Laos was on my must-visit list from the get go of planning, much to the surprise of Thierry. It’s one of those rare off-the-radar-yet-easy-to-travel places that we were hoping for, the reality of travelling with little kids keeping us sufficiently close to major infrastructure, just in case, yet looking for little pockets of escape off the tourist track. Except for backpackers, Laos simply does not pop out much: no famous monuments, no famous royal history, no seaside…..The articles and books are quite unanimous: Laos is one of the most peaceful countries in Southeast Asia, with it’s green hills, meandering rivers and largely agriculture based economy. It is decided: Laos seems to be the perfect place to just take it easy for a while, play it by ear.
In the weeks leading up to our trip there, I come across a FB post on the “familles autour du monde” group mentioning a French school in Luang Prabang that is open to taking students for a limited period of time. Everyone of us five would welcome a little break at this point – not as much from travelling as from each other 😝 and to our delight we manage to sign up all three for 2 weeks starting March 9th. That pretty much orients our travel plans, at least for the first part. We want to go up north, especially to Muang Ngoi after hearing a lot about it from six-en-sac family we met in Myanmar. Thus, we head straight onto the road from the airport, a good 3-hour drive, the roads are not too bad, but it is slow going. I personally don’t see much, I am passed out on the van bench, feeling absolutely miserable (this is 48h post-mega massage), but Thierry is enchanted by the beautiful scenery, with misty hills, the peaceful river and small villages along the way. We reach Nong Khiaw in the early afternoon. We read so many lovely reviews about this little village that we decided to base ourselves here, which we regret a bit in the end, as we do not find the town particularly charming nor welcoming, much in contrast to Muang Ngoi upriver. There is no question, however, that Nong Khiaw is beautifully located, right on the pretty Nam Ou river, with a large bridge that offers stunning views. There are also a few viewpoint hikes from which you can take in the endless views over the limestone karst mountains this region is famous for, often shrouded in mist, and the untouched virgin rainforest, still inhabited by Lao ethnic groups, primarily the Khamu and Hmong tribes. The mornings and evenings are pleasantly chilly here, with its small elevation of 400m and there is, for sure, a certain peaceful vibe here, as if life just moves on a lower gear, in all the best senses of the notion. Just a bit less hectic, just a bit simpler (definitely no fancy smoothie bowls here), and maybe just a bit more “oxygenated”. Unfortunately, I can only tangentially appreciate all this, as I am still feeling utterly void of all energy. Luckily, the same cannot be said for Thierry, who marches the kids the pretty long walk into town for a nice dinner overlooking the water.
The next day, we take it easy. I heave myself out of bed for a bite to eat, but that is about all I have the mental strength for. Thierry takes the kids on a hike on the other side of the bridge up to the popular viewpoint. Mistakenly following the signs, they end up deep, deep, deep in the rainforest, with only muddy slopes to get up or down. Needless to say, this is not the biggest success of a hike…..
Fortunately, I am back in full shape the next morning, and so we can go up to the other viewpoint, called Sleeping Woman. It’s just up behind our guesthouse, supposedly 1 hour to get to the top. Seriously?? I know we are not professionals, but I do consider us to be above average walkers and we make it up there in just under one hour and a half because it is STEEP. This is more climbing than walking, 400m in one non-stop climb, and fortunately we took enough water because in this lunch time heat (this was not the best morning to laze about the breakfast table), we are liquified in no time. It is all worth it, though. The view down to the village, the river and the karst mountains is absolutely stunning. (Let me be very clear: the pictures do not do our incredible feat justice 😉)
We thoroughly deserved our Thali at the somewhat dodgy, but quite delicious Indian Restaurant “Deen”. His roti is nice, and his dry-fry dhal is very tasty and had I known that lentils are a near impossibility to come by in Laos, I would have taken some reserves – I do love my pulses!
For our next day, we reserved a longboat ride up to Muang Ngoi. It is yet another testimony to the madness of our economic “development”, that the locals often do not know whether they can go all the way up or down the river. The Chinese have built some dams and regulate the water levels without making that information easily available to the general population, leaving the locals to suddenly run up dry and having to turn around. We stop in a charming fishing village further up for a walk. The trees are humongous, and while there is absolutely nothing to do here, the vibe is low key and the river inviting. We head over to Muang Ngoi, it’s almost time for lunch. While it is still pretty off the grid compared to Nong Khiaw, the visitors have clearly arrived. There are many restaurants, several guesthouse, and the Main Street is exclusively tailored to tourists. It is still charming though, and when you walk all they way through the village and turn into the back streets – I had read of a restaurant “Chez Lola” run by a Frenchman ands Laotian wife who apparently serves up a mean “Curry Suzy”, the local speciality – you truly feel dropped into the middle of nowhere. As we sit down and order practically something of everything on the menu, watch the chef work her magic in the open kitchen(ette) and chat with Luc over a game of cards, we are having one of those “favorite moments” moments. At least I am. The chairs are not particularly comfortable, there are mosquitoes, we are hot, but the people are warm, the scenery gorgeous and they even have a real Pétanque pit – how can we not love it? In fact, their 5 year old son is a talented – and very motivated! – Pétanque player, and so it does not take long for the matches to get heated. I discover and utterly fall in love with the vegetarian larb here – Larb (or Laab) is a typical Laotian dish also found in Thailand, usually minced buffalo or other minced meat based, but here she serves us a vegetarian version for us and the flavours are intoxicating. Pungent, sweet, flowery, fragrant…. between the lemongrass, the coriander and the obligatory fish sauce, it is all there. Heaven on a plate. Everything else is delicious, too, from the spring rolls to the summer rolls to the Suzy curry, but the Larb is truly standout.
To digest all this goodness, we must scramble up to the viewpoint which is fortunately, less ambitious than the previous days’ ones, but with just as beautiful views. Ambling down the river back, through small rapids and around many turns, we see people taking their bath, buffaloes going for a swim, fishermen pulling in their catch….and the setting sun behind the beautiful hills. This visit was too short, for sure, but who says that we can’t be back?
