Climbing in Laos ... Yeaahhh.

We got into Vang Vieng at about 2 in the morning. We walked across a gravel field (which later turned out to be the airfield) and found someone awake in the back of a guesthouse. He turned out to be the owner, and put Alonzo and I in his room, and Jessy and some Australian guy who we met 2 minutes before at the bus stop, in another room. (This picture is from the multi-pitch I talk about later.) The roosters started going at about 5:30 or 6:00, and I slept through it for a while, but between that, feeling weird sleeping in the hotel owners bed, and having to pee, I got up at about 7:30. Alonzo got up to, so we went out to look around. We knew there was climbing here, and had some idea of the topography from the bus ride down the day before, but the reality was stunning. The scenery was gorgeous with big steep hills of land everywhere, many of which had sheer rock faces on the sides. We finally made it out climbing a little before noon. Everyone here is out to make a buck (which I can't really hold against them), but I try to avoid getting taken in by every little scam. So we walked through the river to keep from having to pay the toll over the bridge. Then we just kept walking towards the mountain, through some rice paddies. Along in here we picked up some kids. They couldn't have been more than 3-4 years old, and just kept running up behind us, slapping as high as they could reach (usually butt or backpack) and then falling over in hysterics. They asked for money too, but mostly they fell over and laughed. Except for one kid. I didn't see it happen, but I had hung back to take some pictures, and the flock of kids followed Alonzo and Jessy. When I caught up there was one kid crying his eyes out, and Alonzo trying to comfort him. Apparently he was just running full out, and took a digger. Right onto his face. As we got closer to the mountain the kids headed back home, or wherever it is they hang out. Then we found the 'guide' (aka, last scam before we get to the rock). It was $1 each, and he took us to the climbing. It wasn't actually terrible, because it probably would have taken us a long time to find it, but then again, they could use signs.

The rock was great though. There were only about 8 climbs at this one spot, and we did most of them. And the view from the top of some of the climbs was really spectacular. We climbed until just before dark and timed it just right, so that we caught the sunset from the rice patties. It was one of the most amazing sunsets I've ever seen. It started really beautiful, and just kept getting more and more so. Then Alonzo noticed some bats coming from a hill on the right and streaming over the setting sun. They kept streaming out for 2-3 more minutes, while the sunset peaked. It was unbelievable.

With the sunset, the moon rise, the scenery here, and from the bus last night ... I pretty much fell in love with Laos right away. Because we had climbed most of the routes there, we had to go to a new place the next day. There were quite a few in the guidebook, and we decided that the 'Sleeping Wall' looked like a good place to go. We were in the mood for some adventure, so we decided to walk out and try to find it.

The guidebook said it was 2 km north of town, which didn't seem that bad, because we assumed that we knew where the end of town was. But after we'd been walking for a while, we began to realize that there wasn't a very distinct edge to the town, so we weren't really sure where we should begin estimating the 2 km before our left turn. After a while, we found a dirt road that seemed like it might be right. There was a very bleached old sign that seemed like it said something like the guidebook said it should, so we turned off there. I don't think we really believed it was the correct road, but we knew we would have to cross the river eventually, and walking along (or possibly through) the river seemed a lot more pleasant than walking beside the road, so we headed off. We passed a couple houses, and one playing loud (and in my opinion sub-par) Asian music. After passing a couple forks we finally made it to the banks of the river. We could see some rocks on the other side, so we dropped down the shore. We stumbled upon a bamboo platform with a man selling beer. We decided to stop and enjoy a Beer Lao and the scenery. The beer was warm, but the scenery was nice, and after we had been sitting talking for a while the guy gave us a delicious orange. After we finished our beers, we asked the guy for directions, and he pointed down the river, back towards town. We waded out into the creek, and down stream, looking for a place to stop. After a couple hundred yards we came to another stream side bar, and they had a little ferry service, so we got a shuttle across. We were looking for the 'Sleeping Wall', and we ended up finding the 'Sleeping Cave'. It was absurdly overhanging, and there were some bolted routes but most of them looked really dirty. We climbed one, but there was a stream flowing through the bottom of the cave, so it was hard to find a good place to belay. And the climbing was just as dirty as it looked. We decided to head back to the bar to relax. After all, it had been a hard day. I mean, we must have walked at least a mile and a half. And then did one and a half climbs. Definitely time for another beer. We walked back, and past the first bar we came to. Our goal was a second one, about 100 yards farther down stream, that looked like it had a pretty sweet rope swing. Right as we got to the second bar, we stumbled upon the 'Sleeping Wall'. There was one canyon, and another face, both tucked right behind the second bar. After we saw the climbing, we got excited again, and decided to climb more. Climbing here was certainly a different experience from the climbing yesterday. Not only was it harder and shorter, but there was mediocre European techno blasting from the bar (there were a few French climbers there to, and they got there first, so I guess they got to choose the music). There was even a campfire, and a slackline (tight-rope made from webbing). It was just a lot more of a social scene. The rope swing turned out to be as cool as it looked. It was fun, and there was really no room for hesitation. The bamboo platform they had built up to swing from, was really rickety, so it was scarier to stand there than it was to jump. This bar had a free shuttle, so after cooling off in the river, we headed home. It turned out that the road we had chosen was actually the right road, we had just turned off too soon.

