DAY 7: Farewell and goodbye Laos

Today we are aware that, getting off the tree, getting off the tree house, we head again towards civilization, towards those places where nature has  had to step aside for manr. Yet, if not for civilization, the airport where the plane that allowed me to get here landed would not exist, nor would the factory of steel cables that allowed me to fly through the air, nor the climbing gear attached to it. Though I am conscious it is very difficult leaving this enchanted place, this waterfall.  It has been beautiful to be carried down, floating on zip lines’ cables and enjoying gravity’s strength. Now it is hard, sweating in order to climb up the mountain, climbing a vertical wall in order to go back to the plateau where we came from. Speaking about vertical wall is not an exaggeration as this its real rockface and perpendicular, standing in front of us. With Home ahead we follow, in single file, up the grips of “Via Ferrata”. A step ahead with the right foot, then left foot, right hand, left hand and the carabiner snapping a meter ahead. Repeatedly, a mechanical and ritual act that is not boring, because the precipice grows step by step and the sky, firstly extremely high on the trees’ crowns and on the mountain’s top, gets closer and closer. Though climbing and going up the top has its benefits too, the horizon widens and the landscape embraces the whole valley, with the 7 cascades of the Tiger’s waterfall and the Monkey’s waterfall in the distance.

It is the first time that I climb a mountain in this way, the effort of the first 10 minutes shortly disappear, the limbs relax and once we arrive at the top of the wall rock I feel stronger, as if instead of loosing energies they rather had entered my body. We will need this energy to leave these places, to let go the road leading to Pakse in a pleasant way. With extreme lightness we get on the last Laotian Tuk Tuk to go back to the Thai border. We leave in silence, full of gratefulness to nature and these people; we leave on tiptoe, the same way we came. Full of gratefulness to Mynatour, Teamworkz, Vat Phou Boat and Green Discovery for having made possible these days. With great enthusiasm we say to all the travelers reading us and seeing us happy in the pictures they’d better contact them to experience some special emotions.

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Day 6 

DAY 6: Tree-house and heart of the nature

“Tree house”, here I wake up, on my first tree house, Katia has already left her sleeping bed and mosquito net and takes photos leaning out on the parapet. Under her, 20 meters of trunk rounded by lianas and climbing plants. All around are high trees, some cleared, some with other little houses as ours. The “tree house” complex is something wonderful, a tiny village self sufficient for water and electricity. An array of pipes hidden amongst the trees channel water from the waterfall upstream and thanks to gravity, water climbs up to the bathroom tap built on the tree. A little table on the corner makes a living room and the wish to stay huddled over there is really strong. The restaurant area is built under a wooden shed attached to a little house used as a kitchen. It is a magical place, right under the last of the seven cascades of the Tiger waterfall, among whirlpools, sparkles and mist spread among a thousand rainbows.

Its twin waterfall, the Monkey one, that we still have to explore, é la metà di oggi. But only after breakfast around the bonfire. Home and Ham are already devouring their glutinous rice and smile to us behind their coffee cup. Breakfast has not been the first daily gesture, the first has been the zip-line – sure it is, for there are no stairs for getting out of the tree house but only another cable that, opposite to the one we used the night before, brings us down, towards Mother Earth. We are used to choose a t-shirt or a pair of trousers to be worn in the morning; here instead you choose the most suitable climbing gear, brilliant!

The daily trekking will take us downstream, we will go down along the river springing from the Tiger waterfall and we will head towards the Monkey waterfall that at first will stream over our heads, then under, then sidewise, in a never-ending repeated series of four zip-lines that hold the core of the day. It is true we are used to the feeling from yesterday but today’s zip-lines are definitely astonishing, 300 meters of air, and then 400 to finish. An entire flying minute in progressive acceleration, now I understand the purpose of those curved wooden sticks that Home called ‘brake’, they are the only way to slow down and not to be taken by the wish of flying.

