Wednesday 27th October, Ban Hang to Khu Muong

Today’s route involved crossing two minor rivers shortly after the start of the trek before a long uphill section to rejoin the Ho Chi Minh trial. Despite the heavy rains the river crossings did not pose any problems but we did use the opportunity to practice our skills in case we needed these later in the trek.

The long uphill through rice fields and a small village was very interesting. The locals had created some very clever means of moving water about the hill using bamboo poles as pipes and the water it to power some small machines. Eventually we reached the top of the hill and rejoined the HCM trial. We came across a group of local children on their way back from school and we spent some time trying to communicate with them through our local guide.

After lunch the heavy rains returned to make our descent path down into the valley flow like a river and become extremely slippy. After a cautious descent a very wet group finally arrived at the homestay. Our original plan had been to leave our kit in the homestay and make a short visit to a large cave on the hill above the village however this was not possible due to the adverse conditions.

Just before dinner the rain finally stopped and a few of us went to explore the village. We quickly found the local school and made arrangements for the group to visit it again in the morning.