Our time in the lovely Luang Prabang, Laos was coming to an end.  We had really loved our time in this amazing place! We had just one more thing we were told we “couldn’t miss”. The “Alms giving ceremony”, in Luang Prabang , is an ancient tradition in which over 200+ monks depart from their various temples around the city at sunrise to collect their daily food. Traditionally, the locals (and now tourists) are supposed to offer cooked sticky rice to the Buddhist monks as they parade down the roads of the city in a single file line. They historically should only eat the rice that fills their alms bowls, as their daily food source. Throughout time, traditions have changed, as they often do, and they are offered more than just rice. Maybe some fruit or bread, or whatever people want to offer. Culturally, this is supposed to be very sacred, but unfortunately tourism has changed that, as we would soon see.

We would have to head to the train/ bus station to catch our bus out of the city by 6:30am. Our hotel told us the alms ceremony would begin around 5:40am and end right at 6am, so we would have plenty of time. Well, we were up and out there right at 5:30am. We were immediately harassed by local women begging us to buy rice and snacks from them to offer the monks. Snacks- to include- cookies, chips, candies. Hmmm, this did not seem like things the holy monks were supposed to be eating. I may not be Buddhist, but I knew that much! We tried to kindly tell them, “no thank you”. These women were very pushy and they were definitely trying to overcharge us! No way were we paying 5$ for a small thing of rice! And we definitely were not offering the monks a chips ahoy snack pack.

We finally found a woman offering a rice portion for a decent price. Once you buy the rice, the seller guides you to her area of blocked off seats. This is where you are to sit and wait for the monks. We kneeled down to the very low seats and waited. By 5:55am the monks still hadn’t started walking. We were getting concerned that we wouldn’t get to see the alms. We couldn’t be late for our bus! We were heading to Houay Xai (a town in Laos with so many spellings, yet nobody seems to know about it besides tourists). Houay xai, not being a common destination for Laotians, was known by tourists for it’s once in a lifetime ,”Gibbon Experience”- (more on this later). Because of this, there weren’t many options on ways to get there. No flights, a boat would take a couple of days, and the busses were offered only 2 times/ day. We could not miss it or we would miss our Gibbon experience all together!

We decided if the monks didn’t come out soon, we would just have to leave and miss it. We got up from our special seats and started walking towards what appeared to be the beginning of where the monks would start. We couldn’t leave with the woman’s rice bowl, so we forfeited our money, and our rice ,and left our bowl.

As we walked down the street, we began hearing drums and low chanting sounds. And that’s when we saw them-the barefoot monks in their orange colored robes. There were a lot of them ! All different ages, walking in their single file line, collecting their alms. A well -traveled Canadian woman we met in Myanmar, told us this was the,”most touching thing” she had ever seen, and that it ,”brought her to tears”. Welp folks, I am one of the most sensitive, sentimental people you will ever meet, and I will tell you that it did not bring me to tears. Not even close.  I cry over holiday grocery chain commercials ( Publix, ahem!) . This did not make me cry. It was too distracting and upsetting to see the super rude tourists using flashes in the monks faces. Yes, they would get right in their faces with their obnoxious cameras and flashes. Not to generalize a population, but I did observe on this particular day it was all Chinese tourists who were being very rude. The British, Australian , Japanese- all politely staying further away and not using flashes and force. The monks gathered all their goodies, some with things falling out of their overflowing bowls. I later learned that they give back the snack food that they aren’t supposed to eat, to locals. Pretty sure they are just supposed to eat the rice.

So we got a few pictures (without flashes). I had a very rude man push in front of me multiple times with his large flash. I said “you aren’t supposed to use a flash- respect other cultures”, multiple times, but the Chinese man did not seem to understand me.  Whatever. We came, we saw.

We headed to the train/ bus station hungry wondering if we would be able to get something for breakfast before our long ride. The ride from Luang Prabang to Houay Xai was estimated to be anywhere between 9-12 hours.  You have to remember, this is a country without the same rules/ roads and customer service as we are used to in America. I tried to figure out our ticket/ bus situation with a man who did not speak any English, while Conner went in the store to find us breakfast.

This is what Conner came out with for our bus ride breakfast — haha- some strawberry cookies and squid flavored chips. The cookies actually were pretty tasty.

