8/19/10 (udomxai)

Udomxai – Muang Khua

Udomxai was a dusty desolate town with not much going on and we were excited to be heading closer to the river. As usual Jon waited by our suitcases while I went to buy the tickets. I was concerned about having our suitcases on top of the bus in case it rained and crossed my fingers for good weather. Once we settled into our itty bitty seats I bought breakfast for us. A lady was selling sticky rice inside a tube of bamboo. I was intrigued and bought one to try. I had a hard time figuring out how to get the rice out of the tube and was told to peel back the bamboo. It was hard to peel the bamboo since the rice was so sticky. I broke the bamboo in half and peeled the top layer off to use as a makeshift spoon. We were the only tourists on the bus and the couple sitting next to us were intrigued at my method of eating the rice.

Promptly at 8:30am the bus left the station and we chugged along the road following the river. All was well on the road and for a moment we were secretly smiling that there was no Laos music over the speakers. But our peace and quiet was quickly replaced by Laos music and of course we just happen to have sat right next to the speakers. We tried to stay positive and enjoy the beautiful scenery. About half way to Muang Khua the bus stopped at a village where women dressed in traditional village attire swarmed our bus to sell vegetables. It was a great photo opportunity but we realized they didn’t like their pictures taken. Or didn’t mind their picture taken if we gave them money. We decided to put our cameras away and enjoy the interaction between the locals.

When we arrived at the Muang Khua bus station a look of fear spread across Jon’s face. He thought what we were looking at was the center of town which didn’t have much. The station consisted of a small building with a Laos man who didn’t speak much English. We didn’t even see any houses. We were trying to figure out if there was a boat that would take us to the next village on the Nam Ou River. Luckily a shopkeeper came to help us. He explained it was too late to take the boat and we would need to spend one night in town and directed us to a guesthouse close to the river. He told the tuk-tuk driver where to take us. I squeezed in the back with the locals but there was no room for Jon. He was fine standing up on the back of the truck but the driver insisted that he sit in the front. The driver was a funny man and used hand gestures to make sure we didn’t get out of the truck before our designated stop.

We checked into our guesthouse, which offered modest accommodations. We grabbed lunch at a nearby restaurant along the river and were surprised at how expensive it was. And when we say expensive we mean $4-5/dish, which by Laos’ standards is very pricey. Muang Khua is a small town and we learned most of their items came from Udomxai. Then we walked to the river to arrange a boat ride. We were told that it would cost 1 million Kip to charter a boat for the two of us and then it was bargained down to 700,000 Kip (roughly $88). It was an exorbitant amount and all we could do is hope there were other tourists/locals who were heading down river tomorrow.

As we walked back to our guesthouse there were ducks and pigs on the side of the road. It was like we were in the middle of a farm.

Comments

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Your details of this adventure made me picture myself there.