Muang Ngoy

17th March

"If you think Nong Khiaw is pretty, wait until you see Muang Ngoy!" I was told.

In the morning a made the hour long boat ride on a much narrower, smaller boat than the slow one I was on before.

Sometimes I think the locals are a little bit more helpful with me because I'm old - I get that feeling - because the driver beckoned me on in front of a lot of the other backpackers - me and a local lady who I helped carry her box & bag of stuff onto the boat. "I have shop in Muang Ngoy!" she told me.

The passengers & luggage filled two boats but ours set off first on a breathtaking ride through mountain scenery & rural life on the banks of the Nam Ou. At one point we saw a farmer on a boat ushering his buffalo across the river - they were swimming in a line.

Sadly I didn't capture the image, and my other pictures don't really show how lovely the scenery is.

Every so often a butterfly would flutter across the river & sometimes through the boat. It was delightful.

You could see the bungalows & huts for tourist accommodation lined up along the river bank as we approached. 

"Beautiful Village" the local lady sat next to me said who's name is Dam (I found out later). She had spent the whole ride on her mobile phone. I suppose she does this journey often to bring supplies for her shop.

This place is a tinier version of Nong Khiaw. 

I was trying to be spontaneous & so hadn't booked a place this time, but I had looked at names of cheap hostels & headed for Riverside Bungalows which has a dorm. She offered me a Bungalow for 250k a night which is under £10 but I went for the cheaper 100k option. 

Not a bad view!

I'm sharing the dorm with one other - Eva, an Italian lady who is hilarious. She acknowledged she is unusual as in most Italian people don't like to 'rough it' when it comes to travel & holidays.

I explored further out of town and it is definitely even more primitive here. And beautiful.

When I got to the Cave (another cave) a lady appeared, " Sabadi! You want ticket"

You can't blame the people for making money but I was a little too tired to explore another cave or climb to another view point. I just bought some bananas off a stall & headed back.

At the small stream there were hundreds of butterflies - I'd never seen so many outside of a butterfly house - all fluttering around in almost a swarm. It was amazing. 

I enjoyed some deep fried pumpkin & mango too, when I got back to the tourist part of the town.

You can do all sorts of activities here like weaving & visiting the smaller local villages. 

In Nong Khiaw it was more focused on stuff like kayaking & fishing.

I ate in a cafe later. I think the food is great but Eva was complaining. She is vegetarian and struggling to find 'good food' she said which surprised me as I've had curries with tofu & lots of vegetables.