Lunch is by the river, on a rock our banana’s leaf’ towel and fish rolls, sauces and Khow Niawo (sticky rice). Feet enter chilled water, the feeling of diving and bathing is strong but the presence of rapids a few meters ahead discourages us. Home and Ham advise not to panic because we will bathe on the way back in a fabulous place. It really is as he promises, but the ascent is hard, an hour climbing in a half vertical path – the fabulous descent through zip-line is only a memory. Yet, going back to the lodge under the waterfall and diving into the natural swimming pools under it, hearing the roar in the ears, wetting one’s face with the vaporized water and walking through a rainbow are worth all climbing paths of the world. Bathing under the Tiger waterfall makes me remember the same feelings of Amazonia, 5 years ago, deeply rooted in my heart.  Drugs and alcohol are absolutely forbidden in this place, not only for a safety issues, but also because the vision of such deep and perfect landscape would be altered. Colors do not need Photoshop, the music of nature is not filtered by an equalizer and even faces, mine and Katia’s, look more beautiful than mother nature made us in these amazing surrounds.

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DAY 5: Swimming in the air

Awakening is again in the room 409 of the Champasak Palace Hotel. What happened between the temple on the mountain of Champasak and my hotel in Pakse has been a long and never-ending dream. Such a dream that on waking up I still think I’m being cuddled by the waters pushing the Vat Phou Boat, whereas it’s just the residual water drops coming from the sky after the night monsoon.

Leaving the boat, the Mekong, in order to get back to the mainland has been like being born, perhaps it was like an ancestral feeling such as leaving one’s mother’s womb, warm and watery, before being spitted out in the world. But on the mainland today the jungle is waiting for us, not concrete, not traffic or noise.  Getting on the van of Green Discovery friends, the tour operator that will take care of the next 3 days of discoveries, and the ride onto the Bolaven plateau. While travelling we have time to get to know Home and Ham, the most perfect couple of guides I have ever known (starting from their names), the former technological, fluent English speaker, freshly updated Facebook page holder, the latter shy, smiling silently as a child and both with their flip flops ready to overcome all obstacles of a jungle as if they were wearing the most up to date trekking shoes.

On the edge of Stone Khelee Vongkot park our trekking in the forest starts. Equipment is first class, climbing gear, ropes, carabineers, pulleys and helmet, everything in place. The only doubt is given by a small curved wood stick that Katia looks suspiciously at while Home ensures her “…it’s the brake, it’s the brake…”. After half an hour of walking among the famous cultivations of local coffee we enter the jungle. Cultivations disappear and the tangle of giant bamboos, ferns, a world of tropical plants, the decaying underwood and the ground as a mine, but instead of precious stones you find the triumph of biodiversity.

At the sixth minute in the jungle, maybe seventh, Home, opening the line, jumps from one side to the other of the path, stops us and says “…uau…it’s a Cobra…!”. “F*#k!” I answer “couldn’t we start with a monkey???” To tell the truth I think we were very lucky to have such a close encounter with a cobra since it is not so common; so; after having relaxed our paralyzed bodies, observing it in action, for the 5 minutes he grants us before sneaking away, is really fantastic.

The path brings us towards a rocky wall overhanging under our feet. Behind a hidden wall on our right we hear a waterfall noise. There is a way to have a look at it. If we want to go ahead in the path there is a way. If we want to reach the camping before night there is a way. It is always the same and Ham announces it to us, spends three of the eleven words he will utter in the next three days of total adventures: “…need a zip-line…”. On the top of a secular tree beside us there is a wooden platform. Attached to the trunk is a thick steel cable stretching out in the emptiness, in the humid mist of the jungle, right over the crowns of all trees climbing from the underlying emptiness towards the top of the wall.

