Nong Kiau Riverside Resort (Heaven on Earth) and Green Discovery Expidition to Muang Ngoi

Asia » Laos » North » Muang Ngoi Neua
December 24th 2012

Published: January 19th 2013

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 m... Read Full Entry

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Donavin Wick

Call 2 Adventure

I wish I had discovered this blog years ago. I did the mass email update for my previous adventures (United States and Europe) and now have no online documentation to share with fellow travelers. To the chagrin of some friends and family wanderlust has struck again. I managed to stay focused for nearly a year and a half in a job related to my college education, however the desire to travel has grown strong again and can no longer be suppressed. I have secured a 12 month Visa for New Zealand and hope to document this adventure for posterity, or at least the life of the TravelBlog. Enj... full info

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Woman distilling whiskey (Lao Lao)

As we entered the village this woman was distilling Lao Lao rice whiskey for a family party planned for the following weekend. We agreed to take a shot, despite it being 10:30am in the morning, to be kind; and were told we now had to have a second shot to show our thanks for her hospitality. These were quite possibly the worst tasting shots I've ever had - and that's saying a lot.

Another picture of the village

Muang Ngoi

Riverside village and end point of our trip. From here we hiked 30 minutes or so to a cave and then headed back down river by kayak.

Muang Ngoi main street.

The guidebooks sing the praises of the river side village of Muang Ngoi as it is only accesible by the river (i.e. no roads - though they are now building a road). I found the town to not be the place it's been made out too be - it was set up perfectly for tourists with signs up and down this street advertising all kinds of tourist needs (Accomodation, food, pharmacy etc...) it felt more Las Vegas than isolated Laos.

Just leaving the village and heading to the Cave

To the right is the local school and in the background the kids going back to class after their play break.

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View back towards riverside mtns

looking from the trail over rice paddies.

On the trail

Local Villagers on the Trail

While on the trail to the cave we came upon many local villagers making the 2hr walk back to their village. They had come to town early in the morning to sell and or buy supplies.

Cave Ticket Stand

At each cave i entered on the trip there would always be a similar ticket stand with a local collecting the fee (typ $1 to $2) and supplying visitors with torches.

Bamboo bridge over a refreshing stream

This picturesque view was just outside the cave entrance.

Typical bridge construction

Step carefully

Smaller cave entrance with cool pool.

Main Cave Entrance.

We were told that about 200 villagers would hide in this cave during the day when the area was being bombed. The outside temperature was probably about 82 F on this particular day and low humidity. However, once you stepped a few feet into the cave (about where the person is standing in the photo) we were hit with a wall of stale, hot and extremely humid air. It was like walking through the gates of hell, it was insufferable. I cannot imagine 200 people surviving this day-in day-out, so sad.

We took the boat back down the river about a mile from town.

We kayaked from here back to Nong Khiaw (2 1/2 hr trip) after lunch.

Our lunch befor the kayak back

Traditional lunch of rice, red pepper paste, river shrimp dip, pork, veges and fried egg. All served on banana leaves and you eat with your hands.

Xmas eve dinner

Heap of Germans, an English couple and me. If you can't be with friends/family during the holiday season always make forsure you find a festive group with santa hats - your night will be set.

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Nong Kiau Riverside Resort (Heaven on Earth) and Green Discovery Expidition to Muang Ngoi

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