The scenery along the Mekong River is absolutely amazing and heading out on the river is a must while in Laos! With this said we decided to take the slow boat down the Mekong, to connect with Nam Ou River in order to get to Nong Khiaw, a small riverside village surrounded by limestone mountains.
The slow boat is exactly what is sounds like, a very slow boat which heads upstream along two rivers, through rapids, from Luang Prabang to Nong Khiaw. The scenery along the trip is outstanding! If you are not passing by towering jungle covered limestone escarpments you are passing small villages built on the river with people fishing, washing cloths and farming. This is by far one of the best experiences we have had so far in Southeast Asia to date.
Nam Ou Riverview from Nong Khiaw
Now nothing goes to plan in Laos…so, to be consistent with our luck, it was pouring rain at the start of our boat trip down the river and we were soaked along with everything we own…not the best start! But after about an hour, the sun came out and the journey was going smooth until we stopped at a small village to drop off a couple people and the engine stopped working. Now our driver did not speak a word of english and our Laos is very minimal so we were not much help. But the starter was shot, but he kept trying until the engine flooded, and then kept trying until the battery died…Uh Crap! We were at this point in the middle of Nam Ou River and there was literally nothing around us except for this small village…and since we were no help with our limited Laos we could do nothing but sit there. So the driver got out and headed up to the Village…not returning for nearly an hour. At this point everyone on the boat got out to stretch their legs…when a bunch of kids came running down from the village, probably around 25 of them.
The kids were amazing and so cute! They came running towards us yelling SaBai Dee (hello) at the top of their lungs in their swimmers (aka underwear) to go fishing and swimming! But they were showing off for us doing standing front and back flips into the river and yelled “I love you” to us…so fun! This definitely made the 2 hours of waiting for then engine to get fixed pass a bit quicker!
After the engine was roaring we headed back down the river towards Nong Khiaw where we arrived right before dark! In the end, our slow boat was extra slow…a total of a 9.5 hour trip instead of the 6-7 hours.
Nong Khiaw
The village of Nong Khiaw
Nong Khiaw is a small village along the Nam Ou River that is set in the most outstanding setting. The village is a quaint place with a few bungalows, a few restaurants, and thats about it. The people in the village use the river for everything – washing clothes, bathing, fishing, transportation…it was really cool to see. While you are in the village you can fish with the locals, do some treks, rent mountain bikes, or kayak down the river.
Unfortunately while we were in Nong Khiaw we both fell ill and did not get a chance to do much except relax and take in the amazing view from our balcony for a couple days.
The awesome view from our jungle pad
