River Voyages And Lethal Wine

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Another river journey, but this time in my own privately chartered vessel. Expensive relative to getting a shared boat (which wasnt possible today) but still an absolute bargain!

I stopped for lunch at Muang Ngoi, I tiny village with no roads. It kindof a small pile of guesthouses and a school and small temple. The view is great, over a forested valley which could easily be used to film the next Jurassic Park. However I don't think I could stay here for long - the setting may me idyllic but the village really isnt. So its back on the boat, and we carry on north. The scenery changes gradually from the rugged cliffs and mountains to more gentle and rolling hills.

At times teh extent of the wet season flooding is evident as the boat navigates its way through narrow channels between the very tops of submerged trees. Along the way we stop to trade. At one place the boatwoman buys a bag of freshly caught eels, at another she buys hunks of meat sold from a filthy fabric bag.

Eventually we arrive and disembark - not onto dry land but into the banks of the river. Thank god im a) wearing sandals and b) steady on my feet! I walked up a rickety bamboo staircase straight into a $2 a night guesthouse... perfect! At that price Im not going to shop around so I dump by bags and head of around town. And 10 minutes later Im back at the guesthouse. Its a very small town! I was looking forward to the demise of backpacker restaurants but actually there is a catch. In these smaller places more people seem to eat in the home, so street food and local restaurants just arent there. And this means with less tourist restaurants comes less restaurants full stop. Not what I wanted, but I was left with only one option. I had to commit my self declared cardinal sin - eating in the place I was staying. It wasnt too bad, but the Lao Lao (rice wine) given to me by the guys on the table next to me was seriously potent. Bought to mind drinking petrol...

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