8/20/10 (muang khua)
Annie LinMuang Khua – Muang Ngoi Neua
A lady at the guesthouse suggested we arrive at the docks by 8am to see if we can share a slow boat with others heading to Muang Ngoi Neua. At around 8:30am the locals started arriving though we didn’t know where they were headed. We checked in with the guys running the boats but no one was headed our way. After waiting another half an hour we started to worry that we would need to come up with plan B or C. Then one of the guys said there were seven other people who were going down to Muang Ngoi and he was going to get them. We were in luck! Long and behold we see Fabrice, the French guy we met at the Thai/Laos border walking down the street with a girl. Long story short, there were seven people at his guesthouse going in the same direction as us. They came down to find out who the other two people were and he was just as surprised to see us.
We all hopped into the slow boat with our luggage and off we sailed down the Nam Ou River. On the boat was a Chilean couple, four people from Switzerland, Fabrice, and us two. It was a beautiful sunny day and the scenery was magnificent. Huge limestone mountains and rolling fields lined both sides of the river. We sat on wooden plank so our bottoms were sore but the fresh air and view made up for the soreness. Small villages were scattered along the river and we stopped at a few of them to pick up more passengers. I am not sure how the locals know if there is a boat since there may not always be one everyday. They must phone ahead to find out since they are at the bank ready to hop on the boat when we arrive.
After four hours on the boat we arrived at Muang Ngoi, a quiet little town. We all settled into our guesthouses. Jon and I decided on the guesthouse closest to the dock since we were only planning on being there one night. It was the most rustic place we had stayed at with bamboo walls and wooden planks as floors. But it was also charming in its own way. There were mosquito nets above the bed and Jon looked as if he was in a cocoon when he laid on the bed.
We joined a few others for lunch at a restaurant next door. It had a beautiful view of the river and there was something peaceful and serene about the village. During lunch we found out about a cave a couple of kilometers away and a few of us decided to check it out. Jon opted to relax on the hammock outside our room. When we arrived at the cave we were told that we had to pay 10,000 Kip to enter the cave, which was only $1.25USD. Fabrice arrived before the rest of us so he had already checked out the cave. He said it wasn’t anything spectacular so half of us decided to turn back around. There was thunder in the distance and I decided it would be safer to go back before the rainstorm hit us.
After a cold refreshing shower, we met the gang at the same restaurant for happy hour. The sun was just setting and emitted a reddish-orange hue over the mountains. We didn’t do much research into Laos and were pleasantly surprised at the amazing scenery surrounding us. Over a Beerlao we started talking to Rick, an American who lived in San Diego. He had been traveling for a few months and was on the same path to Luang Prabang. He was also looking to leave on the slow boat tomorrow.
For dinner we ventured to another restaurant and met Penny, a twenty-two year old Laos entrepreneur. She owned a guesthouse, which some of the people from the boat were staying at, as well as the restaurant. Her goal is to build a restaurant near the guesthouse and make enough money so she can retire at twenty-five. She was spunky and ambitious and we all took a liking to her. Jon read somewhere about a falang roll, which was banana and peanut butter rolled in sticky rice cut up into sushi pieces. Falang refers to westerners/foreigners and we often hear Thais and Laos use the word.
After a full meal, we headed back to the bungalow and snuggled underneath our mosquito nets just before the electricity went out at 10pm.
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