Towards the emptiness we throw ourselves, our first zip line, the first jump into the emptiness attached to a pulley hanging from a cable. A feeling of lightness, more than flying I feel like swimming in the air, indeed I find myself singing Marlene Kunts tunes. The first throw is surely a stroke, a flame, lasts few seconds; at least it sounds so; what slides beneath my eyes let alone my feet is the whole world, universe and nature together. Trees sixty meters high under my feet, a waterfall beside me which I think I may skim and a little stream down there which few minutes ago looked like a furious bull. We put our feet in the other side’s platform and we find solidness under our feet again. Adrenaline is still there, should not be reabsorbed and so again, another cable starting behind a hidden wall, another waterfall, other trees streaming under and beside. Repeatedly until the evening comes, until we go back down the whole cliff, until the night falls, until the last cable leads us directly Home.

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DAY 4: Champasak…the temple where hinduism, buddhism and dreams go arm in arm.

Each morning, as the first sunbeam rises, the engine driver, after the captain has stricken the order with a sole straight glance, turns on the engines of Vat Phou cruise boat. The last day of going up river awaits us, towards Pakse, where we will arrive in the afternoon. However, this last day is special; first of all we visit the grand templar complex at Champasak. On the hills south of Pakse lies this ancient city, more than once rebuilt right under the mountains that overlook it, hosting this fabulous site where in the 6th century local populations built an array of temples in Hindu style.  The site was chosen because in the mountain is a springs of such fresh and crystal clear water that it could not come from anywhere but the Gods. In the following centuries the site was retaken by monks and Buddhists and nowadays is considered one of the most important pilgrimage sites of the nation, mostly in February – when at the age of full moon, Theravada believers arrive in order to organize an entire week of feast among prayers and music.

In the clearing at the feet of the mountain lie two enormous ponds, pointed with lotus flowers, where we can bathe and purify ourselves before going up the mountain. In the middle of the two smooth waters the entrance road streams straight, circumscribed by milestones sculptured as a homage to Hindu symbols of male and female sexes. Under the feet the pavement is the original one and at the end of the path, it noses up to the first terrace. Here you find the first two great temples, by this time in ruins, but under restoration. Continuing along the path you reach the base of the mountain where the pathway heads up a steep staircase carved in the rock leading to the temple. Shadowed by a thick frangipani trees and under the sheer rock wall rests this jewel of little temple, with square arched doors richly decorated with Brama, Visnù and Shiva. In a game of perspectives it is possible to have a glance through the doors and catch sight of the central hall where a beautiful statue of Buddha is installed. It is covered with long orange drapes, half buried under the votive offers, rice bowls, incense sticks, bananas’ leaves bundles, flowers and candles. The vision is sublime, breathtaking and maybe this is the reason why one feels like throwing oneself into the pure water source springing from the rock behind the temple.

A path winds in the surrounding area and leads to a place where, in time, several sculptors have carved the rock in order to dedicate it to the myth of crocodile, humming bird and elephant. Watching the underlying valley the view is breathtaking, the green of rice fields is mixed to the forest one, the smooth waters reflect the sun towards the sky mixing it to the mist, the landscape is composed by stretches of clearness mixed with nebulous spots which rather than a view look like a dream. From up there the Mekong look like a shining snake sliding inside a carpet and watching carefully, with closed eyes, you can see the boat Vat Phou waiting for us in order to guide us onwards.

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Sometimes, when people travel to different places, they often go to the really old places or very historical sites.  But we all have moments when we just want to experience how a country is trying to become modern and developed.  The Nam Phou area is just that place for travelers to experience lots of things both modern and traditional in one central location.

DAY 3: Wat Phou Cruise

The Vat Phou Boat was built at the beginning of the century, in order to transport teak – construction and decoration wood, but that was not to be its destiny. Nowadays it appears like a shining two storey building shaped as a box which at first sight does not give an exact glance of where stem and stern are, but what is lost in the squat shape is gained in the elegance of colors and the finishing touches. The stern deck is an enormous lounge equipped with soft pillows and sofas, spread randomly in such a perfect shape to look like it’s planned.

The cruise was quiet and rather sounded more like being carried by the current of the Mekong, in such a fluid and relaxing way. The other deck is smaller, just as stylish, but more lively. It’s the place where breakfast is served in the morning and lunch at noon, a little tribe gather here, we are just nine. The Mekong and the luxury boat do not just attract western people, while travelling at these latitudes I realize the whole of Asia is on the move, from Hong Kong to Singapore, from Thailand and Laos itself – you find travelers with backpacks, just like us, searching for adventure and authentic places.

