Nong Khiaw 11-13 Jan

I am writing this in the mini van from Luang Prabang to Nong Khiaw, dying for a wee and on very bumpy roads. It's not a good state of affairs! How I miss Chui the big yellow truck where we could press the buzzer if we needed to go!

We've passed two wedding parties, or what we presume are wedding parties. Gazebos set up with lots of tables, food and drink. What strikes me whenever I see them in Asia is that people attend wearing their every day jeans and tee-shirt and they start early morning. People must be drunk by lunch!

We've been on the bus for two hours and it's getting more rural the further north we go. Not that Laos is anything but rural other than in Vientiane and LPB. Whilst there are still many huts made in the traditional style; rattan like, many new homes are built using concrete breeze blocks.

Children as young as four or five walk to/from school alone, along the busy main roads. The bus has to slow down every so often to let the ducks, chickens and their chicks cross the roads. Local people get around on either their scooters or tractors. Other than houses lining the roads, in the distance all you can see is palm trees, foliage, rice paddies, hills and fields full of crops. Laos is very very green with red earth.

12 January

Thankfully the mini van driver stopped as soon as I said I needed a wee. It was at the side of the road but thankfully there was a bush to hide behind. Everybody else seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when he stopped as they needed it too!

We checked out a couple of accommodation options and chose Bamboo Garden. We have a bamboo thatched bungalow with a balcony and the worlds most uncomfortable hammock, a hot shower which ran out of water this morning and a mozzie net. The bedding smells clean but we have our sleeping bags. It's also quite chilly at night and in the morning. For £4 per night, we really can't complain.

Nong Khiaw is quite a sleepy little village. There are a few trekking/tour companies and a few restaurants. The locals go on with their daily lives and don't bother you in the slightest. It's as though tourism doesn't matter to them. The children wave and smile at you and shout hello and good morning in English. They don't then ask for money like they do in Vang Vieng.

The village is at the edge of the Nam Ou River and is surrounded by karst peaks and thick forest. The sunsets are spectacular.

As everything here moves slowly, we have too. We got up around ten after booking a flight from LPB to Bangkok in a few days. I then had a leisurely traditional Lao breakfast of veggie omelette, greens, dried river weed, sticky rice, aubergine dip and jeom- a chilli and fermented fish spicy dip. Seven hours later I am only just getting hungry. Tony had a backpacker staple- banana pancake, this time served with a side of whipped cream!

After breakfast we walked up to the viewpoint, a little hut perched at the edge of one of the peaks, giving great views, hence the same, over the village. It was a steep climb but even harder on the knee on the way down. We were the only ones up there for quite a while. On the way down we passed eight people so we definitely timed it right.

Late afternoon we wandered around the village, Tony had some lunch and now he's off taking photos of another gorgeous sunset and I'm trying to get comfy in the hammock whilst writing this blog post. I could, just before the sun set, see Tony and I tried waving to him on the bridge but he didn't spot me. As the crow flies he's only about 100m in front of me.

Tomorrow we are catching the local boat which departs at 11am to head an hour upstream to Muang Ngoi, an even sleepier village that only got electricity in 2013!