I blame it on my super energetic,athletic and intrepid boyfriend.

Hutch coerced convinced me to do a 5 hour trek with him. (Which I'm sure he could have done in 2 hours on his own.) Don't judge me. I'm pretty athletic myself. I play tennis, surf and swim. But I have to confess, there are some fitness activities that I dislike namely: jogging, brisk walking or trekking. But if you've read this guide, it's best to compromise when traveling in twos. So off we went to Huay Bo Village. The trek was pretty easy, not a lot of rough terrain. But I was still huffing and puffing even just halfway into the trek.

I wasn't acting this time. That's real sweat!

There's nothing like a hillside landscape to remind you that you're out of shape!

I felt rewarded when we got to the village. Life was even more quiet and simple here. The children were spinning cotton by hand. The women were bathing with water from a makeshift bamboo shower. They peeked at us from their wooden houses.

He wasn't sure what to make of our visit

The owner of the guesthouse we stayed in and her granddaughter

Children spinning cotton and having fun

Feeling like a local while trying out the village shower

 We were surprised to learn that they had electricity 24/7 here! Whereas Mouang Ngoi only had 4 hours of electricity a day. And this little village was even further inland. How could that be? We found out that there was a hidden waterfalls that powered the village. This got us excited and we decided to look for it. We were told it was only an hour's trek.

On our way there, we met Irene from Ibiza and she was also looking for the waterfalls. Although we didn't have a map or a compass, we decided to follow the shallow river and hope it would lead us to the source. When we started the trek, a small brown dog followed us and we wondered where it came from.

After an hour, we got hopelessly lost.

The water was going in several directions and we didn't know which way to go. Thankfully, we encountered a guy with a rifle who was hunting for birds. We asked if he could help us find the hidden waterfalls. He smiled widely and agreed in broken English. He lead the way and we followed. After half an hour, we finally made it to the hidden falls.

Hutch wasn't sure if you can actually bathe in it

And what a big disappointment it was. It was a pathetic excuse for waterfall.

There was hardly any water! Even the bathroom shower seemed more powerful next to this pitiful puddle. We took pictures anyway and laughed at our prior excitement. We were told it was going to be huge. It did power an entire village after all. It almost made me book the next boat ride to Luang Prabang to see the Kuang Si Falls!

Irene was just happy we found the Hidden Falls

When we started to leave, our accidental guide suddenly turned businessman and asked us for money. We were shocked as we thought it was a simple act of kindness. We gave him a few bills and he quickly walked away. "Good riddance", we thought and started to walk back from where we came.

Our lucrative guide and Irene who was still happy

Until we realized that we were hopelessly lost for the second time that day.

We must have taken a wrong turn because suddenly everything looked unfamiliar. It was disconcerting to wander in the forest without knowing if we were going the right way. And to make matters worse, it was close to sundown. Nobody wants to get trapped in the wild without as much as a torch.

It was little brown dog to the rescue!

My hero!

Now I am a believer that dogs can sense human emotions. He quietly lead the way and stopped for us when we walked too slowly through the small streams. He never grew impatient and just barked when we could no longer see him. He brought us back to the village before it was completely dark and then just disappeared. We didn't even find out whose dog it was. What an amazing creature!

That day was peppered with disappointment and awe, in equal portions. But the latter event made a lasting impression. A dog that lead you home definitely makes for a great story.

Have you ever had a bad experience on the road and was saved by an unexpected 'hero'?

Still a reluctant trekker,
Sole Sister Lois

If you found this post helpful, please Support the Sole Sisters While We're on the Road. If you have any more questions about the Sole Sisters and our adventures, post on our Facebook Page and we will compile a 2nd Q&A post by the end of June.