Blogs from Muang Ngoi Neua, North, Laos, Asia

13-19th Mar It was so slow. We got a boat up to Muang Ngoi Neua. We had to go over rapids, they were so fun. The whole boat went up and down. We eventually got there and went to see some caves, they were so big. When the U.S.A came over to bomb Vietnam , if they didn't drop some on Vietnam they would drop them on Laos. There were more than 100 people living there. There were still some medicine bottles, food tins and gas lamps there. There was this really sparkly rock, which had lots of crystals in. It was as high as my whole arm. It was so dark we had to use torches. On the way back we went canyoning and tubing, I used the tube. On the first rapid I was ... read more

Our trek began with a boat ride south on the Nam Ou, adn a visit to Se Kong, a Lao Lum (a tribe of lowland Lao) village (in retrospect Meagan pointed out that this visit was probably because our local guide was late, but we didn't notice at the time...). We soon began trekking and the scenery was gorgeous, lush mountains one minute, then traversing dry rice paddies, strolling through animal farms (usually situated about a 30-minute walk from the villages) and then through jungle landscape. We stopped at Ta Lem, a Khmu village, and then for lunch in its H'Mong counterpart, Yong (many hilltowns are divided in two by tribes), where we could see people's activities during the dry season, since they are not caring for the rice fields. Everywhere people were tending to their ... read more

23 Dec: First night in Nong Khiaw; and 24 Dec: Tour to Muang Ngoi (note: a number of photos appear towards the bottom of the page). Upon arriving in Nong Khiaw I and a couple other women staying at the same accomodation grabbed a tuk tuk over to “Nong Kiau River Side Resort” (http://www.nongkiau.com/). This turned out to be my highlight destination on the trip for relaxing and definitely makes my all-time top 10 list for places I’d like to return to – I can’t recommend the location enough. While it’s was expensive in Laos terms it was nothing to what one would spend on a similar accommodation in NZ, AUS or USA. While checking-in I noticed that they were having an Xmas eve dinner for the following night so I booked myself a seat – ... read more

As i still was in the travelers trail and so far every economy of every village i've visited comprised out of a variety of guesthouses and restaurants to support the mostly young visitors from other countries ... as was this tiny little river town, thus after my difficult hike and two cycles of sleep ii ventured out to some local hill villages ... just when i was about to decide which road to take leaving town, i saw a couple walking ahead of mi ... i thought this can't be ... those long legs belong to Chantal, the dutch girl i shared the 'bush' toilet with when the slowboat stopped to let off some locals at a small village on our way to muang ngoi ... and so another chance encounter in the middle of the ... read more