An early start saw us catching a tuk tuk a very short distance (3 mins!) so that we could get to the boat landing for 7am (as instructed!) but on arrival we found that the boat didn't leave till 9!! It was cool to see the mist over the Mekong and watch slow boats to the thai border being laden with cargo though - whilst drinking coffee from the bakery of course! Then we saw our boat.....didn't look too bad, a tiny wooden long tail boat with 6 small wooden school seats straight out of kindergarten! It wouldn't have mattered much if there hadn't been 13 of us plus luggage trying to get on it!! After much confusion, debate and shouting amongst the locals we left the rest of the party to get on and we were left, not sure if we in fact had a boat to travel on now, fortunately it worked to our favour though as we then had 2 boats between the 4 of us which were twice the size of the last!!! Again more shouting as the locals, in order to make their money we presume wanted us to split... anyway in the end we finally boarded a local couple's boat all 4 in tact and together. Now it was 9.45! We slowly then headed up the rather brown coloured Mekong for an hour then turned off to join the Nam Ou River, and without doubt it was one of the most stunning river journeys we have done in Asia to date! For 6 hours we meandered along passing looming (the highest yet) limestone karsts and huge forested peaks, the scenery was awesome and got higher the further we travelled. Getting petrol consisted of a boat with 2 pumps in it, much to our amusement and then on the way our boatman and wife decided to barter for their lunch for 2 huge fish from 2 young boys fishing in the river, a great sight to experience, except the dead fish of course! On route we passed monks washing clothes in the river, small villages, buffalos swimming, jam packed river boat taxi's, women and men fishing plus loads of children washing/playing in the river when on seeing us they stopped and waved and shouted madly! Being almost the only tourists/boats on the remote river was a pretty unique experience to say the least and amongst the many stares from locals passing it was also great to engage with those children who appeared to be so excited that you were passing. Our one and only loo stop was quite amusing! Amanda and I thought at one point that this couple must make commission on perhaps us stopping at one persons village hut for refreshments/personal relief, but no, toilet stop was basically a sand dune in the middle of the river which had local lads fishing on it and nothing but sand! After burning our feet on the sand we finally found a few reeds to hide behind! I must admit it was a very bizarre but beautiful loo stop, the scenery was breath-taking! After about 4 hours of stunning scenery, (and constant talking on mine and Amanda's behalf) attention to something else was required so 'name the celebrity'/stupid games (consisting of myself and Amanda having to be silent, not good) were pursued, except for Zach who's head had been lost in a door step thick book for most of the journey! It was actually quite funny to realise the different types of celebs that people do and don't know even when you are only from countries just a small water ride away! It was a great day though, good company, fantastic scenery and oreo cookies to stop us from starving, plus a few million pies/quiches from the bakery that Zach had thankfully bought himself as a small snack! Arriving in Nong Khiew after 6 hours (with extremely sore bums!) was a sight in itself, 2 small basic villages perched on the river valleys edge amongst looming mountains, a far constrast from the touristy European fuelled Luang Prabang, it was really nice to be off the main travellers circuit.... We eventually found a bed for the night across the bridge at 'Sunset On the River' guest house. Myself and Amanda were fortunate to share the bamboo bungalow perched on the river's edge with a balcony to view the sunset, whereas the boys got the dark room in the house consisting of 2 mattresses on the floor, for the bargain price of 3 dollars though! That evening we watched the sunset from a riverside restaurant, played cards, chatted with an American couple and drank too much beer! At the same time the restaurant had set up a long table near us for a locals get together which ended up being very interesting and intriguing to watch! The locals arrived at all different times and although the food had already been laid on the table, noone appeared to want to start to sit down or talk to each other....when they finally did, the men sat at one end and the women together at the other, nobody spoke at all and they ate in silence with the occasional talk to the same sex only. After about 6 beer Lao's (on the boys part!) we had concluded it was either the start of an arranged marriage or a VERY slow session of speed dating!!!!! They then finished their meal and left individually in silence, no thank you or anything, just finished and went in different directions! Intrigued I asked the waitress what the occasion was and she said it was a works night out!!!! Bit different to those work nights out at home....... After more gin rummy and Zach for once not coming last, we retired (or should I say the boys passed out!) to bed. Long Boat from Nong Khiew to Mong Ngoi - Author Adam! After sleeping in possibly the darkest room ever, Zach and I awoke not knowing where anything was (possibly due to Beer Laos hangovers, which are without doubt the worst ever!). After using the 'luxury' facilities of the girls penthouse, deluxe ensuite, luxurious designer clean, light and oh I forgot, expensive bedroom we had breakfast on the terrace next to two bizarre cats hugging, followed then by a walk to the jetty for the 11am ferry to the remote Mong Ngoi, famous for having no traffic or roads, just river transport access! This boat is the public service and alledgedly not a busy one! After buying tickets, then down the steps to see our carriage - it was already PACKED! No way could we get on.... I was wrong, the boss, ie the