The first few days in Laos did not start well at all. I made the huge mistake of not changing my Korean money in Thailand, and had to cross back to Thailand to change all my money the day after I got into Laos. Every bank in Thailand will exchange Korean won and apparently not one single bank in Laos will. Not only was that frustrating but it cost me some money that I have no room to be wasting on a something stupid like two visas.
The town of Ban Huay Sai was not thrilling, and having to spend an extra day there was not what I wanted to do, but had to anyways. There didn’t seem like much to do or see there so I was happy to get out.
After Ban Huay Sai I took a bus to Laung Namtha and transferred to Maung Sai on the same day. I got into Maung Sai at night and just found a place to spend the night, which was nice after a full day on busses. The country side we passed along the way was striking and beautiful and sad. The condition some people are living in is a huge reality check. Little villages full of naked kids, people washing themselves literally three feet from the road, pot belly pigs, chickens, trash and tiny little bamboo huts are all along the road, popping up every few miles or so.
I left early in the morning from Maung Sai to Nong Khieo. On the same bus was a Japanese guy named Tacomi and an Irish guy named Ed. We ended up staying at the same place in Nong Khieo and hung out there.
Nong Khieo is a beautiful little town with great scenery. There are great karst formations all around the town and the Nam Ou river flows through it separating the town in two halves. While there we went on a nice walk to some caves where the villagers hid when they were being bombed during the Vietnam war. Pretty interesting to see, and unimaginable to think about living in those caves while bombing raids were happening.
From Nong Khieo I headed six hours further up the Nam Ou to Maung Khoua. The boat ride up was beautiful, and a little wet (as the river has some rapids). It’s pretty impressive that the drivers can nagotiate the river with a long thin wooden boat like they do. Some areas look like you would need a raft to get through, but there were boats (and bamboo rafts) all along the river doing just fine. We passed a few villages, a lot of boys fishing and playing in the water and some water buffalo lounging on the banks.
Maung Khoua is an interesting little town. This town is also separated into two parts by rivers, but this time it is by a tributary to the Nam Ou. There is a big steal foot bridge that spans across the tributary river connecting the two sides. This town has some kind of different character than the others I have been to. They are in the process of getting a concrete road, and they only have electricity after 6pm. At night the town is dimly lit by the one or two lights hanging outside peoples homes. The businesses and other buildings are black leaving big dark gaps in areas of town. People seem understandably glued to the TVs at 6:00. The buildings are a lot more interesting and impoverished, but the people seem happy.
The first night I stayed in an absolute dump of a guesthouse and then decided to spend a little more for a great upgrade. The upgraded place is a little out of the town and situated about 100 feet on up on the bank of the tributary river, and it has a great view. It is nice to treat yourself to a nice room every once and while- it really helps out moral (and its only a few dollars more).
Now I am back in civilization in Laung Prabang. So far it is a pretty cool city.
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