Short break from our world trip in Nong Khiaw

After already reducing the travel speed in Luang Prabang, we decided to take a complete short break from traveling during our next stop on the journey through the beautiful landscape of Laos.

For this we organized transport, of course stylishly by minivan, from Luang Prabang to Nong Khiaw, which is about 140 km away. Unfortunately, there is no bus connection on this route, so we had no other option for the 3-hour ride.

But compared to our previous transport experiences, the ride was quite pleasant and the driver was reliable and relaxed. When we arrived at the "bus terminal" in the village of Nong Khiaw, we only had a short walk of about 300m to our pre-booked accommodation, the Mandala Ou Resort.

We waited briefly in the dry until the rain shower had subsided and quickly reached our destination. We had somewhat higher expectations of the hotel, as we had booked the best resort in town according to all the reviews on Booking.com and Agoda. But what we found upon our arrival was simply breathtaking.

The German operator has created a little paradise with incredible flair and ambiance here, where there was nothing but jungle about 5 years ago. The picturesque view of the Nam Ou River and the karst cliffs immediately captivated us. As a bonus, there is a small infinity pool from which you can enjoy the landscape even better. ;-)

After moving into our pre-booked bungalow, we extended our already booked 3 nights directly by 2 more nights, because when do you have the necessary time on the one hand and such an incredibly beautiful environment on the other?!

On our first evening, we also had a beautiful sunset, so we stayed in the hotel's restaurant and had dinner there. We were not disappointed here either and can only recommend it because of the view and the very delicious food at fair prices.

The weather forecast for the next few days was unfortunately anything but good and we were expecting a lot of rain, so we canceled the planned hike to a viewpoint because it would have been too dangerous. So we spent our time enjoying the very delicious breakfast, lounging around, writing travel diaries and blog posts, in the infinity pool, in the hammock, and playing card games. By the way, the breakfast with homemade bread, Nutella, salami, cheese, ham, as well as filter coffee and Laotian specialties, was one of the best we enjoyed on our entire trip. We got a private bungalow including breakfast for less than €35 for two people :-) incredible.

We actually wanted to do a highly praised boat trip to Muang Ngoy, but unfortunately it also didn't make sense due to the bad weather. However, we still explored the village of Nong Khiaw with the free bicycles. Nong Khiaw is a Southeast Asian village that is still very original and not yet touristy. Only 3-6 minivans with tourists arrive here every day, and most of them go directly by boat to Muang Ngoy.

Due to another heavy rain shower, we went to a café to pass the time. After about three quarters of an hour of no service, we completely laughed when we found out how the ordering process works. Attached is a picture of the instructions as evidence :DD

The Laotians are a very relaxed people and in this case, the motto was clearly to avoid work. Why make it easy when it can be complicated? However, they still forgot one of the 2 colas when ordering :D. Until the rain subsided and we could cycle back to our accommodation dry, we had a great conversation with 2 Canadians, a mother with her son. Nancy and her husband each go backpacking with one of their sons after high school, showing them how to travel through unknown countries, with the sons paying for the flights while accommodation and food on the trip have to be self-funded. Accordingly, they were also traveling on a very low budget, which fascinated us quite a bit. At the same time, we also received many good tips for our planned onward journey to Krabi at the end of August from her, as she has been in the area several times before :-) What a rain break can be useful for ;-)

After a very relaxing and beautiful 5 days, we made our way back to Luang Prabang by minivan. Unfortunately, the air conditioning in the minivan was once again broken, so we were spoiled with a constant and cozy 33 degrees during the drive through the Laotian villages ;-)