Trip 3

On the morning of the third day, we left the Inthira Vang Vieng Hotel for the Blue Lagoon in the expectation for a special adventure. According to the guide, the dirt way to the destination was paved by a Korean company a few years ago. With the increase of Korean tourists, there seemed to be a strong need to develope a tourist attraction for foreign visitors. However, unlike our expectation, the first place the bus stopped at was no more than a small village with a 900-meter zip line at the side of mountain. They charged us fifty dollars for a ride and most visitors were Korean. Five friends except me and other two friends were willing to go for it for twenty minutes. Waiting for them to be back, the remaining friends looked around the place and then a tall tree attracted our eyes. There was a big pool under the tree, where some tourists were seen to climb its branch and dive. It was a kind of challenge considering the branch was about five miters above the water. When I was challenged by my friends to try it, I accepted it without thought on the spot. The moment I was standing on the branch, I felt such a strong dizziness that my feet were frozen up. After taking a deep breath and closing my eyes, I threw my body into the air. With a sound of splashing down, I fell into the water almost upside down. When my body emerged thanks to the safety vest, I realized I could see nothing before my eyes. My glasses were missing from the strong diving impact. More interestingly, one man’s poison is another’s honey. I was able to get it back by giving a man twenty dollars for retrieving it. Only one minute was enough for him to complete his mission. His job was finding missing glasses for tourists. In other words, I was his client and at the same time patron.With a gloomy feeling, I got on the bus to move to Blue Lagoon. After five minutes’ bus ride, we got to a small cave with the water at the entrance. We set out to explore the cave in a big tube each. The inside of the cave was so dark and narrow that we were able to pass through using a rope. It took about twenty minutes to explore it, but there was nothing special to speak of, because it is not a limestone cave we see in Korea. Rather, what made me happy was a landscape surrounding the cave. The yellowish rice field between the paths reminded me of my childhood of long ago. I felt like the grains were being ripe everywhere. Nature is beautiful when it is left untouched. In the meantime, an old truck was waiting for us as soon as we changed into clothes. It took us to a nearby river called SSong River. As planned before, four canues were ready to ride by the river. Two members were paired to paddle a boat. The fast stream pushed us strongly downward. We took turns rowing to beat other boats. Passing by, we could enjoy our eyes seeing children flowing naked. Sometimes, other tourists were waving their hands at us. The final destination of the boat trip was where we stayed-the hotel. No sooner had our boats arrived than we rushed to the hotel swimming pool. We didn’t get out until having supper. On the way to the restaurant, we were stuck in a cool shower. The humid air cleared up and we felt somewhat cold. The sudden shower seemed to make restaurant empty. With old pop songs playing, we were served Korean dishes-Korean beef and chicken barbecue-which were not different from ours in its recipe and sources. The waitresses serving us there looked so young that one of my friends wondered about their ages. Then our guide asked them for their ages and they said smiling shily, “I’m fifteen.” “sixteen......” They were all young girls who should be in school. “Their poverty forced them to work there despite their young age, said the guide. My friend who runs a electronic company asked him if there were any ways to help them to get education in Korea. Handing them his name card, he promised them that he would sponsor them with school fee and living costs if they want to study in Korea. Back in the hotel. we had a party late into the night. Each of us had time to express his opinion about a future plan. Most of them had a plan to retire to a small town and lead a rural life doing what he set aside for supporting his family. In common, we all had various healthy problems, so we know we had to stay around the hospital. The three things facing us are our children’s marage, how to cope with our parents’ death and our late lives. We realized that there is no answer but to accept it whenever they come.