Nong Kiaw and Muang Ngoi plus epic bus journey

Well we were a little unsure as to where to go after Luang Prabang - it was a toss up between the small town of Nong Kiaw, frequented by tourists merely for it's charm, and the Plain of Jars.  Obviously, the latter won over, merely because we couldn't face the 10 hour bus ride to the Plain of Jars, so we opted for the 4 hour minibus ride to Nong Kiaw.  It was relatively painless, with the exception of the two men in front of us who smelled like BO...I mean all the guesthouses have showers, right?  And usually soap :>)  We arrived in Nong Kiaw and were immediately struck by how lovely it was!  There is a river running right through the middle of town with beautiful limestone karsts rising from the water.  From across the bridge we tried to figure out where would be a nice place to stay, and when we got there, we quickly realized that we had probably picked the most expensive place in town!  The cabins were beautiful and clean and each with their own private balcony overlooking the river.  But it was $30 per night!  This was pretty steep for us after paying an average of $7 per night at our other accomodations in Laos.  So we went for lunch while we decided if we could splurge for it or not....and we decided yes :>)  Lucky for us it also included a free breakfast!  So since we spent so much on our accomodation we decided we should spend a lot of time relaxing and enjoying the view from our balcony.  The river was always full of life, with kids playing in the water, fisherman throwing their nets out, and women washing clothing.  We did take some pleasant walks in the countryside and rented bicycles to visit the nearby caves to break up our hours of lounging though :>)

After 3 days we headed off to Muang Ngoi, about 1 hour boat ride north of Nong Kiaw and only accessable by boat.  It was very very charming and peaceful!  It had the same beautiful scenery as Nong Kiaw, with mountains, frequently topped with mist, rising from the river.  There are actually a lot of guesthouses and restaurants for the size of the place, but it is the slow season now, so right now it really lends a whole new meaning to the phrase "sleepy town."  We had a nice long walk on our first day to some caves, then through rice fields to a village where we stopped for a drink and were offered some river weed (actually not bad) and some lao-lao (whisky...not so good).  We planned to take the boat back the following morning but poor Dan got horrible food poisoning and spent the whole next day in bed.  The poor guy is still recovering.  We think it has something to do with the fact that there is only power by generator in Muang Noi for about 2.5 hours each day, so it must be hard to keep some of the food from not spoiling.  I headed out for a hike that day, and followed some signs to a cave and lookout.  The climb up was CRAZY!  It was so steep and muddy and sketchy!  Even in my hiking boots I was slipping on the rocks and hawling myself up the makeshift pieces of bamboo nailed to various trees to provide some sort of assistance to the climber.  I felt like I was rock climbing again!  Except this time I did not have my trusty buddy Logan to help me :>)  Anyways, I did finally make it to the top and it was a beautiful view!  On the way down I tried to explore the cave, but the flashlight the guy at the bottom gave me wasn't working well and I was too much of a chicken to go very far.  The cave was a nice place to cool off, however before the hike down.

The following day we headed back to Muang Ngoi by boat and then caught the "local bus" back to Luang Prabang.  I put local bus in quotation marks because it was actually a sangtaw (pick up truck with two rows of seats) that they sandwiched 15 of us in (plus luggage on top) for the 4 hour ride back!  So we were pretty happy to get out at the end of the trip and get a nice meal and good rest in Luang Prabang.

Today we took the bus to Vientiene, the capital city, from Luang Pragang.  The distance is 384km.  We left at 8am, and arrived at 7:30pm.  Part of the problem is that there is no strait stetch of road in this country!  The drivers had to go so slowly because although the roads are paved, they are very winding!  We unfortunately witnessed two vehicles that had rolled over on our trip.  The second one was a huge truck that they were hauling up from the side of the road where it had falled off.  They had these cables all around the trees and stuff to give them leverage...so that slowed us down by about an hour or so, just sitting on the side of the road waiting to be able to pass.  In this respect, the Lonely Planet has it right - bus trips in Laos require plenty of patience!  So we have arrived in Vientiene and are exhausted from doing nothing, but are looking forward to exploring the city for the next 2 days before we fly to Vietnam.

Bye for now!

Hanna and Dan

Nong Kiaw

The main street in Muang Ngoi

And of course I found a kitten :>)  I sincerely home he didn't get sick from Dan's duck!