Laos - Nong Khiaow & Muang Ngoi

Two pretty riverside towns, surrounded by huge hills. Found a rat in our riverside shack in Nong Khiaow which was disappointing, so moved on to Muang Ngoi and got a shack there for the hefty price of $1 per night! Took a river boat trip with our guest house owner's son, saw a really long spooky cave by the river and visited a local village. The scenery was amazing. Sadly our man managed to break the engine so we had to paddle back with one paddle and we helped by paddling with our flip flops. Luckily we were going downstream so it only took an hour to get back. Back in Nong Khiaow, explored a cave where villagers hid out in the war with the help of a bunch of kids. Rory's efforts to watch the World Cup football are being thwarted by the King of Thailand's birthday. The football is on Thai TV, but the poxy coverage of the King's celebrations (so dull that it makes our queen's recent birthday seem like the Rio carnival) keeps running over the football matches, aaaargh!