Nong Kiew

The Kip is a currency similar to monopoly money. If you're in Laos it's great, and the more you have the better. If you leave Laos, no one takes your play money seriously. No other country will exchange the Kip for other currency. If you leave Laos with Kip the joke is on you. There are three cities in Laos that have ATMs. Yesterday we left one to explore the Northern wilderness for an unknown period of time with unreliable transport. Trying to decide how much Kip to take with us was tricky. Enough to get us into Vietnam but not so much that we'd arrive with a pocket full of expensive tinder. We decided on one million Kip. About one hundred and twenty dollars between the two of us. The ride up the Nam Ou river was beautiful, though a bit tough in dry season. At one point the captain turned to the twelve passengers and said 'Ok, now you get out to push.' Everyone got out, and with the help of some local kids pushed the boat over a particularly shallow and rocky spot. We broke down twice after that. The second time had us stranded on the shore of a gold mining town for over two hours. I tried my hand at panning with little success. I did manage to get a group of women laughing when one of them imitated me.. then a primate dancing in the water. White girl can take a hint. Leave the hunt for gold to the locals.
Note to women travelers: if it's an eight hour boat ride, expect twelve. Also expect to pee in front of all of the other people on your boat. Wear a skirt.
We made it to Nong Kiew by nightfall. It is a stunning riverside town surrounded by jungle cliffs. We woke this morning excited about all of the things we could do: kayaking, rock climbing, cave exploring... And then we found out how much things were going to cost. Transport turns out to be very costly in the middle of nowhere and also sometimes it doesn't show up for days at a time. Nathan suggested we sit down and count our money. Somehow my wallet contained about half of what we'd agreed to bring and his contained a quarter. He'd like me to believe he's been pulling more than half of his share for the last couple of days but I'm skeptical. Either way, we're cutting things pretty close out here in the jungle. If www don't catch a bus to Oudom Xai tomorrow we might be camping out to save on a nights hotel expenditure.
Not sure what we'll do in Oudom Xai but it will likely involve some financial planning. Nathan is napping on a balcony hammock and it strikes me that I haven't washed my hair in two weeks. Maybe I'll use this time productively. We've done lots of swimming in rivers and waterfalls... but that kind of clean is a double edged sword. It comes with a price, a fungal one. Could be worse, having a ringworm polka-dotted midsection is both interesting and curable.