Erin's Southeast Asian Peregrination

News from the North

I headed up from Luang Prabang to Nong Khiaw in Northern Laos, which is a peaceful little town spread on the banks of the river. I met up with a Canadian girl, Mia, who I've been travelling with since, and an amazing woman from Ireland named Helen (she actually has inspired me to put trekking in Anapurna in Nepal on my travel list). We walked out to visit a really cool cave where the villagers hid during the second Indo-China war. Then it was up the river on a boat to the more remote Muang Ngoi Nuea, where we all stayed in bungalows with hammocks overlooking the river. We hiked to some more caves (there are caves EVERYWHERE in Laos) and then through rice paddies to a local village. From Munag Ngoi Neua it was further north to Luang Nam Tha where we did a two day trek into the Protected Area. It was beautiful and we had super knowledgeable guides. The only tough thing is that near the river you had to be on leech alert as there were lots of very hungry little creatures. Luckily I was not a victim! Our trekking group was awesome and we took our guides out for dinner when we got back to town. Heading back south to Luang Prabang was a bit of an adventure with a flat tire on our bus and 12 hours required to travel 400 km! They also seem to have no problem putting motor bikes on top of the bus and making the extra passengers sit on the floor/rice bags/lawn chairs in the aisle. The photos are of a sunset on the river at Nong Khiaw, the cave we visited, river boats, and walking through the rice paddies.

posted by Erin @ 8:56 PM