Dec. 8-9

Dec. 8-9
In Muang Khua, we found a guest house that was near the river. Well, actually, the whole town or village is near the river. Not sure of the population, maybe 1,000. When we checked into the guest house, we just ask the price, look at the room, then agree to stay. Next they hand you the key. You never sign in, or do they ask for your passport. Nothing! Very different than Vietnam. And we stayed two days, then we have find them to pay. Very laid back. The room was ok, about $8 USD. The only problem was the rooster crowing to his friends, starting about 3 am. Other than that, the whole town is very very quiet. You can walk though the whole area in about an hour. On game, they like to play is a French game with a cue like ball. You throw or roll the ball down a gravel like alley or lane, trying to get close to a center pin. I would call it a cross between bowling and horseshoes. Maybe closer to horseshoes.

We had dinner with a Polish couple that we met on the bus. Actually, we ate with them in Diem Bien too. They were going to take the boat down river the next day, but I wanted to stay another day, so I haven’t seen then since, but she took my email, so hopefully I will here some day.

The next day, I checked out the slow boat ride to the next town, in route to LuangPrabang. The way this works is several people go together, and so that keeps the price down generally. But then sometimes you have to wait several days before you enough people. I didn’t really want to do that, so we later found a private car who wanted to defray his costs of driving back to Luang Prabang empty. At first he wanted to charge $35 but then agreed to $25 which was a great deal. I was actually afraid it was too good of a deal.. It turned out fine.

The countryside here is mostly mountains everywhere. I not sure of the name but roads all go through the mountains or over the mountains. The terrain is full of trees and greenery but I haven’t seen many animals or birds. A few rivers. Where there are small villages, then are located right on top of the main road. I am sure many people get hit or killed by the traffic. The traffic isn’t heavy, like in Vietnam, but moderate. One thing is they don’t honk their horns much.

Next I will try to write about my one day trek....Say a special prayer for my father... he is not good..