We rushed to the station but still had a good 30 minutes wait before our bus arrived. Our bus, that was actually a minivan. A man greeted us and led us over to his van, which wasn’t so clean inside. It wasn’t horrible, but it definitely wasn’t super clean looking.  We were the only ones boarding, so we chose our seats and spread out our stuff. We were happy thinking we may have this whole van to ourselves for the long ride. Boy, were we wrong!

The first 2 hours were nice. Peaceful, quiet- empty! Then the driver began picking random people up. When I say “random” , I mean, we literally were driving through mountain villages and locals would get in the van. It didn’t seem “booked” or planned to us. It seemed more like people waving him down for a ride. The first two girls hopped in the front seat with the driver – a 3 person bench. Two cute, local girls, who didn’t even acknowledge us in the back. Next, we picked up 3 other girls from a  very remote village. The girls were very “modern” looking though, for a mountain village. They were wearing makeup and modern clothes.  They also did not really acknowledge me or Conner, and sat behind us. Next town we picked up an 2 older men and a younger man. Before we knew it our van was packed full. We went from just the 2 of us, to a packed van with 15 people.

We love to travel (obviously), and being in a packed van going around very, very, VERY winding mountain roads is part of the experience. And we were embracing it. The young girls in their 20’s behind us starting blasting music videos from they phones. Two of them at once. And then the guy in front of us also starting playing loud music from his phone. Hmm… this is interesting. Different than in the US. Let’s all blast different songs from our phones and overpower each other, and just have a big loud mix of craziness. Yup, that’s what it was like.  We looked at each other and just laughed. We were enjoying the craziness of it all until– well until– the vomit began.

The girl behind Conner began vomiting in her personal vomit bag. I forgot to mention, our fearless driver gave all of the Laotian people a vomit bag.We didn’t get one. When we boarded however, he did give us a little snack pack with a water bottle, snacks, etc. which was nice. But yeah- so pretty ,little local girl is vomiting profusely in her bag, when the man in front of me starts also vomiting. Oh my gosh. Is this really happening? Then a third girl joined in, and a 4th guy in front of Conner. He was nice enough to open his window and let the spew flow out, leaving some on the window for Conner to look at the rest of the 10 hours.

So this goes on for awhile. Then we stop for lunch. A rest stop. Whew, thank goodness. A rest stop with beautiful views.

Conner orders us some chicken wings for lunch. We didn’t get just wings though- we got the whole chicken. The head, the toes. Very appetizing ( sarcasm– I was suddenly not so hungry anymore)

So at the rest stop I noticed our lovely co-passengers eating also. All of them. The ones who were just puking their brains out. We board the bus, and literally in less than 20 minutes they ALL start puking again. All of them. I mean in their defense, it was a rough ride. The curves were non -stop on very tall mountains. However, if you know you just got sick, why oh why would you scarf down a huge plate of food?

So, they are puking. Conner and I look at each other and just laugh. We couldn’t help it. Was this really happening? An older man, a local, sitting near joined in our smiles knowing what we were thinking.Thank goodness it wasn’t smelly puke. The Laos diet is so much rice.  That is my theory on why it didn’t smell. The ride goes on. We stop again for a bathroom break. Our pukers get more food/ snacks. And they begin puking more.  Are they serious? Conner mentioned that I should pick up my carry -on satchel bag off the ground.

Well, he was right. Just a short time later vomit began rolling down the floor of the van. I am sorry if you reading this in disgust, but this is how it happened. So the vomit is all over, under my raised feet ( my knees clutched tight to my chest). I am wondering how the heck can I do this for 4-6 more hours? After a few minutes we stop for another rest break. Nobody seems to let the driver know about the mess, and he doesn’t seem to notice. So I spoke up. Unsure how much English he knew, I mimed and tried to explain what had happened. He got upset once he realized. He bought tissues and water and made the girl behind Conner (the vomit -leaker culprit) clean up the mess as we all waited outside the van. She acted really ignorant about the whole thing. Almost snooty. Like really? I am the first to accept other cultures and differences in beliefs, but I don’t care where you come from- this was rude and gross. This girl was not from a reclusive background. She had on jeans my friends in the US wear. She had her nails done, and her makeup perfect. She just was rude to her fellow passengers and didn’t want to clean up her own nasty vomit.

Ok rant over. But really, Conner and I were appalled.  To make us not sound like snobby US travelers , I want to point out that we have traveled along one of the poorest river towns in the world in Cambodia- where the people were amongst the most amazing we have ever met!!!!! We have gone to the bathroom in more holes in the ground than I can keep track of. We have slept in sketchy places with rats. We can handle what comes with travel- but when a human being is just rude and gross – that we can’t handle. She rolled her eyes like the driver was rude to ask her to clean her own vomit. Puhleaseeee girlfriend.

