It used to be possible to get the boat from Luang Prabang to Nong Khiaw but not anymore. The Nam Ou river is obviously still there, but now it’s got a ruddy great big dam in the middle of it. A Chinese dam. Despite the fact that it’s displaced many local tribes and has adversely impacted the local environment and livelihoods, nobody’s protested. That’s Communism – Laotians just accept whatever the government throws at them. Dissent is not allowed. The good of the country comes before the good of the people, and the single ruling party decides what’s good for the country. That was all Ken, our guide, would say. Like all the guides who have touched on the subject (very few), he wasn’t comfortable talking about it.
Our tour started with a boat up the river. “Can I drive?” I half-jokingly asked. A staccato conversation in Lao, then “Yes. But some river have rocks, so later when it is deep.” And so, about fifteen minutes later I was given control. They go fast, those slow boats. And they’re relatively high for their width which makes them feel like they’ll topple if it got too rough. But I safely navigated us through the treacherous waters of the Nam Ou:
People make stuff to sell. It’s just they all make the same stuff. Wooden home after wooden home with their beautifully handmade scarves proudly displayed outside:
But from whom should you buy? Michelle solved the problem by buying four, each from different women.
Further up the river, we reached Muang Ngoi:
… where another massive butterfly fluttered across our path (no, sorry, still haven’t managed to get a picture of one as the bigger they are, the less they alight). It was disguised as a bird. Seriously, it’s wings had a feathered pattern. Less likely to be attacked by a predator. Genius.
Whilst this is the turning point for most tours, we’d wanted to see further up as we’d been told it was the most beautiful part of the river. Much negotiating with the travel agent owner, who I think was convinced that we were out to get as much for as little as possible (like most Asians) rather than agree a reasonable price for what we wanted to do (like most Westerners), and he’d finally agreed. It was so worthwhile, with the mountains becoming taller and steeper as we progressed:
Walk up the river to the waterfall was exactly what it said on the tin – we literally walked up the river to the waterfall. It wasn’t worth taking our shoes off and finally we arrived:
A pre-lunch dip:
And then lunch served in freshly-cut bamboo:
The kayaking should have come first. By the time we’d swum, eaten, and walked the 1½ hours back to the river we were shattered. But it did, of course, mean we were kayaking downriver. I enjoy kayaking so gave it a go but tired quickly. Reto and Susie, on the other hand, were in their element:
Then sunset:
A quick round-up of the amazing wildlife from today (yes, that’s a spider’s web):
And this guy who was building a boat:
And a curry at a rather good Indian restaurant with the gang. Another great tour group. It transpired that Michelle, an online tutor, was trialling ‘remote working’ (at her request) for her company. This was, indeed, remote. Her challenge was finding a suitable place to conduct student seminars – it turns out that cockerels and karaoke in the background can adversely affect her students’ attention. Made me wonder, though – surely there’s something I could do whilst on the move. Suggestions below, please 🙂
I reckon Piano Lessons would be good, because no one will be able to take you up on it over there, leaving you plenty of time to enjoy your travels, reminds me of an old mate of mine, who was defiantly not looking for work, and when asked by the dole office what he wanted to do in life, his reply was ” Underwater Sheep Shearing ” guess what, he never got that job.