After an early morning start to acquire breakfast baguettes, and a rather delayed pick up of sandwiches for lunch, we awaited the launching of he boat, scheduled for ten thirty.
We waited to ten thirty.
And then to eleven thirty.
And then until twelve, at which point all passengers on the boat gave an impromptu applause at the boat finally leaving. This is what gave us a thorough understanding of the term 'Laotian Time'
With seats booked from the Friendship Guest House, we enjoyed several calm hours of the boat trip, positioned an entire boat-length away from the engines, filling our time with card games, journal filling and sleep.
About three hours in, we found ourselves bemused by our boat having run aground. The rudder had been broken or some such inconvenience. After another hour sitting around on the beach (Not nearly as good as Scarborough) , which entirely failed to break the monotony, a second slow boat arrived to take us to Pak Beng.
To our mild dismay, this boat was smaller than the already overpacked one we'd managed to break. Piling onto the boat, we found ourselves seated in the aisles, using our packs as cushions and being forced to mingle with the Greenwood World Challenge team, who were taking the same boat. Also contributing to our discomfort was the fact that we were now positioned far closer to the engine, the loud thrum drumming its way into our ears for the rest of the day.
At about 7o'clock, the sun had thoroughly set, and our captain made the executive decision that rather than crash into rocks and sink in the darkness, we'd be spending the night on the beach.
After reluctantly leaving the boat, we quickly combed the beach and nearby jungle for firewood, a moderately fruitful task despite only having headtorches for light. It was agreed that the two teams would sleep separately, though share a fire that was built in a depression in the ground. Setting up our bedding as best we could, we retired around the campfire, except those of us who did not deign to share company with the Greenwood. . . people.
A lack of dinner was pretty poor for our moods.
The next morning, having slept from an early bed time of 11pm, we were bright as buttons to pack our gear immediately after sunrise. The more orderly boarding of the boat resulted in a more comfortable ride the remainder of the way to Pak Beng.
After arriving, we had an hour and a half to get breakfast and lunch, a task that resulted in several sandwich stalls selling out extremely quickly.
The next boat, to Luang Prabang was large enough to seat all passengers, and didn't crash, marking the second boat ride as significantly less eventful.
Arriving in LP, we had a mad dash to find accommodation, a feat made difficult by the Laos National games starting the next day. Sophie had an unfortunate slip, resulting in the spraining of her right ankle, which in a curious string of coincidences resulted in our in-country agent finding and assisting us.
Our trip to our project site has been delayed by a day, as the population of the village is in fact here, to witness the onset of the games.
Viva la adventure!
Tuesday, 13 December 2011
Saturday, 10 December 2011
R&R in Chiang Rai and crossing into Laos
We awoke on the 9th to a realisation; there were no animals or other village sounds to interrupt our slumber. being the 9th of december, today also meant that Tom was to turn 16 and so the team had cause to celebrate. Breakfast was greeted with well-wishing and congratulations, and with no schedule for the day we chose to simply relax and relish the occasion that we were to honour. a particularly lengthy breakfast meant that we entered our day's activities later than we would perhaps have liked, but the r&r day resulted in little complaint from the team. the team was mostly split for the day, drifting about the city without much order, occassionaly returning to the guesthouse to meet friends or simply recooperate from outings. As a group present from the team, we all took Tom out to Swensens, an American ice-cream palour for sundaes to mark the event that so occupied our day. that night, we again went out to dinner at an interesting resteraunt; cabbages and condoms. afterward, the group split once more, with some choosing the night market while others chose to return to the guesthouse and relaxed, awaiting the next day's travelling into Laos for the second and final stage of our trip before R&R in Malaysia. This morning we got up early once again, having to be at the central bus terminal at 10:00am for a 10:30 departure to Chiang Khong, where we would travel across the Mekong river into Laos. two hours and a long bus ride later, we arrived in Chiang Khong and observed our next destination, Huay Xuay, from the bank. going through Thai customs to depart the country, we boarded a long-tailed boat to cross and arrive in Laos, where we travelled through Laotian customs and entered the country. the process would have been exceedingly smooth, had Matt remembered that to actually enter Laos, one must have their passport checked and had their visas checked by customs, and their passports stamped to allow them entry. A short moment later, and with matt safely in country, we looked around town for accommodation and food, which we found at an excellent price thanks to some helpful German (it would seem) tourists who pointed out a French- styled guesthouse down the street from where we arrived. With lodging booked, we ventured out into the streets to explore the city proper, as well as to burn time until dinner. afternoon sorted, we met for dinner and booked tommorrow's slow boat journey up the mekong to luang Prabang, and to reach our project village. we are soon to retire for the night, eagerly awaiting tommorrow.
