Blogs from Nong Khiaw, West, Laos, Asia
April 16th 2012
this town exist of one main street with bunch of guesthouses and restaurants, again geared towards tourists (as the tourist industry income is so much more than any of the prior existing jobs, like farming and fishing ...) ... a bit a pity, however totally understandable everyone in town who can work in this service industry does ... Anyway the second day Pheng (who lives up north) joined mi with a young friend Phick and together we explored the Poktha caves, a hideaway for the governing body of Luang Prabang province during the heaviest time of the secret 'unofficial' war with inwhere almost 3,000,000 bombs were dropped in Laos ... now having travelled around here for bit and spend some time with the locals it has become even a bigger question to mi that the international ... read more
April 16th 2012
t took mi about 8 days before i was ready to venture out of Luang Prabang and took a bus up to Nong Khiaw which is 3.5 hrs north by bus. I crossed the bridge to Ban Sop Houn, where miracuously i picked a guesthouse which is run by Church (yes his real name-by the way i think about everyone has an 'h' in their name). While i was checking in i received a message from my french friend Ghislaine (from Chiang Saen) and was mumbling her words in french (usually i understand the language better when i hear it ...) and the next moment Church started to talk with mi in fluent French ... This town exist of one main street with bunch of guesthouses and restaurants, again geared towards tourists (as the tourist ... read more
March 12th 2012
So, on the morning of March 2nd we headed to the bus station with our tickets for the public bus to Nong Khiaw. The public bus turned out to be a large tuk tuk (sawngthaew). So, with almost 20 of us crammed into the back we set off on a dusty and cramped journey to Nong Khiaw. Four hours later we had arrived at the bus station in Nong Khiaw where we got a lift to the river for our boat ride up the river to Muang Ngoi Neau. Ngoi Neau is 25km upstream from Nong Khiaw. It's a small village perched on the banks of the river in a beautiful valley where the river winds its way through the limestone karst landscape. On our arrival we found a place to stay and I had to ... read more
February 8th 2012
We left the beautiful city of Luang Prabang on Wednesday, February 8th and caught a 9AM Lao-style slow boat to a village up north called Nong Khiaw. We were very lucky as there were ten tickets sold for the boat so the first 8 people were crammed into one boat. We had ticket number 9 and 10 and had another boat all to ourselves! The trip to Nong Khiaw itself should be a staple of anybody’s visit to Lao. Even though it takes a long time – a bit more than 7 hours – the scenery is absolutely breathtaking. The trip starts on the Mekong, with hills and pastures on either side. The scenery changed the more north we went – the mountains became higher, are more green and there also a few scattered small villages ... read more
Nate has a brain fart, then drops his 1st deuce in the squatty...in a village straight out of National Geographic
Published: February 27th 2011Asia » Laos » West » Nong Khiaw
February 27th 2011
Nong Khiaw, Muang Ngoi, Ban Na, Huay Bo, Nam Ou…yeah, we murdered those names the first couple times we said them, too We were glad we had decided to take our chances with heading to the northern bus station in order to take the local bus to Nong Khiaw when we found out that it was leaving early enough and it was cheaper than anyone in town had quoted us (surprise, surprise). Nate went up to the window, got our tickets, and found out we would be leaving from “terminal” 2. Awesome, sounds great! We had quite a bit of time to kill and were waiting for the bus to pull up into the space that was being occupied by a songthaew, which looked just like a bottled water delivery truck with the back made into ... read more
January 29th 2011
16/01/2010 - 18/01/2010 From Namtha I took the bus to Nong Khiaw. Arriving in Nong Khiaw I bumped into Sarah, french girl who I met back in Kanchanaburi, Thailand. Seen that Nong Khiaw is more village then city we explored the town on foot. The views are really fantastic, it s surrounded by colossal green-blue mountains while the Nam Ou river cleaves it in half. I had a bungalow with amazing view: view on the nice bridge, the river and this huge mountain; in the evenings the weather really cooled off and was more then chilly.... In the evening I crossed the Spanish group again and next day we all went together to Nong Khiaw, an even smaller village which can only be accesed by long tail boat. With its friendly locals and nearby caves we ... read more
July 8th 2010
The views in Nong Khiaw are as close to paradise as I have ever seen. After the most uncomfortable 5 hour journey of my life we ended up in this idyllic town in the valley of two mountains. We found a wooden river side hut, which literally jutted out over the river (in Laos they don't built upwards, they build outwards!) which had a small balcony complete with hammock. This is how we spent the following two days, on hammock reading, drink and occasionally venturing out for a quick wander or to play cards with the locals. The kids are really cute, they shout "hello in Lao" or "I love you" in English or they come over and shake your hands as they have heard this is a Western greeting. So after the most peaceful two ... read more
July 5th 2010
Nong Khiaw to Muang Khua, 12th - 14th May 2010 The bus journey flew by especially with so much people watching to do. We felt that we were heading off the beaten track once more, always a sure sign when you’re nearly the only westerners on the bus. Having winded our way along country roads stopping for the obligatory toilet stop (side of the road, everybody goes and pees in the bushes, women and all) then driving once more, this time climbing into more mountainous territory before finally arriving into the little town of Nong Khiaw. It was a fantastic little town set in the middle of mountains nestled either side of the Nam Ou River that passes through the middle with a huge bridge to join the two sides of the town together. We knew ... read more
April 4th 2010
Als einziger westlicher Fahrgast fuhr ich am Samstag vor Ostern im lokalen Bus nach Nong Khiaw. Der Bus war ein äußert klappriges Modell mit "natürlicher Aircondition" (=offenen Fenstern). Unterwegs hielt er regelmäßig an, um neue Passagiere aufzunehen, unter anderem zwei Bauern, die zwei kleine Schweine dabei hatten. Diese transportierten sie in speziellen, entfernt schweineähnlich geformten Bambuskörben, die kaum größer als die Tiere selbst waren. Bei der Unterbringung wurde auch wenig Rücksicht darauf genommen, dass e sich um lebende Wesen und nicht um Körbe voller Gemüse handelte. Leider ist diese Art von Tiertransport hier absolut üblich und ob wir da im Westen, wo das Vieh in kleinen Käfigen auf LKWs transportiert werden so viel besser sind, wage ich zu bezweifeln. In Südostasien dürfen die Tiere außerhalb der Transporte wenigstens überall frei herumlaufen. Ein... read more
Eating Frogs Plus the Fun of Bus Trips in Laos
Published: February 16th 2010Asia » Laos » West » Nong Khiaw
February 4th 2010
When my story last left off, I was exploring the caves where the Pathet Lao hid during the bombings of the Vietnam/Laos War and describing a massive outdoor food market in neighboring Sam Nuea. From Sam Nua, we journeyed by bus six hours to a small town called Vieng Thong. The bus journey, which was typical of those in Laos, may be a bit interesting to those not familiar. After asking many people around town the bus departure times, one takes a general average to ascertain at what time busses may actually leave for the destination. Either there are no posted bus times or the posted bus times are wrong. When it is time for the bus to depart, if the bus is not full, and by full I mean packed to the hinges, piled high ... read more
