Friday 10th July - Nam Ou

08:30 breakfast the collected by our driver and taken to the pier where we got on a (big, seeing there were only 2 of us on it) boat for a 2 hour ride along the Mekong River to our next stop at Nam Ou.

Stopped at two villages along the way.  The first was fairly poor:

The people were very friendly and showed us around the school and told us about the various subjects that the students learn.

They were preparing lunch - green papaya salad - and they gave us some to try.  It was the hottest thing I have eaten since being here and I went in to a fit of coughing, much to the great amusement of the teacher and students.

The second village was much more modern and we got to see how the Loa whisky - known as LaoLao is made.  Starts off with fermenting sticky rice for 5 days, then distilling to a liquor that is 55% proof.  The remains of the rice is given to the pigs who often get tipsy.

They gave us some to try - better thanI thought to would be, but I only had a sip whereas David (being from up North, finished a glass).

After that it was a short hop across the river to our hotel.  The hotel has 12 rooms in the main building and 10 bungalows facing the river.  We were the only people staying at the hotel (it is low season) and our bungalow had the wow factor.

The hotel has meals included, so it was a very good set lunch:

 Followed by a swim.  Or in my case, lunch, then a sleep, then a swim.

This place is really tranquil and quiet and we spent the afternoon chilling out by the pool and drinking.  Did I mention we had the whole place to ourselves?

All that was left to do was the evening meal.  This was the one missed note at the hotel - it really wasn’t that great.  The talking point at dinner however was batgate (or "the batastrophe" as David, who it has to be said is more of animal lover than me, would like it be known). 

We were sat there waiting for out first course when I heard a whack. I looked up and saw that a bat had flown into one of the ceiling fans.  It was bounced over our table and landed on the floor where unfortunately it died .

The waiter then arrived with our first course which he placed on the table, and having been told about the recent tragedy, picked up the ex-bat,  put it on the same tray he’d bought our food on,then got a napkin, wiped the bat blood off the floor, put it on the same tray and carried it away in the direction of the kitchen. I was praying that the rest of our meal was not served from that same tray. And the rest of our meal had no bat in it.