SO the ride continues. They get new bags. They vomit some more. Conner and I came to the conclusion that the Laotian people perhaps aren’t used to riding in cars, especially not for long periods of time. They ride bikes and motor bikes, and many stay in their home towns most of the time. This may be why the driver gave only locals the puke bags.

After  an interesting 11 hours we arrived at the Huay Xai bus station. It was already dark and we were greeted by a bombarding local group. “Where you going?Hotel? We take you”. They were asking for way more money than we knew we should pay. We politely declined but they kept hounding us. “No thank you”, we kept saying. The leader of the group seemed the most aggressive. He wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. We looked around , and realized we didn’t have many options. Unlike other parts of Laos, there weren’t Tuk-tuk drivers everywhere for us to hail. The local group seemed super shady and gave us a bad vibe- plus we didn’t want to get ripped off. We tried messaging Jess and Chris, who we knew were already at hotel where we were all staying.  We also tried calling the hotel directly with no luck. I finally ran over to our mini van driver ( our fearless 12 hour vomit man driver), and asked him if he would take us to our hotel. He agreed on a price. Yay! The mean bullies came over and scared him away. Really? Now, Conner and I were feeling cornered. It seemed we had to go with these jerks. As they smoke their cigarettes and tried to look tough, they told us to wait 20 minutes. Really? In the dark? And for a ride where you were already triple charging us?

We had no choice. We waited. Another bus came and one German couple got off. It was relieving to see other travelers- an instant feeling that we suddenly had “backup”.The bullies convinced them to join in on our ride- much to their fight ( like us). So the four of us boarded the back of the super shady leader bully’s truck bench. He forced us to pay upfront. We all refused but he wouldn’t back down. I angrily looked for a license plate to take a picture of. I was not going to have it. I was going to report these jerks to the Laos police. Conner said, ” babe, please , don’t let them see you take a picture – this is a communist country”. Oh my gosh – please. These guys needed to be reprimanded for treating tourists this way. Needless to say I never got my picture. I prayed , as we rode along that this man would take us to our hotel and not some alley way to kill or rob us.

We made it to the German couple’s hotel and ran off. We didn’t even stay on to continue traveling to ours. We found our hotel and were more than less thrilled. Since Huay Xai is not very well known, there are few hotels. Conner picked the best rated one. It wasn’t clean, but wasn’t awful. We went downstairs to see if we could find dinner. The hotel owned a restaurant on the river, which had decent reviews. We sat along the river, where we could see Thailand right across the way. Pretty cool!
We both ordered pad thai- which was not very good. We both were so hungry but could barely eat it. We drank our Laos beers and headed for bed.

As I lay in bed, it hit me that the next AM, I would have to face my fear.  I would have to zipline at crazy high heights, above the jungle. I could it. I booked it. I planned it. I wanted to to do it. “Kinsay, you got this” , I told myself as I fell asleep.

I grew up in theater. I was an actress. Being on stage, performing was my childhood. It was my passion. Early on , in 5th grade I was cast as a “flying monkey” in a community performance of “Wizard of Oz”. Little did I know how close friends the other flying monkeys would become to me! Victoria and I had met at age 4. Our mothers, friends and co-workers. We now met again as “flying monkeys”. Our paths kept crossing and we ended up becoming best friends in high school. To this day we still have a bond like no other! A friendship I can always count on! I am the Godmother to her two beautiful daughters. It is so cool to think how a friendship can grow and go on for so long! Tony, another “flying monkey” became another huge person in my life! We went on to star in plays together and be very good friends through the years!

Why am I telling you this?  Oh right, because I was dreaming of flying monkeys the night before the Gibbon experience. I suppose my inner subconscious was channeling me , flying, like a monkey.

Ok, I may sound crazy. Did I have a fear of heights? I thought so. I did fall off of a balcony in 11th grade. I had hiked tall mountains, been on the top of high buildings. Maybe it wasn’t heights I was scared of? Was it flying? Ziplines? I didn’t know, but I knew I was scared, and I wanted to conquer whatever it was! YOLO!
So we wake up, have a decent breakfast outside by the river, where we met Jess and Chris.  We walked over to check in for the Gibbon experience. I had read so many other’s blogs and reviews. Jessica’s cousin from Australia had done it and loved it! The consensus was- it is a ” once in a lifetime” experience- a “must do”. I was psyched! I was ready! How cool to think we would be waking up in a treehouse on Christmas day?

