We had planned to head from Luang Prabang south to Vientiane (the Laos capital) until an impromptu whatsapp chat with our mate Rob from London planted a seed that we should skip the capital and use the time instead to head to the sleepy riverside village of Nong Khiaw.
Getting there from Luang Prabang was a fairly easy three hour bus ride (more on transport at the end of this post) which got us in around 12:30pm. Our plan was to head to the boat ramp in town and make our way another hour or so down the Ou river to an even sleepier town called Muang Noi. Things don’t really have a schedule in rural Laos – certainly not one you can rely on the Internet to discover – so we rushed a couple of kilometers along a dirt road track (fully loaded with our rucksacks) to find the ramp. Once there we had time for a quick lunch in town before squeezing on the (quite typically in Laos) overloaded long boat that left at 2pm. It seems boats run at 9am and 2pm but arrive early in case. After a picturesque (though very cramped) hour cruising down the Ou river past the fisherman checking their nets, children playing and bathing in the river and the hordes of water buffalos (also playing and bathing in the water) we arrived in the tiny, single dirt road town of Muang Noi. We did not have accommodation booked and dashed from the boat to try to be the first to arrive at the guesthouse I’d read to be the best. I pause here to note that we did research the accommodation options – there are about 10 basic guesthouses costing $5 to $10 per night. They do not have an Internet presence and do not seem able to be pre-bookable. We see backpackers live the unplanned life and walk from guesthouse to guesthouse all the time so figured we should give it a go. After knocking on every single guesthouse in the small town and realising they were all full (and worst still realising we were the only people who had failed to get a room!) we sat in the dirt, swore a little (but were not too stressed really) and pondered how to deal with being in the absolute middle of nowhere with no possible accomodation options (we would have taken literally anything) and no more boats back until 9am the next day. Fortunately while pondering, Jen spotted a boat heading back to Nong Khiaw and after negotiating a ride back at three times the normal boat fare we were on route back (on an almost empty and much roomier boat) to Nong Khiaw. I took the time to keep one eye looking at the water buffalo whilst frantically booking a cheap guesthouse for the night to make sure we didn’t have a repeat. This was easily done as Nong Khiaw is a bit more on the grid. For $10 we scored a clean and comfortable guest house only a minute walk to the nice riverfront bungalows we had already booked and planned to stay at for the next two nights (we had only planned one night in Muang Noi anyway).
Once we knew we had three nights in Nong Khiaw we had just one question: what the he%% is there to do here? The answer, really not much which seems to be the point. This is certainly a backpacker only town. The objective for many seems to be to exist for as long as possible as cheaply as possible. We enjoyed it but did risk getting a little bored despite the town being beautifully locked on the banks of the Ou river and surrounded by mountains.
The highlight of the town is a fairly tough hike up to the top of what is known as The Viewpoint. The walk up is said to take 90 minutes (we did it in 50 despite me complaining a LOT) and is steep! Once up top (and for the few seconds of breath Jen let me take on the way up) the views make it 100% worthwhile – there was even a hammock to chill out and take it all in!
We spent an hour or so up top taking in the sunset before making our way down quickly before night set in. We did have to break out our torches for the last few steps and would recommend anyone doing this for sunset consider a torch essential and head back down immediately after sunset. It is also possible to do the hike before sunrise and see the mountains covered in clouds that clear before your eyes. It is meant to be stunning but Jen failed to convince me to repeat the same hike the next day (though she tried very hard).
The other famous thing to do in town is called the 100 waterfalls trek. We debated doing it many times – probably should have – but were too disorganised.
There are some decent eats in town – we were quite loyal and ate multiple times at both Alex’s and Coco Home, the latter being right near the boat jetty and our favourite.
We stayed the final two nights at Nong Khiaw Riverside Rooms, at $50 a night this was one of only two non-backpacker standard options in town. We liked the standalone riverside bungalows and good food at the restaurant (especially the option to have fruit, cereal and yogurt for breakfast – simple but something we had craved in recent weeks). For its price (relative to other options in town) the hotel needs a bit of a refresh but we would still recommend.
A fairly short entry for a small town! The Viewpoint was great but otherwise there isn’t much to say! Not our favourite spot but worth the journey to check it out.
Luang Prabang to Nong Khiaw and Muang Noi
Bus tickets to Nong Khiaw are sold at several tour agencies in Luang Prabang town, cost 75,000 kip (about $9) and include hotel pick up. The bus is a 12 seater mini bus that will always be completely full, lacks space for tall people but is generally comfortable enough for the 3 to 3.5 hour trip. We took travel sickness tablets in advance as it’s a very bumpy ride – especially the second half of the trip. Going further to Muang Noi costs 25,000 kip and takes an hour. Arrive at the boat terminal 30 minutes early to get a seat. They pack you in really tight but it’s a nice trip.
Going back from Nong Khiaw to Luang Prabang should be as easy as getting there. It isn’t. There as a couple of tour operators in town selling mini bus tickets but ask any guesthouse and they will tell you they cannot book the tickets for you as the operators cannot be trusted. They will often sell a transport option nicer than exists and may not leave when they say. Instead we got a tuk tuk (5,000 kip each) to the bus station arriving very early (an hour or more before the 9am departure) and got tickets on the local bus for 40,000 kip. Basically the same as the mini bus we got from Luang Prabang but older, hotter and with a few extra people somehow crammed in to the 15 seats (the creativity here was impressive). Arriving early to the bus station is key but make sure you get on and put bags on seats to claim them. We were lucky, our row of 3 seats (2 plus a fold down seat) had just 3 people rather than the 4 (and a baby) crammed in the row in front of us or the 4 in the row behind (both of these being max 3 seater rows). For us this was an easy journey that dropped us at the bus station out of town in Luang Prabang so required another tuk tuk.
