Phonevilai Guesthouse, Muang Ngoi, Day 3

We allow ourselves the lie in we had promised yesterday, and it feels to not get out of bed until around half ten. We watch a film called seven pounds which Amy cries pretty much the full way through, and don't have to face a half asleep ice cold shower like we have the previous few days.
When we do finally move, we head to a lovely restaurant that serves a delicious pad Thai, before taking a long walk out of town. There isn't many paths that you can go down here, and it seems rather impossible to get lost, so we wander pretty aimlessly and take in the scenery as we get further and further into the countryside.
The road is a little dirt track about big enough for one car, and it is wedged inbetween large fields on one side, and tall mountains on the other. On one of the mountains we see some large craters that may be man made, but certainly looks like the result of a bomb exploding. They give a nasty reminder of the danger that lingers here for the workers in the fields, and reiterate the dark history we have so recently learned about. Whether or not what we saw was from a bomb we are unsure, but this is one of the most heavily bombed areas of the country, so it could be.
We keep walking and the views seem to keep surprising us with every turn. The heat has ramped up the last few days (yesterday my phone gave a maybe exaggerated reading of 34 degrees) and it is boiling hot as we slowly trudge down the lane. There aren't many other tourists, and it is lovely and quiet with only a passing motorbike every now and then.
We reach a lovely riverside restaurant and take advantage of the shade it offers to sup a few cold drinks. There is a hammock that we use as we relax listening to the water flowing down the stream. After getting some sugar induced energy we head to the nearby cave. It is very cool, but neither of us are brave enough to enter the dark depths that the path leads to. Our phone lights only brighten up a small segment in front of our face, and the darkness that surrounds us is far too eerie to take the path through the cave. I can't imagine many people do go through, especially if they are alone. The part of the cave we do go to (the part near the entrance that is lit up) is a nice place to stop due to the cool temperature and rock structures that have formed above us. When limestone slowly drips away it leaves a shape like a wave that has been frozen in mid air, hanging from the roof or walls, and despite seeing a lot of them now, they are still interesting.
We leave the cave and keep walking a bit, before turning back and heading home. On the way back Amy sits on a rock and wets her feet and legs in the icy water of the stream, and we see another bamboo bridge that looks like it could fall any minute, but in reality will probably still be standing years from now. Back we head with the sun beating down mercilessly. We take a turn and find ourselves at the bottom of a viewpoint. I ask the ticket seller how far it is to the top, and he replies one hour. With this heat and our already aching legs, we decide to give this one a miss.
We grab some dinner, and I have fried noodles with duck (I am sorry Samwell my feathered friend) before we head back to the room. We spend a productive few hours planning how we will move from here to Bangkok. The prospect of coming home now seems very real as we count the days down to leaving day, working out where we will go and how long we will spend in each place. We plan to visit one more place in Laos before heading back to Thailand, and we will back on the road tomorrow.
After another tiring day, we head out for some tea and end up in the same place we ate the first night. We aren't sure why, but everyone seems to have moved on today, leaving the town completely dead. Apart from a few tourists wandering past in search of a cheap plate of noodles, it is empty. Only the many dogs and cats wander the streets, two of which have a little fight before running after each other into the night.
The food is amazing as always, and we head back to the room full of sticky rice, and not really looking forward to the early start and the long day of travelling that we will wake up to tomorrow.Read more