That’s right. We would be ziplining and hiking all day until we reach our treehouse (our hotel), in the middle of the forest. The company began as a conservation project for the Gibbons, who were endangered.

They built some absolutely amazing treehouses- some of the tallest in the world where people can stay! They developed the plan to have guests experience the life of a gibbon- and zipline through the forests, above the tallest trees.

We arrived to the Gibbon experience office and checked in our bags. We would only be able to take a small bag (that could hang on us while we zipline). We signed away our lives on the liability forms. I had read on blogs not to take smelly items to include- soaps, perfumes, makeup- anything that could attract tree rats. I also read the the “office” can hide away those things separate from the bag closet, because they also had rats in the office. I inquired and they took the stuff and put away for us. We were led to watch a safety video with a large group There were 3 different tours leaving that day, so not everyone would be with us. The video began, and so did my fear. Tears streamed down my face as I listened to this safety rules. It seemed so scary watching this “safety video”. I didn’t mean to cry, but I did. Jess handed me a tissue.

The video ended, we gathered our stuff and set off. We rode an hour into the woods on different trucks.  A bumpy ride but enjoyable. I was ready. I could do this. We arrived and they gave us harnesses and our ” zips”. Oh Lord. What was I thinking? I put the thing on, inspecting every inch of it. NO way. No way. How could I trust this metal thing to hold me hundreds of feet in the air? I had lost my mind. Had all these people lost their minds?

We were separated into groups. There were 13 in ours. Our treehouse could sleep all  of us! Our guides were Ki (pronounced Key) and Input. They were in their early 20’s at most, but seemed confident. Jess noticed my safety notch seemed worn out. What? Are you kidding me? OMG. They swapped it out, but now I was really worried. We walked to our first little test line. It was short, and over a river. Ok, ok this doesn’t look so bad. I can do this. Conner, Jess and Christopher comforted me , saying it would be fine and we were ” oh so safe”. I watched as everyone in our group zipped their way across so effortlessly. The small village children gathered to watch us.  We had passed them as we were walking. They were so adorable ! I later learned that our guide KI, was from the village.

How cute – seriously!! Makes my heart melt!

Ok, so I am ready. I can do this. And I get ready to go. Conner and the village kids are watching, and I start to cry. Like really cry. I didn’t mean to- once again. I was scared! After some convincing I did it. And it was fun! Really fun! OK, this isn’t bad! I can do this!!! I was excited – heart still pumping from adrenaline. Conner makes his way across and we begin a long hike to our next line.

We hiked up a very, very steep hill. I felt short of breath, which I am sure was due to my anxiety I just experienced. I can hike . Heck, I can run 7 miles without an issue. I was fine. Jess, Chris, and Conner ahead of me, I just kept walking. I couldn’t catch my breath. It was weird. I suddenly felt like I could pass out, I gasped ” Conner, I can’t breathe” before hyperventilating. If you have never had this happen to you- you are lucky! It is scary! This is only the 2nd time it has ever happened to me. It feels like what I imagine a panic attack to feel like.Conner and the guide ran over to me. I was gasping for a breath. I finally managed to catch it, but tears streamed down my face. It was a super scary feeling.  Conner and the concerned guide rested with me for a few minutes and then I was ok to go again. There were others in our group behind me who were finding the hike itself challenging, so I didn’t feel so bad.

After some more hiking we arrived at our next zipline. There were a lot of lines. I got very nervous every time but would pray, and go. I actually felt like I was starting to get the hang  of it. I can do this! I can do this! If I could get over my fear I would LOVE every second!

Sometimes I needed extra reassurance—

The views were incredible

I watched as the rest of my group seemed to love it and have no fear! Our eclectic group of a French father with his 3 daughters, 2 women cousins from Indonesia, a South Korean married couple, a Switzerland ultra marathon runner Marcel, and the 4 of us Americans!

The young French girls were super fearless! The sisters 15, 17 and I think 19, were just adorable! They would just jump out there like they were invincible! I wish I had that courage! I was hoping I would get it if I just kept going! Jess and Chris looked like pros- granted they had done it before! Conner also seemed so comfortable! Why was I so fearful? I enjoyed the shorter ones, but some of the really long ones ( up to 570 meters) were so intimidating! At some points I would beg to walk. Conner was like “Babe, come on- you can’t walk. It will take hours- you have to zip”. Omg. I was stuck. I had no choice at this point. I had to keep going.

