Day 17: Hmong hilltribes on the Mekong
Claire: At breakfast this morning we watched elephants on the opposite riverbank bathe in the Mekong. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.
Another early start, we're on the boat for 7:30am. It's super misty and really cold too, especially with the wind through the boat. We snuggled under blankets with coffee admiring the views. It was bloody freezing but we still loved it.
Our first stop of the day was another Hmong hill tribe village. This one totally geared up for visitors as the women lay their wares for sale. It's also a traditional weaving community so we watch as the older generations hand make their colourful creations. The ladies in our group bought lots of pretty scarves but alas my rucksack is already as full as an egg!
The children are so happy — running free and playing. There's puppies and piglets and chicks and billy goats... who needs video games?!
As the women weave and sell their wares, the men do man things like farming and axing.
A surprise (to us) on the agenda we also stopped at Pak Ou Caves. A collection of limestone caves on the Mekong that have been a place of worship for yonks. We climb the first lot of steps into the lower cave and admire all the buddhas with the rest of our group. Then Gav and I thought it was a great idea to climb the hundreds of steep steps to the upper caves in blistering heat!! At least we can say we did it, even if we did return to the boat a shadow of our former selves.
Gav's day 17 takeaway
- Man like cave. CAVE IS GOOD.
