Nong Khiaw - Picture Perfect

4 - 5 February 2015

We are now running out of time fast.  Because we are exiting Laos in February, a month with only 28 days, Laos only gave us 28 days...3 less days...on our visa.  I know 3 days doesn't seem like a lot, but it means leaving out the 2 day boat ride down the Mekong that I wanted to do.  Instead the plan is to make it to Luang Prabang and do a 2 day trek staying in a remote village.  A bus from Sam Neua to Luang Prabang is over 15 hours, so we decided to break up the trip by stopping in Nong Khiaw only 8 hours away.  Stopping in Nong Khiaw also allows us the possibility to take a 1 day boat ride down the Nam Ou into the Mekong and to Luang Prabang.

We arrived at the bus station at 6:30 AM, 1hour before the van is supposed to leave.  When we got there the van to Nong Khiaw was already there, but the driver would not let us on.  For the next hour we waited to board, but every time he entered the van for something or another he would get out and lock the doors.  Finally the time came to leave and he finally unlocked the doors...but he made us all remove our shoes and put them in plastic bags...thus the wait till the last minute.  He wanted to ensure that he can control the entry into the van which he could only do once all the luggage has been stowed and we were ready to leave.

Overall the trip was pretty good except for the 2 young guys behind us that kept throwing up due to the twists and turns of the mountain road.  We finally arrived in Nong Khiaw just before 5 PM and just in time to catch the sunset:

Here is where we are staying for the next 2 nights:

Here is the view from our balcony the next morning:

View of the bridge I took the 2 above photos from.

Looking the other way, up the river.

After breakfast we walked through town to look into how to take the 1-day boat down the river to Luang Prabang.  We talked to one tour company that didn't offer the boat to Luang Prabang, but did offer a 2 day trek similar to the one I wanted to do in Luang Prabang, but less expensive and would be a private trek with just Tim and I...hum...something to consider.  We continued down the road and finally found a place that offered the boat trip, but a dam has been erected so instead of simply getting on a boat and going to Luang Prabang you have to get off the boat at a dam, catch a tuk-tuk around the dam, then get onto another boat.  Not that big a deal except now that the dam has been built less and less people have opted for the boat trip so the price has gone up.  It would have cost us $150 USD each...quite ridiculous, so not an option.  We decided to go back to the trekking company but stopped at another company to see what they could offer in terms of treks.  They offered a very similar trek to the first one we found, but they also offered a 3-day kayak trip that ended in Luang Prabang.

When we heard 3-day kayaking, all we thought was we get to be on the river like we wanted and we didn't have to get back on a van for an 8 hour mountain drive AGAIN.  He said it was an easy paddle and that there was little to no whitewater.  Before we knew it we were signed up and told to be there at 9 AM the next day.  After leaving the tour company we were like...WHAT DID WE JUST DO?!?  Oh well...we will worry about that later.  Right now we have to hike the 1.25 mile hike up to the viewpoint.

There was a few warnings he had to heed during the hike:

And here is the reward for the long climb that felt like it went straight up the side of the mountain:

The trip back down the mountain was just before sunset allowing for some beautiful scenery:

After the hike I was rewarded with an awesome Indian dinner.  A meal like this back in the US would probably cost around $25 USD.  Here in Laos it cost around $10 USD!  Tim even managed to find something on the menu that he really liked.

After dinner we called it a night.  Tomorrow we are off on a 3-day kayaking trip down the Nam Ou River towards Luang Prabang.  We still can't believe we have signed up for this.