Back to the basics

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- FOOD: Pumpkin soup; steamed fish in Gaza leaf and fish curry (sadly far too many bones and overrun with aniseed tasting herb; river weeds (a must - they are so nice); pink drink

- AREA: Tiny village - the most basic and stunning I've stayed in with steep mountains and vegetation forming the backdrop - the perfect chill out spot; breaking down bus; wake up chorus of screeching cockerals, babies and pigs; Tham Pha Thok limestone caves ; dirt road lined with palm trees as the highway; tiny waterfall; SNAKE in the wild; cockfighting; beautiful 6 hour boat journey and cave temple.

- PEOPLE: Vomitting toddler; very nice family who own the guesthouse including the perfect host 12 year old boy and his adorable (but whingy!) baby cousin; 3 dodgy, stalking men; playful children who share everything and don't expect anything; other village children who expect pens etc; sweet boat men.

- ACCOM: Sunset guesthouse - THE best with woven bamboo walls, thatched roofs, chill out verandah with Buddha cushions, restaurant overhanging the river; unexpected hot shower and the best view I've ever had while sitting on the loo!

- WEATHER: Very cold at night - enough for socks, jumper and a blanket! But misty and hot at day.


Sun 23rd Oct: We caught a small bus to Nong Khiaw, a tiny village located on the Nam Ou river and the Phu Nang Nawn (Sleeping Princess Mountains). The bus ride was interesting with the bus breaking down (and being fixed again) and a toddler vomiting everywhere (good old wet wipes come in handy again). The bus journey still only took 3 hours 30 mins though and we travelled through more and more beautiful scenery - it blows your senses it's so stunning.

We arrived to a backdrop of hazy mountains, very steep like Waynapicchu in Peru. Sally from Oz who was on the bus with us joined us and we found the best guesthouse - 'Sunset'. A pretty place with woven bamboo strips for walls, corrugated iron and thatch roofs, beds on the floor, wall hangings. Very basic but VERY nice and only 4 dollars between us! The family who run it are as sweet as the place itself - an adorable little baby was there to help her Dad greet us and point the room out to us, saying "look" (they're training her young to take over the business). The bathroom and shower were outside but very clean and one of the toilets only had the wall built up halfway so you could have a lovely view of the mountains and banana trees while on the loo!
Outside the bedrooms is a verandah with cushions on the floor and low tables and this leads down to a restaurant with the deck overlooking the river. I won't even try to describe the view as I'm running out of descriptive words that don't even come close to it anyway.

We spent the afternoon relaxing, looking out onto big banana leaves, bamboo, papaya trees and palms with cocks crowing and a clear river calmly flowing past. I have never felt so unbelievably chilled out as here. The afternoon's relaxation was interrupted only by my other favourite activity - eating. A tasty pumpkin soup. The shower was hot which was such a bonus and totally unexpected and then we managed to walk the few steps back down to the restaurant for dinner and a game of cards. I ate steamed fish in Gaza leaf. Sadly the fish portion was really small and so full of bones it wasn't entirely enjoyable. The meal was also overrun with this herb that tasted of aniseed. But such a small gliche in a calm day.


Mon 24th: It's cold at night up in these parts and I had to put on socks and a jumper! The blanket was cosy though. At some ridiculously early hour we were woken by the cockerals screeching at the top of their lungs, a baby screaming at the top of her lungs and a few other animals joining in the early morning wake up chorus.

But breakfast in the sun chilled us out again and we decided to do some exercise for once - a walk to the Tham Pha Thok limestone caves where the villagers lived during the Indochina War. It was a gorgeous walk along the 'highway'. The highway is a million miles different to the M25. It's a dirt road with stacks of trees either side giving it a jungle feel and NO cars at all!
The steep mountains loom in the distance in their fabulous shapes and covered in mist. The walk was slightly ruined by 2 dodgy men stalking us and making us all feel uncomfortable. We stopped, so did they but eventually they walked on. However, they were at the caves and called to their mate to join them (3 of us, 3 of them). We were determined not to let them freak us out and so we walked past a massive crater caused by a US bomb (quite a few of them here) and up the ladder into the caves. They of course followed us and just stared at us when we confronted them. As a result, we only saw the entrance of this big, spacious cave and then left (leaving them behind too).

We walked for another hour or so onto the waterfalls, passing 2 little villages on the way. The kids all ran out to us asking for pens. There were loads of kids, along with cows, pigs and piglets, cocks, hens and chicks... all playing amongst the wooden houses. But the absolute highlight for me was seeing a SNAKE!!! YES, at long last. It slithered between our feet really fast, how exciting.
We reached the waterfall which was only about my height and watched loads of naked kids, aged about 6 or 7, playing in the lake. They got out when they noticed us and stood staring at us. We got in the lake which was cold and very shallow but refreshing. The kids were still there staring at us as we undressed! The leader of the group plucked up the courage to accept our offerings of tic tacs, pin badges and a pen. He was so cute and made sure he shared everything equally. They were suspicious of the tic tacs and preferred to shake them like a musical instrument than eat them (I think their Mothers had done a good job teaching them not to eat food offered by strangers). They loved the badges and kept swapping them.

