LAOS - Nong Khiaw - Part 1

We all got up early to catch our bus to the north, but no one else was up so I never go to say goodbye to everyone else. But I had their contact information so I knew I would be able to say goodbye that way. I was going to miss them, they started to feel like really close friends. Our original plans were to on a backpacking trip in the forest for 3 days, but the rainy weather changed our minds. While Anaise’s German friends went for it but ended up being a wet cold few days. We walked with our bags down the road to the bus station where a minibus waited for us. It was very small for Domien and Ali but we had to make the 5-hour drive worth it. The day before I had bought some pain medicine at the supermarket because I was feeling under the weather and I decided to take some in the morning so I would feel better once we arrived in Nong Kiaw. Little did I know to read small Laos writing on the back about the side effects. I am very sensitive to medicine so usually if there are side effects I experience them. In this case, the medicine makes people very drowsy. As soon as we sat down in the van I was knocked out for 5 hours. I didn’t even know, but I feel asleep right on Domien the whole way. Poor guy because he was already squished in the small seats. Before I knew it I woke up and we were in town! We had no plan on where to stay in the town but thought we would figure it out by walking around. The minivan dropped us off a taxi ride away from the main town. We were dropped off by this huge bridge the crossed over the river that ran through the tiny town. Anaise used her phone to look for a house to stay at and she led us down a dirt road which we honestly didn’t care because everywhere we went in this town was a similar situation. While we were walking we heard very loud music and saw a huge white tent in the direction we were headed. Once we got closer it turned out to be a wedding venue! Right in the middle of the dirt road. Although there were so many people dancing and drinking the dirt road turned into mud. There was no other way around this huge crowd so we ended up walking directly in the middle of the venue. Luckily they were just dancing and eating, otherwise, that would have been awkward... We got to a very plane empty house with 2 stories right near the river. Inside there was only the lady at the front desk that showed us to our rooms. Ali and Domien shared a room and Anaise and I shared another one. It turned out to be cheaper to shared than each gets beds in a dorm room. Also, we had the entire place to ourselves. Outside on the patio, it overlooked the entire village, river, and surrounding mountains. We all walked out to the patio to enjoy the vista for a few minutes before deciding what to do with the rest of our day. We came to the conclusion that we didn't have enough time before sunset to go see waterfalls nearby but we could walk to go see some caves right outside of town. So I looked up on my phone the directions and we packed a day pack and set out walking. We had to squeeze by the wedding venue once again but all the locals were just laughing at us goons. Once we got onto the main road we had to cross the huge bridge. Over it, we got to look down at the river called Nam Ou. This is an important form of transportation for the locals to get supplies from the bigger towns down south, This was the river that also led up North to the town Muang Noi that we would later go to. Walking further we saw how small the town of Nong Khiaw actually was. Within a few minutes of walking past the bridge, we were already on our way into the jungle. We came across a bar that advertised mushroom shakes. This is something very common in the Laos travelers society. The big tourist towns all rant about how they sell mushroom everything that will get you high and fucked up. But the bar looked very sad and broken down so we bypassed it. Up ahead was a huge exposed dirt wall in the mountainside. On it was kids running up and sliding down getting super dirty. They were all laughing and this brought a smile to my face reminding me of all the fun times I had in my backyard sliding down a dirt hill. Further down the road, it started turning more into a wilderness scene. It was so quiet compared to all the other cities we have been in the past few days. A nice detox as I would put it. The road was snaking next to a river where locals were down fishing using very old and traditional skills. They had nets and spears as their tools to catch the fish. They were only dressed in these cloth diaper-looking pants, too.  After we came across a dirt road where the map told us to walk down in order to find the cave we were looking for. At the top of the road, there was a family of goats. Two baby goats were brave enough to approach us in curiosity. They were so cute! At this point, we were very close to the entrance of the cave since we could see it on the mountain. We came to a wooden handmade bridge where a little boy was waiting for us in front of it. The boy asked if we wanted to see the cave and we told him "yes" and then he told us to follow him. We crossed the bridge and the boy took us to his father were we paid him about 5 cents to get a piece of paper that looked unproffestional. This was our "ticket" to the cave. We figure that this cave on the families property was probably a big income for the family from all the tousits. The boy and his little brother took our hands and had us follow them to the base of the mountain where there was a huge steep staircase leading to the hole in the wall. The path to the mountain base was covered in purple flowers and the sun was so low it looked like heaven! It turned out the kids were our "tour guides", even though the were six years old. It was cute. Up the stairs, or more like a ladder, we got inside the cave that was much larger that it appeared from the outside. The further we walked into the cave we saw a lot of military setups. The kids explained to us that this cave was used as a safety bunker for US military during the war. They lived in here for up to six months to hide from the enemy. It was crazy to see each hideout spot were they slept, ate, and worked. At the furthest part in the cave, we came to this 50 foot drop off where it overlooked a heart-shaped hole in the wall. The kids started climbing off the drop off on the side of the wall to show off. It was a little nerve racking to watch I must admit, but it kind of reminded me of something my brother would do. Headed back out, the kids showed us one last thing that the rock had to offer us. They put their lips against this hole and sang. In return, their voice was magnified and loud! So we all got a chance to yell in the cave tubes. We then hit them with our hands to make music. The walls were also very shiny from crystals, which could only be seen as a camera flash was on them. Once we exited the cave, before heading back to the house the kids stopped us and asked us for "tip". The amount they asked for was about $5, but we gave it to them anyway considering they could use it more than us. The boys were very cute and the little one had a crush on me, I could tell because his older brother was making fun of him. After we said goodbye we walked back to the village to catch some dinner at a small restaurant in town. In the restaurant, there were cats everywhere. They were coming up on the tables and eating our food and laying all over us. It was pretty funny but kind of gross... At dinner, we all talked about the plan for the next day and how we wanted to do a tour and kayak to the "1000 waterfalls". So we went back to the hotel and went to sleep. The next day was one of my favorites though...