Happy New Year!

The approach of Pi Mai, the Lao New Year, was incentive for us to head out of Phongsali (for fear of getting stuck) and make our way to Nam Khio to wait out the holiday paralysis and join the celebration. Luang Prabang is the center of Pi Mai celebrations, but apparently becomes packed and expensive so best avoided. Nam Khio on the other hand was a 26k detour from the main highway (I use that term loosely) and is nestled between the Nam Ou and huge thumbnail-shaped limestone mounds. It's idyllic and we managed to score yet another sweet place to stay- a river side bungalow with a deck and two hammocks.

We rode into town on day three of Pi Mai, the day of "purification," which is basically a gigantic water fight. There were crowds of kids in every village we passed waiting with all manner of water carrying vessel, from the squat toilet water scooper to the Super Soaker with the reserve backpack tank, poised to splash us without holding back a shred of delight. It was equally as fun for us. Getting drenched cooled things off and made the late afternoon ride all the more enjoyable. The road into town was fast and rolling and the views just keep getting better and better as the road neared the river and the walls of karst closed in. We spent a few days relaxing around town, swimming in the Nam Ou and exploring nearby caves. Two very entrepreneurial kids picked us up on the road and guided us through the first undeveloped site. The brother/sister pair led us across a stream, through thickets (holding back the bushes to clear the path) and up a jungle viney path to the mouth of an enormous hidden cave. They were the best guides we hired all trip until I stoked the fires of sibling rivalry and they had a slight falling out over splitting the one bill I had to pay them. We stealthily excused ourselves from the entanglement and made our way through the giant archways and deep caverns that were used as government outposts, banks, hospitals and bomb shelters during the war.

With Pi Mai still in full swing, we caught a ferry up river to Muang Ngoi with a group of citified teens sporting holiday appropriate "no alcohol" t-shirts. The river side village is only accessible by boat and we found out upon arrival that afternoon ferry service is only intermittent. Without much hope of making it back, we took to the trails and made our way through old growth forest, rice paddies turned cow pasture, and clusters of thatched homes on bamboo stilts. We made like the local mud loving water buffalo and took a cooling jungle dip before making a last stop at two caves sites with gushing crystal clear springs. Celebrations were in full swing by the time we made it back to town. Everyone had jumped over to the opposite bank and was bouncing to Thai pop in a drunken water soaked mass. We abandoned all hope of making it back to our bungalow, hopped on an over-stuffed homemade house boat, and joined the party.