7 day trek
Day 1
On the 2nd of december the team left towards chaing rai departing at tha ton.
with everyone excited we took boats towards the hot springs where we met amae (our guide) and had lunch. after lunch we headed down towards the hot springs were we layed around in nice hot water. after we dried our selves down we started our walk to the first vilage (akha). after we were faced with hills and the heat we arrived at the village. after we unloaded our luggage we were taken to the water fall were we took pictures and looked around. when we came back from the water fall we had tea which was sweet sour chicken and some potato stuff (which was very yummy) and rice. after tea we played games with the locals. amae showed us the games which were leening down and picking a can up with our teeth, raping a stick around our body and many more games. after hours of fun we were all stuffed and went to bed.
Day 2
We woke up to toast and eggs which followed by pineapple and watermelon. after breakfast we started our jungle trek which included hills (up and down). the guides made us bamboo cups and baboo chopsticks which we used to eat lunch. we all tried to make the cups but failed epically. after we that we started walking to a stream where the group split into two, half were learning to cook with bamboo and half where blocking the river off to catch fish. we didnt catch much so we had a main amount of noodles. After lunch we treked more untill we reached the yao village. we all were pritty tired so we played some cards and had tea followed by sleep, waiting for the next adventures day.
Day 3
Woke up in the Yao village, feeling refreshed after a sleep. After the previous day's trekking, today seemed easier (by comparison anyway). This treck, although there wasnt as many up-hills, was considerably longer than yesterdays. Dispite this, the views were to fall on the ground for! I.E they were really breathe taking (literally). For lunch, we had yesterdays bamboo cooking leftovers, packed in a banana leaf, which was awesome! Much better than a lunch box, for me anyway. After trekking, we arrived in the La Hu village, which was quite nice and had alotta farm animals, which promised me they would make noise tomorrow morning. Dinner had it differences to the previous 2 days dinner, and was delicious! Ophir also made a friend called Piggy/Pork Chop. Very cute, tiny pig :-). They boys were sleeping in a separate dorm, but the noise was heard in the girls dorm too. Toay was awesome and we all enjoyed ourselves very much. I hope tomorrow will be awesome too.
Day 4
As promised, the pigs, chickens and dogs of La Hu village made enough noise to annoy Will awake. And Jesse. And most others too, I'd say. But it was another refreshing moring, and seeing the epic views from the mountain top really made me wake up! Breakfast was.. eggs and sweet toast again, but it was still nice. For lunch, we did some more jungle cooking, with the fishing/cooking groups swapped over. I wasn't a good fisherman. Jesse cut himself on some bamboo. Afterwrds, we continued our adventure to our next destination; the jungle are in which we were sleeping. The girls ended up using tents due to a space issue, but the boys got to use the bamboo hut, renevated by a few of them and our guide. Dinner was of course by candle light/head torch, which made it moreromantic delicious. I had a fun day, going full jungle and really ruffing it!
Day5
Contrary to sleeping in the villliage, we all awoke at a reasonable hour as we were not interupted by impetuous livestock before 7. We packed up and enjoyed a hearty meal of toast, eggs, sweet rice cooked in bamboo with coconut milk- very tasty. Afterwards, we resumed our journey and travelled down hill to a river, that we crossed to the elephant station, in which we rested and rode the elephants for the final leg of our journey. It was an immensly enjoyable experiance! arriving in a second La Hu villiage, we relaxed with chilled softdrink, paid for by Sophie. (as per the "round" system put in place to reduce unsavoury langauge and to encourage politeness) We then participated in a tribal tradition of music and dancing which most found to be very interesting. Sleeping for the final time in a remote location, we all retired to our hut and slept peacefuly.
Day 6
We awoke again to the noise of livestock unceremoniously, as what seemed the norm in such villiages. Starting along the the last hour of our exciting adventure, we reached the roadside ending relieved and satisfied, eager to return to civilisation after a week in the jungle. We travelled to a waterfall, which was breathtaking, but less so than the other at the initiation of our journey. We had a lunch at a nice restraunt, then were driven to Chiang Rai. Relieved to be in a town, we carried out our normal duties throughout the afternoon, and walked to the fascinating nightmarket. Eating dinner in the main food court, then spending the remainder of our time browsing through the various stores till the curfew of 9:30. We returned to our guest house, and shared a single large bed between 3 - which was a new, if cramped experience for us after a fairly spread out arrangement in the villages on trek.
