Mekong River Trip
On day 5 of my hike I really began to run into some southbound Appalachian Trail hikers, in groups of 2 to 4 mostly. It was really motivating for me as it brought back some great memories of my own 2017 Northbound AT hike. I also feel as if I was serving a solid service giving them updates of what was coming up for them, some river crossing tips, and ultimately letting them know that as hard as it gets, it’s completely do-able! hope it helped at least a couple of them. As my hike was coming to and end, feeling a little rough around the edges but ultimately no worse for wear, the wheels start to turn……maybe there’s another long distance thru hike still in me!
From there the locals were very friendly and very eager to sell some of their offerings. Items like woven mats, scarves, containers, and this particular village had what they claimed to be a working moonshine still. There were houses and schools that were all on stilts. It was located up the hill, but flooding from the Mekong River is always a concern. Back to the boat where they prepared an amazing lunch for us, it is always amazing to see the large amount of very tasty food they produce from these tiny kitchens. From there we chugged along to the town of Pak Beng where we had accommodation already booked for us. After a walk through the town, I didn’t arrive until just about dark but took advantage of the pool. Not very warm (actually quite frigid) but we had some good elevation there and got to watch the sunset. Next morning, walked back to the boat ramp, everyone was accounted for and once again, we were underway. Today’s shore excursion brought us to some really nice caves. They varied in height and depth and also some were quite high up the mountain but they were all worth visiting. They had Buddhist style decorations from long boats, and figurines sitting and standing, small conical structures and mostly everything was painted gold.
Since my initial 2200 mile Appalachian Trail hike I have traveled to Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, North, Central, and South Americas, and most recently Africa. Hiked many more trails and treks including Appalachian Trail, Arizona Trail,1000 miles of Caminos, Arizona Trail, over half of the Florida Trail, Scottish Highlands, Mount Kilimanjaro and many more. My plan is to continuing to document my new travels and adventures here but also finally catching up on blogging all my old trips and treks. I hope you enjoy these stories and would certainly enjoy hearing about your similar adventures or recommendations in the comments.
It was a great stop for me and seemed pretty authentic and not touristy, like the village. The further east we went we saw we began seeing people mining gold. The sites we went past were mostly two or three people with a small temporary camp set up and they would be panning on the gravel bars. Apparently, the gold they do recover is so small that they have to use mercury to make it all cling together in order to ever see it, then they burn it off to leave just the gold. I wish I could say the wildlife was amazing to see but I don’t remember anything besides the birds. At least nothing caught my eye enough for me to get a picture of it, I’m sure it could depend on the season too. That afternoon we made it to Luang Prabang, this town was the absolute highlight of my Laos visit. I would visit here again.
Since my initial 2200 mile Appalachian Trail hike I have traveled to Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, North, Central, and South Americas, and most recently Africa. Hiked many more trails and treks including Appalachian Trail, Arizona Trail,1000 miles of Caminos, Arizona Trail, over half of the Florida Trail, Scottish Highlands, Mount Kilimanjaro and many more. My plan is to continuing to document my new travels and adventures here but also finally catching up on blogging all my old trips and treks. I hope you enjoy these stories and would certainly enjoy hearing about your similar adventures or recommendations in the comments.
