Wow! Its Lao 8 - Nong Khiaw to Xieng Thong

This leg of the journey took me to the least heralded place of the whole trip, Xieng Thong, or Muang Hiam, or Thakon... so many names for one place... 

 

Pigs, water buffalo, cows, goats, dogs... the most dangerous road hazards in Lao were on 4 legs.

in any case, it was a stopover on the road from Nong Khiaw to the Plains of Jars, which you'll see in the next video, and so whereas there wasn't much to do at the destination, the road there was beautiful. 

I visited the Nam Et National Protected Area, the site of Laos' last remaining breeding population of tigers in the wild. 

After visiting the protected area, what else was there to do in this multiple named town? The market was the obvious choice. 

Finally, I found a nice riverfront restaurant that had a menu in English, and I enjoyed a nice dinner of larb. 

My waitress,

Larb, or laab, is the national dish of Lao. It's minced meat with seasonings. 

I asked that they made it not too spicy. Maybe they understood that and toned it down, but in any case, I still found myself in tears finishing it. 

Enjoy the video.