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Published: September 7th 2007
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Day 144
We got up early as we'd been told (although very unclearly!) that there was a boat to Muang Ngoi Neua (MNN) at 8am. MNN is about an hour further up the river and only reachable by boat and we'd been told it was a great place to explore some of the local countryside and visit some of the small local villages without needing a guide.
There was no boat at 8, the first being at 11, so we dropped our bags near the dock and had a wander around the village. At 11 we got the boat and when we arrived at MNN we found a little bungalow on the riverfront for 75p a night and settled in. As we had lunch we watched the local ladies making LaoLao - the knock-your-head-off local rice whiskey that we had sampled on a few occasions.
In the afternoon we donned our walking shoes and set out towards a cave and the small village of Ban Na following a hand drawn map stuck on the side of our bunglaow. The path was extremely wet and muddy in places and we had to cross two rivers - that's what you
get for visiting in the wet season! However, the scenery along the way was absolutely beautiful as we walked between karst peaks and passed rice paddies still mesmerised by their incredible shade of green.
We popped into the cave briefly to see the river flowing right beneath us and then continued on to Ban Na. Weaving our way through the maze of paths in the paddies we were glad to reach the village for a break from the heat. We had a drink at a small place with a beautiful view and then explored the tiny village with its stilted wooden homes. After a quick game with a local child we had to set off back to MNN as we wanted to be back before dark. The views were no less stunning on the return journey as the sun slowly went down in front of us.
We beat the darkness back, had dinner, had some encounters with some very large bugs and relaxed in our hammocks overlooking the river before the generator (which provides electricity for a couple of hours every evening) went off and we went to bed.
Day 145
All set for a full
day's walk we tried to set out in a new direction today to visit some more villages on the hand drawn map. Sadly, after about 5 minutes our attempt was foiled as the path disappeared into a fairly fast-flowing river with no obvious sign of a path on the other side.
Retracing our steps we decided to use the path we'd walked yesterday and carry on past Ban Na to another village a little further down the track. The path was a little drier thanks to a full day of hot sun yesterday so the going was a little easier. We arrived at the second village (sorry don't know what it was called!) and had lunch at Samsanouk, the friendliest little place, while we watched village life go on around us. We'd really wanted to get a bit off the beaten track and this was a great place to do it, especially as now seems to be a slow time for travellers in Laos. They showed us photos of weddings and things that had happened in the village and tried to convince us to stay for the night (for 25p) and if we'd had more time we'd have probably
stayed a few but sadly we had to move on.
We stopped again in Ban Na on the way back and then went for a paddle at the cave, the cool water a lovely break for our hot, tired feet. We'd had another great day exploring the area around MNN with its welcoming locals and picturesque views and wish we'd had more time here.
Day 146
We were moving on today so we said goodbye to Mama Vita, the owner of our bungalow who nearly didn't let us go, and got the boat back to Nong Khiaw - considerably quicker going with the current! Here we had to barter with the bus driver who didn't want to charge us the going rate and wouldn't leave until he got what he thought would be a fair price. We needed to leave quickly as we had an ongoing connection to catch later in the day so we had to pay slightly over the odds to get on but we put up a good fight! The journey to Oudom Xay was extremely bumpy and left Chrissie wishing, not for the first time on this trip and almost definitely not the
last, that journeys in Asia came with a chest support warning, something like "this journey requires a fully scaffolded sports bra" would do.
A change at Oudom Xay and we were back on the bus to Luang Nam Tha where we had thought we'd have to stay for the night before getting a sawngtheaw in the morning to our final destinatin of Muang Sing another area good for trekking to minority hill tribe villages. However, when we arrived we jumped off the bus to find some locals with a sawngthaew full of supplies bound for Muang Sing and we were able to grab a ride with them.
A long day of travelling finally over we found a place to stay and a kind lady willing to keep her restaurant open late (that's past 10pm) to feed us, although she informed us that we'd only be able to have 'flied lie' - fine with us! Fed and watered we headed to bed.
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JulieandDarian
Julie and Darian Macey
Nam Ou River
Great blog, guys. We're in Luang Prabang looking for some direction, and your story has given us some inspiration.