boatman's wife picked my bag up with a hand like a huge bunch of bananas and threw my bag on with the rest following. The occupants already squashed on board looked at us with horror apart from four stoned germans who laughed and lit another 'dodgy cigarette.' The boss then created space moving everyone on top of each other and piled us in! To say the boat was slightly over its designed capacity would have been an understatement, the trim around the boat was already almost underwater and it definitely didn't feel overly safe - definitely wouldn't have passed seaworthy regulations but in Laos, anything goes.....literally! As we set off Amanda took a turn for the worse, so thank god it was only an hours journey. In fact that's what we were all thinking about as we went upstream and the water started flooding in through the new found cracks at which point you just got soaked as you were sitting directly on the boats bottom and your back actually helped as a crack filler! Like most things here you just have to get on with it and as Amanda contemplated throwing up, the rest of us just wished the journey would end so we could be unfolded from the boat! The rapids and rocks were quite amusing also... NOT, one hit on them and the whole thing would have fallen apart! Zach got soaked, our bums ached and Amanda clutched a newly found sick bag. The scenery although not as breathtaking as previous was still beautiful but Mong Ngoi could not come soon enough! Upon arrival Nik was on clean toilet duty and promptly led Amanda up the steps, Zach and I waited for the boss and driver to stop shouting at each other, then we carried the bags, how heavy?! At the top, after toeing and froeing, wandering into people's houses, we found a guesthouse with adjoining bathrooms at a place called Ning Ning, sorted! The restaurant had a stunning terrace looking out over Nam Ou and the surrounding mountains, it was stunning. Zach and I sat here with a beer whilst Nik played nurse and wandered to find a pharmacist - the main mud street was incredibly friendly and as Nik wandered, rows and rows of garlic were being dried in the mud, she said the smell was just awesome! Nik then joined us for an hour of eating (the second hour for Zach and I!) and we sat generally watching the world go by, Laos style, slightly guilt ridden that Amanda was feeling poorly. She seemed to have caught some fever so after making sure she was ok, asleep and in Doctor Zach's hands, Nik and I went on a wee trek to explore beyond the village into the valleys. It was great to get out and do some walking, the village high street had no cars or mopeds which was fab, was dusty and noisy with dogs and chickens everywhere! We walked through the school field and into the countryside through rice paddies and passed old shacks. We met a somewhat odd couple, he was from Wolverhampton and her from Finland, they were complaining about having to pay an entrance fee for the cave and village and how 'we don't have to pay to see the countryside in our own country,' this conversation then turned onto more bizarre things including English football and Birmingham city! More photos were taken as we looked up at the valleys around us and walked alongside riverways. The cave, our destination, was pretty cool, would have been better seen in the wet season but the shape of it made us laugh....We started making our way back as the sun started to set and the mountains had an eery feeling around us, dark and looming! On route we passed families making the 2 hour walk home to their villages including a very drunk local man weaving his way along the path, burping a drunken hello to us on passing, nice! At the school field, kids were playing volleyball now with some westerners and on the other field, locals played the local rattanball game somewhat competitively! The skill was amazing though and the way one young lad managed to kick the ball with his feet high above his head to beat his elder peers was pretty incredible.... On return Amanda was abit better but still in bed so we ate at another restaurant place and played more cards! The service was rather scary and when you see how they have one stove to cook everyone's meals plus no light so do it all in the dark, it is pretty amazing that you get anything! Nik was happy, mashed potato was on the menu! We ordered Amanda bread 3x as each time one of us ate it so the meal became quite lengthy until at 9.40pm we were all caught unaware with the generators going off early and complete darkness, so us all had to have early doors.... The next day saw a hicuup to our plans. We originally wanted to charter a boat up more remotely north where Amanda was then heading across the border to Vietnam and us further north to go trekking, subject to any buses actually existing once we got there! We were concerned about Amanda not being well enough to do the trip, even though she felt better and also the boatman was looking to charge us 80 dollars, so plans were changed to get Amanda back to somewhere closer to civilisation and for us the bus option to head north instead. Back down the river it was back on the crowded boat to Nong Khiew, thankfully not as bad this time. We found out that our bus to Oudomxay left at 11am so plenty of time...our captain was a young dude as we sped away on the 2nd boat. Great we thought, we would definitely get tickets for the bus, NO! He stopped for 15 minutes to buy fish and generally muck about, we did arrive and after some more confusion did manage to get the last 2 seats just as the bus was leaving. Zach had decided to head back to Luang Prabang with Amanda which was great as otherwise we would have stayed with her, then it was time for the foursome to split and become the twosome again! It was sad to leave the other two, even though Amanda had only been with us for a week it had been so much fun and by now we had travelled with Zach for a month so were used to it being the 3, instead it was back to just Nik and I, oh my god we both thought! We waved our goodbyes and then became the start of a very long day.......