School's Out and About

37 grade 10 students and 4 staff loaded luggage and then boarded the bus in Vientiane on Monday morning ready for a week of travelling, study and fun on Vientiane International School's yearly SALSA trip. (Secondary Action Learning Service Adventure)
The bus ride took us north where after a couple of hours we stopped at a bridge and all piled out. Making our way down to the river bank we were met by our 11 guides for the first part of our adventure. We were all kitted out with life-jackets and helmets, selected our paddles and in a very large circle on the bank of the Nam Lik we learnt the basics of kayaking. Dry land practice over, it was time to pair up and hit the water.

The journey down stream was superbly pleasant with wonderful rock formations, overhanging jungle trees and just the right amount of small rapids every now and then to make it exciting. Most students, and one pair of staff, ended up with an upturned craft at some stage of the journey which resulted in much laughter and joking during the long river trip.

Eventually we stopped at a magnificent bank of rocks where lunch was awaiting us. With clothes slowly beginning to dry, it was time do don a climbing harness and embark on a short walk up the hill through the jungle. It then became evident that our method of returning to the river was to be quite spectacular. Our harnesses were attached to a wire cable stretching its way through the trees and one by one we whizzed through the canopy making our way from tree-top to tree-top. As we finally approached the river again it was one final walk across a suspended bridge before being lowered to the rocks below at an alarming rate via an abseiling free-fall.

 

Everyone enjoyed the experience immensely, including the students who, at the beginning, were perhaps a little apprehensive. Then we were back into the kayaks for another 2 hours of paddling downstream where the bus was waiting to meet us. We then made our way to our first night’s accommodation on the western bank of the “Lao Sea”. This is a reservoir created by the hydroelectric dam on the Nam Ngum river which was to be our first stop on the following day. After a great and well deserved night’s sleep, those lucky enough to wake early watched the sun rise above the mountains. (Something we certainly don’t get to see here in Vientiane.)

Our day began with a visit to the dam where the history and working mechanics of the dam were explained as we toured the main control room as well as the dam wall. We then began what was to be a very long and slow boat ride across the reservoir, stopping at a village along the way where students made their way amongst the villagers and spoke to them about the dam and whether it had had any impact upon their lives. We also stopped briefly to observe the underwater logging operation where divers descend to the bottom and mark underwater trees with plastic coke botles on a string that float to the surface. The work boat then makes it's way over where they have some kind of apparatus for cutting the timber underwater and then floating it to the surface where they dry it on pontoons. A very long process but I guess it's not damaging any native forest. Apparently there is an underwater village not far from where they operate with a whole village temple that you can dive on if you're keen. Back on board the boat, the students managed to find many ways of wiling the hours away. (Playing cards, word games, tunes on the ukulele, dangling your feet in the cool water or even just putting your head down and having a quick nap.) Upon reaching the Eastern shore we were loaded into tuk-tuks and trucked to our next two nights’ accommodation. The luxury of the previous night spent in the lodge on the banks of the “Lao Sea” suddenly seemed so far away, but still…..all we had to do was sleep there.

The following day we split into two groups, one visiting the Phu Bia copper/gold mine and the other visiting local villages to discuss the possible impacts of the mine on village life. The first village we stopped at was a glorious Hmong village, (Ban Nam Cha), on the banks of a small river.

With only 43 families it was reasonably small and yet had a large, 3 roomed school full of children beaming with a mixture of excitement and trepidation at the crazy bunch of Falangs that had just entered their village. Our students wandered amongst the locals and spoke with as many people as they could before we moved on to another village closer to our home base.
This village appeared to be the Lao version of Texas with every second man wandering around with a home-made rifle slung over his shoulder.

With a strange looking badger type creature hanging by the neck on the side of the road and every small roadside stall having a healthy supply of ammunition this was indeed an interesting village. We spoke to one man briefly who casually wandered through a schoolyard with rifle over shoulder on his way to the river to try and shoot a buffalo. Goodness knows how he intended to bring it up from the river.

On our journey back to home base we stopped at a small brook for lunch before continuing on. Having arrived home a little earlier than anticipated we took the opportunity to make a small visit to a local waterfall. Some of the students braved the dodgy walkways and bridges up to both sets of falls and even dipped into the icy cold waters.

The following day the groups swapped activities so our group headed further North to Phu Bia mine. After a safety induction we were bussed to a ridge above the open cut mine just in time to catch the daily blasting. The sound and shockwaves from the blast were unbelievably impressive. It was as if they had opened several big cans of thunder all at once. We then checked out the tailings dam and the simulator for the oversized tip trucks before making our way back to base camp.

We then quickly loaded the bus and headed on to the last section of our adventure, Tadleuk Falls. Arriving just on dusk, the tents we were to sleep in were already set up so we settled in, had a quick dinner and then busied ourselves with campfire activities before calling it a night. Songs were sung, marshmallows were toasted and we called it a night under a magnificent starry night. The following morning we had a dip in the waters and explored the waterfall before dismantling our tents, packing up sleeping bags and boarding the bus for our trip back to Vientiane.

The students managed to keep their sense of humour and adventure intact throughout the trip which was a great achievement through some long and hot days. Overall it was a memorable and enjoyable adventure as well as a great opportunity to get to know more of the year 10 students.

ps... it must be fun being an linesman in this country...... at least they wear their safety thongs.