Before I get to the craziest part of the nine day adventure, I gotta fill you in on what happened between Kratie and then. So. Here we go. (Btw, my camera decided to play dead after three days into the trip and I forgot my charger, so all the pictures in this post are either from Dan, Nicole, or Rebecca. Thanks guys.)
We left Kratie and had an insane trip up to Laos. First off, we got on a bus that's supposed to only fit eleven people. But Cambodians sometimes feel the need to play sardines when they travel so our bus ended up looking like this.
Mind you, I was in the back with three other people, AND there was a Cambodian guy sitting outside the bus on top of all our luggage. We had a total of I think 26 people. Two bus transfers, one ridiculously delayed pit stop at the Laos/Cambodian border, and a total of about eight hours or so later, we arrived at a dock. We boarded a boat to take us to 4,000 Islands Laos to an island in the middle of the Mekong River called Don Kone where we spent the next few days.
These waterfalls were ridiculous. The seemed to stretch on for forever and all of them were this rocky and rough.
A non-dangerous bank of the Mekong we decided to enjoy for a bit.
Nicole and I made some monk friends. So cool.
Alas, the chill version of exploration couldn't last for long. After a full day on the island we departed for Pakse. Upon arrival, we got to experience a Laotian tuk tuk which is much different than a Cambodian one. We actually managed to cram everyone inside. Super comfortable.
Apart from the crammed buses and other modes of transportation, I think it's pretty safe to say that we got to know each other REALLY well.
Speaking of getting know things and people better, while in Pakse we visited a beautiful Buddhist Wat. An incredibly nice monk invited us in, talked to us, and told us the watered down version of Buddha's life using paintings that lined the walls of the wat. It was pretty much the Asian/Buddhist version of an LDS Temple Visitor's Center. Needless to say I was thoroughly impressed. And who can say they've been taught about Buddha from a Laotian monk? I can.
The monk wanted to take a picture of us. I just realized how multi-colored we are. Very pretty.
Okay, NOW we can move on to the best stuff. You guys, this is hands down the coolest thing I've done the whole time I've been on this internship.
I grew up watching movies like Tarzan and Indiana Jones and I remember marveling at how amazing their lives seemed. I mean, Tarzan got to swing through trees and live with gorillas, and Indiana Jones was just such a bad-a that he was the ultimate adventurer of ever. I can now confidently say that I experienced a piece of both heroes' lives.
Hence the beginning of my two day ziplining trip through the jungles of Laos. We left our hotel in Pakse and traveled by van to a small village out in the boonies of Laos where we were unceremoniously ordered to put on our ziplining gear. Let's just say it was super fashionable and hugged in all the right places... or should I say it hugged in all the wrong places? Food for thought.
And without further ado we began our trek. The rest of this post will be pictures with some commentary. Sadly, the pictures just don't do the beauty of Laos justice.
Let's do some tightroping shall we? Little did I know this was the first of many, MANY ropes course adventures to come.
The jungle was so misty and serene it was kind of surreal. It definitely added to the mysticism of the whole trip. Pun intended.
The whole group settling down for lunch.
Lunch consisted of the best pork jerky I'd ever had in my life, sticky rice, spicy meat cookies, and this supposedly amazing salsa I couldn't partake of because of spice's intense hatred for my mouth. Haters gon' hate.
You guys, I was Indiana Jones. Straight up. After lunch it was time to scale down a mountain while jumping over bamboo shoots, maneuvering through rocks and branches, and ducking beneath low hanging vines. It was by far the hardest downhill hike I've ever done in my life. But hey, it was incredibly fun and worthwhile.
This was our first zipline. It was a baby one... a warm up if you will.
One of the almost twenty ziplines we did over the two day trek.
I got to stare out into this for several hours. So gorgeous.
You can't be Indiana Jones and NOT cross a rickety rope bridge over a waterfall. Let's be real here. And I crossed several.
You see that big waterfall at the top? One of the coolest ziplines started in the trees to the right of it, and you zipped for a good fifteen seconds in full tree coverage before popping out right next to the waterfall. None of us expected it. What a rush. I definitely had the Indiana Jones theme song on repeat in my head the whole day.
Sometimes we had to be lowered down from trees. It was a thing.
Me in full Tarzan mode. They gave us hooked sticks to act as our break so we wouldn't pull a George of the Jungle and smack into the trees at the end of the line. But that doesn't mean none of us didn't. #awkward
View from the ziplining dock.
After a filled day of high adventuring, we finally reached our Ewok village. Yup. We had to zipline to get to our beds.
This is what we got to look at from base camp. Hands down one of the most beautiful sights I think I'll ever get to witness in my lifetime.
After attempting to scrub all the mud off our bodies in a freezing col shower, we all got to sit down for dinner.
In the morning, after a wonderful evening of sleeping on gross mattresses and the threat of giant rats getting into our packs, we snapped this picture before jumping right back into the fray.
I think this picture was taken right before we went on the longest zipline of the trip. 450 meters. 450 meters people! I think there's like three feet or so in a meter. Do the math. I was ziplining for quite some time on that baby.
This was by far the hardest bridge to cross. It required a butt load of leg strength and concentration because each time you would take a step the wire loop you'd put your weight on swung back and forth. One of the interns spent the whole journey across shouting things she loved as a distraction. I liked her style.
Yet another rope bridge. Oh. And I also tightroped across a giant waterfall. Let me repeat, I TIGHTROPED ACROSS A FREAKIN' WATERFALL. Not sideways like you saw before but walking straight forward with some wire to grab onto for balance. Good heavens it was intense.
And no high adventure trip is complete without some rock climbing. All you rock climbing guru's probably would've found this simple because of the man made steps that jutted out from the rock, but still. Between being right by another huge waterfall, already being super high up, and focusing on clipping and reclipping yourself while not trying to die, it was pretty intense. Indiana Jones people, Indiana Jones.
You know what's ironic? Throughout all the crazy height and possible death and dying things we had done on the tour, the scariest part for me came at the end when all the high adventure stuff was over. Before we got back to the village we had to hike through an area infested with leeches. I. HATE. LEECHES. But apparently leeches love me. They love to chomp on my feet, make me bleed, and cause me to stop every few seconds to check and make sure none have latched onto my skin. I know I looked and sounded like a crazy person during that part. The scariest part about them is they have a anesthetic to their bite so you don't even feel them there! They can be on you for ages until you look down, swat them off, and you bleed because of the anti-coagulant that is also in their bite. Just in case you don't understand, I hate leeches. I wouldn't cry if they somehow went extinct.
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The group celebrated our triumphant return... AND the Fourth of July with some strawberry Fantas. I was preoccupied doctoring up my blistered and leech attacked feet.
Goodness, I just realized how long this post was; I hope I didn't bore you. If you want to see a video that Dan took of one of the many ziplines we did, it's on my Facebook page. Have a look see! It's absolutely incredible. Words and pictures truly can't express how breathtaking and what a once in a lifetime opportunity that really was. I think I made Indiana Jones and Godric Gryffindor proud.
If any of you wanted to go on the same trek and wanted to take me with you, I promise I wouldn't be heartbroken. I'd even be willing to brave the leeches again just for you. My love is that strong.
Until next time.
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