First adventure - Ban Na Hin

I feel like we've had our first journey that was really worth it in the Ban Na Hin area.

Leaving Vientiane we tried to go to Phou Khao Kwai (Buffalo horn mountain) national park but the last 4 km of a 30 km dirt road to the camp site, visitors centre and waterfall were impassable in a tuk tuk. I had been warned about it but we weren't sure how bad it was and whether the tuk tuk could make it. So we abandoned the attempt and went on to Paksan where we added extra front suspension to the tuk tuk, I applied for an 'enviropreneur' course in the US and we had computer problems.

Next stop Ban Na Hin, and a 7.5km boat ride through a cave and a walk to a waterfall where an Australian recently got lost in the jungle for 11 days and was nearly eaten by lizards...

Willy's Olympus camera is no longer taking good photos so pictures from now on will have to be with his movie camera.

Journey so far

Tour of the tuk tuk

Mission one - find a home for the laptops

First I need to learn to drive the thing. On my first attempt I didn't get it out of first gear, but I can even reverse now. Cornering's still a bit dodgy though.

Then we were off to donate our old laptops to this children's development centre run by Su Yen, a Vietnamese social worker. They teach the kids recycling, composting and mushroom growing, which they run as a business for the school and the kids, carpentry, weaving, gardening, music and theatre. She says that Vietnam has a lot of social workers because of all the development projects since the war, but that Laos hardly has any.

Su Yin has always wanted a tuk tuk herself so she had a go on it. She might buy it when we're finished.