On the 2nd of december the team left towards chaing rai departing at tha ton.
with everyone excited we took boats towards the hot springs where we met amae (our guide) and had lunch. after lunch we headed down towards the hot springs were we layed around in nice hot water. after we dried our selves down we started our walk to the first vilage (akha). after we were faced with hills and the heat we arrived at the village. after we unloaded our luggage we were taken to the water fall were we took pictures and looked around. when we came back from the water fall we had tea which was sweet sour chicken and some potato stuff (which was very yummy) and rice. after tea we played games with the locals. amae showed us the games which were leening down and picking a can up with our teeth, raping a stick around our body and many more games. after hours of fun we were all stuffed and went to bed.
Day 2
We woke up to toast and eggs which followed by pineapple and watermelon. after breakfast we started our jungle trek which included hills (up and down). the guides made us bamboo cups and baboo chopsticks which we used to eat lunch. we all tried to make the cups but failed epically. after we that we started walking to a stream where the group split into two, half were learning to cook with bamboo and half where blocking the river off to catch fish. we didnt catch much so we had a main amount of noodles. After lunch we treked more untill we reached the yao village. we all were pritty tired so we played some cards and had tea followed by sleep, waiting for the next adventures day.
Day 3
Woke up in the Yao village, feeling refreshed after a sleep. After the previous day's trekking, today seemed easier (by comparison anyway). This treck, although there wasnt as many up-hills, was considerably longer than yesterdays. Dispite this, the views were to fall on the ground for! I.E they were really breathe taking (literally). For lunch, we had yesterdays bamboo cooking leftovers, packed in a banana leaf, which was awesome! Much better than a lunch box, for me anyway. After trekking, we arrived in the La Hu village, which was quite nice and had alotta farm animals, which promised me they would make noise tomorrow morning. Dinner had it differences to the previous 2 days dinner, and was delicious! Ophir also made a friend called Piggy/Pork Chop. Very cute, tiny pig :-). They boys were sleeping in a separate dorm, but the noise was heard in the girls dorm too. Toay was awesome and we all enjoyed ourselves very much. I hope tomorrow will be awesome too.
Day 4
As promised, the pigs, chickens and dogs of La Hu village made enough noise to annoy Will awake. And Jesse. And most others too, I'd say. But it was another refreshing moring, and seeing the epic views from the mountain top really made me wake up! Breakfast was.. eggs and sweet toast again, but it was still nice. For lunch, we did some more jungle cooking, with the fishing/cooking groups swapped over. I wasn't a good fisherman. Jesse cut himself on some bamboo. Afterwrds, we continued our adventure to our next destination; the jungle are in which we were sleeping. The girls ended up using tents due to a space issue, but the boys got to use the bamboo hut, renevated by a few of them and our guide. Dinner was of course by candle light/head torch, which made it more
Day5
Contrary to sleeping in the villliage, we all awoke at a reasonable hour as we were not interupted by impetuous livestock before 7. We packed up and enjoyed a hearty meal of toast, eggs, sweet rice cooked in bamboo with coconut milk- very tasty. Afterwards, we resumed our journey and travelled down hill to a river, that we crossed to the elephant station, in which we rested and rode the elephants for the final leg of our journey. It was an immensly enjoyable experiance! arriving in a second La Hu villiage, we relaxed with chilled softdrink, paid for by Sophie. (as per the "round" system put in place to reduce unsavoury langauge and to encourage politeness) We then participated in a tribal tradition of music and dancing which most found to be very interesting. Sleeping for the final time in a remote location, we all retired to our hut and slept peacefuly.
Day 6
We awoke again to the noise of livestock unceremoniously, as what seemed the norm in such villiages. Starting along the the last hour of our exciting adventure, we reached the roadside ending relieved and satisfied, eager to return to civilisation after a week in the jungle. We travelled to a waterfall, which was breathtaking, but less so than the other at the initiation of our journey. We had a lunch at a nice restraunt, then were driven to Chiang Rai. Relieved to be in a town, we carried out our normal duties throughout the afternoon, and walked to the fascinating nightmarket. Eating dinner in the main food court, then spending the remainder of our time browsing through the various stores till the curfew of 9:30. We returned to our guest house, and shared a single large bed between 3 - which was a new, if cramped experience for us after a fairly spread out arrangement in the villages on trek.
