Nong Khiaw, Laos – February 17th – 21st, 2017

It wouldn’t be a travel day without a healthy dose of misunderstanding and panic. We were told our bus left the station at 9am and that we would be picked up at 8:30am at the hotel by a tuktuk. Sounds good, right? So, we’re having our breakfast at the hotel and the driver shows up early (that never happens) so we rush through our breakfast, grab our things, and hop on his tuktuk. Phew, no big deal, a little rushing in the morning is fine. What’s not fine, is that the driver started driving us towards town (away from the bus station) and to other hotels to pick up more travelers! The driver didn’t speak any English so there was no way to communicate our panic as the clock ticked towards 9am. Although we tried to reiterate “Nong Khiaw” to him, his response was not very reassuring… he completely ignored us.  Eventually, 9am came and went and we resigned ourselves to going with the flow and seeing what happened. We finally arrived at the bus station at 9:30am and the driver arranged bus tickets for his load of passengers. We grabbed our tickets and ran around the parking lot looking for our bus while some friendly drivers pointed us in the right direction. Thankfully, we found our minivan (which was empty) and discovered that it actually left the station at 10am! As usual, it all worked out just fine in the end, but the minor heart attacks on every single travel day are pretty annoying. It’s very hard to avoid these heart palpitations when we tend to have a strong preference for control (you could say we’re control freaks, but that wouldn’t be very nice). This trip has been a long lesson for us about letting things go.

Anyway, the four-hour ride to Nong Khiaw was pretty bumpy and made Dani carsick, but there was a French guy on the bus who was blasting AC DC in his earbuds and occasionally singing along at the top of his lungs, so at least there was free entertainment. After fifteen minutes sitting at the bus station letting Dani’s nausea subside, we walked around town looking for a bungalow (I was VERY set on having a bungalow). We had a few misses before coming across a row of bungalows overlooking the river. We inquired with the extremely mute and unhelpful owner who just handed us the key to a bungalow to check it out. It took us 10 minutes to decipher which bungalow we were supposed to be heading towards and how to get there, but we finally got to it – it was the BEST bungalow in town! It was the last one in the row and had unobstructed and gorgeous views down river with a private balcony, hammock, and lounge chair to soak it all in. Extremely pleased with our find, I went back up to the owner to book it and try to negotiate the price. Of course, he didn’t budge on the price (100,000 kip / ~$12 per night) and refused to answer any of my other questions, but who cared, the room was amazing!

Our riverside bungalow.

Relaxing in the peaceful and picturesque river town came very easy and was a great opportunity to catch up on some planning and computer errands we were putting off. The balcony was perfect for getting things accomplished while surrounded by mountains and the calm river. We also spent lots of time at Alex’s Restaurant where a nice woman made delicious Laos food and served it with a smile. She had an amazing local dish called Laos Farmer’s Breakfast that included sticky rice, an eggplant mash for dipping the sticky rice in, some greens, and a veggie omelet (with dill, it's great, try it!). We probably went there five times in the four days we were in town! We also went a few times to another restaurant in town that made good western food including homemade granola and yogurt. The owner was kind of a brute and he was often yelling at his local employees, but the western comforts were hard to pass up. 

We also went to another herbal sauna like in Vientiane, except this one was MUCH smaller and not as hot. We met a cool fellow American traveler there so we chatted, passed along tips to each other, and sweated our asses off before Dani and I got massages. The massages were okay – nothing special, but they were definitely relaxing! The masseuses used so much oil though, that my boxers ended up soaked! I was worried it wouldn’t come out, but once again worrying turned out to be fruitless since it washed out no problem. Without a doubt, the Laos herbal saunas are one of the country’s highlights, and it’s not just a foreigner thing, the locals use them too.

Relaxing on our bungalow patio and our favorite dish at Alex's Restaurant. 

One of the days, we walked 3km east to Pha Tok cave where the locals hid during the bombing raids during the Vietnam War. Since it was a weekend, two local children were waiting for us at the cave entrance so they could guide us for a small tip. The caves were quite small and there wasn’t much to see, but it was surreal to picture them hiding in fear while their lives outside were destroyed. Though the children didn’t speak much English, they did bring us to a nearby cave where you have to crouch and climb over stalagmites through a short and narrow tunnel. Though the caves weren’t that impressive or spectacular, it was still a cool experience! For sunset that evening, we climbed up a steep and sweaty trail to a viewpoint overlooking the town, river, and surrounding mountains. Unlike the cave, this was truly extraordinary! The views were really out of this world and each and every drop of sweat (including the ones that went into our eyes) were worth it!

Pha Tok caves and the cock fighting training we witnessed on the way there. 

Hike to the viewpoint for sunset.

Our last day in the area, we rented bikes with a Canadian girl we met in town. Good thing we had mountain bikes because the dirt roads north of town was pretty terrible! We followed the river for a few hours while taking in the incredible scenery, small village life, and enjoying the friendly company. After a while, we figured we would have to turn around to make it back before dark, but we decided to keep going to the next village. Thankfully we did. When we got into the village and stopped by the school to take pictures of some adorable baby goats, all of the school children ran out to see us! They didn’t quite know what to do or how to say anything at first, but after a minute or two, they were laughing and smiling and taking pictures of us with our cameras! They really got a kick out of taking a picture and then seeing themselves on the camera screens. Some enthusiastic older boys also convinced us with their smiles to try out our bikes. They were surprisingly good and even rode around without hands! It was such a blast! After twenty minutes or so, a teacher came out of the school and introduced herself and then easily ushered all of the children back into the school. We were so glad to have kept going to the village! With smiles permanently stamped on our faces, the ride back to town was a breeze.

Mountain biking around Nong Khiaw.

Village school kids and animals.

We did have one minor hiccup in Nong Khiaw. After returning to our bungalow from the sauna, we discovered all of our clothes that were hanging to dry on the balcony were tossed around and thrown on the ground (where the sewage drains). There definitely wasn’t any wind that day, so somebody had decided to walk up to our balcony and disturb all of our clothes! Thankfully everything was accounted for, but we definitely felt violated. Who does that!?! Regardless of the laundry incident, our visit to Nong Khiaw was amazing and probably our favorite stop in Laos. The delicious food, relaxed pace, beautiful views, and generally friendly locals made it a great four days. It also helped us relax by getting some of our ‘To Do list’ taken care of.