Blogs from North, Laos, Asia - page 37

So, yes, we arrived in Muang Sing! A day late, and still trying to clear our lungs of the black smoke that poured out the back of our tuk tuk thing, but the sun was shining and it looked like a nice little town... ran into some Vientiane living Brits at the bus station, well, the piece of concrete in the middle of some mud that the buses stop near, and they told us how great it was there and how we could get to various villages on bike. Hmmmm. Beats splashing out on a jungle trek - lets do it! So we set about, and failed as it goes, to get bikes. But we did take in a particualrly impressive wat (well, it was real colourful and had a kitten, and praying cleaning wormen. I ... read more

Vientiane An early morning saw us on our way to the airport in Siem Reap, where our tuk-tuk driver got pulled over by the police and fined $2. At first we thought he was a victim of what we have heard is typical police corruption in Cambodia, but later he told us it was because he was not wearing his jacket with his official license number on. Muppet... It was an uneventful flight to Vientiane via Pakse; with only 12 passengers for the international leg, it was a relatively comfortable experience considering the small plane! Despite its infamy when it comes to fatalities, we arrived safe and well fed, much to our delight. We checked into a guesthouse, and decided that the limited sights of Vientiane were best seen in one afternoon on the back of ... read more

Luang Prabang, Nong Khiawn Muang Ngoi Nuea, Luang PrabangJason & Kirstyn O Travelled by local bus (no chickens) to Nong Khiaw. From here we caught a boat up the Nam Ou (River) to the tiny village of Muang Ngoi Neua. The boat was more like an oversized wooden canoe and the driver was very adept at getting us up the rapids without tipping us out! Muang Ngoi Neua has a population under 1000 people and there is only really one main dirt street in town. We found it to be one of the most relaxing places we have found so far on our trip. The town itself has several guesthouses and restaurants but is otherwise dependant upon farming and other industries such as making tools and fabric weaving within the local area. Power is provided by ... read more

Z Nong Khiaw sme sa za hodinu dostali lodou do malickej dedinky Muang Ngoi Neua kam sa nedalo dostat ziadnym inym dopravnym prostriedkom - len po rieke. Hned zo zaciatku spomeniem ze v dedinke bolo zhruba 70 turistov a z toho bolo 6 z Ciech!!! V celom Laose som stretla len 2 Cechov a pridem sem na koniec sveta kde je elektrina len 3 hodiny denne, ziadny internet a ziadny telefon a tu ich je 6 naraz :-) Vecer sme spolu vecerali aj s dalsimi turistami, hralo sa na gitaru - vsade ticho az na svrcky, ziadne auta, motorky - proste totalny relax - uz davno som nebola tak leniva - cele hodiny sme sa hojdali v sietach pred chatkami, pozorovali prirodu a rozpravali sa. Dedinka bola obklopena horami - zase sa nedali fotit lebo vypaluju ... read more

Arriving in Muang Ngoi by river boat was a pretty exciting prospect. Lonely planet describes it in a way that sounds like an idealistic travellers get away and I wasn’t disappointed. I travelled with some friends I’d met trekking in Luang Nam Tha and we met others in Nong Khiaw, just down river from our destination, where we stayed over for the night. Getting here from Nam Tha took an entire day traversing dusty bumpy dirt tracks by bus and an uncomfortable sâwngthâew journey, but at least it was mostly sealed roads. This sleepy market town on the banks of the Nam Ou cuts through close mountains and the scenery sours up on all sides displaying some dramatic lighting as the sun goes round combined with an eerie feeling as blankets of morning mist roll through ... read more