Monday 14 november (Nong Khiao)
Today we are heading off to Nong Khiao! But not after eating some fresh Jackfruit from the market and a omelette baguette from the hostel🤗 We went to the north by minivan and it took us about 4 hours untill we arrived in Nong Khiao. On the way we saw the beautiful scenery and it feeled good to be here in Laos. After arriving we took the tuk tuk to our guesthouse: bamboo paradise. We had our own bamboo lodge with hot shower for €4 per night.
Just one hour after arrival we decided to hike up to the view point. I thought it was just going to be a 20 min walk, but it was actually around 1.5 hours. Gladfully my knees were doing good again😀 I hiked up in a decent pace and went way before Martin. After a while I thought there was a shortcut, so I took it. After 20 min I figured out that this was a dead end... Shit I was lost in the jungle and there was no other option then go back 😂 after a few slides and scratches I managed to get back on trail. I met the other people on top and the sunset was really good. On a certain moment the full moon popped out on the other side! Wow! I've never seen sunset and moonrise on the same time before. I met some guys there and swiss people, I spoke to them a bit. In a funny way it was nice to hear swissgerman again. We hiked back down in the dark and got a shower. In the evening we had dinner with some locals, my god they can drink beer fast😂

Tuesday 15 november
Today I'm officially one year together with my girlfriend 😍 Martin tried to open my door at 08.00 but I was still asleep for half a hour. After that I couldn't find him and I had breakfast. I got back at 11.00 and still didn't see Martin. So I decided to go my own path today, which I liked. Martin is a nice guy but he talks so much, without saying to much. I rented a mountainbike and started my way to a waterfall, 18km away from Nong Khiao.
I took the road along the river that went up and down. I'm not used to riding a bicycle and that's what I noticed. My quads were burning and sometimes I had to walk up the hill😅 I crossed small creeks several times and ended up in a village, huh a village.. there shouldn't be one here. I met some kids which were very spontaneous. They wanted to ride my bike and of course I let them😊 When I checked the map, I saw that I had to cycle 2.5km back to get on route. After awhile I came into the village with the waterfall. I had some instant noodles there and then headed up to the waterfall. It was a 2km walk through the rice fields. It is harvest time now, so a lot of people are working there. The workers smash the plant on the floor to get the rice out of the plant, hard work in the sun! I also gave it a try and then headed up to the waterfall. On the way I met a local who could bring me back to Nong Khiao by boat for 150.000 kip, since going back with the bicycle was to far. It was around 15.00 when I arrived at the waterfall . I didnt see 1 tourist on the whole trip! The waterfall was okay. I stayed shortly and went back. When I got back to the village at 16.00 I couldn't find the local who daid to take me back. Gladfully there was another one. He took me back for 100.000 kip, yeah!
In the evening I ate some really good food at an Indian restaurant. After that I had a Lao massage which was good! It's pretty similar to the Thai massage. Later in the evening I met up with Martin again and drank a beer in our hammocks😴

Wednesday 16 november (Muang Ngoy)
I wanted to go on a 2 day hiking tour today. Unfortunately there was no guide available so I decided to go to Muang Ngoy, a village1 hour by boat. Martin stayed in Nong Khiao. When I arrived in Muang the village was way more developed then I expected. They have electricity and even wifi. At the harbour I met Gabrielle, a 24yo Swedish guy who lives here for 4 years already. He's married to a local girl and owns a restaurant and had bungalows with river view. For €6 I got the bungalow with hammock 👌 When I moved in I saw Mai, which was my neighbour in Nong Khiao as well haha. I firstly brought my Adidas shorts to a lady who said she could fix the hole in it for €1.50. After thay we rented a bike and explored a cave and some local villages. The scenery with the rice paddies wad beautiful. In the evening I had Indian food again. Chicken curry, noon bread, mixed salat and springrolls did the job🙄 In the evening I met Phang, a local guy who does tours. I made a deal to go hiking with him tomorrow. I went back to my bungalow while drinking my second beer that night. For some reason I notice the Lao beer really fast. I chilled at the bungalow and fell asleep in the hammock 😴

