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Published: January 16th 2008
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Noung Khaiw
Isn't it pretty? Since Laos has been so amazing, I haven't been able to update my blog lately. Sorry. However, we have decided to kick back for a week in a little town in Northern Thailand called Pai so I figure I can get you all up to speed by the time I leave here. So here it goes . . .
After Mark and I left Loung Nam Tha, we headed off to hang out in some little towns on the Nam Ou River. Our first night was spent in Noung Khaiw which was a nice place to recover from 10 hours in a bus or tuk-tuk which even included little car sick children. The next day, we got up, packed our bags and headed to the boat dock so we could catch a slow boat upstream to Muang Ngoi. I had read about this town in a few guide books and thought we'd spend 1 or 2 days there, but I was wrong, we spent 8 days instead. The town is really simple and the smallest town I've been to yet on my travels. It consists of a 1/4 mile long dirt road which has little bamboo huts on both sides
Rice Paddies
Our trek started out winding through rice paddies and then . . . of it. Since the town is only accesible by boat, we found ourselves dodging little children, chickens, roosters, dogs and cats instead of cars and motorbikes. We got a little bungalow at the end of town which cost a $1.50USD a night (not too shabby considering it had a porch and hammock with a riverview) and unknowingly, settled in for the what would be the next 7 days.
While we were in Muang Ngoi, we did a two day trek to some local hill tribe villages. It was a lot of fun and our guide spoke really good English which was rather helpful. We spent the day hiking and napping alongside the trail in the middle of a bamboo forest. The senery was breathtaking! That night, we stayed in a "guesthouse" (we slept in a families living room) and ate 3 different dinners. 2 of these dinners were with Lao families which was great because we got to eat real Lao food, not the westernized versions you find in resturants, and it was sooooooo tasty, but we had to be rolled home afterwards cause we were so full! Our guide Kai, translated for us so we actually got to
Hill Tribe Village
we arrived at this little hill tribe village. I want a bamboo hut in the middle of the jungle, don't you? have a conversation with the locals. That is, until Kai had too much Lao Lao (rice whiskey) and forgot how to speak English. The next day, we hiked back to the river to catch a slow boat back to Muang Ngoi. On the way back we had to hike through a creek. It was the best creek walking I've ever done!
After our long exhuasting trek, we spent the next few days just hanging out around town and making new friends. What I like best about Muang Ngoi is that it is almost impossible to not know every westerner in the village by the end of day one unless you lock yourself in your bungalow and don't make a sound. Everyone is very friendly and a lot of fun which meant many late nights of hanging out at a resturant run by an large Lao women named Mama who loved to hand out free Lao Lao. We got kicked out by Mama almost every night cause she said she needed her beauty sleep. We made such good friends with almost everyone we met there, that we all decided to spend Christmas together, but that is a story for later.
Good view
View from the trek We also got a little fishing trip in as well with a local named Khau. This guy does it all, intertubing, fishing, massages, waiter, handyman, you name it, Khau does it! Well, he took, Mark, Yael (a girl we meant in Muang Ngoi who is traveling with her boyfriend Gal) and myself out fishing. Mark and Yael had never been fishing before so I was super happy when they both caught a bunch of little fish in a net. I didn't catch anything, but I caught massive trout in Mongolia so I figure if i didn't catch a 4 inch long fish, it wasn't going to kill me. Khau prepared a nice beach side BBQ for us. He roasted some fish on bamboo over the fire and then made a fish soup out of the rest (complete with loads of MSG, yummy)! His helper washed off some banana leaves, set them on the beach and then we feasted on roasted fish, fish soup, green stuff, sticky rice and some leaves which Khau pulled off the bush next to us. It was the coolest picnic I've ever had, sitting alongside the river, taking in the beautiful sencery and eating fish,
Another good view
Trekking through the jungle and taking pictures heads and all!
We left a day later, quite sad because we grew rather attached to Maung Ngoi, swimming in the river, laying on the beach, keeping Mama up all night and wasting afternoons in the hammock. It wasn't all sad however because we were heading south to Loung Prabang for the night and then on to Vang Vieng to meet up with Jules for Christmas!
Sorry for all the misspellings but I have too much fun stuff to do and proofreading isn't one of them, sorry!
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Lisa Melendy
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wow....
Laos is gorgeous! That's awesome you got to spend so much time there. I think the best times i've had traveling were in little villages that no one's ever heard, the people just seem more REAL. Hope the rest of your travels are fantastic!