Rocks, rapids and rosy sunsets

19 February
Last week we took a few days out for a "holiday within a holiday" and went up north to Nong Khiaw and Muang Ngoi, small towns on the banks of the Ou River. We've done this trip before. It starts with a 3 hour minibus journey.
Interesting developments from a year ago were fleeting views of the nearly completed Chinese Belt and Road Initiative railway bridge over the Mekong which will link China with Vientiane and beyond in a couple of years' time. And the massive hydroelectric dam - one of seven across this river financed by China  - which is now finished. Interestingly, leaving aside the environmental and social considerations, the huge reservoir which has replaced what was a once pretty valley of rice fields and rocky riverbed, is spectacular! It's a bit like driving along the shores of Loch Lomond. Plenty of potential for tourist gold there.

New Nam Ou reservoir

The dam itself - in passing

Nong Khiaw is a cheery little town bisected by the river and dominated by a vast concrete bridge connecting the two sides. Everything is called "Riverside ...".

Nong Khiaw - the morning view from our riverside bungalow

 

Trevann found a guitar to play at our regular breakfast cafe

The mountains are stunning but they looked a lot drier and browner than they did last year. It's been exceptionally dry.

Amazing to watch the trees "breathing" as the sun hit the tree line. The cloud formed and disappeared within 5 minutes while I watched.

Gone! 

The boatmen cram as many passengers in as possible for the 90-minute journey up to Muang Ngoi. It's not very comfortable!

Twisting round to grab a quick photo is not easy. And we were scarily close to rocks and rapids at times.

And at one point we all had to disembark and walk across a sandy island because the river levels are too low for us to get through the rapids

Some passengers managed to get lost but we found them all in the end and set off again.

Muang Ngoi is beautiful. Until recently it was only accessible by river so there are no cars or lorries. There is an exceptionally dusty road connecting Nong Khiaw and Muang Ngoi now but it's so unpleasant to use I suspect it sees little traffic.

The riverside land is obviously very fertile

I like these fence-cum-hedges.

A little bit of solar thermal. I wish there were more.

Nice to see a few birds, even if they are just mynahs.

Milking time for buffalos

Transport for boys.

We stayed one night in Muang Ngoi then set off back downstream.

Remnants of American military activity in northern Laos during the Vietnam War are still much in evidence. Bomb casings are common. We passed this metal canoe made from a seaplane float I think. 

Speeding back down the river.

It's a land of great beauty

17 February 2020
The mountains are beautiful, the people are beautiful, the sunsets are beautiful, even the brooms are beautiful!

The last couple of weeks have been peaceful but now we're gearing up for the return to the UK at the end of the month. We're slightly anxious about the risk of bringing Coronovirus with us. Laos hasn't had any cases yet but given the proximity to China and the large numbers of Chinese visitors it's inconceivable that the infection hasn't got here. And the journey through Bangkok is risky as well. We're considering whether we should self-isolate for a couple of weeks somewhere rather than go home to Ben and Ellie. Probably overly cautious. We will decide nearer the time.
In the mean time, we've done a few things - visited LEOT (Lao Educational Opportunities Trust) school to celebrate donations given by our friends in the UK, I've been to a mushroom-growing workshop, and we've been on a holiday-within-a-holiday up north to Nong Khiaw (next post).

Trevann organised some acoustic music events at a pub in Poole last year and raised over £600 to pay for two hand-washing stations for rural Lao schools. The project is being organised by LEOT, where our friend David works, and these are some of the older students.

I love the way the patterns on this snake are reflected in the temple artwork.

Temple offerings on sale in our local shop. They love their glitsy decorations. The single-use plastic message is slow to be taken up - but is getting there.

A lovely yellow frangipani.

Work on the flood defences over the river continue. They seem to scoop the stone out of the river and pour it into gabion cages. It looks a bit industrial at the moment but will quickly green over.

