The bumpiest eight hours of our lives placed us in the most strikingly picturesque place I think we've both ever seen. This was what presented us as we crossed the bridge.
We spent the next few nights hanging out in our riverside bungalow, chilling in its hammock and counting down to sunset when we'd grab a couple of beers and watch the sun go down and the little boys fish on the banks of the Ou River. It was an unbelievably memorable few nights.
What made the bungalow particularly memorable was this little guy.
Each night before we go to bed it's my responsibility to check under the sheets and make sure we're not sharing our bed with any unwanted guests. The first night there I pulled the back to uncover our little skink pal and watched Nix climb the wall quicker than I've seen any gecko. Despite his best effort to convince me that he should stay he eventually scurried away, probably sleeping under Nix's side of the bed anyway.
When we could find the desire to drag ourselves away from Nong Khiaw we signed up to the region's, now famous, 100 Waterfalls trek that was only discovered in 2008.
The boat ride there through the mist shrouded karsts was spectacular.
As was the trek through the village.
And then the walk up what is essentially one big long waterfall was a shitload of fun.
Other highlights were the two pooches that climbed the waterfalls with us,
one of whom had puppies of her own at the village and puppies half way been the village and the waterfalls that she was wet nursing
and nailing the trek in my newly purchased Lao hiking boots (read best thongs in existence).
The funny thing about Nong Khiaw is that a lot of people just regard it as a stopover point on the way further up the Ou River to Muang Ngoy.
Until only recently the only way to get to Muang Ngoy was via boat but you can now get there with a two and a half hour ride on dodgy mud tracks with a moped. We chose the boat. You can see why.
Muang Ngoy was good but not great. It has 24hr power now, WiFi, hot showers and the ratio of foreigners to farang is way out of whack. You can see where the charms once lay but they've been washed away. In saying that, we did get a semi taste of the old as the only time the power came on was 30 minutes prior to us getting back on the boat to leave.
With the benefit of hindsight we would've stayed another night in Nong Khiaw but like everyone else before us we thought maybe the grass is greener on the other side. As is so often the case, it wasn't....
Observations Made on the Van to Nong Khiaw
Observations Made on the Van to Nong Khiaw
- Being held up by roadworks is a reality of travel in Laos. We had our first taste on our way to Nong Khiaw spending more than an hour stood by the side of the road, going nowhere
- Three chickens chasing a moth is up there with the most comical things I've ever witnessed
- An old guy smoking a bamboo bong on the doorstep of his bamboo house
- The ringtone compilation. We worked out that the van driver had his phone plugged into the car playing music so at one point his playlist reached the phone's included ringtones and we listened to those for half an hour. It was a sometimes dramatic, sometimes peaceful, sometimes suspense filled, sometimes uplifting half hour
