The boat ride up the river is nice, but it is nowhere near as amazing as people say. Think pleasant and you won't be diappointed. We had to head up through some rapids on the way as well. There was a French guy and a Dutch guy with us, along with an Englishwoman named Jenny. She told me on the boat that the Laotians had not always lied, but they were finding it difficult to deal with capitalism and that she had noticed a lot of lying recently. It reminds me of a story from an American in Phonsavan. When she was asked if she wanted another glass of wine, she replied that it was too expensive and the Laotian replied it was 'not too expensive for you'. We arrived in Nong Khiaw and it really is a pretty little town. The kind of place that grows on you every day you are there. We found a very cheap guesthouse and decided to hike out to the nearby caves. They are unremarkable, but the walk there is very pretty. While we were there a random guy appeare from nowhere with a torch, but as we didn't really want to pay him for anything, we declined the offer. In the evening we joined Jenny at her place and I finally had the venison. Not as good as home, but still really tasty. When we arrived in town we bumped into the Belgian guy who we had met in Vientiane. He had had a terrible time in the North. He had gone on a trek on the first day that was far too difficult for his fitness level. Nevermind that the trek had been clearly labelled as difficult. He strained his knee and fell through a bamboo bridge into the river below, also injuring his back. He had to abandon the trek and take a boat down river that was ruined by constant rain so they had to put down the covers and couldn't see the scenery. Nice holiday. After the food we went to the only bar in town to watch Hangover 2. I hand't seen the first one, but as the second is basically a rerun apparently I now feel I got two for the price of one. The place was full of hippies though. After the film I decided to stay and watch the Spurs Arsenal game. That lasted for one half, when it was obvious we were going to be destroyed and destroyed we were. I would advise getting here as soon as possible, before it changes for the worst. The bar full of hippies is already heading in that direction.
We had a very lazy morning. Well we had a lazy day. We took the boat up to the village of Mong Ngong Neua. Untouristy LP said. Ah LP. You know when you write that it is the kiss of death for a place. My God there were almost more tourists than locals. That was surprising. We found ourselves a place on the river and as everyone was either too lazy or sick to hike, we lounged around in hammocks all day. We met the old Swiss woman from Sukhotai which was random and she recommended some places to eat. We ended up eating in the place run by a Swedish guy and his Laotian wife. She regaled us with her accounts of a near death experience that converted her to buddhism. She said she had pleaded with God to let her come back, as her mum did not have enough English to run the hotel. We also found out that in Laos you can't own property as a foreigner and have to have some locals to front the business. Its a nice village, but as we did nothing I can't really recommend anything. Saints beat Oakland and kept us alive.
In the morning we got the bus back to Nong Khiaw and walked to the bus station. They provide tuk tuks but the bus station is a 10 minute walk. Ridiculous by anyones standards. We then had to get the midday bus to Sam Neua. That is a very, very long bus ride. It was like being slowly roasted in hell. It eventually limped into Sam Neua at 10.30pm which was too late for us to eat anywhere. We walked into town and got the only hotel that wasn't full. One last day in Laos and we had to work out how to get to Vieng Xai caves.
Firstly they had no automatic scooters. The girls had overriden me in getting up late, but the lack of scooters meant we would have to walk to the bus station and get a bus. There are no convenient ways to do this trip by public transport, but you can book yourself onto a private tour if you can take the earliest and come back on the earliest. Or so we thought. We walked to the bus station for the 10am bus and were informed that there was only one functioning bus at 8am. Fuck sake. They would take us by taxi for 200,000 kip one way or 300,000 return. Useless. So we had to walk back into town. We grabbed some food and tried to work through options as the only other tour was at 1pm. So we went to the tourist information and after some haggling got a jumbo for the tour for 300,000 between four. In the end this would prove to be by far the best option. Though in the beginning he struggled to get there and needed to stop for a mechanic. We were panicking for the tour. We arrived and the jumbo driver told us half one. Though everyone said he meant he would pick us up at 4pm. Ok. Looked weird to me. We walked to the centre (missing the entrance once) and got the audio guides. We said we didn't want bicycles and so the woman spent 10 minutes telling us where we wouldn't be able to visit. I just wanted to go as our time was being eaten up. Then we were told we needed a guide. Fuck that. I stormed out of the centre angrily and then a jumbo turned up. I knew the guide would walk too slow, so we wouldn't be able to see everything. The others were getting in. I cam back. Ah. It was our jumbo. It would take us round. Cool. This is why its the best option. With the jumbo you will be able to comfortably see all the caves without rushing and you get the transport there and back as well. Our guide was really nice despite me clearly resenting his slowness and presence at the beginning. When I eventually calmed down we were off and running. Its a really, really interesting tour where you take in the caves where the Laos rebels hid during the bombing, then through the hospital and eventually to the barracks, theatre and artillery placements. Thsi combined with Phonsavan were great places to learn a lot about the history of Laos. When we got back we found out that we could take the bus to Vietnam from the central bus station and that you don't have to walk all the way out of town. In fact it goes there first so its the best place to get the bus. There was no internet in town so we stayed up late chatting in a cafe and had conversations on everything from science, to x-rays to US politics to Pearl Harbour. Peter is a really interesting and intelligent guy. Luckily we will probably catch up again in Cambodia for New Year. He changed up our remaining kip for dollars. The next day we would get up early and take the bus to Thanh Hoa (Its not even in the LP Vietnam guidebook). We were off to Vietnam and my 71st country. All of us had enjoyed our time in Laos, but none of us were sad to leave and certainly not keen to go back. It had run its course.
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