Muang Ngoi Friggin' Neua

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Hello!

Oh. My. God. I think we are really starting to realise that the UK public transport system is not worth the hours of complaints that are daily made in its general direction.

1. The buses don't ususally smell of cheese
2. People normally get a fixed seat rather than a wooden chair dropped in between the two rows
3. Your seat is not ordinarily suspiciously wet.
4. A 4 hour bus journey does not often take 7.
5. A bus that seats 16 does not seat 26.
6. Standing on the rear bumper for the entire journey is discouraged.

Apart from that it was very good actually. Ahem.

Saying that though, Muang Ngoi Neua (yes, we did make it -apparently it is pronounced Moo-ang Nyyyoi Nooooaaa) was stunning. It's set amongst the mountains which gave it a pretty perfect climate of about 15-20 in the mornings and about 30 in the afternoon before cooling off at night again (you can take us out of Britain, but you can't take Britain out of us... we are indeed discussing the weather).

The accomodation was, on the bright side, a thatched bungalow looking out over the river, with a hammock on our veranda for catching the afternoon breeze while reading and sipping Beer Lao (Dave) a hefty vodka (Lucie). On the darker side our 'bed' was a table top with a thin, no seriously THIN, blanket on top. There were no other furnishings... The toilet was housed in a concrete bunker about 100 metres away and the electricty was generally available from 7 in the evening right up until you wanted the loo... (about 9pm, though it varied, clearly as they watched us leave our hut). Still for $2 a night you can't complain.

On the second day we set out bright and early (or at least intended to) for a gentle stroll (12 miles round trip) to the nearest village, which we reached at the height of the day's heat. We promptly bought a bottle of water - so that was worth it then. The genius part of it was that the guy who ran the 'shop' in the village actually made the same trip in reverse each day to buy the water from Muang Ngoi, which we duly bought back from him. Good old market economies.

Seriously though, the walk was incredible, we really got a feel for the country and it was fantastic to be somewhere that doesn't even have a road let alone a car. We met some lovely people there, mostly French, and generally laid back for a few days, soaking up the atmosphere. The sky at night was incredible. No electricty = no light pollution and you could see every star in the northern hemisphere (not that we counted) twinkling happily above us.

Back in Luang Prabang for a few days now (bums nearly dried out from the bus journey back - see point 3) before setting off for Vientiane on Wednesday. Strangely we have not only booked a VIP bus (allegedly with a/c...) and a 'deluxe' room with its own bathroom and a/c - our levels of deluxe have dropped considerably in the last few days! Fingers crossed it also has electricity - nothing mentioned in our new bible the Lonely Planet, but you have to hope... right...?

Love to all
David and LUcie

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Comments

[Mum & Dad]

Having a good time?
It all sounds wonderfull!!! though I think I can live without some of the hardships. I'm waiting to hear about the luxury ac. I've had a quick look at the photos but will have more time when I get home. Though I did see a very strange one of Dave. You must tell us more about the food though what you were cooking looked very interesting. You're not missing much in the cricket, hope they've had a bit more practice before you join te Barmy Army