After spending the night in a beautiful bungalow in Nong Khiaw(City that we will remember for having eaten a snack after two months of travel!) We caught a boat that in an hour will take us in Muang Ngoi Neua.
Caressed by the Nam Ou River and protected by sweet Carpathian mountains, this village has a special charm and it is difficult to understand that this paradise was one of the most bombed areas by the Americans during the Secret War. Today is one of the best rural destinations in Laos and an oasis of peace for backpackers!
his main Street (although we would almost say that the only one) is of earth and full of life: old women who comb their hair in the sidewalks of their humble cabins, very rudimentary “tractors” prepare to go to the countryside, roosters fighting, dogs lying in the sun, and little shops full of children who study what will be the next candy they can hopefully buy.
You can only get here by boat, the electricity only works from 6.00pm to 9.00pm so it has been like going back in time and we have simply enjoyed one of the most beautiful landscapes we have been traveling on ... and this is lying on a hammock! We were just missing a cocktail and we were already in paradise. Said and done: let cocktail be!
We go to one of the most charming bars in town (not that there is much choice!). Lying down and watching a beautiful sunset we chose to take a “LemonLao”, Which will have to try the local drink. ERROR. BIG MISTAKE! The lao lao It is a rice whiskey with gradation similar to absinthe, this means that you will drink it once in a lifetime, and that if you survive!
We also see a lonely boy, with a bottle of rum and another of coca cola ... unmistakable sign of his nationality: "Are you spanish?" (and as!). The destination that day put in our way "El PEPE" from Madrid who has been traveling for 11 years and has his own philosophy "El PEPISMO" hehe. We talked for about 7 hours (¿!!) and although the uncle lights the PC with a flashlight (PEPE that the PC is already lit !!) and ensures that for a Sicilian Naples is the north (let's see you will teach him a father make children) it was a great night (yes the next morning was horrible).
But we have not only rested in hammocks, watched sunsets, and drank Lao Lao with a philosopher who illuminates the PC with flashlight, we also made a trekking (ok it was a mini trekking) around the town, where we saw caves, rice paddies, rivers, rice paddies, rice paddies... Until crossing a (you know not?) Rice paddy, Rober stops suddenly and exclaims:
Ooooooooh! No, but nothing happens, huh.
With my infallible instinct I shout: "Is it a spider, right?" I wish a spider ... was a piece of Boa constrictor that he looked at us with the face of bad people (come on, it was a common bicha and he didn't even look at us): all my life he passed me in front of the eyes and we saw it clear: that they give to the village that we are going to see and we will turn! And in 30 min what cost us an hour and 20 minutes before we took refuge in a beach bar to eat the best sandwich in town ... uff! What is the life of backpackers!
Accommodation
- In Nong Khiaw We slept in the LINTONG GH where the bungalow with bathroom cost us 50,000 kips (about € 5).
- In Muang Ngoi Neua we were in the SAYLOM GH, bungalow with bathroom for 40,000 kips
Very good both.
Transport
The only way to get to Muang Noi is with the boat: from Nong Khiaw it costs 2,500 kips and lasts an hour
Visits
If you want to go to the nearby cave, the entrance costs 1,000 kips
