Muong Khua

Entering Laos from Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam the drive is very nice. The
bus is crap but the scenery is spectacular. The road winds through
very mountainous terrain. they are rebuilding the road and when that's
done it should be really nice. The bus drops off on the other side of
the river from Muong Khua and you cross by boat for 2000kip. There are
plenty of guesthouses. Me and a Danish guy stayed in one overlooking
the river in a room with 2 beds and private bathroom with hot water,
squat toilet for 50,000kip. They also had single rooms with shared
bathroom for 25000kip. There are two places to exchange money and they
both had very fair usd to Kip rates. There are no ATMs around though
and none nearby so bring enough cash for a few days. There is also no
Internet anywhere in town (they just got hooked up to the main power
grid a couple years ago). Leaving I took a slow boat to Muang Noig Nua
south down the river (4 hours, leaves between 9am and 9:30am). It is
suppose to cost 100,000kip but because we only had 7 people making the
trip it was 160,000kip. It's a very nice boat ride in a long boat
through the jungle but you'll be sitting on a wood plank so having
some sort of cushioning is advisable.