“Longer boats are coming to win us 
They’re coming to win us, they’re coming to win us 
Longer boats are coming to win us 
Hold on to the shore, they’ll be taking the key from the door”

— Cat Stevens

I actually had no idea what that song is about, but I figured since we were spending a day on a long boat, I might as well throw those lyrics on the post. Although I did have to go research it, and according to the man himself: “I wrote the song as a plea for human unity in face of external (possibly extra-terrestrial) threats. There was also a lyrical inference to say that we should look closer at the beautiful and mystical nature of the earth, and watch out for adopting inherited wisdoms from people who claimed to be masters of the high, moral ground.”

Interesting, but I’m no closer to tying the lyrics into this post …

After 7 days of riding we got a rest day. The rest day involved a boat transit from Muang Khoua to Muang Ngoy along the Nam Ou river. There are numerous dams used to generate hydro-electricity along the river, and they have significantly changed the river from its original state. A big part of the river is not actually a river anymore, it is a lake.

We had an early start, got packed up, and had breakfast at the restaurant that Xue liked. I wanted something typically Lao, so I told Xue I wanted exactly what he was having … same spice level and all. He called it a “farmer’s breakfast”—a basket of sticky rice, a simple omelette, and a bowl of mashed-up chilis and spices. You would grab a ball of sticky rice, rub it in the chili paste and wrap a bit of the omelette on it. It was delicious. Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of it.

We headed out from the wharf and started down the lake. I had the camera out and ready to go. I was prepared for some exciting and cool scenery. Hint: it wasn’t all that exciting or cool.

The engines were basic two-stroke, air cooled motors, much like a weed-eater. Then there was a very long straight shaft that had a propeller at the end. They would lower the propeller into the water and off they would go. It wasn’t the most efficient power transfer, but the beauty was its simplicity. No bends. No impellers for cooling. A weed-eater with a propeller.

Once the realization sank in that the scenery just wasn’t going to be exciting, we all dozed and napped. I fell asleep for a while as I just hadn’t been sleeping all that well. Xue was out like a light.

After just over 3 hours, we reached the dam, where we would have to get off, transfer to a truck, drive 2 km, and then get back in another boat. The scenery did get better near the dam as the mountains were getting steeper and the canyon tighter … but let’s be honest, it was turning into kind of a PITA transfer day.

The village was small and bit run down and dirty. I am guessing it exists as a base for the people that work on the dam. There was a small store and a restaurant. In typical Lao fashion, there were no boundaries between the people and animals. Everybody wandered everywhere. If you click on the picture with the cat and look closely at the food shelves, you will see a chicken standing there on the second shelf.

Below the dam, the river was actually a river and even had a few “rapids.” Riffles really, but it was moving along. The scenery improved significantly below the dam, although we were heading straight into the sun, so the photography was tough.

After about 20 minutes, we made a stop at nice small village where they are known for their embroidery and textiles. They all definitely wanted us to buy something and were pretty excited to give us the sales pitch. They do get tourists here, but not a lot. It really does help them to buy a few things and they were, in the grand scheme of things, very cheap. I bought a couple of scarves.

The surrounding mountains created a stunning backdrop for the village. For those of you that are a bit less geologically oriented, the topography in this area (and much of northern Vietnam) is called karst. It happens when you have limestone that is uplifted and then subsequent erosion leaves very steep, sharp mountains. This limestone is primarily of Permian age (about 250 million years old) and was uplifted when the Indian plate collided with the Asian plate about 50 million years ago.

Some say that the Indian plate got in a fight with the Australian plate and ran off in a huff. Then because it was texting while driving, failed to see the Asian plate and KABOOM, the accident happened. This hasn’t been verified, but it sounds way more credible than that whole plate tectonics nonsense.

A typical house in the area is built on stilts, with the living space above and storage for food and animals underneath. The tendency to house animals under the house is waning in the modern era due to the recognition of the health issues associated with living with your livestock.

After wandering around the village for a while, we headed down to a restaurant that had a beautiful deck overlooking the river. There was a European woman out on one of the boats learning how to fish with a net. I guess, fishing and kayaking are pretty popular things for tourists to do on the river.

We had dinner at a restaurant that night and I had curry again. Roland also had the curry. Mine just wasn’t that good. Way too gingery (although I love ginger) with gigantic chunks that had to be removed. I think I got the bottom of the pot. Xue said that it was good to support the small villages versus buying stuff in Luang Prabang. I hadn’t bought anything here and asked if the shops were still open and he said no. Bummer.

We headed back to the hotel, but I decided to just go and see if any shops were still open. Gerald came with me. Most were closed, but there was one that had their door open and some textiles in the back. A woman and man were inside eating their dinner. She jumped up and invited us in to see their stuff. I bought a few things and so did Gerald. They were over the moon. It wasn’t all that high quality, but I think we really made their day. She gave us each a bag of peanuts and had a huge grin on her face. It made me feel good that I helped out some people that really didn’t have much.