Nong Khiaw

Decided to stray away from attempting to write about all of the places I've visited in the order I did them. Think it slows me down a little but i'm going to catch up with everywhere.

Nong Khiaw is the fourth destination I have descended on in Laos. It is a small village in the north of Laos and honestly the bus journey was the most nauseating thing I have ever experienced . A group of nine people; myself, my old workmate Rowan, and seven others who I had met on the slow boat heading into Laos. The usual route to Nong Khiaw from Vang Vieng (a town just North of the capital Vientiane), would be getting the bullet train, built by the chinese government, and a 4 hour bus. Instead we decided to all chip in for a bus through the mountains straight to the mountainous village.

It wasn't the nine hour journey that was the issue, it was the roads themselves that were the problem. If you think pot-holes in the UK are bad, then you'll start to appreciate them after experiencing the extreme motion sickness of this consistent rollercoaster-like drive. I'd rather the worst plane turbulence than have to experience that journey again. Soon after arriving in Nong Khiaw, a few of us stayed in the only hostel in the village - eco farmstay and hostel. I was a bit skeptical of this place when I could only find one hostel, but honestly it's a very well maintained place, apart from the potential animal shit that I found on my pillow, and the animal noises coming from the walls of the room (we thought it might've been a bat). As soon as we arrived, we were greeted by Sammie, a very eccentric Laotian man who spoke very good english. He offered us different guided treks that tourists usually do, and, in our exhausted state, we agreed to do two of them within 3 days. I could've done with a days rest but I knew the others I was travelling with were on a tight schedule, so we agreed to start at 1:30pm the next day.

Day one of the mountainous trek consisted of a three-hour straight incline hike to Phar Khew Lom 360 viewpoint. The rain from the night before made the path extremely slippery, and combining this with the extreme heat and humidity, it became a sweat-fest. Don't think I've ever experienced sweating that extreme before. When we would rest, constant droplets would leak from my face and hands. My hands started wrinkling and pruning, it wasn't a pretty sight. The mountain had an elevation of 3730 feet, which would be considered a Munro back in Scotland (needs to be at least 3000 feet). It reminded me of Ben Vorlich - with a constant incline, as if you are on a stair master the entire hike. After reaching the summit, legs shaking and body drenched, I was so happy it was over. Although after witnessing the view, all of the nightmarish memories disappeared as I was so taken aback.

I never actually knew how incredible the landscape of Laos was before coming here. I keep saying how similar it is to Pandora in Avatar; the tall steep terrain like mountains, covered in green, but enough underneath that displays the vertical cliff-face. I remember learning about V-shaped valleys in school, but these are much more similar to a U-shape. Upon not having any expectations, my mind was blown.

Once we took in the views, and caught our breath, we were given a box of egg fried rice which was extremely compacted into a takeaway box. It was a basic meal but we all needed some sort of food to fill our stomach, and I'm still grateful for the guide that carried all of the food. The other guide set up the tents for us, but I wanted to sleep outside of them, it's not everyday you get to sleep on top of a mountain in Laos. I kind of regretted it the next morning because of the wind and lightning, but its a story at least. The entire reason we camped at the top was to wake up, watch the sunrise and walk back down. These things usually never go according to plan, as we woke up and the sunrise was pretty shit, with the sky being cloudy and hardly able to see the actual sunrise. I knew what I was getting into and relying on an incredibly picturesque sunrise was something I avoided thinking about, it just would've been a bonus. After a couple of spicy pot noodles, we began our descent from the mountain, with an aim of reaching the bottom in one hour and 20 minutes (which we smashed).

Stinking of sweat, covered in mud, and a real desire to collapse in bed for a couple days, we made our way back to the hostel to get ready for our next trek. I knew the second day would be the most mentally exhausting, especially because it was around seven hours of trekking up hills and through the Laos jungle. I never actually knew the difference between a forest and a jungle, but it turns out just under half of Laos is jungle terrain, and in this area it's extremely dense in it. We began another intimidating incline walk, but this time with a beaten path and having to manoeuvre around huge trees, giant vines that often were spiralled, and avoiding any of the insects that were scattered every meter. Using our bamboo sticks that the guide found for us, we somehow made it to the top, meaning that there would be no more upwards scrambling. Even after knowing this, we still couldn't relax. There was no cold breeze to cool us down and the mosquitoes were attacking us at every second (also knowing that Laos is renowned for malaria and dengue fever doesn't exactly calm the heart rate).