Most of the rest of the time in Laos was well spent. One of the main tourist things to do is tube down the river, stopping frequently at bars along the way to get drunk. When we rented the tubes the company wrote their initials on our hands, in big black water-proof letters, so no matter how drunk we got, we would still know where to return the tubes. They are clearly experienced with foreign tourists.

We followed some friend's advice, and waited until the early afternoon to get started. This turned out to be a mistake because we ended up coming back after the sun had gone down, and the water wasn't that warm. At the put in, there was an Organic Farm that supports fair trade, shade grown, local agriculture, and all sorts of dandy things like that, with much of the profits going back to the local community (westerner's also go there to volunteer, and feel good about themselves for being socially responsible, and helping indigenous communities). The Organic Farm wasn't above opening a bar at the put in, so people could start the day off right, and one of these clever foreigners had made a sign that said "Please, Drink for the Children". So we stopped and had a shot of some sort of banana liquor. For the children. Then we set off. The first bar we passed had a zip-line, which would have been neat to try, but we saw a couple other people try it, and when they got to the block on the wire (to keep them from zipping all the way to the end of the line) they hit the block with force, which swung their legs up and most of them ended up doing a flip into the water. It looked sort of fun, but it looked like you got flipped pretty forcefully into the water, which was more than we wanted. All of the bars had people standing on the banks with bamboo harpoons, to throw to the lazy foreign tubers, so the lazy foreign tubers could get dragged to shore. The next bar we passed was advertising free whiskey shots, so we flagged down the harpoon man, and he tossed out the piece of bamboo and pulled us in. The whiskey sign turned out to be false advertising, so we walked down to the next bar, where there seemed to be more people.

Indeed there were more people at the next bar. It really reminded me of crappy hip hop clubs in Taiwan. The music was absurd and too loud, there were the young drunk people dancing and making fools out of themselves, and the place was even complete with older people sitting in bamboo huts looking sullen and bored. There were a couple exceptions though. One was volley ball courts. The other was the huge rope swing. We decided to get some drinks and sit down, and the most well advertised drink is the so called "Bucket". Naturally, in the spirit of trying new things, I decided to get one. Sure enough, it was a bucket, first filled with ice, then half filled with whiskey, then a Pepsi and energy drink for taste. It really wasn't bad. Alonzo and Jessy both decided to try the rope swing, but I was starting to get sick, and was already wearing my long john shirt to stay warm, so I didn't think the rope swing would be a good idea. After they did the rope swing we headed down stream again. I think we stopped for one more beer, but mostly it was a long, cold, mildly buzzed float back to town. We got our tubes back to the right place (thanks to the engravings on our hands) and went to get warm and clean. There is a little island in the river, just near town, and coincidentally it is packed with bars, so we went there to ring in the New Year.

Midnight didn't take very long to arrive, and after the countdown was over, I realized I had a little fever, and my throat hurt so I left. In the end, it turns out that drinking a lot wasn't a sure fire cure, and actually probably negatively affected my throat. So I took a couple days off from climbing. At one point, we were eating, and Jessy asked how I was doing. "I've got a fever, my throat hurts, and my nose is completely stuffed up, but I know if I try to blow it, it will start bleeding." (I'm pretty sure I just had strep throat, but for some reason it was accompanied by nose bleeds every day for over a week. For a few days, they were like clockwork, coming within a few minutes of each other. Every morning, unprovoked, at about 8:30.) So, I slept a lot, and towards the end I got some throat lozenges, and it sorted itself out.

