At the bus station I met a Canadian couple, Ray and Sue, who were also going to Muang Ngoi. There were seventeen people in the bed of a ¼ ton pickup truck with three people up front. It was very crowded and there were some people sitting on stuff in the middle of the bed. The “stuff” the people were sitting on was plastic containers of gasoline and you get one guess as to what those people were doing?

Smoking.

Yes, smoking.

I said to Ray and Sue (R&S), “If they go up, at least we won’t feel a thing.” The road wasn’t that bad but anytime you’ve got that many people, it’s not going to be comfortable. We drove through many traditional villages which, surprisingly, reminded me of Papua-New Guinea. We got to a river and boarded a long, narrow boat and went upstream. The river was in flood and the driver dodged debris coming downstream. At one point the motor stalled and the driver used the boat’s momentum to get to the river bank and his assistant grabbed onto tree branches to keep the boat in place. The drive fixed the motor and half an hour later, we were on our way. Somehow, you didn’t get the impression that this is the first time it’s happened.

We get to Muang Ngoi and see that it’s an ordinary river village with nothing special to see or do, but that’s not a bad thing. There are only a few tourists there and the village has 2-3 small guesthouses with a few rooms and 2-3 small restaurants with maybe half a dozen plastic tables. It’s a very low key place. R&S and I stayed at a primitive guesthouse.

Even though I was feeling distant from people, I enjoyed R&S as they were interesting and quite intelligent, which is quite different than most travelers encountered at that time. We ate lunch together and talked at length. Ray is a petroleum engineer and when you get a couple of techie nerds together, we can go on and on. I was really starting to like them. One thing we noticed was the use of cluster bomb casings for posts, planters, and numerous other things. The area had been heavily bombed in the 60’s and 70’s and there was still unexploded cluster bombs all over (a cluster bomb has 500-700 tennis ball-sized bomblets in a larger casing, it opens up and spreads death and destruction over a large area). Problem is that many of these bomblets don’t explode and are still a hazard to this day. A few days later, we were walking to a cave. We were warned that the trail and cave was safe but under no conditions we were to step off the trail as it hadn’t been cleared. Yowsa!

Later we go out for dinner and get a good look around. A few places have electricity from a generator but most don’t. Most people are working the land and while not at a subsistence level, they aren’t making a lot of money. We saw two theaters which consisted of a VCR, TV, and generator. One universal thing you’ll find is the vapid look people can have while watching the one-eyed monster. That night we had smoked and deep-fried water buffalo. It was probably the best food of the entire trip. Unfortunately it’s not something they have much of and we had to think of it as a treat. The restaurant power went off at 9:30 and every other generator was off by 10:30 and all was quiet along the river. Things stay that way until 4:30 a.m. when the monks at a small monastery get up and bang large drums that resonate across the river valley. It’s not so bad getting woken up once but the drums wake up the roosters and they just don’t stop. Those damn roosters…again.

I spent the next morning sitting near the river watching people gather driftwood that has gotten caught on an island in the middle of the river. Then I notice what a spectacular river valley it was. There were limestone spires towering over the water and it goes all the way up and down the river. It’s a pretty setting for sure and was only disturbed by some turkeys getting into a vendor’s bananas. The woman starts yelling at the turkeys and starts throwing rocks and fruit at them. She continued to throw things even after they stopped raiding her bananas. Not sure why that sticks out in my mind, but it was kind of funny and I suppose the turkeys had plenty to eat with the fruit being thrown at them. But again, I had doubts about whether I should be home making money for future travel. But if one isn’t have a good time now, why save for future travel? Yeah, that doesn’t make sense at all.

Later it rains and I spend the afternoon at a restaurant with R&S and doing my best to avoid other backpackers. I talked to them about how I have been feeling. Not wanting to be with people, continued doubts, strange dreams and the rest. They tell me it might be culture shock but also, burnout. “You need a rest from travel. You’ve been gone a long time going non-stop and you’re tired.” I don’t know why I didn’t think of that but it’s as if a light bulb turned on. It didn’t change anything in that I still didn’t want to be around most people, but it made it easier to deal with those things. A few more travelers arrived and this one couple, I found them to be stupid, hypocritical, and idiotic (and they probably thought the same about myself) and it was ok. I just avoided them and understood why.

Later the three of us walked around the village. People were talking, one couple was arguing, others were laughing, and many were sleeping. Just the rhythms that people have the whole world round. After that we went to the cave where we were warned to stay on the trail. At the entrance were hundreds of butterflies. Surrounding us like a cloud. As uncomfortable as I was often feeling, there are still many good memories. Oh, we can’t forget Sue stepping right in the middle of a gigantic cow patty while wearing sandals. It was big, fresh, wet, and messy and it was not something we let her forget. We did have one strange experience, we were playing in a stream and a guy with a machete stops. He seemed to be joking about cutting us into little pieces. He wasn’t really directly threatening us and it probably wasn’t serious but either way, it was very strange. You know, even joking about cutting some up with machete, with anybody other than a close friend is suppose, is not ok. There are many cultures and each is different that’s not funny in any of them. Later we saw a guy walk by with an M16 and no one seemed to notice. He pops in a clip of bullets with a click and keeps on walking. People think the U.S. has a lot of guns but I’ve never seen someone, other than a police officer, walking around with one and certainly not an automatic weapon.

I spent a lot of time by myself, frequently thinking of ideas for my art, writing down the good ones and forgetting about the bad ones. I was thinking about moving on but R&S were going to spend a few more days there and that was enough reason to stay longer.

One thing to note was there were 4-5x the number of travelers than on the first days. Advertising was popping up and the woman at our guesthouse was changing prices at the restaurant on the painted sign. 2000 became 3000 and 5000 now read 8000. Walking down the main street, we saw a group of travelers drinking shots of liquor making a ruckus. That’s when it became clear, “This place is doomed.”

In the last few days, the three of us spent a fair amount of time together and I really enjoyed their company. Both were engaging and intelligent and could converse on a broad range of subjects. They seemed more interested in good conversation than say, pounding shots. That’s quite OK with Moosey.

On the last night there, I walked by the temple and some monks noticed me and motioned me over. But I avoided going over. I still had problems dealing with people even if I understood why. I spent some time with R&S and went to bed. The next day the three of us took the boat back out.

It had been a strange time but I don’t mean to sound too negative about the time there. The area really is beautiful, people were kind, and of all the people I had met in Asia, R&S were among the memorable. They made Muang Ngoi worth going to.

Epilogue:

About four months later while in India, I met a woman who had been to the Muang Ngoi. I mentioned what it was like in the first few days after opening to tourism. She said, “I wish I had been there then. Now it’s wall-to-wall guesthouses, bars, and restaurants.” It’s good for the local people that tourism has increased as they can have a better income but I’m glad I was there early on. I’m not saying it’s a bad place but from what I’ve heard, it’s not really a place to visit with the changed atmosphere. So it goes in the world.