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Lao People's Democratic Republic/Don Không Round the world trip 2008
3/17
St Patrick’s Day and my brother Bruce’s birthday and another rainy day in Muang Noi! Two days ago we left Nong Khiaw by early boat (11am). The day before was extremely hot. The locals were living in the river: playing on inner tubes, washing and bathing. The morning promised another sweltering day. The one hour boat ride passed gorgeous scenery through rapids in places as we observed local Lo riverside life. After walking the 300 meter main dirt street of Muang Noi, we spent the afternoon getting wet in the shower and sitting in the shade begging the bit of breeze to caress our wet bodies to keep us cool. It was too hot for us to walk down to the river for a dip, although several people did. As the sun went down, the air cooled and we strolled out for beer and dinner.
The next day, 3/16, seemed to have a cooling overcast, so instead of hopping the boat heading north, we decided to take a walk inland. The day was spectacular: observing cutting and hauling of a huge teak tree; locals gathering plant materials; valleys of rice fields dotted with herds of water buffalo and some cows. We paid $10,000kip ($1) to view a limestone cave, the mouth of a spring-fed stream and to move further west toward native villages. Many tourists trudge this path and the village life seems to be a zoo-like experience. Native villagers are pleased to meet and greet us. One exceptional group was a very enterprising family who operated a restaurant, sending the son out on the path to entice potential customers. It seems the rival restaurant, less than twenty feet across their dirt lane was a hated enemy ‘not to be trusted – bad people’. The boy’s family managed to snag all of the falangs passing that day – 14 of them. Mama brought out photos of previous visitors to her restaurant and guesthouse and a number of postcards sent to the family. We thought about ordering a dish with chicken but changed our minds when she gestured that it had to be killed first. Our time is relaxed, but maybe not that relaxed. And the killing of the chicken put our sensibilities a little on edge – moving ever more forward toward vegetarianism.
On the trek back, ominous sounds of thunder turned into rain. Thank goodness we were near a large, roofed platform where we ducked under for cover. As we waited out the rain, eight other falangs came running. From our platform we watched the kids frolicking in the rain, eating hail the size of marbles, and visited with the other trekkers caught here. A young man ran by with a live snake which he proceeded to clean, toss in a pot over a fire he built and made a soup for several of the locals gathered in shelters near us.
By the time we waited out the worst of the storm and began back, the road was paved with a gummy clay path that adhered to shoes, each of us caring five pounds of clay by the time we reached Maung Noi, plus wet to the skin from even more rain. We washed all our clothes and hung them to dry on our porch under cover because it proceeded to rain, not only all night but into the next day. As I sit here writing, our clothes smell like the river since the water used to wash them and us was the color of mud!
We got out of bed only to put our name on the list for the boat going north. It costs $800,000k ($80US) for the boat to run – so the ideal is to have eight people to share the cost equaling about $100,000kip p/p. With this terrible weather, fewer people are coming into this village and even fewer going north. Today we were the only two to sign up. Maybe tomorrow will be better. Yesterday six people left. The boat goes to Muang Khoua (4-5 hour ride) and from there it is 100km by very poor dirt road – now mud to Diem Bien Phu. It may be impassable. We have until 3/24 to leave Laos so we can be patient and wait a few more days. If this is the dry season, what is the wet season like? At least it is fairly cool which makes for good sleeping and pleasant days.
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March 14 Lao People's Democratic Republic/Nong
St Patrick’s Day and my brother Bruce’s birthday and another rainy day in Muang Noi! Two days ago we left Nong Khiaw by early boat (11am). The day before was extremely hot. The locals were living in the river: playing on inner tubes, washing and bathing. The morning promised another sweltering day. The one hour boat ride passed gorgeous scenery through rapids in places as we observed local Lo riverside life. After walking the 300 meter main dirt street of Muang Noi, we spent the afternoon getting wet in the shower and sitting in the shade begging the bit of breeze to caress our wet bodies to keep us cool. It was too hot for us to walk down to the river for a dip, although several people did. As the sun went down, the air cooled and we strolled out for beer and dinner.
The next day, 3/16, seemed to have a cooling overcast, so instead of hopping the boat heading north, we decided to take a walk inland. The day was spectacular: observing cutting and hauling of a huge teak tree; locals gathering plant materials; valleys of rice fields dotted with herds of water buffalo and some cows. We paid $10,000kip ($1) to view a limestone cave, the mouth of a spring-fed stream and to move further west toward native villages. Many tourists trudge this path and the village life seems to be a zoo-like experience. Native villagers are pleased to meet and greet us. One exceptional group was a very enterprising family who operated a restaurant, sending the son out on the path to entice potential customers. It seems the rival restaurant, less than twenty feet across their dirt lane was a hated enemy ‘not to be trusted – bad people’. The boy’s family managed to snag all of the falangs passing that day – 14 of them. Mama brought out photos of previous visitors to her restaurant and guesthouse and a number of postcards sent to the family. We thought about ordering a dish with chicken but changed our minds when she gestured that it had to be killed first. Our time is relaxed, but maybe not that relaxed. And the killing of the chicken put our sensibilities a little on edge – moving ever more forward toward vegetarianism.
On the trek back, ominous sounds of thunder turned into rain. Thank goodness we were near a large, roofed platform where we ducked under for cover. As we waited out the rain, eight other falangs came running. From our platform we watched the kids frolicking in the rain, eating hail the size of marbles, and visited with the other trekkers caught here. A young man ran by with a live snake which he proceeded to clean, toss in a pot over a fire he built and made a soup for several of the locals gathered in shelters near us.
By the time we waited out the worst of the storm and began back, the road was paved with a gummy clay path that adhered to shoes, each of us caring five pounds of clay by the time we reached Maung Noi, plus wet to the skin from even more rain. We washed all our clothes and hung them to dry on our porch under cover because it proceeded to rain, not only all night but into the next day. As I sit here writing, our clothes smell like the river since the water used to wash them and us was the color of mud!
We got out of bed only to put our name on the list for the boat going north. It costs $800,000k ($80US) for the boat to run – so the ideal is to have eight people to share the cost equaling about $100,000kip p/p. With this terrible weather, fewer people are coming into this village and even fewer going north. Today we were the only two to sign up. Maybe tomorrow will be better. Yesterday six people left. The boat goes to Muang Khoua (4-5 hour ride) and from there it is 100km by very poor dirt road – now mud to Diem Bien Phu. It may be impassable. We have until 3/24 to leave Laos so we can be patient and wait a few more days. If this is the dry season, what is the wet season like? At least it is fairly cool which makes for good sleeping and pleasant days.
