Nong Kiau

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Long drive through the mountains. The journey time was 7:30am until 4:00pm, or 8.5 hours to complete 309 kms. That is a average of 36 kph, or, not fast at all. The road was in very good shape, but the ups, downs, lefts and rights impacted our speed. In fact, there were so many turns, that our GPS, which can only hold 10,000 data points, quickly filled up its memory. That is a first.

But the mountain scenery was amazing. The last three days have been stellar, but today was probably the best. Along the way we probably passed 40 or so villages. There is clearly a lot of poverty here in the north east of Laos. Some villages had the occasional brick house, but most had simple wooden homes and no running water. The villages tended to be on top of hills or in the valleys, but some were just clinging to the hillside.

We finished the day in Nong Kiau, which is quite the tourist town. The shops have potato chips, if that is any indication.

Heavy fog at the start of the day.
When they ‘rip up the road’ they really rip up the whole road!
Winding our way through villages with amazing mountain scenery as a backdrop.

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

We had a very relaxing day on the banks of the Ou River. The Nong Kiau Riverside Lodge we stayed at was very comfortable and the mountain scenery was fantastic. Stephen did venture out to see the local tourist attraction, Pha Tok Caves. These caves sheltered villagers and Pathet Lao fighters during the civil war. Otherwise we didn’t do too much.

View from our balcony.
A friend who made a home by stitching two leaves together.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

The Ou River is quite busy. There is a village about 10 kms upstream which is only accessible by boat, and these noisy boats keep going late into the night. But then this morning, the “boat races” started. As part of the celebration for the Lao New Year, the villages race each other in dragon boat style canoes down the river. We watched the event from our room balcony.

As we drove out, we saw the biggest overland vehicle we are ever likely to see. This thing was huge. Of course we knocked on their door to check it out. The french owners were happy to show us around. I suspect we are not the first to get a guided tour.

Boat races.
Two story overland vehicle.