Today I woke about 8am after a very restful sleep, Steven was already up and sitting on the balcony reading the news and chilling, he joined me a short time later with a cup of tea. Today we were leaving and heading to Muang Ngoi which is a small village upstream that is only accessible by boat. We enjoyed our tea then I showered and packed our things while Steven headed for breakfast. Once he returned we enjoyed the view a little longer before heading off to he boat pier in town where the boat would be leaving at 11am. The waiting area was pretty busy with an equal mix of Westerners and Asians, most of the Westerners we could recognise from either the bus here, Luang Prabang or even just seeng them here. We purchased our tickets for twenty five thousand each and waited in the immense heat for the boat. While we we waiting we could over hear a group of French travellers who were trying to get a boat back to Luang Prabang and the guy was trying to charge them one hundred and fifty thousand each (there was nine of them) they were arguing with the guy and not getting anywhere fast.

Anyway soon enough the boat arrived and it was time to board... It was a small canoe type thing with a low roof and planked seats, basically you climb in and then shuffle down before sitting on a plank about three inches from the floor. We climbed on and everyone was helpful in getting the bags on and piled at the back near the engine before settling down. The journey then commenced and the boat went pretty fast, zipping through the water.

The journey lasted approximately one hour and flew along the Nam Ou river passing through the most stunning scenery, we saw fisherman casting nets, buffalo trying to keep cool in the shallows and even kids swimming. The river was fairly calm but at times we passed through quite feisty currents, which splashed us all on board. It was quite a beautiful ride but after an hour your bum does start to numb and your ready to jump off. We carried on through the lash vegetation surrounding the river before we saw bungalows in the distance scattered within the green bushes on the river side, it wasn't much longer then before we sailed up to some concrete steps that lead up to the village.

On the steps sat a lady who was washing both her clothes and her toddler in the shallows of the river and who didn't seem to concerned about being interrupted by a boat full of people. She assisted in holding the boat so everyone could disembark safety and soon enough we were all on dry land with our bags in one piece. By now we were already sweating like crazy and the cool breeze of the boat ride was a distant memory. We started up the steps to be met by a lady who wanted to show us her bungalows on the river front... We traipsed after her sweating and up trying not to fall off the narrow walkway (complete with sprawled out dog) and soon found ourselves at some bamboo bungalows. They were very nice and at forty thousand fairly reasonable with stunning views but the walk to and from would prove to be annoying if we wanted to head out at night. We thanked her and said we may return.

We headed back towards the stairs and carried on up, where we were then met by a local guy who also wanted to show us his place. It was normally fifty thousand but he sad we could have it for forty and the place was lovely with mosquito screens on both the doors and windows instead of nets over the bed, which I prefer. Sometimes the mosquito nets don't allow the coolness of the fan to penetrate through the net so you cook. We had a nosey and it was very nice but thought we would have a look around before deciding. We had seen the French couple we met at the waterfall (and on the bus to Luang Prabang) and they said they were staying in a nice place next door... We checked it out but at fifty thousand it cost more and wasn't as nice as the original bungalow as it lacked mosquito screens. We walked through town seeing a few more places including some for thirty thousand but no fans or anything and one that had an awesome view but again no fan and a load of rowdy boys next door before settling for the second place.

The place was lovely and close to the river with a large bedroom and huge bathroom. At forty thousand we couldn't complain and soon settled in... Plus as we were on the end we had lots of windows letting in lots of light. We dumped our stuff and promptly headed out for a beer bumping into an Austrian girl and French guy who we had got chatting to in the Indian in Nong Khiaw. We joined them for a beer and chatted about our plans for the next few days, they were going to trek the hours walk to a small village today and see if they could stay there while we said we would stay here and hit the village tomorrow. By now it was brutally hot and even walking down the street was a struggle.

Steven was feeling peckish but wanted to scope out the eateries close by so after our beer and farewells off we went, it was so hot now it was crazy and after walking through the town we ended up back at the first place, we did however pass an Indian and got chatting with two girls who were on our boat. They were debating some trekking so we chatted with them and their male friends who had just competed it. They said it was pretty intense but really enjoyed it and was well worth a go... We are still debating it.

We wandered back to the restaurant and Steven tucked into some fried rice before we headed back, I was shattered and couldn't even face food in this heat... Its just crazy. I am a total sun baby and rarely feel the heat, even when we were in 40 degree heat in Cambodia but this humid heat is unbearable and leaves you sapped of energy. We wandered back and had a mid afternoon nap, After all when in Lao.... And it was lovely. We woke about six and headed to the Ning Ning restaurant next door, which is right on the river and has a lovely atmosphere. The waiter was friendly and soon bought us an nice ice cold beer while we debated the menu, with me finally choosing a vegetable curry with rice and Steven the Tom yum with vegetables and sticky rice.

We sipped our beers watching the sunset and feeling very lucky to be sat in such wonderful surroundings while sipping our beers. We met the restaurants cat who was adorable and kept coming back for strokes before we settled down to our meals that had arrived, the curry was beautiful and like a green curry full of crunchy veg and the rice was fluffy, was just what I needed. The Tom yum was equally tasty with its hot and sour taste and the sticky rice a massive improvement on yesterday, we munched our dinner savouring the wonderful taste before finishing our beers and heading for a stroll in town.

We walked down the one street that makes up the village and saw what the other restaurants had on offer. The place is fairly quiet with a few places offering food and happy hour cocktails. We passed the buffet which looked sad and dire before passing the Indian, which was packed. We headed to the sky bar on the recommendation of a local chap and found it dead so returned to the Main Street where at the very end we found a new bar called bee bees. It was happy hour so we headed in and ordered a drink before relaxing in the atmospheric surroundings, it was really nice with comfy chairs and cool music.

After our beers we headed back to the guesthouse where we showered and passed out promptly... Wasn't even ten pm.