After a pretty rough bus journey to Laos everyone was in
higher spirits the next morning after a decent enough night’s sleep. We were
planning to travel down River from our location in Muang Khua to Nong Khieu by
boat, so we headed off to the boat dock led by our glorious dictator Ethan
Cheuk. In hopes not to get ripped off again we sent Mr McMillan and Cliff to
scare the dodgy boatman, which in fairness worked.
The boat we would be
spending 5 hours on were a bit of a shock to us all, they were about 1 metre
wide and 15 metres long, made of aging bamboo and wood, powered by a pretty tired
engine. Our seats were planks along the side of the boat and the driver was perched
at the front on a plastic chair. All 19 of us along with a couple from Denmark just
about squeezed in and we were off. Although it got increasingly uncomfortable
on those splintered wooden planks, the view most definitely made up for it, as
we passed stunning mountains covered in dense forests off trees accompanied with
the occasional traditional wooden hut and the occasional group of local kids.
Near the 3 hour mark we stopped for lunch at a quiet little
village at the riverside and finally had our first taste of western food in far
too long, no one could stomach more rice at this point. After waiting what felt
like 2 years we got our food and then set off on our second leg of the journey.
After another 45 minutes we arrived in Nong Khieu, a much more modern and
touristy village than the previous and just generally better in every way,
which wasn’t very hard to be honest. We crossed over to the other side of the
river on a huge concrete bridge under the shadow of a huge magnificent mountain
making for a pretty decent view. Arriving at our booked accommodation named
Bamboo Paradise it was evident it wasn’t much off a Paradise but it would do
rightly as it was better than the previous night. After sorting various plans
for the morning, we went for dinner which we had to wait literally 3 hours for,
then settled down to bed for some much needed rest. End.
I hope my Mum and Dad are having a great time in Cuba getting
some much needed rest. Despite enjoying myself here I miss you both a lot and can’t
wait to tell you all that’s happened here. I didn’t find a battery for the
camera but plenty of pictures will be uploaded by our leaders and group. See you both in 10 days. And you better be
bringing me something back from Cuba J
Brian Glover
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