spicy journey among human tribes: Laos: Nong Khiaw/Muang Ngoi (Day 118-122)

Dramatic scenery...

After spending the day in a bus sitting next to a fighting rooster, singing every now and then, followed by a fair ride in a tuk-tuk, we finally arrived in Nong Khiaw, in the North-East of Laos. Dramatic landscape: the Nam Ou river surrounded by mountains. The most beautiful scenery so far in our trip... We might stay a bit longer than expected here, we thought at first... But we knew that the journey were not ending in this quiet little town; an hour by boat and we were in Muang Ngoi. Here would be a little paradise without the mist and the clouds. Indeed, we did not enjoy the best weather as we had to cope with the rain and cold for a few days coming from a sudden change in climate due to the Japanese Earthquake. It should have been summer... and without any warm clothes (we left them all behind in Bangkok), it made us remembering what is to be freezing! But the weather gave an even more dramatic charm to the rocky moutains partially hidden by the white snowy clouds and it did not stop us to go trekking and have one of the best memory of our trip: partying in the mud with locals at Huay Bo village, 2 hours away from Muang Ngoi. Indeed, a wedding was taking place! We were welcomed by the lovely family hosting the SANSANOUK homestay (which consists of mattrasses on the floor of their own house in the traditional village where you pay 5000 Kip for the night - about $0.5). About 10 other falangs were staying that night too as they all heard about the wedding. We were the only one who did not have planned to stay due to the rain and not knowing about the party. We did not need a long thought before deciding to stay even though it was cold and we were in short and T-shirt, nothing else! Worth it though! Dancing around a table, men inside the circle ans women outside, moving your hands is the typical dance. And shot fo Lao Lao every 5 minutes is the tradition. Dancing and drinking is not the only thing they did. A wedding involves the whole village where everyone gathers to cook: killing pigs and buffalos to make a big stew, cooking kilos and kilos of sticky rice... We enjoy observing the whole process even though blood was around and heads of killed buffalos too... As the weather was not improving, after 3 days, we headed back to Nong Khiaw where we were supposed to board on a flat wooden boat to go down the Nam Ou river to Luang Prabang and enjoy the most dramatic scenery of Laos. But rain and cold made us change our plan and on the road again we were.