Overall, the views were incredible. The experience amazing.

We stopped along the hike for lunch, in which the guides gave us some yummy sandwiches.  We continued on and on until we reached our glorious treehouse! Oh we did pass the “tallest tree” in Laos along the way!

our treehouse aka hotel 🙂

Our fabulous group!!

We had to “zip” to our accommodations, where we would be sleeping. Our food for dinner and breakfast would be delivered via zipline. I was immediately impressed with the treehouse! It was huge!!! 3 levels, with running well water. We picked our areas where we would sleep.Two cots next to each other for the couples. Our only privacy a mosquito net around us.

After checking out the place we all congregated in a “dining room” area. We all started talking and hanging out. Ki and Input gave us snacks and tea/ coffee. Some took showers- some didn’t. The shower was pretty cool! If you have never showered above the forest with the open woods surrounding you- I highly recommend. The not so warm shower water, was ok- the views made up for it! Talk about really “being in nature”. Amazing!

Everyone hung out and just relaxed. Ki started showing card tricks. He was quite the entertainer! Before I knew it, I was his assistant. He kept asking me to help him with his tricks. It was fun!

We enjoyed the glorious sunset!!! It was difficult to take good pictures, but it was so beautiful!

They offered all of us Laos beers to put in our small packs earlier in the day before our departure, if we wanted to bring them. Many of us did. Conner also brought a small bottle of Laos whiskey. I think whiskey is so gross- however , I did try this Laos whiskey and it was pretty good!!

With our beverages, we were served a nice meal of mostly rice and veggies. Our nice Korean friends offered us their hot sauce that they brought. It was so yummy! The rest of the night was really enjoyable! One of my favorite parts of travel is meeting people from all over the world! I am a people -person, no doubt! I love , love , love hearing about others lives and experiences. When you travel to a place like Laos, especially a secluded treehouse in the middle of nowhere- you can bet , the people you meet are adventurous and have travelled well! The conversations are fabulous! I have learned so much from others’ experiences and cultures. Ki really opened up about his life. He was a resident of the small village outside of our departure earlier. He really wanted to go to college, but his mother had passed away , and his father told him he had to keep working for the family. His girlfriend is a medical doctor student in a city a few hours away.  He seemed so smitten for her. He said they text all the time. So cool to imagine a person , living in a very small, remote village in Laos, chats with his girlfriend the same we do in the US. I encouraged him to stick to his dream of college, and never give up!

After hours of card tricks and good conversations, we finally started tapering off to bed. People slowly started sneaking away to under their personal mosquito covered tent areas. Conner and I stayed up a bit to help Ki clean the food. He said he was giving the leftovers to the tree rats. He told us they don’t bother him and they actually taste really good. He said he would catch one and make us tree rat soup. Um, no thanks Ki!

I had heard / read about these tree rats. Our mosquito nets had little bite holes in them, so I was a little nervous. As we laid in our area I asked Conner if I could pretty please keep the flash light on. It was pitch dark- and there were noises everywhere around us. Oh, and we are in the middle of nowhere in a foreign country. So, was I being a baby? I don’t think so!! He was sweet and said I could. Being on electrical engineer, he then inspected the flash light to make sure it wouldn’t get too hot and blow up in my face during the night. I felt semi -safe with my blaring light, sweet hubby, and mosquito net high up in the trees.

Lots of animal noises all around- Ki called out to us- “guys, there are mountain cats everywhere, come see!”. Oh boy! Conner got up and went out to look. He spotted some eyes in the trees.

During the night I slept on and off. Scattering noises would wake me. I would anxiously grab my light and look all around the covered area. “Conner, what is that” I’d ask. His reply ,” sorry babe , that was me”. This went on. He got up once or twice to go to the bathroom. Only days later would he tell me of the numerous tree rats he saw. He saw their shadows all around our sleeping area. He purposely lied telling me it was him making noise, knowing I’d freak out!  I graciously thanked him!

We awoke Christmas day in our treehouse. How magnificent. We awoke on such a special day, in such a special place, surrounded by pure nature!

Stay tuned for more in Laos and adventures in Chiang Mai, Thailand….

❤

-Kinz