Über diese Brücke musst du gehen (Day 74 of the World Trip)

17.11.2019

After a freezing night, we were awakened before sunrise today (the days before we usually got up around 6:30 am). Peng, full of energy, asked, 'Wanna see sunrise?' Lennard got up almost immediately, and Jonas and I managed to leave our warm sleeping bags after a few minutes to watch the sunrise (around 5:30 am).

At first, I thought, 'Okay, it will just be another sunrise,' but I have to admit, this one was especially beautiful. We were on top of a hill, overlooking the valleys covered in dense fog, which gave the whole scene a mystical touch. On the horizon, we could slowly observe the colors of gray/blue/yellow/orange stripes overlapping each other. It was truly amazing! I think the pictures speak for themselves ;-)

For breakfast, we had the remaining eggs, the obligatory rice (which became very dry without water), and luckily, still no worms, although Peng jokingly said, 'Tomorrow we gonna eat worm for breakfast! :D'

Since we had made good progress yesterday, today was mostly downhill towards Nalan Neua Village. It took us about 2 hours to reach the village, and Lennard and I wondered (Jonas would never admit it :p) whether we dreaded going uphill or downhill more. Uphill is exhausting, but downhill takes a toll on our knees. My '3' in front is definitely starting to protest :p :D

Because we were in such a good mood, we started singing at some point, which was really fun. We began with the classics from Die Ärzte (a German band) and then moved on to German (trashy) rap and even Disney songs. Singing helped pass the time, and I was almost surprised when we finally caught sight of the village where we would take a lunch break :)

The last stretch from the jungle to the village passed by rice fields, and it was sooo hot :D :D We were used to the cool air on the hill and the shade of the trees, so it was quite a temperature shock for me, at least ;-)

The village is located by a river. To reach it from the jungle side where we came from, we had to cross the river. The villagers kindly built a bridge, but what a bridge it was! It was entirely made of bamboo, wobbly and swinging when you walked on it, and didn't look very stable. Therefore, only one person was allowed to cross the bridge at a time. Some of the bamboo poles were already broken, and even when Peng and Kong crossed the bridge slowly, I felt a bit scared :p

The crossing was as expected, uncertain, but also quite fun^^ Once we arrived on the other side, Peng explained that there are 45 families living in the village, with about 160 or 170 residents (Jonas understood 60 or 70, so we're not entirely sure about the exact numbers ^^).

Like the village where the trek started, the huts in this village are made of wood and built on stilts. Most of the residents originally come from Cambodia (which surprised Jonas and me because Cambodia borders Laos to the south, and we are currently in the north of Laos. So, they have traveled a long way...) and are still quite superstitious. In order to protect themselves from evil spirits, they are not allowed to build directly on the ground. We can't fully judge the accuracy of Peng's statements, but he definitely enjoyed teasing us from time to time ;-)

While walking through the village, we saw children and elderly women sitting in the shade under one of the houses at various "gathering places." Peng seemed to know all the villagers well because he talked to almost everyone as if they were good acquaintances. It was really nice :)

As Peng had explained to us the day before, the local guides like Kong are selected by the villages themselves. In a certain rhythm, each family can provide a guide who accompanies tourists like us so that all families can benefit equally from the income from these tours :) It's really good! Most of them are farmers and have the additional knowledge of the jungle ;-)

In addition to a little girl who didn't want to let go of Lennard's leg (<333), there were also many adorable baby animals here too^^ And there was even a kind of "pasture" with cows. Various small gardens were being tended, and chickens were mainly kept. There was also a small convenience store where you could buy snacks and soft drinks like in a supermarket, so overall, it was still an original scene mixed with a bit of modernity, such as satellite dishes, a truck, and a few mopeds ;-)

Since we had some time before lunch, Lennard, Jonas, and I went down to the river to wash ourselves and cool off. I had brought my swimsuit, but I wasn't sure if it was appropriate to walk around in a bikini when the women in the village dress more modestly... Jonas said it was probably unnecessary to avoid swimming, but I just felt more comfortable that way :)

However, Lennard and Jonas didn't miss the chance to swim in the river. It was deep enough in the middle of the river to swim properly, and the two of them played around happily there. After a while, Peng joined in and looked for a tree that could serve as a diving board but wasn't sure if the water was deep enough :D

Occasionally, the men from the village also came to the river, undressed to their underwear, and washed themselves with a piece of soap. Quite practical when it's 30°C and you can refresh yourself in such a cool river <3 :)