I had a tour of the Green Mango permaculture farm. Here's Patrick showing us the bunny-powered manure-production unit. They've found it to be much more efficient than just composting.

Squash and local corn growing well - although the land is terribly dry following 5 months of no rain.

This is the village mushroom hut, containing 1000 sawdust-filled bags from which the white oyster mushrooms emerge.

It's just a hut on the back of this lad's house. Wath speaks excellent English and showed us round the process. The villagers are Khmu hilltribe and - curiously - Christian.

Starting to crop.

Lindsay and Sufi from the US and I had a go at filling the bags and starting the culture.

Then lunch of course!

In the morning we walk 20 minutes to buy our breakfast baguettes from the woman on this street. On this day she was joined by a row of "dorkmai" sellers. Every temple celebration is accompanied by these conical marigold and banana leaf decorations

It was visa extension time so we trekked out to the new police and immigration headquarters in their smart new building on the edge of town.

Our eighth visit to Laos

30 January
So we left our faithful friend Spock behind, with his wonky ear and determinaton to accompany us on every outing, and set off to Siem Reap via Phnom Penh. It was lovely to spend a few days with good friends Roy and Veasna, who moved from the devastation that is Sihanoukville up to Siem Reap last January. They've settled in well and have a lovely apartment - despite the loud funeral that happened to be going on over the road, which made it difficult to fully appreciate what is normally a peaceful neighbourhood. Visits to various bars were made and numerous games of pool were played.
Just a hop and a skip on the Monday via Lao Airlines and we were back in our beloved Luang Prabang, greeted by our Australian friend and landlady Sue and driven to the Greenhouse Studio, which feels like home.

Saying goodbye to our Bacoma hosts - Dara, Michael, Somnang and Shrenak

Siem Reap, Cambodia 

Amazing welcome bed art at our hotel in Siem Reap!

Bridge of baskets

The Siem Reap River runs through the middle of the town, but the water was worryingly low this year. Possibly a result of management at upstream dam 

Roy and Veasna

There are modern temples in Siem Reap as well as the famous Angkor Wat ruins

Happy days!

We treated ourselves to a hotel with a pool for the three nights in SR. It was lovely.

 Over to Luang Prabang, Laos

Frangipani (dok champa) is the national flower of Laos so it was great to arrive at the Greenhouse Studio, walk down the garden and find these blooms.

Our terrace - the tapestry hasn't advanced much since last year but I'm still working on it

This is one of our favourite spots for an evening beer. We call the bar "the ladies of the Mekong" (it's run by two Lao women). BeerLao costs 10,000 kip (87p) for a big bottle so it would be rude not to

And the view is delightful. The sun sets in just the right place on top of the mountain!

This is the Nam Khan River with seasonal bamboo bridge. Our house is on the opposite bank.

Big engineering works have been going on to shore up the banks of the Nam Khan and prevent erosion from washing away the peninsula on which Luang Prabang World Heritage Site sits

One of many

We went to visit the bungalows where we used to stay 5 years ago. The bourgainvillea is all that remains. Sad.

Curious perspective for this photo of the woman drying grasses on the roadside for broom making

Monks cleaning up around the local temple.

Sunset view of Mount Phousi, the temple-topped hill that marks the centre of Luang Prabang.g

We were pleased to see this week that Hissing Sid had returned to our garden. We didn't see him at all last year and feared that he had slithered off - or been eaten by our neighbours!

Such beautiful markings

One of the great things about travelling is the friends we pick up along the way. We first came across Mike and Denise a year ago while they rested on a bench at a small temple in Kep as we passed by. We've met up several times since and kept in touch and here we are enjoying a drink on the banks of the Mekong in LP.  

Yesterday we said farewell to American friends Jack and Kathy who left us with this "khandorkmai" which had been used in their baci ceremony (good luck for travellers). Marigolds are used as decorations in all sorts of celebrations

Some rather good random street art