Thursday 17 november
The first thing I did after my great sleep was going to the lady who fixed my pants. It looked okay and I hope it will hold, they are my favorite pants😜 I had breakfast buffet for €3 at Gabriels restaurant. After eating way to much I headed to Phang. We were going to go by boat first, then hike and back by boat again. We made a deal for 400.000 kip (€40) including everything. We started with the boat transfer and started hiking. I expected the hike to be through rough area, but it was a good road actually. Oh well, it was burning hot and was kind of happy that it was not a hard hike.After 1.5 hours we arrived at 2 local villages next to eachother. One village is traditionally from people from China and the other one from Cambodian. 1km further is a Lao village. They all have their own language and religion. It's nice that they get along good together without any fights. I went to the village with origin Chinese. They are called "mong people". Phang guided me through the village and I ended up in playing footvolley with some kids. Phang has a friend here and he cooked a very nice meal for us. Pumpkin soup, vegetables, rice and eggs 👌 After filling our stomachs we walked 1.5 hours back to the boat. This time we did walk a bit through the jungle and the scenery was beautifull.
When we came back I had a powernap and went to the view point at 16.00 to watch sunset. It was 10.000 kip entrance and the guy told me I should head back at 18.00. I was like yeah I will see... Phang said it took 40 minutes to get up, but i did it in less then 15 😰 I watched sunset and some French people came and left. I stayed the longest and went back as the last one. At 17.50 it was almost dark and I headed back using the flashlight fRom my phone. At 18.10 I was down and.. What the! There was a gate which was closed and surrounded with spike wire. I couldn't open the gate.. shit.. I tried to climb over but the bamboo didn't really hold. I accidently broke the gate a bit and squeezes through 😥 why the hell do they lock this..
After getting a shower I went to Gabriels restaurant where they have a vegetarian buffet for €3. They served things like springrolls, onion rings, vegetables, salad and fruits. It was pretty crowded and the buffet was empty in no time. Gladfully I was one of the first ones to have food. Later that evening I had a beer at the Riverside restaurant and chilled at the bungalow. I did not really met any new people here, which was fine for me. I noticed that I can be very good on myself sometimes, and even prefer to be alone so i can do what I want ☺ Tomorrow I'm heading back to Luang Prabang again with Martin, to sleep at the local place!

Friday 18 november
Change of plans... I woke up at 05.00 and had to puke. I didnt puke for over 5 years, I hate it. Later I also had diarrhea and was feeling real "shitty'. Im not sure which food made me sick, but my energy was completely gone. Nonetheless I had to take the boat to Nong Khiao which took 1.5 hours. Then I had to take the bus to Luang Prabang which takes almost 4 hours. Let's keep it short: I felt terrible and was happy to arrive in LP😝 Unfortunately I didn't feel like going to the local family, so Martin went on his own. I got a hotel across of the Kounsavan guesthouse. Because it was fully booked. I went to sleep at 7.30, hopefully I will feel better tomorrow, I'm gonna relax for a day✌

The weekend
After a 12 hour sleep I started to feel better. I started the day by buying some inlays for my hiking shoe's, which I lost after getting them washed. I could only find size 43, but they're ok😛
After that I spended the day just taking care of some administrative things and sorting things out on my laptop. I made a flyer for the local family that runs the waterfall, to promote it. I also made a promotion video which I will post on the internet😃
Martin was already staying at the family since yesterday and I really wanted to go. So I rented a scooter and got there just before sunset. Everyone was quite surprised to see me and it was a nice welcome. The mother cooked dinner for us which we ate in front of the waterfall. I showed them the movie and flyer that I made, which they really liked. Me and Martin played a bit with the kids of the family. It's special how they treat animals here. The 8 year old daughter was just running around with a chicken in her hand and lifting it up and down and grabbing it by the tail. I would be afraid that the chicken would bite me😂

We slept in a open hut and went to bed at around 21.00. The sky was very bright and full of stars. We slept in with the sound of the waterfall on the background.
The next day we had rice soup as breakfast. After that we teached the family some English and gave tips to get more tourists in. We left at around 10 after making a last ''family'' picture. It was a lot of fun with this local people and it's not something that every tourist experiences.
After going back to Luang Prabang I ate some last Jackfruit with Martin. He inspired me a bit to eat more veggies and fruit instead of big meals with meat. I said goodbye to Martin and the staff of Kounsavan Guesthouse, they are awesome.
Now I'm off to my next adventure in: VangVieng!

Geschreven door FrankArends