River boat ride to Muang Ngoi Neua, Laos

I’m feeling much better today, and we both are up early. We settle our bill and get some breakfast on the way to the boat jetty, from where we intend to catch a river boat to Muang Ngoi Neua. I ask around but no one seems to know much about a boat leaving. We grab a drink and wait. Eventually a boat is set on leaving and we jump in.

The ride and scenery is speculator. We see water buffalo lounging in the shallows, local people frolicking on the rive banks, and ride over several rapids which wakes everyone up. After stopping at many little villages along the way, we eventually get to Muang Ngoi Neua.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyBtN605O_A&hl=en]

We had hoped to stay in sturdy accommodation tonight, as we have been sharing our room with a lot of wildlife recently. But, after checking a few places we can only find basic thatch huts, which is fine. Accommodation here is cheap, just £1 a night. We eventually find Nicksa’s, who’s newish huts we had seen from the river. The rooms aren’t quite as nice as they looked from a distance, but they are the best we have seen yet.

This is a remote part of the world. There is no electricity, although a few places have generators, there are no roads, all transport is by river, and there are no phones. With that said we find a fairly well stocked shop run by an enterprising little girl, who is probably about 10. Everything seems to cost 5,000Kip (25 pence). We grab some essentials and lazy in hammocks for a while.

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