Blogs from Muang Ngoi Neua, North, Laos, Asia

A cute small town located on the banks of the Nam Ou river. Karsts cliffs towered over the river on both sides. We walked to the Tham Pha Tok cave where villages hid out during the second Indonesian War. Just as we walked out we became engulfed in a huge storm and we ran back to the cave with some local kids to wait it out. The next day we went down the Nam Ou river back to Luang Prabang on a private boat with some other travelors stopping by a local village and the Pak Ou Caves full of budha statues.... 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

A minibus picked me up at the guesthouse and then drove around picking up a few more passengers before dropping us off at the minibus station where I found the vehicle that was headed to Nong Khiaw. It was a very nice 3 and a half hour trip and surprisingly we didn't stop at a restaurant for lunch, which seems to be the norm in this part of the world. Once at Nong Khiaw we had just enough time to have lunch before hopping in a boat bound for Muang Ngoi Neua up the Nam Ou river. This trip took just over an hour and had some very nice scenery along the way. Muang Ngoi Neua is more or less a village on the banks of the Nam Ou river that is set up for foreign ... read more

Imagine if you will, a village with no tarmacked roads, in fact, no vehicular land transport and accessible only by boat on therusset-opaque waters of the Nam Ou river. A village where the generators that provide electricity hum into life just after sunset for a mere 4 hours of power. No wifi. No hot water. No fridges. Chickens, dogs and barefooted children wander the lanes between flimsy looking bamboo constructed homes. Women bathe in the cappuccino coloured waters of the river washing themselves, their clothes and huge baskets of sticky rice. Men chop bamboo and carry balanced on the shoulders bunches of freshly machete cut morning glory. Imagine that cockerels are the morning alarm clocks and the steady beat of themonks’ drums from the village wat echo every morning and evening – the sounds reverberating off ... read more

by Jan Its our last day in Laos, but I am just getting around to write our first blog post about this forgotten country. We spent almost a month here and there is a lot to write about, but let's take it one step at a time and start at the beginning. From Thailand we crossed the mighty Mekong river and once on the other side we were in Lao PDR, which is now the official name of the country. The old, original name is Lan Xang Hom Khao (Million Elephants, White Parasol). If we didn't know that the river was also the border between the countries we would probably just walk straight from the pier without passing all the border formalities. By the looks of it you would never guess you are at the border ... read more

After a few days in the ‘big city’ that is Luang Prabang, we decided to head four hours northeast, to the riverside town of Nong Khiaw, where we planned to spend a night before furthering our journey upriver to sleepy Muang Ngoi Neua. Arriving into Nong Khiaw was the perfect tonic following another nerve shattering minibus ride. A meandering twenty minute walk from the bus station took us through this dilapidated village, where the only commerce shops of any sort appeared to be pharmacies. After a while we happened upon an aging bridge, hanging high over the Nam Ou river and it was on the opposite side of this bridge where we found our lodgings for the night – Sunrise Guesthouse, which given its perfect location on the banks of the river, with obligatory limestone mountain ... read more

Written on my laptop with no wi-fi to upload it. I should probably re-read it to make sure nothing is missing, but I'm already 5 days behind. The village/town wakes when the sun comes up (06:30). Backpackers usually wake a few hours later (10:30) and I'm not in any hurry to go anywhere. I sneak out to use the toilet and snap a picture of the mountains shrouded in fog. Then back to bed for a few more hours. Sarah wakes around 09:30 and I figure it's time to do stuff. The other girls are already awake and in their hammocks. I walk to the shop for a bottle of water for me and caffeine for Sarah. NB: Backpackers survive on a diet of nicotine, caffeine an alcohol. I'm the only one of this group that ... read more