Saturday 6th November, 1999

The Lao people in the room next door are loud. I think they may be the boatmen that brought the Austrians up river and celebrating their pay day. So, I was up earlier than I was expecting and bought some lovely fresh ‘French’ baguettes from a clever young boy selling around the hotels. Then strolled through town and saw some lovely barbecued rats for sale on a market stall before ending up again at the pier.

There was the boat to Nong Kiaw – yes! We left at 8:30 and had an excellent journey. It wasn’t a busy boat with just a couple of mothers with children and one fashionable monk wearing his orange costume but adding some ‘street style’ with a stereo, Kojak sunglasses and smoking! Not exactly how I imagined monks to be living! Coolio.

Sat outside the ‘canopy’ roof and lying on a bag of rice, very comfy. Soaking up the sun, watching the country roll by and enjoying the short stops in the tiny little villages clinging to the waters’ edge where they lead a pretty self-sufficient subsistence life. The constant hum of the motor was a bit annoying after a while and it was so idyllic when the motor was switched off in the villages. Then they had trouble turning it back on again and I wouldn’t have minded stopping in one of these little villages for a few hours anyway to try and get closer to the locals – they’re all a bit shy on first approach. It would also have been nice to gently float downstream, really getting back to nature. We passed some amazing hillsides, so wild and steep, really quite beautiful. I had a bit of a snooze lying in the sun and then suddenly we had arrived in Nong Kiaw and said goodbye to my fellow passengers.

I found a guesthouse straight away, just next to the bridge and the supposed ‘port’ and for only 3,000 kip – the cheapest yet. I was surprised at the number of foreigners around me, I thought I had travelled somewhat off the beaten track, but it’s hard to do that these days … there were some pretty stereo-typical Israeli’s (pun) and a European girl who I didn’t have a good start with for some reason (and who would turn out to get on my nerves the next couple of days). There were also a load of Aussie’s including two travelling by bike (James and Ben who I will see again in Luang Prabang). I was surprised at the amount of tourists around who weren’t planning to travel by boat, they’ll miss out on something really special.

It was a very small village which had something nice going for it, but I had seen some much more appealing villages further north and on the boat.

Friday 5 November 1999 (Guy Fawkes Night back home)

So, got up very early – 6am – and went to the boat stop. In fact where the road ends or at least becomes a ford in the wet season. The 1st signs of the day seemed very promising, lots of activity on the river, two other travellers (but a quiet French couple going in the opposite direction) and the sun was coming out.

Found the market for breakfast, which was a typical open sapce with temporary huts build from bamboo, or else produce lying on the floor. There wasn’t much available and I chose not to eat the ‘rats on sticks’ – skewered, squashed, barbequed rat! They did have French style demi-baguettes though, with lovely pate and plenty of fresh vegetables like, cabbage, cucmber, tomato and all those herbs they put in their noodle soup.

Stopped back at the hotel and paid for my room which I hardly made any use of – except the bed. Then a Korean guy with blond hair and on a bike, who I had seen before with the Swedish Girls in Boten and Nam Tha came. He was also heading to Nong Khiaw. There was no sign of the cargo boat supposedly leaving at 8 or 9 however.

I didn’t mind waiting, the sun was a pleasant change and the daily goings ons were interesting to watch: building a bamboo shack form 2nd hand poles; ferrying people across the river on the junk; young girls coming to do the laundry very expertly at the waters edge (I actually persuaded them to clean one of my tops!). Locals buying / selling or exchanging fruit and other food. Big-bellied pigs wandering the streets. A little child deftly peeling oranges with a huge knife. Little children swimming naked in the Nam Ou river. People, goods and boats coming and going up and downstream – mostly to, or from, ‘up’ and never to where I want to go. Nearby, children were canoeing on a calm bend on canoes made very easily out of five strips of bamboo tied together – looks great fun! But after a while all this became quite boring, the time was going by, albeit very slowly, and no boat going to where we want. Eventually gave up at 3pm, more than eight hours ‘sitting on the dock of the bay’ doing nothing except watching, a little reading, eating and washing my jumper in the Nam Ou! Found an hotel for 5,000 kip each (all others were 10,000 kip as it was last night, not bad at all) and sat (some more) on the balcony. Two Austrians came from down river (the ones I had borrowed the Laos LP from in Nam Tha) and we ate noodles together in the same restaurant as last night (didn’t do so badly last night after all) – basically the one place with food in town. We tried to eat on the beach hut restaurant where ‘Sungyo’ ate yesterday but they only had just rice!

Back to hotel very early around 7pm and wrote up some diary. When you do it on the same day you remember so many more details but it lacks some of the inner thoughts that come to you after a while contemplating. [It's bizarre remembering the scene now as I am writing these up nine years later!]

My travel connections had been pretty good but yesterday missing the bus (although the bus to Muang Khau was good timing) and now a day waiting for a non-existent boat has changed by luck. Both since separating from the SG’s – can’t possible be why can it?

But it hasn’t been all bad, the lazy day was a great way to experience the ‘lazy but productive’ daily life of a Lao and it was a gorgeous sunny day! I can think of worse ways and worse places to spend a lay afternoon. And what’s the rush anyway?!

I did accomplish something today as well .. not only did I get my Whistler top washed in the river. but I also semi-repaired my sunnys by replacing the missing screw with a tiny bit of bamboo, just like the locals would have done!