbing on them to find a tree to urinate behind. I slipped and got banged up pretty bad. I got some scrapes on my stomach and elbows, bruised up my knee, and got a nice little avulsion on my foot. Nothing really hurt, just my pride. At least the lunch was fantastic.
In Vientiane there was a big festival going on since tomorrow is the start of the second biggest holiday in Laos. There were stands selling dessert sticky rice, ferris wheels, merri-go-rounds, concerts, carnival games, and clothes stands. It was neat to see all the Lao people enjoying themselves. The picture below is of our guide Thong-Khoon, who accompanied us on all of our travels throughout Laos.
This morning we left Vang Vieng in songtaos to go to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. However, about midway through the trip we stopped to go white-water kayaking. The kayaks we used were two-person kayaks, and I went with one of the guides. The kayaking was pretty good, but the guide I was with didn't speak English, which made it a little less fun. There were only 3 sets of rapids, and somehow my kayak tipped on the first set. I'm not sure why, but at least I can blame it on my guide partner since he was the one in the back thus controlling where the kayak goes (at least that's what I'll tell myself). We were the only ones to tip involuntarily. We stopped for lunch at a rocky spot on the river, and apparently the rocks were pretty slippery. I learned this when I was climbing on them to find a tree to urinate behind. I slipped and got banged up pretty bad. I got some scrapes on my stomach and elbows, bruised up my knee, and got a nice little avulsion on my foot. Nothing really hurt, just my pride. At least the lunch was fantastic.
In Vientiane there was a big festival going on since tomorrow is the start of the second biggest holiday in Laos. There were stands selling dessert sticky rice, ferris wheels, merri-go-rounds, concerts, carnival games, and clothes stands. It was neat to see all the Lao people enjoying themselves. The picture below is of our guide Thong-Khoon, who accompanied us on all of our travels throughout Laos.
posted by Nathan O'Brien at
3:08 AM
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