The cruise stops every now and then in order to let passengers get off and putting them in contact with villages along the river. Ban Deua Tia is one of the most characteristic, men fix fishing nets, women take care of rice fields where water gradually subsides, and children play if they are not in school. This predetermined order is broken by many other daily activities, the main one, weaving colorful mats, involves several family generations. Contacts with these people are easy, you can pass from a smile to a glance, few words, but soon you find yourself sitting close sharing an activity, a moment, trying to practice weaving or fruits and vegetables decorations as we do with the women of the boat crew.

The afternoon passes in calm navigation, the Mekong broadens out and narrows and the boat goes along the villages port and starboard, children wave and greet us from both banks. It is always a special moment when evening comes as colors gradually change tones and it was just then we arrived at the ruins of Oum Mong temple. It is part of the UNESCO world heritage site, half buried by the tropical moss, lies this one thousand years old temple complex, built by that brilliant civilization of Khmer; living in these areas of Laos even before they reached their best in Cambodia.

Reaching the ruins at sunset, after having walked for a good quarter of an hour in the jungle, is really exciting. I regret the guide spared us the surprise of avoiding speaking about the temple; announcing the arrival in advance, because if it had appeared from nowhere, it would have been even more incredible. Blocks of granite are not titanic but surely required a great effort in order to be transported and skimming them under the fingers, feeling their folds, appreciating their old age as we would with a grandfather’s wrinkles, is definitely special. Light is soft thanks to the flourishing vegetation and slowly leaves us on the way back, on the river side, twilight appears. Shadow games offer magical perspectives and, just because it’s games, children are the best players. I could be like this, huddled under this giant tree, for hours, seeing children playing, running; splashing between the river bend and the boat, the sun wishing good night to Mekong while it sets behind the hills.

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DAY 2:  Wat Phou Cruise

Champasak Palace is something more than a hotel, it was built by a local prince in the 50s in order to make it its residence. Something went wrong with the revolution and, forced to flee to France, he had to leave the building unaccomplished. So it became a hotel, clinging on a little hill overlooking the city, every room is like a small apartment and the one where I wake up, on the fourth floor, is lighted by that glowing sun that follows a rainy night. The monsoon has come, it is seasonal in the end, me and Katia were waiting for it for days “the Monsoon”, we heard so much about it, we were almost scared, but on the Thai beaches it spared us (luckily), instead here it comes in order to water the as-far-as-the-eye-can-see rice fields and to delight us with little drops on our heads, the eastern baptize we strongly needed.

Breakfast is based on flagrant local coffee, produced close by on the Bolaven plateau, a mix of wild fertile and generous land that we will discover in a couple of days. For the moment we focus on the Mekong that still has to offer a lot, I am prepared to give in return whatever it asks in order to be discovered. We set off southwards by bus, straight to Pha Pheng waterfall, the biggest waterfalls on the Mekong River – the so-called Niagara of East. A wall of water falling down more than 35 meters, stretching out over a ridge for a kilometer and a half –  it’s definitely a stunning site.

As impressive is the natural painting board created by the green of trees, the blue of the sky and the brown of waters fading out in the white foam. Rocks, meandering islets, appearing and disappearing under the roar of waters, calling to be discovered. But it’s time to go, our guide Saa says, a very nice man willing to show his mastery of three languages and that English, French and Russian do not hold any secrets for him, and we continue by boat.

Lao lunches, as all of our dinners that will follow, can be described under the recurring and common theme of “delicious”. The common feature is Khao Niaow, a glutinous rice base which is eaten with millions of possible combinations in seems; fish, meat, vegetables, spices and sauces. The tiny restaurant on the river where we enjoy it is in authentic local style and the boat  waiting for us on the water right under the restaurant lets us foresee a nice forthcoming afternoon. This long and speedy boat will help us reach the larger cruise boat in time for sunset.

