Advertisement
Published: February 1st 2008
Edit Blog Post
Nong Khiaw
Our bus ride to Nong Khiaw was a typical s.e. asian affair. Very small bus, crammed full of passengers and various live animals. At least we made it to the right bus station though. We met a couple of travellers from Israel at the bus station and it turned out we were all going on the same bus. We settled down for the long bumpy ride and chewed on our baguettes.
4-5 hours later we arrived a little dusty in Nong Khiaw, a tiny village set high in the limestone mountains along the banks of the river Ou. (Mae Nam Ou = Mother Water Ou.......all Laos rivers start Mae Nam)
None of us were planning to stay in NK but as soon as we got off the bus we decided it would be a crime to just pass on through this place. It was seriously stunning and just the Laos that we had been hearing about. Ron and I left all the girls in a little cafe and went off in search of cheap accomodation and found some lovely bungalows overlooking the river and with a great view of the sunrise and sunset. We snapped up
3 at $3 a night per room.
In the evening we decided to have a campfire down by the river on the little beach. It was really nice to sit out and relax in these surroundings. It quickly got dark however and we were all off to bed pretty sharpish.
We woke in the early morning to the sound of the (everpresent) cockerells and the morning mist rising out of the banks of the river up the sides of the mountains. Apart from the animal life it was pretty much silent. After breakfast we set off in search of some caves which were used during Laos' warring past for local people to live and survive inside. They were pretty high up and after paying our entrance fee (wherever you go there is always a bloke sat on a bench with a sign asking for 10p for you to go inside) we went up to the caves and were followed by some of the kids. EVERYWHERE you go there are little kids, it's a little bit crazy. Anyway they followed us about with not a word of English and then when it was time to go they demanded some
money for being our "guides". A little shocking considering we hadn't realised what they were up to. I did offer them some money but the little sh#*s turned up their noses at it and tried to hold out for more, so we told them to sod off.
It's one thing agreeing a price beforehand and then paying up but if they just follow you about and then demand money we felt it was a little silly. By giving them money it would only teach them that they could pull this sort of thing on whoever else stops by, we would have had no problem agreeing on what was going to happen beforehand but we felt like they were just trying to scam us by looking cute - ba#@$^%s
Anyway we hot footed back to our huts to meet up with the male members of the family who ran the place. They were taking us out on the river to try our hand at traditional fishing, throwing the nets out etc. A couple of dollars each we thought it was well worth it. Off in our longtail boats we spent the whole afternoon stopping off and fishing and trying
to catch some of the tiniest fish you have ever seen. Finally we came to a beach and stopped for lunch/dinner. Our "guides" built a fire and cooked up the fish they had caught and produced some lovely sticky rice and dipping sauces to go with it. It all tasted great, Ria even tried the fish, tiny bones and all!
Satisfied our guides asked us if we would like to go to one of the local villages which lived next to the river. Fantastic. So we hopped back in the boats and went a little further up river to the village. We caused a bit of a stir as we entered the village. ALL of the kids from everywhere came over to see the "white folks" as we wandered about, lots of smiles and some babies crying at the sight of us. We were clearly an entertainment as parents pointed us out to their children and everyone followed us about as we walked from one end to the other. It was probably one of the more well off villages as it had its own school which was very basic.
After 5 mins or so we had to leave
and jumped back in our boats for the ride back downriver to our hut just as the sun was setting. Ria's boat only just making it before running out of fuel.
That evening we had some beers at a local restaurant and met some more people who had stopped off here too. With a fair crowd of us we had a huge bonfire on the beach and made grilled bananas while drinking Lao Lao with coke.
Everyday people were arriving in NK and passing straight through on there way up river to Mong Ngoi. Lonely Planet glosses over NK and raves about MN which is probably why loads of people were skipping it out. I think we are both glad that we gave Nong Khiaw a chance as it was def. one of the most memorable experiences in Laos.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.298s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 11; qc: 52; dbt: 0.0585s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb