After arriving in sleepy Laos and spending the night in the charming town
of Muang Khua
Muong Ngoi appeared on the left bank; nothing but a concrete jetty and a cluster of bamboo huts overlooking the river. Up until a couple of years ago Muong Ngoi was only accessible by
boat, there was only three hours of electricity per day supplied by a
generator, and wifi was unheard of. However now, with increasing numbers of
tourists visiting the town, vast improvements have been made to the town’s
infrastructure. It now has 24 hour electricity, a road, and there’s even one
place in town offering wifi.
The tiny town, which runs along
one dusty road on the bank of the river, is one of the most beautiful places
we’ve been to in Southeast Asia; karst mountains, tropical jungle and terraced rice paddies as far as the eye can see. The 700 or so villagers living in the area are
farmers who live in houses made from wood and reed, water is supplied by
the local well and the only traffic in town is the odd tractor chugging down
the main street. Apart from the occasional roar of a motorboat on the river,
the only sound to be heard is the rustle of the leaves in the trees and children splashing in the river. It was a far cry from the constant horn beeping we'd become so accustomed to in Vietnam.
 |
| Muong Ngoi |
The real beauty of Muong
Ngoi is found in the countryside out of town. After awaking in our reed bungalow
to find the mountains blanketed in a thick mist, Ric and I walked out of town
past the local primary school until we joined the dirt road that leads out of town.
After passing a cave, we turned off and followed hand-written signs to Huay Bo
village. The walk to the village was stunning; through shoulder-high paddies of
rice, through rivers and valleys and down dirt paths shaded by a thick canopy
of trees. As we stepped through the tall grass thousands of multi-coloured butterflies would rise up around us like a cloud of coloured confetti. We saw orange, red and blue dragon
flies, six inch long grasshoppers, frogs, and not to mention plenty of mosquitoes
that had their fill of our blood. The only other people we saw during our six hour walk were the farmers
harvesting the rice in their fields and children returning to their villages after school.
A two hour walk from Muong Ngoi, Huay Bo village is safe from any
large influx of tourists and life there was still very
traditional: naked children playing in the dirt, women distilling rice whiskey
over wood fires, people washing their laundry at the well, livestock roaming
free under reed stilt houses. Old ladies leaned out of windows to look at us, children stopped their games to stare at the sweaty westerners arriving in their town. We stopped to rest and ate papaya salad and
sticky rice at a local restaurant where the owner spoke surprisingly good English.
 |
| Stilt reed houses in Huay Bo. |
 |
| Boiling fermented rice to make Lao Lao, the local whiskey. |
We continued on to climb part way up a waterfall before being defeated by swarms of mosquitoes who beat us back towards Muong Ngoi. We decided to take
the dirt road back rather than the maze of rice fields to avoid crossing the numerous rivers (Ric was getting tired of removing
his trainers every 10 minutes). The road took us deeper into the valley past
another small village before looping around back toward Muong Ngoi and climbing
to give us a view down over the paddies we’d wandered around earlier in
the day. As well as adding an extra 3km to our walk, the road still lead us through a couple of river crossings. Just outside of town we stopped at
the cave and swam in the ice-cold spring water running through it. It was
a long hike but so rewarding with the karsts towering over us and the breath-taking scenery all around.
 |
| Huay Bo village is through the valley at the far end of the rice fields. |
 |
| Tham Kang cave, where we cooled down after our long hike. |
At the north end of town, behind a modest temple, is a dirt path that leads to Tham Pha Kaew cave. Both caves were used as shelters during the Vietnam war, when American planes heavily bombed the area. Broken pots and pans can still be found inside the caves and the walls are blackened where fires were lit inside. Continuing up a steep path past Tham Pha cave we emerged from the jungle to find a glorious view down to the town and along the river. The short but strenuous hike provided me with my first encounter with a leech, albeit a tiny one that attached itself to my little toe and left it bleeding for a good 30 minutes!
 |
| Muong Ngoi from the viewpoint above Tham Pha Kaew cave. |
Muong Ngoi is a wonderful, peaceful, scenic place to spend a couple of days. The food is good, the accommodation is super cheap. However, the town is on the brink of being spoiled by tourism. The tiny town already has far more guest houses than necessary; every tourist in
town could have had a guesthouse to themselves and still half would remain
empty. It’s a shame to see such a beautiful town lose its charm because of
tourism, but... on the other hand, the improvements made to the village thanks to tourism will undoubtedly benefit the local people.
Leaving Muong Ngoi on another rickety, old wooden boat we got squished into the very front seats, right in the splash zone. Each time the long boat took a sharp bend or bounced over a patch of rapids water poured over the sides, down our backs and pooled on the seats beneath our bums. One hour further down the river we arrived in Nong Khiaw, a slightly bigger town that has long since welcome the arrival or tourism.
After a couple of days hiking we planned for a relaxing time in Nong Khiaw but it wasn't meant to be. After a game of cards on our bungalow's veranda we got itchy feet and set off on a 3km climb up a mountain overlooking the town. Bomb shells lined the start of the trek with messages written on them warning us not to leave the marked paths. Although American was never at war with Laos, more bombs were dropped on this peaceful nation during the ten year war with Vietnam than were dropped on Germany and Japan combined, during the entirety of WWII. Today, the countryside in northern Laos is littered with unexploded ordnance (UXO), killing hundreds of innocent farmers every year. Even after leaving Cambodia and Vietnam we're still learning about the awful consequences the war had, not only on Vietnam, but on the whole region.
The climb to the top was very steep with hoards of mosquitoes lurking in the shadows beneath the trees; every time we stopped to catch our breath we got covered with bites. The 360 degrees panoramic view from the top was stunning though, almost worth the incessant itching that lingered for days after.
 |
| View north up the Nam Ou from Nong Khiaw. |
Muong Ngoi: We took the boat south down the Nam Ou River from Muang Khua. The price was pretty astronomical at 140,000kip ($17.40/£10.80) per person. Boats also arrive from Nong Khiaw.
Nong Khia: The boat from Muong Ngoi to Nong Khiaw was much more reasonable at 25,000kip ($3/£2) per person. Tickets for both boats are purchased from the boat pier.
We Stayed At...
In Muong Ngoi: we stayed at in a wood bungalow in front of a family home, signed as Aloune Guest House. For 30,000kip ($3.75/£2.25) we had an en suite room, balcony, hammocks, and free bottled water, best bargain of the trip!
In Nong Khiaw: we stayed at NK Backpackers where we got a slightly shabby bungalow with a faulty shower for 40,000kip ($5/£3).
