Day 13 - Around Along

Another great day! We woke up and headed out to Kabu village, a few kilometres from Along and got out of the jeep to walk to Paia, about 3km along the river. The first obstacle to navigate was the spectacular, and rather unsturdy feeling bamboo bridge. The thing was amazing, a fantastic design that can supposedly carry 20 people comfortably. It felt a little hair-raising with just two of us though. Then we stopped for a break by the river bank and drank in the scenery, a lovely moment of serenity.

Then we got a bit lost, but eventually found our way to Paia, where apparently cars could not enter, so we had to find our driver as we had agreed to meet him in Paia. We eventually found him, and famished stopped at a little shop to inquire about food. They offered to make us food, and in the meantime he showed us his orphanage, and school for disabled and disavdantaged children. It was exactly the kind of grassroots project we had been hoping to find. We chatted more and found that he had land we could construct a local style house on, something we had already considered, and then lease it back from him for the tours, with the profits going to the school. Obviously there are plenty of factors still to consider but it looks very promising.
This evening we are to eat in a local house, something we arranged through an intermediary in the hotel...

-David