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- 2 Mei 2024
- ☀️ 35 °C
- Ketinggian: 344 mi
- LaosLuang Prabang ProvinceBan SôphounHouay Houn20°34’18” N 102°36’55” E
Day 87
2 Mei, Laos ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C
Muang Ngoy > Nong Khiaw
I grabbed another pancake for breakfast, and quickly packed my bags up whilst saying goodbye to the dog from yesterday and her friends. Afterwards, I buy a ticket for the boat to Nong Khiaw which "left at 9". It seems in Laos things are very much more relaxed when it comes to schedule - or atleast the boats are. A group of us wait on the steps before boarding the same boat I had gotten off yesterday. As our captain was about to push us off from the shore the boat next to us shouted at him, warning him of the snake sneaking up on him from behind. With quick reactions he turns around to scare it and throw a rock at it too. With in only 12 hours I had now seen a scorpion and a snake!
We cruise along the Nam Ou for only a short while and I grabbed myself one of the nice seats so I was cruising in comfort. When we arrive my first mission was to find somewhere to stay as everywhere online seemed to be super inflated and the 1 hostel seemed terrible. It didn't take long before I found a private room for only $7. I went without AC as I did fine last night without it so I may aswell save some money. After grabbing some cash from the ATM and feeling rich (the biggest note is the equivalent of $5 so you get given alot of notes) I found a place on the river for some lunch and a very interesting tasting papaya smoothie.
After looking into some of the hikes in the area, I decided to go for one of the medium length ones known as "Sleeping Lady" for reasons I couldn't explain. After paying for the entry I found a bamboo stick as my walking pole and made my way. The first viewpoint was about 15 minutes up and gave a small view over the town, and I rested for a bit whilst hanging up my sun hoodie for a bit to dry. Using old cables nailed to the trees and some shoddy bamboo hand rails, I made my way to the top of the 2nd viewpoint covered in sweat. There was another little shack at the top so I sat in the shade and drive my hoodie off for a while whilst giving my mum a quick call before she went to work. Because of burning season, the visibility wasn't that great as was very smoggy in the air but it was still nice regardless.
On the way down I actually ended up slipping a couples times as the dirt was so dry and fine, and my shoes were so destroyed that I had no grip. Unfortunately, I had also put too much pressure on my precious trekking pole and it ended up splitting at the ends and cutting my hand. I still felt committed to bringing it back down so I carried it down the rest of the way with my butt covered in dirt and my hand sore, then laid it to rest in a tree at the bottom.
Michelle and Elisa (from the Ha Giang Loop) had now arrived from Luang Prabang so I joined them for some lunch where I had my 2nd smoothie of the day (this time mixed) and some sticky mango rice. It seemed that Laos was quite similar to Thailand which meant that the smoothies were good again (Vietnam's weren't the best) and they had sticky mango rice which I had missed so dearly. I had heard that you could Kayak from Nong Khiaw to Luang Prabang online so we discussed that for a while as Michelle and I were interested in doing that instead of taking a bus as it sounded much more fun. That's when a couple of Danish dudes called Kasper and Rasmus overheard us and said they'd be interested in doing that too. I ended up messaging the company and going over to their office to get some more information about prices as well as what the difference between 2 and 3 days were. With some good information, and even better prices we said we'd discuss it with the other 2 and let them know what we would do.
By now, it was almost sunset and there was a small viewpoint that wasn't far that was meant to be good for sunset. Elisa had already gotten a headstand whilst Michelle and I had been asking about the kayaking but right after we had paid and set off the wind had picked up and thunder bellowed in the distance letting us know that it was gonna piss it down from the heavens any time up. Hoping to make it up to the shelter at the top before it started pouring down, we sped up. Unfortunately we didn't make it to the top, but fortunately there was shelter at the halfway point where a small group of us hid from the sudden downpour. Eventually, Elisa made her way down from the top, absolutely drenched and came under the shelter again. There was a hammock which happened the be the least comfortable thing in the world, being nothing but a thin net but I made it work as I really wanted to lie down.
Soon after, the rain cleared and Michelle, Robert (a Scotsman who came up at the same time as us) and I made our way the rest of the way to the top and enjoyed a nice view. The rain seemed to have cleared a little bit of the smog in the air and the clouds passing brightened up the sky a little, but the sun had definitely disappeared. After chilling for a bit, and waving the Laos flag about, we realised we spent a bit too long at the top and it was starting to get dark so we made our way down and met back up with Elisa and a nice American dude who waited with her called either Ryan or James (I can't remember) from Boston.
With my head torch now on, we made it the rest of the way down and decided to head to a restaurant that James/Ryan recommended. They said the smoothies were really good so I grabbed my 3rd smoothie of the day (which was incredible) and some noodles (which were also amazing). Service was a bit slow as the lady cooked 1 meal at a time but she was lovely and the wait was definitely worth it for the food. After a while, we paid and let the lady close up then I headed back for a shower and to sleep.Baca selengkapnya