But they really came out of their shells when the cameras were taken out. They LOVED them and posed for pictures and performed for video clips. I got them to count to ten in English and then I counted to 10 for them in Lao, with them correcting me. It was all such fun and every time one game was over, they stood there waiting for more or watching to see what else we had in our bags! The leader had disappeared but reappeared with the tic tacs which were nearly gone. He shared them with the others and they even broke them in half with their teeth so that every child had some. They didn't draw with the pen but treasured my drawings to them. The sunglasses trying on session was a good game and they took it in turns to pass them around, screaming in delight at how each of them looked, especially when photos were taken and they recognised themselves.

They were just SO cute and I wanted to take them home. The rare thing about them was that they didn't expect anything to be given to them and they didn't ask for money for photos etc. A guy had been fishing in the waterfall by diving underneath it and once he caught his catch, he came over to see what the fuss was all about and was just as fascinated as the kids in us.
The couple we'd met from NZ appeared as the older children finished school and played with them. They were much more confident and cocky!

The walk back didn't take too long and we were surrounded by children again at every village shouting "Sabadee pen" at us ("Hello pen"). Their favourite game seems to be pushing a tyre along with a stick and their second favourite is unfortunately cockfighting.

Jo and I ate on the verandah as we were too relaxed and exhausted after our hard day's exercise to socialise. Also it was much more fun to talk to the 12 year old who helped to run the restaurant and play with the toddler rather than hear yet more stories about where all the backpackers have gone/are going. I'm getting sick of it now!
The baby loved our jewellery and seemed to be reading my book when I gave it to her! She is very clever but can whinge if she doesn't get what she wants! I had fish curry - still lots of bones, and river weeds. These are reeds fried and folded in half with sesame seeds on top - SO good. The boy made a perfect host and babysitter - such a nice family.


Tue 25th: Today's wake up call was the sounds of pigs squealing in terror on their way to be murdered. Plus the usual cockerels but not the baby crying.
It wasn't as cold in the night but was cloudy today. After a banana pancake we wandered into the village. It's tiny and doesn't have any markets or other tourist stuff. Just a few shops selling the basics plus a stall selling colourful liquid in bottles. I tried some of the bright pink one which tasted like, ummm, well.... how you'd expect a pink drink to taste!
We tried to book the boat to take us back to Luang Prabang tomorrow but in a village this tiny and laid back, the answer we got was "Maybe there will be boat tomorrow"... just turn up.
The afternoon was spent in our accustomed style - doing sod all but looking out at the river thinking about nothing much at all. I only took a break from this to shower and pack. We hadn't seen much of the baby all day and found out it was because she had flu. Over here, it's quite worrying as they don't have much in the way of healthcare so I was worried about the little thing.


Wed 26th: We were the early morning wake up call for once, probably waking up the noisy Irish girls who had arrived the night before and kept us awake (that's the trouble with thin, bamboo walls - everything can be heard - even a man snoring a few rooms away!).

The boat worked out as a couple also wanted to go so they joined us and we paid 15 bucks each. We said goodbyes to the baby who was much better and her usual self. The boat men were really sweet and we had a very pleasant journey on the calm river, which only had the occasional rapid, back to Luang Prabang.
We passed trees, vegetation and mountains and the odd pig, cow or buffalo bathing in the river. Also some children who live along the banks waving manically at us.
This beautiful 6 hour journey was broken by a stop at the Pak Ou caves - full of Buddha figurines both small and large in every nook, cranny and ledge there was. The roof of the cave had excellent rock formations and was worn away into cool shapes.
We climbed the steps up to the Tham Ting temple, shaking off the children who were grabbing our bracelets and selling live insects in bags. It was very dark inside the temple and we could just about make out the stupa and Buddhas.

Then we reached Luang Prabang - it felt like coming home. We were dropped near our hotel (Hotel Bougnasouk) and they were very happy to see us again. We were surprised to see the dirt road running beside our hotel had been flattened down and turned into a new road rather than a pile of rubble! We sat in our favourite spot in their restaurant under the hot sun and then hit the night market to make many a purchase! Quite often the stall owners tapped the money onto their merchandise as good luck.

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Photos

Home of villagers in the Indochina War
Tham Pha Thok caves

We now how he feels
The most relaxing village in the most relaxing country

Sabaidee
Their shyness soon wore off

Surely there's room for another Buddha in here somewhere?
Pak Ou caves