Nong Khiaw and Boat to Luang Prabang

Caught a local bus from Luang Namtha to Nong Khiaw, not very far but as the roads were so bad it was about 6 hour trip. The bus was full on! full of people and packed with bags, sacks of rice, the roof was piled with random stuff including motor bikes and the driver drove like a mad man, didn't miss one bump or pothole in the road seats were shaking and windows rattled and the bus filled with more and more dust as the trip continued, everything was brown by the time we reached Pak Mong. From Pak Mong we caught a one hour tuk tuk to Nong Khiaw, this trip was so beautiful that I forgot about the intense bus ride, we wove our way through mountains and along the river past acres of rice fields. Arriving in Nong Khiaw for a beautiful sunset on the river what a beautiful place oh my god! I was traveling with the lovely Spanish girl Luci who I met on the trek, so we shared a room for the two nights to save money. I only spent one day in Nong Khiaw and it was spent exploring Tham Pha Tok which is a network of caves where the villages took shelter from the bombing during the second Indo-China war, there were rooms used for shelter, a hospital, looking after injured. There was also a cave where Luang Prabang moved its bank during the war, full of rooms which were used for different purposes such as accountant room, cashier, cash safe etc. From Nong Khiaw I caught a boat down the Nam Ou river to Luang Prabang was a beautiful trip, took about 6 hours travelling through the most beautiful scenery. The river runs between massive mountains and along sheer cliff faces and many past little villages with people living their lives on the river, lots of kids playing, men and women washing and fishing. The river was quite rough in some places and at one stage it got too shallow so we all had to get out and push the boat. We arrived in Luang Prabang around 6 in time for a beautiful sunset over the Mekong.

Local Buses, Buying Food Out Bus Window on the Road, Luci and I Arriving in Nong Khiaw 3 photos, Mist on Mountains in the Mornings, Entrance to Caves, Traveling Down the River to Luang Prabang.