For lunch, we had beans, meat, and rice. Peng and Kong were invited to the family's hut where they had cooked and came back after the meal with a bowl of rat meat^^ It was heavily seasoned (spicy), so once again, I decided not to try it. Lennard and Jonas had a bit of it. Jonas found it a bit odd because most of what he had in his mouth was bones ;-) Lennard liked it though and ate almost the whole portion^^

Shortly after we finished, the head of the household came out and chewed on the rat's head unashamedly. Well, different countries, different eating habits ;-) But we also received a fruit from the tree that looked like a pear (but wasn't), and I tried that too :)

After lunch, we had about an hour or so before we continued our walk, as the remaining hike for today would take only about 1.5 hours, with the first half-hour walking along the road. Peng didn't want to do this in the scorching sun, and I wasn't too sad about it :p

When we finally set off, we made a short stop at the convenience store, and Lennard bought about 500ml of whiskey for about 1 €, which the village stores in large gasoline canisters :D Alcohol is apparently a big topic in the villages. Empty beer crates are everywhere. Beer Lao, the Laotian beer brand, seems to be a popular drink.

Walking along the road (the first road we saw since the start of the trek, and it was a bumpy dirt road, just like Jonas and I experienced on our bike tour) was actually quite sweaty, even in the early afternoon. We weren't used to so much sun :D

Eventually, we reached a slope that resembled a vineyard and where rice is grown. Normally, there would be rice terraces, but for some reason, the slope was used instead. However, it's very dry this year, so all the rice has dried up and still stands there like straw...

When we left the rice slope and went back into the jungle, I was very relieved! The shade immediately made a difference, and we would be walking along a creek/river for a bit, which brought a pleasant, cool breeze. Perfect :)

It only took a few minutes until I clumsily ran into a fallen tree trunk sideways and hit my thigh so unfortunately that tears welled up in my eyes from the pain :D

After the initial shock, we continued, but a few minutes later, I asked for a break because walking was just so painful :/ I checked it out and found a big bump on my thigh, which would definitely result in an ugly bruise. However, I didn't quite understand why this affected my walking. It was just a hit! I applied some ointment and continued. Kong quickly found me a walking stick, and so I trailed behind even slower than usual, walking upstream with the others :D

During a brief stop, Peng spotted a huge hollow tree, and immediately the men inspected it from the inside with flashlights. It was indeed hollow for several meters, and besides spiders, there were even bats inside! When Kong looked into the tree, he was also impressed, which was really cute to see^^

We reached our sleeping place for the night at our usual time. It was a similar hut to the one on the second night, but much simpler and not enclosed. Still, I was especially grateful for the comfort because I could elevate my leg a little bit ;-)

As on the previous days, we basically waited for dinner, chatted with Lennard, and helped with cooking if we could. Peng had managed to get a pumpkin in the village, but he wasn't sure how to prepare it, so he saved it for the next day^^

Instead, we had the now classic jungle meal :) Afterwards, Peng wanted to go crab hunting again. This time, Jonas joined him out of curiosity, but I stayed at the campfire with Kong. Apart from limping, I had little desire to hunt animals (cold, pity, fear of being clumsy^^).

Jonas went along just to see, but afterwards, he realized that he couldn't really relate to it all either. In any case, we had enough food supplies with us, so hunting the animals was not necessary. When villagers hunt crabs because they are hungry and have nothing else, it's different from a tour provider killing crabs and fish just for the tourists to see ;-)

Peng had told us before that sometimes there are customers who book this 5-day tour and then complain that it wasn't adventurous enough. They say the trails were not challenging enough (which I don't understand because it was almost always exhausting and sometimes genuinely 'dangerous' because it was right on the edge of a cliff and the path was narrow :O) or the food was not exotic enough. They wanted to see snakes, eat frogs, and so on... Jonas and I found that a bit disappointing.

We had no specific expectations for the trek and were just excited about whatever the chance brought to us :)

Not that we wouldn't have been excited if something 'special' had happened :D Of course, we would have loved that too. But if not, it was also okay for us ;)

The result of the nightly river hunt were crabs, frogs, and fish, which would be our breakfast the next day. They also saw three snakes along the way! :O However, since Peng said they were poisonous, they were not brought along ;-)

We went to sleep with a somewhat sad feeling, knowing that this would be our last night in the jungle :O Now that we were in the 'flow,' we could have extended the trek for a few more days, but at least we still had one more day^^