The slow boat brought us to Nong Khiaw...a small village set on the river. We stayed at the "fancy" place...we had a bungalow made with bamboo walls. Only a ceiling fan (no A/C in this town!) and a mosquito net to cover the bed (which blocked the air from the fan!). It was a lot like camping...lot's of bugs and you wake with the sun. You flushed the toilet with a scoop full of water.
View of the town from our lodge. The bridge is quite modern...but the village is simple. Most bathing and washing of clothes is done right under the bridge. There are a few restaurants...we found ourselves frequenting the Indian place....more vegetarian options.
On our walk around town I spotted this little girl. She was very excited to see me, and was yelling "Sabai-dii!" until I brought out the camera. It made her shy....but I love this photo!
In the morning we decided to walk to a local cave. We followed the Lonely Planet directions...walk for 40 minutes..you will see a large limestone cave...go up the trail. Easy. Nope. We walked right past the cave and kept going for over an hour. Mind you...no one walks far in Laos. Way toooo hot. They ride bikes or scooters. They look ut us like we are crazy. The reason we missed the trail? Well...look at the picture above. See a trail? The jungle grows at an amazing rate. To hike you need a machete. Thanks Lonely Planet.
After hacking our way through the jungle (later learning of all the poisonous snakes and scorpions) we found the cave! Phatoke Cave is where the communist guerrillas were hiding during the Indochinese war. It now only holds buddha's.
At our lodge we met Nick...he and his girlfriend moved here 6 months ago from the UK. He is a climbing guide with loads of experience. They are hoping to put Nong Khiaw on the climbing map...the limestone cliffs are incredible. We hiked up a mountain in the fiery sun...I don't think I've ever been so hot in my life...and all this between 8-9am. We finally reached their "platform" and collapsed.
Our first climb was very difficult...I manged to cut a finger on one of my first holds...not a good start to the day. Our second climb was to be on the wall in the picture above. I decided to laze on the platform and chill while they set up.
Note Dean at the very top and center of this photo! You can see an arm and a leg. Crazy high.
I didn't get quite so high...in fact I may be clinging for my life here. I told him to take pictures fast.
A couple moves later I did manage to fall. I kept this one off Facebook...but I'll share it with my blog readers. Just don't laugh. Tooo hard.
After climbing two routes we RACED down the mountain and had minutes to rinse off (filthy!) and grab our packs. Our "minibus" was posted to leave at 2pm, but the ticket man said 1pm. So annoying...so very Laos. They say a time...and it could be hours later. That is exactly what happened. We sat in the sun, dying of heatstroke for about 45 minutes waiting. Dean was seeing spots and I was comatose leaning on a post. We couldn't even eat for hours. Our "air conditioned" mini-bus showed up..loaded our packs..and then drove away. I nearly had a heart attack. Turns out he was going to pick up the chickens they put on the roof in the photo above. Then there was the 9 OTHER people that managed to squeeze into the minivan with us. The windows did not open (except for the front seat) and he did not turn on the A/C. The little boy in the backseat kept throwing up...the kid next to me kept sleeping on my shoulder...we hit a dog (won't go into details...I sat rigid for about an hour after with Dean looking at me in horror)....saw a car crash (the way they drive how have we not seen more?) we nearly missed hitting a young girl laying in the middle of the street (what?)..we were tortured with the Laos version of the band "In Sync" played at full volume...I could keep going...but you get the point. We were happy to be back in Luang Prabang and our beloved A/C....;)
The slow boat brought us to Nong Khiaw...a small village set on the river. We stayed at the "fancy" place...we had a bungalow made with bamboo walls. Only a ceiling fan (no A/C in this town!) and a mosquito net to cover the bed (which blocked the air from the fan!). It was a lot like camping...lot's of bugs and you wake with the sun. You flushed the toilet with a scoop full of water.
View of the town from our lodge. The bridge is quite modern...but the village is simple. Most bathing and washing of clothes is done right under the bridge. There are a few restaurants...we found ourselves frequenting the Indian place....more vegetarian options.
On our walk around town I spotted this little girl. She was very excited to see me, and was yelling "Sabai-dii!" until I brought out the camera. It made her shy....but I love this photo!
In the morning we decided to walk to a local cave. We followed the Lonely Planet directions...walk for 40 minutes..you will see a large limestone cave...go up the trail. Easy. Nope. We walked right past the cave and kept going for over an hour. Mind you...no one walks far in Laos. Way toooo hot. They ride bikes or scooters. They look ut us like we are crazy. The reason we missed the trail? Well...look at the picture above. See a trail? The jungle grows at an amazing rate. To hike you need a machete. Thanks Lonely Planet.
After hacking our way through the jungle (later learning of all the poisonous snakes and scorpions) we found the cave! Phatoke Cave is where the communist guerrillas were hiding during the Indochinese war. It now only holds buddha's.
At our lodge we met Nick...he and his girlfriend moved here 6 months ago from the UK. He is a climbing guide with loads of experience. They are hoping to put Nong Khiaw on the climbing map...the limestone cliffs are incredible. We hiked up a mountain in the fiery sun...I don't think I've ever been so hot in my life...and all this between 8-9am. We finally reached their "platform" and collapsed.
Our first climb was very difficult...I manged to cut a finger on one of my first holds...not a good start to the day. Our second climb was to be on the wall in the picture above. I decided to laze on the platform and chill while they set up.
Note Dean at the very top and center of this photo! You can see an arm and a leg. Crazy high.
I didn't get quite so high...in fact I may be clinging for my life here. I told him to take pictures fast.
A couple moves later I did manage to fall. I kept this one off Facebook...but I'll share it with my blog readers. Just don't laugh. Tooo hard.
After climbing two routes we RACED down the mountain and had minutes to rinse off (filthy!) and grab our packs. Our "minibus" was posted to leave at 2pm, but the ticket man said 1pm. So annoying...so very Laos. They say a time...and it could be hours later. That is exactly what happened. We sat in the sun, dying of heatstroke for about 45 minutes waiting. Dean was seeing spots and I was comatose leaning on a post. We couldn't even eat for hours. Our "air conditioned" mini-bus showed up..loaded our packs..and then drove away. I nearly had a heart attack. Turns out he was going to pick up the chickens they put on the roof in the photo above. Then there was the 9 OTHER people that managed to squeeze into the minivan with us. The windows did not open (except for the front seat) and he did not turn on the A/C. The little boy in the backseat kept throwing up...the kid next to me kept sleeping on my shoulder...we hit a dog (won't go into details...I sat rigid for about an hour after with Dean looking at me in horror)....saw a car crash (the way they drive how have we not seen more?) we nearly missed hitting a young girl laying in the middle of the street (what?)..we were tortured with the Laos version of the band "In Sync" played at full volume...I could keep going...but you get the point. We were happy to be back in Luang Prabang and our beloved A/C....;)
No comments:
Post a Comment