leaving NK

It's our last day in Nong Khiaw, and we're very sorry to leave. Marc was up early enough to go to the market, and successfully bought four little puffy rice pancakes. When he brought them back to the room, they were still warm and soft and delicious, fragrant with coconut. We bought four more later but they were cold and much less delicious. We also bought a couple of pieces of fried dough -- sopaipillas, beignets, freeform doughnuts, whatever you call it, it's always good.

He also shot a great video of the market, but the file is too big so when I get home I'll edit it and post it.

After breakfast we walked back into town and well before we got to the market -- which is next door to the secondary school -- we heard music over a loudspeaker. We've heard a lot of music here in Nong Khiaw, both recorded and people just singing. As we got closer I realized the music was coming from the school, so we stood and watched the school kids dancing to what we think is traditional music. Their hand movements were graceful, fingers held tightly together and bent slightly backward, thumb folded into the palm, hands swaying up and across, and down, coordinated with simple foot movements. Boys and girls were both dancing, and some kids were giggling and goofing around a bit, and some girls were serious about it -- just like school kids everywhere.

The street was quite crowded with kids, more than we'd ever seen here. We have no idea where they all came from, and we didn't know why they were so thick in the street. As we were watching the dancers, I saw a young teenage boy pass by with a scythe on a long bamboo handle, and thought that was a little strange. We'd also passed crowds of kids, some of whom held brooms and most held long sticks. When we noticed that some were dragging big bags of trash, we decided it must be a day when the kids clean up the town.

very busy main street this morning

And sure enough, we turned to walk along the river, behind the main street, and came upon huge crowds of kids -- most were watching, but some were hacking at the vegetation, clearing it away. There were fires burning here and there. Some kids were looking at cell phones, some were chattering, some watched us but most ignored us, and the teachers watched from a distance. I couldn't figure out how they decided where to clear vegetation; it seemed almost random. But then again, it seemed almost random that anyone did anything, because most were just standing around.

some work going on, but lots of talking

It's very hard to leave this beautiful town. Very hard. The Mandala Ou, where we're staying, will be for sale in a couple of years. Nick moved here and built the place with the intention of selling it. It's already booked for a year ahead, and it's top rated on TripAdvisor, so we lightly entertain the fantasy of buying it and living here. It's very strange to find myself sad to leave for Luang Prabang, a place I dearly love.

both flags fly everywhere -- Laos, and hammer and sickle

a beautiful house on main street

one last walk by the Nam Ou, with a wistful heart

another beautiful house -- flowers, a satellite dish, and chickens.

the poorer part of town

O how we will miss this place. We'll be back.

messing around in boats

Kenneth Grahame's Rat said, "There is nothing half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats." I read The Wind in the Willows in fourth grade and remember that line so clearly, even though I was never once a "messing about in boats" girl. Nor was I a "messing about in boats" adult, until Marc and I started traveling together when I was 47. The most memorable times in each of our trips were in a boat, somehow, and now it's something we plan for.

Our boat trip today in Nong Khiaw was on the Nam Ou, one of the most important rivers in Laos. It's actually a tributary of the Mekong. We hired a man to drive us up the river to the village of Ban Sop Jam, and then back down the river to stop at Muang Ngoi and then a return to Nong Khiaw. The trip took us about six hours, and it was absolutely spectacular. Again, the photos don't begin to show just how beautiful the trip was.

It was very cold when we started, as it always is in the mornings this time of year. But the scenery was just so beautiful it really didn't matter (much).

So cold and windy I wrapped my scarf around my head. Poor Marc just shivered.

Unbelievably beautiful. Sheer mountains at the river's edge, covered with rain forests.

That's our sweet driver.

Water buffalo everywhere, and also lots of wild pigs.

so beautiful

and clouds clinging to the mountains

tall mountains

such distinctive shapes

There were places where the river was very fast, white water. When we were going out in the morning we were going upriver, against the fast current, but on the way back there was one patch of water where it seemed like the driver had a hard time controlling the boat. We slipped and slid and scraped over rocks. It was great fun.

At Ban Sop Jam, a tiny traditional village along the river, we got out and walked around the village. They are traditional weavers, so I enjoyed that a lot since I used to weave, and had a big 45" 4-harness floor loom. Their looms were handmade, many with 8 harnesses and string heddles. Amazing.

We just loved this little village.

Drying rice. This IS the village -- the main (and only, we think) street.

We bought silk scarves from this woman

Weaving and winding bobbins

Need a seesaw for the playground? Got plenty of bamboo? Problem solved!

Just such a lovely little village.

We walked around for a bit and then got back in the boat to head back down the river to Muong Ngoi, which seems to be a popular spot for backpackers. We had a so-so lunch and a bit of walking around, but it was a hard place to be because of all the unexploded bombs displayed around the village. One big bomb at the restaurant, with bomblets placed on top. Our country dropped hundreds of tons of bombs on Laos -- and we weren't even at war with them -- and since we never admitted we did it, we certainly didn't go back to help clean up the mess we made. Laos is the most heavily bombed country IN THE WORLD. There were 580,000 bombing missions (or a bombing mission every 8 minutes, 24 hours a day, for 9 years); more than 2 million tons of ordnance were dropped on Laos. People are killed and maimed by the unexploded ordnance everywhere. Shameful and disgusting. And the Lao are such gentle, soft people.

the food may have been ordinary, but the setting was gorgeous

horrible

more bombs

Muong Ngoi's wat

main street, Muong Ngoi

The boat trip was undoubtedly one of our best times on the water. It was so hard to capture the real beauty of the river, so at some point all we could do was just look around and be there, soak it up with our eyes.

Our last night in Nong Khiaw, so hard to leave. We'll just have to come back, that's all.