Fri. Jan. 19 - Yikes! Both good and tricky

 I met up with Katy and Bob for our 5:30 AM breakfast and then 6 AM departure.  Tien was making sure that the cook was preparing what he asked for and she produced many plates of great eggs in an omelette style.  This was served with fried noodles that had onions in them that were quite good.  We then packed up to head to the hide where we should be able to see some great birds.  Tien had told us that the hide was about a 45 minute walk with some ups and downs.  It is the hide that has the longest walk to it but the end result should be worth it.

We drove for at least an hour partly back the way we came yesterday until we turned off for Mang Ri.  We went by more rice fields, hill tribe villages, kids walking to school - some of them must walk for an hour - and finally got to the spot where we would start our walk.  (The valleys and hillsides are clear cut with plantations of tree farms - fast growing thin trees used for poles and pressed wood products - it’s was a relief to get to primary forest - K)

Bob coming down a tricky bit

Beautiful forest

Hil in full expedition clothes with Leech Socks!

Really pretty fern I saw

The walk was much more than 45 minutes and very challenging.  The total length wasn’t that far - only about a mile - but the condition of the trail and the extreme ups and downs wore us all out.  I wasn’t sure I was going to make but kept going.  Bob was especially struggling with the up hill bits and going slowly to make sure he made it all of the way.  David and I went ahead and thank goodness for a walking stick which I used constantly to haul myself up a muddy stretch or down one.  We waded through mud, water and tried not to get tangled in the vines and roots that were everywhere.  It was not a fun experience though the forest was beautiful.  

There was one spot about 2 hours in that I thought might be the side trail to the hide but couldn’t see the hide so we kept going up for a ways more.  David and I finally stopped when the trail kept going higher and higher and then had a big drop off.  We didn’t know if Katy and Bob and Tien were still coming or had gone back but we decided to sit for a bit and figure it out.  Eventually, we heard a voice!  We headed back down the trail to the spot I had notice earlier and there was Tien cutting some branches out of the way and the hide appeared with Katy and Bob in it - whew.  I wasn’t sure about the walk back to the van or how we would all do it but we were finally in the hide.  No sooner had I sat down then birds started to appear. 

(Some not-great bird photos, but it gives you an idea of what we were seeing - too bad Emily is not here doing her great job on these! -K)

Looking through the hide front as Tien puts out mealy worm

Katy and Bob checking out birds

Golden-winged Laughingthrush - very rare!

Black-headed Sibia

White-throated Scimitar-babbler

Indochinese Fulvetta

Large Niltava

Tien was putting some mealy worms out to attract them and they loved it. One of the first birds was the Golden winged laughingthrush.  This is a recently discovered (1998) bird and only visible in a tiny piece of the world and there it was and there were 2 of them.  We had a great view of them (they came back at least 3 times) and a number of others.  David actually got 3 life birds himself which is pretty remarkable for someone who has led birding tours for 45 years.   Bob got 6 life birds so it was a most successful morning albeit a really challenging one.  The other hides we are visiting over the next week or so are supposed to be much closer to the road and much easier to reach - fingers crossed!

Then we had to walk back to the van.  We each took our time and I was able to get up and down by myself in most places but appreciated and needed a strong hand/arm from Tien in a few spots.  We made it back to the van a little after noon and Tien and Bom started making us lunch at the side of the road.  This time there were fried eggs, peanut butter and jam, bread and noodles as well as the great local bananas.  I made a half sandwich with a fried egg stuck inside and a half PB & J.  It was delicious.  

Coming up the trail on our way back - steep and slippery!

Lunch!

We rested and caught our collective breaths and then headed back to the hotel arriving about 3:45pm.  We’ll have dinner at 6:30 and do the quite exciting list.  We head to Mang Den tomorrow - and hopefully softer mattresses!