Muang Khua, a village on Nam Ou (Ou River) in northern Laos. That's a scary suspension bridge made up of a single sheet of metal. Motor bikes cross it, alongside kids walking to school.
Tranquil countryside around Nong Khiew, northern Laos.
Villagers gathering moss, a traditional Lao food, from Nam Ou.
A typical scene of children playing in ViengXai.
ViengXai statue of the people's victory of the U.S. in the "Secret War" of 1964-1973.
ViengXai, sleepy mountain village today, bombed battleground of yesteryear.
The movie theatre/stage in a big cavern in ViengXai.
On a garden wall outside Sam Neua, Laos.In my last post, I described the river village of Muang Khua. It was lovely there, but I got sick while I was there. I needed rest, but they were adding on another room at the guesthouse I was staying at, so there was constant sawing and pounding noises, starting at 630 in the morning. I decided to leave despite not being 100% better. I took a slow boat down to Nong Khiew on the Nam Ou, a 5 hr journey, for 120,000 kips. We passed by towering limestone mountains and remote villages accessible to the outside world only by boat. A really tranquil trip, despite the boat motor throbbing incessantly. There were even a couple of class 2/3 rapids thrown in for kicks! It must be something to journey down that river in wet season...
Arrived in Nong Khiew, a town buffered by yet more towering cliffs built around the Nam Ou. It was just a little bit touristy, but it's by no means overrun. I enjoyed several beautiful misty mornings and serene evenings in Nong Nhiew. It is a really mellow place, and there's always something happening on and around the river. In essence, I loved it. First night in town, I stayed in a bungalow by the river and was disturbed by rat noises all nght (I was still sick, and it was terrible to be waken every 30 mins or so). In the morning, I grabbed my daypack to go outside and discovered that holes had been chewed all over one side of it! My limegreen Patagonia daypack from my friend Christina has been with me throughout this trip and on many others in the US the past few years, and I was a little bit crushed. I discovered that although it's all gnawed on one side, there was still some structural integrity to it, and I have still been hauling it around the past few days, hoping to find someone to sew it up. My emergency sewing kit will not be up to the task of this project.
So I got out of that bungalow and moved to a nicer cheaper one away from the river a bit for the second night. I was walking to see some caves outside of Nong Khiew when I see a farang walking back. I stopped him to ask for directions and it turned out to be Pontus, a guy I had met in Penang, Malaysia! What a small world. I ran into him two more times in town and we shared a Beerlao together that night and talked about Swedish politics and how Finland is just not like the rest of Scandinavia. He was in his gap year between high school and university, and I was just amazed by the level of knowledge and confidence in someone so young.
I could have stayed in Nong Khiew for a few more days, but I wanted to see some caves in ViengXai, in remote Houaphan Province in northeastern Laos. So I took the bus from Nong Khiew to Vieng Thong, a little one horse town, for the night to break up the journey, then continued on to Sam Neua the next morning. Vieng Thong is one of the many towns in Laos that has electricity starting at 6 in the evening, turning off at ten. Except that night it didn't come on til much later, so I was getting ready for bed, and reading and writing, by three little candles. I have very much appreciated lights out by ten on occasion, when there are loud parties going on, or the TV in the guesthouse is on ultra high volume, and I want to sleep, I know that the quiet will reign when the electricity turns off.
Did you know that the US fought a war in Laos? I didn't either. I don't ever recall learning about it in school. That's why they call the "Secret War". In fact, the US bombed ViengXai, Laos for nine years, every day, from 1964-1073, because this is where communist Laos leaders were running the country from, the vast system of caves around ViengXai. More bombs were dropped in Laos than during WW2 in Europe. I saw many craters and mountains blown by bombs during my excellent cave tour yesterday in ViengXai. It is so peaceful there, with laconic mountains all around, and lush gardens, that it is hard to imagine the chaos that was the way of life there, but for the craters and crushed rock, and the caves, so many caves, enlarged with dynamite, with airtight emergency rooms and air pumps in case of chemical strikes by the US planes. and the blast walls, three-foot thick walls protecting cave openings from bomb strikes. One cave complex that housed the military housed up to 2000 troops. there is a movie theatre cave, with stage for travelling shows, to boost the morale of troops and villagers. Our Lao guide got up on the stage, about 80 ft in front of us, and sang a traditional Lao song at our encouragement. It was a haunting song, a unifying song to bring together the many tribes of Laos during the war. We had excellent audio guides to fill in the history, and for me, one of the most haunting moments was hearing a lao villager ask "why?" Most Laotians had never heard of America before the bombing. They certainly did not understand why this place called America was set out to destroy them, dropping bombs on them, killing them.
I am back in Sam Neua, at the Lao Development Bank this morning changing the last of my leftover Australian dollars to kips. There are no ATMs here, and I am nearly out of US dollars as well. US dollars is gold here, and I wish I had brought more. I am hoping Vietnam will be more ATM friendly. I am going to take a ten-twelve hr bus to Thanh Hoa, Vietnam, tomorrow. That's the plan anyway. But between here and there is Nam Xoi border, and I am hoping that won't be a story for the next blog. In recent developments, I have finally succumbed to eating sticky rice and laap with my hand.
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