Dan's Travel Log: Laos | Muang Ngoi Neua and the hill tribe trek

March 02, 2005

Laos | Muang Ngoi Neua and the hill tribe trek | 13-16 Feb 2005

Having seen ‘the cities of Laos’, we really wanted to get ‘out there’ into what still remains as the real experience of Laos, more in touch with the locals and local scenery. I’d also been told by Brandon that the best thing to do is exactly that, ‘It’s like National Geographic out there Man!’ We noticed that many of the package treks from Luang Prabang were the same, and we didn’t want to do another Khamu Village experience like the waterfall one, so we decided to head out by ourselves to a small riverside place called Muang Ngoi Neua, via Nong Khiaw, to organise a trek from there.

Early AM local chicken-bus to Nong Khiaw – 3hrs (and $3)
Wait at Nong Khiaw – 1-2hrs
Boat ride to Muang Ngoi Neua- 1.5hrs (and $1.30)
Seeing a painted-on ‘Metallica’ sign on the front of one of these local Laos boats – PRICELESS!

The first boat was full, so they took another boat, which waited for more passengers, as well as stopping at the drivers village. This meant that even the boat that was scheduled to leave an hour after ours – passed us… This may have been why there was only ONE bungalow overlooking the river left on the whole bank. The girls took it, and I went in search of a free bungalow anywhere – at least we’d have one balcony between us. In fact, I got a better bungalow at a better price ($1!) with a (perhaps not better nor worse) different view. Instead of facing the river, I got an incredibly rich mountain/stream view, as can be seen below (and even that picture doesn’t do it justice).

View of Muang Ngoi Neua || View from my balcony || town of Muang Ngoi Neua

We wanted to do at least one night trekking in the villages, but with the girls’ flight schedule, it would be pushing it to do two nights and make it back, so we settled for a two day, one night trek. We asked at various places about the treks, the first place (more official looking hut with a menu of treks) seeming a bit too packagey (and pricey), the second place barely knowing what they were doing (and telling us there would be no beds, no blankets, no mozzie nets, no nothing, no idea!), finally reaching Kong Keo. He had a sign up that he was recommended in the Lonely Planet (not that we found that entry at all…), and it said to follow the signs and ask for ‘Kong Keo, the teacher’. We found him, and within minutes, we knew we would be trekking with him. None of the package deal ‘4 hours today, 3 hours the next, passing two villages and then swimming home’ did he mention (as both previous operators did), instead going gung-ho into the ‘Can you guys trek for 7-8 hours for the first day, 4-5 hours the next?’ Sweet! A REAL trek! He was a real character, very personable, his English very good. The trek cost us $10 per person per day, which was a little more than the other places considering we had 6 people trekking, but we figured we had the best guide, and so worth it.

8 AM the following day we were to head off, but Sandra had become really, really ill overnight – seemingly food-poison. She couldn’t come, but told us to go without her.

Silke and I were trekking with (King) Kong Keo the guide, Canadian Joel, then Aussies Jake, Kate and Rob (2/3 Aussie trek!)

The first day WAS an arduous trek. We left at about 9am because of various delays, had lunch at 1pm and ended up barely making it to the final resting village before the sun left us.

We went up, down, around and it almost felt like under and through many mountains that day. We all felt the strain of 8 hours of hard trekking (and not enough water – the post-lunch village had none to sell to us!)

On the way, we saw a bunch of Water Buffalo wallowing in mud and chewing cud (Hey, I’m a poet, and didn’t even know it!). I got this funny little videoclip (or at least ‘I’ think its funny) of a buffalo just standing there, jaw going round in the chewing motion, whilst his ears were flapping madly to rid himself of the flies. Enjoy!

Click here to download the file - Water Buffalo.wmv

After lunch (comprised of very tasty Mrs Kong Keo’s noodles) we went through our first village, where we became an instant attraction for the locals (in some cases, even becoming the village clowns – trying to impress the kids with various western ‘antics’ and acrobatics!). As you’ll notice, even though they’re a 3-5 hour walk from Muang Ngoi Neua, they still have satellites for TV!

We all breathed a sigh of relief when we got to our final destination of the day, throwing down urgent gulps of reviving nature’s ale, the moment it became available.

That night was very interesting – a night in the village – playing with the kids, showing them photos on the cameras, watching their antics, observing the culture. Dinner was a feast of sticky rice, some kind of Chinese greens and a chicken that had been sacrificed (by Joel – he requested the opportunity to do it!). That evening we played stick tricks and puzzles with Kong Keo as we shared stories.

The following day was similar to the first, except mostly downhill and only 4-5 hours.

We passed a tobacco plantation, which I don’t remember having seen before (totally different to what I expected, they just look like cabbage!)

Our final night in Muang Ngoi Neua contained entertaining recounts of the hardships we had endured over the previous 30 hours to our mostly recovered Sandra. Oh yeah, and I also had time to play with the monkeys… There was what seemed to be the mother monkey attached to a chain (for good reason – PSYCHO!) and then occasionally a smaller one would show up – not tied to anything. In typical monkey style, they’re mischievous little devils, taking anything not permanently fixed (eg. My sunnies, other peoples hats, etc), and the mother biting me a couple of times when I went to pick up the baby. I finally got the bubs out of mum’s way and got to play with him alone – not nearly as psycho as the mamma! (Even though, in the photo, he IS trying to bite me)

The next day, we got the morning boat all the way back to Luang Prabang, a six hour relaxing cruise…

Posted by Dan at March 2, 2005 09:14 AM

Comments

Great trip! Thanks for the pics.

Posted by: lozza at March 2, 2005 10:20 AM