South East Asia Adventure | The long trek from Luang Prabang Part 2

Lee warned us that the long climb to the next village would be steep and hot. “We’ll just go slow”, he said. So with shirts off, hats on, and water in hand, we headed up the road that would take us on to Pha Peung. I criss-crossed the foot-deep ruts to get out of the sun, but there was no shade anywhere. The climb was unrelenting: this is when flat feels like downhill and you find yourself nearly running on the downhill from the effort you’ve been putting in on the way up. But I’ve learned, there’s only one way to conquer a seemingly impossible climb: left foot, right foot, left foot.... This pedantic, persistent mantra alternated with the sound of my YBR instructor, Pearl. Her voice in my ear was a constant “heel first, put down 5-4-3-2-- now your big toe, push off…heel first, now your baby toe-4-3-2 and 1…push off…But how do I push off when my steps are barely inches apart?  “Breathe”, I could hear her saying. “Inhaling is natural, emphasize the exhale”.  So I pushed that air out of my lungs as hard as I could (Thank you, Pearl!)…left foot, right foot.... The wide expanse of the valley lay before us and it was good to stop and take it all in, as we continued up, up, up step-by-exhausting step.

Ban Pha Peung looked more orderly up there in the high country and we found rest and relief on a bench in the shade outside a one-time homestay. I’m quite sure the visitors to this village normally come from the other end of the road; the way we would go down (and down, needless to say). They were obviously more accustomed to visitors and largely ignored us, except for these three young girls who watched us from afar.

Ladies' day at the community shower

Riding double

Women and girls took turns at the open-air community shower (water pumped from the stream, we think), while others wove bamboo roofs to replace the old ones on their houses before the rain comes. A young boy had fashioned himself a 3-wheeled go-cart of sorts and was tearing down the hill on his make-shift death machine; we were surprised later to see him climbing back up with his buddy, apparently unscathed (to tempt death once more?).

 

No, not what you think. Just getting a little respite from the sun.

Sometimes the way out from a long, arduous hike is as tough as the way in, and this would be no exception. When Lee pointed to our destination across the valley about two minutes in, we knew it would be 2 hours of knee-breaking pain.  We finally arrived at Ban Huay Lo, where after more pictures of giggling little girls, our driver picked us up and, despite our certainty that he was going to run someone down on the highway, we made it safely back to our hotel. Home, a shower, lattes at Jubo, dinner, the market…another day. We’ve put this one at the top of our top-10 list!