Finally to Nong Khiaw

The stomach is bundled onto the back of a pickup and firmly told to stop complaining. It's quite cold still and threatening rain.

But getting up to Nong Khiaw is worth it. Jungled cliffs fall sheerly into the green river. The village clings to the bank on either side - with tourists carefully confined to one bank. Just what images of Indochina should be.

Even the stomach thinks it's a good place. We find a restaurant with things that it likes to eat, and a bungalow with hammocks overlooking the sunset river. Not even my guts can complain.