Back down through the same terrain, after slipping a good amount, we made it out onto a clear field. At first I thought it was a farm, but soon realised we were among where the water buffalo lived. These giant cow-like animals with horns almost seemed scared of us. They wore giant bells around their neck, so you would know if any were nearby, but it didn't exactly put my mind at ease when they would sprint and stare at you. After climbing a good amount of fences, we finally got to march around the famous rice fields of Laos. Being extremely careful not to destroy the walls dividing the fields, we got to watch the farmers as they softened the ground with their combine harvesters. We greeted everyone we walked by with "sabaidee" which is one of three sayings that I learnt (translates to "good day").

It was really fascinating watching the farmers (the majority wearing fake football shirts) and their young children plowing the fields with machinery that looked extremely outdated. Seeing the bamboo built huts, and feeling like the hobbits marching to Mordor, we were welcomed by the farm residents, who were celebrating something, offering us "lao-Lao" (otherwise known as "happy water") before we continued our walk. We were handed the clear alcohol, unsure of whether the farmers had created this, and took a swig of it. It is hard to explain the taste, but the burn I felt in my chest is like nothing I have experienced before. Our guide told us the strength of the whiskey/wine (honestly unsure) is between 50%-60%, and it was incredibly easy to keep drinking once you get past the heart burn; not quite as bad as Wray&Nephew.

Finally arriving at our Homestay (Thong Homestay) in Huayhoi Village, I realised it was the most remote place I have ever been to in my life. Next to the Nam Ou river stood around 30 buildings, the majority built using bamboo, but others with stone and some skilled architecture considering where we were. The owner of our homestay explained that it took him three years to build, and I wasn't surprised as the bamboo walls were created with a detailed weaving pattern. Later in the evening, the homestay owner and his family called on us to help prepare our meal for the night: we had to shred bamboo, cut some eggplant, and precisely pick the water spinach (a cabbage like vegetable, which the locals call "morning glory" and I'm still unsure why). Cooked over a fire-pit, we each took turns cooking the ingredients, while being handed more happy water. Served with rice and MSG, the food was amazing. Knowing we were beginning the next day of trekking pretty early, we headed to bed.

I was extremely curious about how small villages, like Huayhoi, established themselves and how they managed as a community, so here are some distinct characteristics that I learnt:

On days where the residents would celebrate (for example, the farming season ending) they would choose one of the animals that roam around the village to cook and eat together - choosing from the chickens, cats or dogs.
Asking our tour guide if there was a mayor of some sorts that control the village, he explained that each settlement has a "Master" that takes charge of maintaining structures, roadways and food distribution. Bigger villages will have multiple masters who make these decisions together.
We were told that a five year-old could not drink the happy water, but it was acceptable for a 10 year-old to drink the strong alcohol.
There was a small area where you could receive phone service, with markings on the bench where - if you placed your phone between - you would receive the best service.
We couldn't figure out if the locals actually approved of us being in the village. Our guide explained that the children love interacting with visitors, and the adults were were content with us as we brought in money that is shared between everybody.

Waking up at around 8am, we ate rice and eggs, and headed off on our final day of walking. It was a much more relaxed day as we spent the majority of it on a long boat that took us down stream, back towards Nong Khiaw. We stopped off at some caves, where I learnt that the Lao people resided during the Vietnam war. We were told that people lived there for around 20 years, and we even witnessed human bones laying around.

We made our way to the top of a viewpoint, which overlooked another larger village, while being swarmed by bright orange butterflies. After having a pretty full-on three days, everybody was pretty exhausted at this point, but we still had an organic farm to visit for lunch, waterfalls further along the trail, and to kayak down the river back to the hostel. We arrived at the farm, decided not to go to the waterfalls, and myself and Rowan sluggishly paddled back to Nong Khiaw. I was properly defeated by the end of it. My feet were destroyed and my clothes were drenched in sweat again.

I had no expectations for Nong Khiaw, but the trekking has definitely been a highlight of my travels so far. Although it was mentally draining, looking back I managed to experience such surreal moments that I'll never forget, cringe to say but its true. If you are in Laos, make sure to visit Nong Khiaw and do as many of the treks as you can, can't recommend it enough.

Cheers to the guys I trekked with as well, was a good laugh (Rowan, Sam, Jojo, Abbie and Lilah).