Wednesday, 30 November 2011
Last days In chiang mai (So sorry we haven't updated, please don't kill me)
Arrived in Chiang Mai and spent the night perusing the local markets for trinkets and gifts for people who know us. Left for the acclimatisation trek in Chiang Dao after a three hour wait to deal with Sam and his Situation.The three day trek was fun but the steep uphill climb almost killed half our team.
We stopped in two villages and realised that mosquito nets laced with poison can and will mess with faces. The second village we stayed in gave half the team entertainment in the form of two small Thai kids presenting a gift to Nick and Jason: live spiders, they then revelled in The recoiling reactions and subsequent fear. We spent the rest of the night being terrorised by these two children.
We also we invented a working two man game of cheat and instituted an "If you swear you buy a round of drinks" rule that gained at least five rounds within a few hours. Got back to Chiang Mai yesterday, spent the latter half of the day resting and spent dinner at a small but nice family run restaurant in town. Today we plan on catching up with journals, confirming trek dates and booking and preparing for the 7 day trek.
Good news is Sam has a new passport and can leave thailand without too much hassle.
We stopped in two villages and realised that mosquito nets laced with poison can and will mess with faces. The second village we stayed in gave half the team entertainment in the form of two small Thai kids presenting a gift to Nick and Jason: live spiders, they then revelled in The recoiling reactions and subsequent fear. We spent the rest of the night being terrorised by these two children.
We also we invented a working two man game of cheat and instituted an "If you swear you buy a round of drinks" rule that gained at least five rounds within a few hours. Got back to Chiang Mai yesterday, spent the latter half of the day resting and spent dinner at a small but nice family run restaurant in town. Today we plan on catching up with journals, confirming trek dates and booking and preparing for the 7 day trek.
Good news is Sam has a new passport and can leave thailand without too much hassle.
Saturday, 26 November 2011
Arrival in KL
Well, we've successfully landed in KL, after a long and irritating plane trip. After arriving, we met up with our leader, Daniel and continuedon to the pre-booked hotel. After arriving and sorting out some details with Sophie's chinese passport, we had a trip into chinatown for the markets and dinner.
Next flights at 7am.
Next flights at 7am.
Friday, 25 November 2011
Blink and we're gone
Well this is it, in about 8 hours we board a plane to KL and begin our Challenge of Worldly Proportions. See what I did there? No doubt there have been complications., even though we haven't left! Due to the the floods in the Bangkok area we have been diverted to KL for one night then travelling straight on to Chang Mai/Chang Rai area of Northern Thailand. Also ufortunately due to these floods the team has had to change our acclimatisation from Hellfire Pass in Kanchanaburi to a Trek in Chang Dao, Out of the flood affected zones. Oh wel, such is life. Next post will be from Thailand or KL if we're lucky!
Tom.
Tom.
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
Update 10/11/2011
Accommodation booked for Bangkok, one of the two that Sam found. Check out the PTICL Hostel.
Tom.
Tom.
Thursday, 3 November 2011
Welcome Friends, Family and Challengers
Hello Friends and Family of Churchlands Senior High School World Challenge Team 2, more commonly known as the "GO" Team.
As of writing this, the 3rd of November, your children/relatives/friend/other has 23 days until the jet off to Thailand at around 6:35 departing Perth.
Our Team consists of 13 students, two Teachers and a World Challenge Leader.
Leader
Daniel Twort
Teachers
Sue Wogan
Lisa Campbell
Students
Thomas Jackson
Martin Allen
Rachel Bate
William Owers
Rebekah Curtis
Matt Grant
Jason Strack
Jesse Goodwin
Ophir Wende
Tristan Billes
Sophie (Zhao) Bichen
Sam Bertram
Nick Wood
Looking forward to the trip but not exams,
Tom.
As of writing this, the 3rd of November, your children/relatives/friend/other has 23 days until the jet off to Thailand at around 6:35 departing Perth.
Our Team consists of 13 students, two Teachers and a World Challenge Leader.
Leader
Daniel Twort
Teachers
Sue Wogan
Lisa Campbell
Students
Thomas Jackson
Martin Allen
Rachel Bate
William Owers
Rebekah Curtis
Matt Grant
Jason Strack
Jesse Goodwin
Ophir Wende
Tristan Billes
Sophie (Zhao) Bichen
Sam Bertram
Nick Wood
Looking forward to the trip but not exams,
Tom.
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