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Together with Aunty Patty we had some great dinners, took in a cultural dance show at the former royal palace and visited a few of the temples around town. We also took a boat-ride for the day up the Mekong River to the famous Pak Ou caves. These are 2 caves in a limestone cliff over the water where over 4000 Buddha statues |
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varying in size, form, and style were left by local worshipers over the past 500 years. On the way back the boat docked at a few small villages along the river. Usually tourist traps...uh...I mean stops. Each village was gearedto selling the local weaving, pottery and handicrafts. We bought a few things at the paper making village where I got a chance to pound some mulch (one of the first stages of the paper-making process). We also stopped off at a very nice smelling (if not intoxicating) village, where the local families were distilling their own version of Lao Lao, the typical rice wine drunk here. |
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Thursday, Aunty Patty left for Toronto with one extra bag containing souvenirs and stuff of ours (Thanks Aunty Patty! and sorry A. Joanna there just wasn't room for me). The next day we left for a few days' excursion to some small villages in the north. After leaving one backpack at the guesthouse, we took a small Tuk-Tuk to the north bus station outside town and were prepared to wait.... But fortunately a large comfortable bus was leaving right away to Nong Khiaw, along the Nam Ou.There we boarded a small long-boat with 15 |
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other foreign backpackers (squished together like sardines) for the 1 hour trip up-river to Muang Ngoi.The area is known for its many limestone cliffs and rock faces, so of course my papa was almost out of the boat taking film footage and stills of the great climbing areas: "great possibilities".... he kept repeating. Mummy is now convinced he is on some kind of recognizance mission reporting back to Jim, David and his climbing buddies in France (is this Asia trip with the family some kind of cover up??) she's convinced of it.. I got some thrills myself from the rapids the boat had to go through! |
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The boat docked at the village, which was rustic to say the least - no electricity and plain thatched bamboo huts as guesthouses (US$ 1 per night), with shared outdoor toilets, complete with mandi-style baths. All clean. The small rooms were sparse with 2 beds complete with mosquito nets, so we knew what to expect.... What mummy wasn't counting on was the appearance of one of the largest, grisliest, looking iguanas who reared his head just before we were in for the night. Needless to say, mummy didn't sleep much that night; instead she was up listening to all the little squeaks and movements up on our straw roof. And the blissful snoring coming from papa was no consolation in the dark night.Saturday we woke early to the wake-up calls of the village roosters. It was misty and cloudy outside but we knew it would dissipate in a few hours giving us bright warm sunshine for the rest of the day. After breakfast I played with a little girl named NingNing from the guesthouse. Later after doing a bit of my schoolwork, we took a walk around the small village. There were many guesthouses (all rustic, thatched dwellings like ours) and a few simple restaurants. We walked past the village school, a few open wooden and bamboo buildings with wooden benches, tables and a large black-board. The children were on a 2-week holiday so we didn't see any activity. At a trailhead, we viewed a hand-drawn map telling us how to reach some caves and another village an hour away. Our hike took us along a dirt path, climbing a small hill, till we reached the caves. Viewed these for a while (papa made more mental notes on the limestone possibilities...) then worked our way through dry and wet rice fields and stopped to watch water buffalos bathing in the river.
When we reached the small village we were greeted warmly by the local children with sabaydees and smiles. Here I was given cotton string placed around my wrist by a couple of old ladies - this is placed for good luck - perhaps to keep the evil spirits away (mommy wondered if it worked for iguanas in the night as well). We ate a nice but simple lunch consisting of the staple - sticky rice - and a curry with vegetables. The sticky rice is really sticky and is always served in a small bamboo woven container. You eat it by making a ball with some rice and dipping it into the curry then popping it in your mouth. Pretty good, but I liked it with plain old soya sauce as well. A dried fish is also part of the usual local meal here. Since the dried fish is kept out in the sun for days, and then cooked, we were hesitant to give it a try. We usually settled for fried rice, fried noodles, soup or a fresh-made curry. Before sundown we returned back to our village. I really had a great day and saw loads of interesting things, I found out how caves were formed, saw a variety of beautiful butterflies, how ants make a highway and discovered a unique plant that closes up when you touch its leaves. After dark we walked through the small village once more which by now took on a completely different feel. There were a few generators going and people sitting outside their homes warming themselves by small fires. The warming fires were as much for the general communal socializing as for the cool temperatures reached after sundown. This winter was unusually cold in Laos. |
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