Yet, before that there is still some time to penetrate into those magic net of islets known as the region of “the four thousands islands”. Here you can admire the very interesting colonial relics from the times of the French presence in Indochina.  Besides the colonial relics lie the actual villages and it is clear how here society has managed to develop an autonomous path without suffering from the colonial age. With this mix of cultures in the eyes, and with the delight of seeing the pre and post colonial cultures prevailing, we set forth again sailing fast on Mekong, on the opposite direction this time, towards the north, following the river’s waves. The coming monsoon tries to slap the boat around, but the vision of Vat Phou boat waiting for us on the pier by the river while the sun sets and the monks start praying in the temple, provides a wonderful end to the afternoon.

Day 1: Arrival in Laos
Day 3: Wat Phou Cruise
Day 4: Wat Phou Cruise
Day5: TreeTop Explorer
Day 6: TreeTop Explore 

DAY 1: Arrival in Laos

“One of the most exciting sensations to experience is to crossing a border” wrote Ryszard Kapucinsky in his book “A trip with Erodotus”. That geo-political boundary dividing two states can be a valley, a river, a mountain or even…..nothing. Very often it is just a line on a geographical map and if we call it border (from the Latin cum + finis) it means something is coming to an end on one side, but something else is certainly starting on the other. My journey starts exactly here, on the border with Thailand; where its end coincides with the beginning of Laos. It was really impossible to get here by plane, it would not be fair to miss the delight of a night train from Bangkok to Ubon Rachathani and then again catch local means of transport to reach the frontier post. So it was fair to carry a rucksack, get the umpteenth exit Thai visa on the passport and go on foot through the stretch of road separating (or joining) the two states. In those 500 meters you feel the emotion Kapucinski referred to, to be in no man’s land, as if in an airport’s duty free, without perceiving neither conditioning nor the cold shop windows. Rather, you feel the sunshine neither Thai nor Laotian, just sun, one could notice the green of plants is shining as much as the one left behind, and that people smile likewise. That is the exact moment when you get astonished and understand that, though maps aim at dividing, they are hopeless against uniting nature.

Me and Katia, travel mate, sister, friend, photographer and much more, are crossing the border. I would not share any images if not for her, since her photos tell stories that I would never be able to tell. If I get off a plane; I close my eyes for a long minute and breathe deeply, in order to smell the place, the burning warmth of the desert, the tropical miasma, the wet grassland, or the mountains’ chill. Rather, the first thing I do when I cross a border is drinking. Drinking a welcoming fresh milk cup, or streaming water. But in Vang Thao the first liquid available is in display on a stand on the side of the street, fiery red, it’s rice grappa, pleasing us at 9 o’clock in the morning. Reaching Pakse, the region’s chief city and starting point for our next six days of travel, is a real pleasure, most of all if travelling on a Tuk Tuk, the typical local van with a modified truck in order to welcome passengers enjoying wind on their faces, having fun if one of the many mechanical pieces crack during the trip. We were delighted to see the axle shaft detaching, the driver getting off, saving pieces in his pocket, stopping a passing by taxi, boarding us on it and blessing us for the continuation of the trip, keeping a big smile on his face.

In Pakse Teamworkz, reserved us a room in the most beautiful hotel of the city, Champasak Palace. It cures and feed us after a night on a train and almost invites to postpone everything to the day after, to the cruise along the great river, Mekong, but it’s really those peaceful brown waters that push us to go out. The river calls, the sunset simply whispers, like mermaids did with Ulysses, making it impossible not being overwhelmed by the city, by the enchanted What with the praying monks, by the streets flooded with flavors; colors and sounds, by the peaceful streaming of river waters. Tomorrow we will sail through you, but now stream Mekong, and prepare yourself to welcome us.

Day 2: Wat Phou Cruise
Day 3: Wat Phou Cruise
Day 4: Wat  Phou Cruise
Day 5: TreeTop Explorer
Day 6: TreeTop Explorer