South East Asia

The alarm doesn't feel good this morning and we wish we could stay in bed a bit longer, but needs must. Despite loving Luang Prabang, we feel it is definitely time to move on, and today we head North to Nong Khiaw. Pick up is 8.30, and we mange to get loaded up on bananas and sandwiches for the journey, before standing outside at the agreed time. We decided to book a ticket with a tour company yesterday to take us there, as it was around the same price and would be less hassle, right?
8.30 passes, but it would be strange for them to be dead on time as they are probably picking other people up first. 8.45 then rolls by and we start to wonder where it is, or start to think we will be the last place to pick up from and therefore will be shoved to the back again. As 9 and then 9.15 passes we start to get a bit worried, especially because it was meant to leave at 9.
A tuk tuk driver comes over wondering if we want a lift anywhere, and we show him the ticket. '8.30, now 9.30' he shouts before laughing. Just as this happens we see a man waving to us out of his van. Finally we are on a mini bus and our troubles are over. Or so we think. Turns out this bus is just giving us a lift to the station. We arrive with a Brazilian man (who weirdly flies to London from Bangkok the same day as us) and fight through a throng of locals to get some tickets.
We are pointed over to a bus and load our bags on, before Amy goes to take her seat. She stops a few steps onto the bus and looks at the half a seat left for both of us. It is only half a seat as it is on the back row and half taken by the many bags that have been put there. We get off expecting an explanation, but only get told to get on. By now the exasperated passengers have started to get off for coffees and toilet breaks, and we feel we could be here a while.
After a rather stressful five minutes, four more people turn up to share the half seat. This makes things worse, but is kinda nice as we aren't the only ones holding the bus up now. Thankfully this surge of customers means another bus soon arrives, which is the one we came to the bus station on in the first place. We climb on and again are blessed with a pretty empty and comfortable bus. The driver seems pretty hyper, and is yelling 'NONG KHIAW GO GO' out the window did at bemused looking travellers. He also says after ten minutes that he is heading to Vang Vieng, resulting a few panicked looks from his passengers before he burst into laughter. Funny guy. Apart from picking up one more passenger and a small stop where the driver picks up his packed lunch from his wife who stands at the side of the road waiting for him, we are finally on the way North. One of the great things about travelling is that every day something seems to happen. Today proves that point exactly.
The journey takes around 3 and a half hours but goes pretty quickly. We pick up a local woman who keeps dragging phlegm up from what sounds like her feet, and spitting it out the window, leaving a trail of greb most of the way to Nong Khiaw like Hansel and Gretel's breadcrumbs, and three workers, one of which looks quite a lot in pain, and it's no surprise when we drop them at the local hospital.
We are dropped off at a bus station out of town, where a tuk tuk driver takes the bus load of us into the tourist area. We are 2000 kip short (20p) and the driver won't take our 10,0000 note, but luckily the Brazilian man lends us the money.
As we get nearer to the hotel, we can see why this place is facing a surge of tourists recently. It is beautiful. We cross a bridge with stunning views on either side, and get dropped off right in front of our new home for the next few nights. We didn't expect much from the hotel, but it exceeds our expectations massively. It is huge and the views from the balcony are amazing. We immediately plan to stay more nights then the two booked.
After getting settled and getting some washing done out on the balcony (it turns out you can buy actual washing stuff from the shops for 10p a sachet) we head out for some dinner. We stop at a place called Alex restaurant for some local Thai food. I have a fish special that is great apart from the thousands of bones I have to pick out, and Amy has a dish called oh-kai which is very nice but rather odd. After that we head for a walk down the only road through the town. We don't walk far as we are pretty tired, but the views are great, and there are hardly any cars or motorbikes, or anything really on or around the road. Apart from the small batch of hotels and restaurants just over the bridge, we are out in the open, and it feels great.
We sit and read on the balcony as the sun goes down before heading out to eat. One of the foods we have been craving is Indian, and there is a curry house right across the street. We head there and eat a delicious meal of two cups of tea, one jalfreezi, one traditional curry, two rice and a naan, for under 6 pound. It tastes amazing and we vow to eat here every night!
This is a great place, and the lack of internet or television really makes you realise you are in the middle of nowhere (I only get online in the Indian restaurant so have to write these up offline and load them all at once, this may mean a few days are the wrong way round). We love it, and tomorrow we plan to take on the massive mountain viewpoint.Leia mais