That Thursday was my last day in Laos, and there was a multi-pitch I wanted to do before I left. The cliff was behind the 'Sleeping Wall', and was easily visible, so we didn't think it would be that hard to get to. This proved not to be the case, and the approach turned out to be one of the most intense one's I'd ever done. The main difficulty at first was finding out where the trail was, but after 3-4 false starts, we finally got the right one. Shortly thereafter, the trail truly got sketchy. It was through a jungle, but the sketchy part was the rocks we were walking on. The way they formed, it was basically like a bunch of knives laid down with the sharp edge facing the sky. Then we walked along these sharp edged rocks (they were sharp enough to make noticeable gashes and holes in the soles of my shoes, just from 40 min. of walking on them) balancing and hoping they didn't break (though you could see where previous pieces had broken off). Most of the time you could see down through the gaps between the slivers of rock, maybe 8 inches or a foot to the ground, so that if a sliver did break, you would actually fall a little. Mostly I think we were afraid of getting a knee-cap shorn clean off. All in all it still wasn't as terrifying as a couple of the moped rides. After we made it to the cliff, we ended up getting on the wrong climb, but the one we did was fun, and the view's were beautiful, so it was OK.

On Friday I departed Laos. The first bus ride was 4 hours, down to the capital of Vientienne (the capital of Laos). Then I got a tuk tuk down to the border, where I encountered some difficulties. After I made it through immigration, I was immediately targeted and a woman tried to sell me a bus ticket into Thailand. I figure the first person to try to sell you stuff is the most expensive, so I always say no right away. In hindsight I think the woman was running the only 'public' bus system, and was probably just trying to be helpful. After the tuk tuk ride, I only had about $2 left (in Laotian currency) and for some reason, I thought that I had to spend it all, or maybe it would be a good idea to spend it all before I got any Thai currency. So I shopped around, and found some interesting boxes of cookies and bought them. That was the point where I realized my mistake. I should have first bought transport away from the spot I was (no town really, just a border crossing with some stores), then gotten food. Border control was pretty loose, and I had seen an ATM in Laos before I crossed over, so I walked around the border checkpoint, and back into Laos. I was surprised how easy it was just to walk back in. Anywhoo, the ATM didn't take VISA cards, so I was faced with a real predicament. No money, and no way to get money. And I had to pee, but they charged for the bathroom, and I didn't think they would except cookies as payment. I walked back into Thailand, and found a taxi driver I had briefly haggled with before buying the cookies. I think this was the peak of my haggling success, especially since I didn't actually have any money. We bartered back and forth, with neither of us moving. I expected him to come down gradually, but after we chit chatted for a bit, he just yelled to some of his fellow cab drivers, and someone appeared who was willing to take me to the train station for my price. I'm pretty sure the guy who took me used his own personal truck. It certainly didn't seem like a regular cab. And he ended up having to loan me some money so I could make it through immigration on the Thai side. THEN, the other cab driver had lead me to believe there was an ATM at the train station, but there wasn't so the guy drove me to an Tesco where they had an ATM, so I could get money. I was really grateful to the guy, but at the same time, the train station turned out to be about 1/4 mile away from the border crossing. I think I could have walked there in 20 min, so I'm pretty sure the guy still came off with a big profit. And from the looks of his truck, it didn't seem like he was hurting for cash. I had been worried some about the travel, because of still being a little sick, but the train ride to Bangkok ended up being great. I was in the sleeper car, and I had previously been warned to try to get a lower bunk, because it minimized the rocking of the train. When I bought my ticket there were none left, so I got the top one. It was good though because it's been a long time since I was little enough for my momma to rock me to sleep, and I ended up really enjoying the rocking of the train. After the train got in, I had to catch a couple buses to get out to the airport. On the second one, just like clockwork, my nose started to bleed. Fortunately, I had come prepared, so I tilted my head back so the blood ran down my throat, the fumbled in my bag for some tissues, which I pressed to my nose, and waited for it to sort itself out. After I got to the airport, it was just a long wait for my plane to leave. Then a short flight back to Taiwan. I did see a bunch of Eastern Europeans, with a fetish for taping their baggage closed. Lord only knows why, but a few of them used a whole roll of tape just to make 2 really thick bands of tape around their bags. Whatever the reason, the did seem to enjoy taping their luggage closed, so I guess it was alright.