And it's worth it Nong Khiaw ;-) (Day 82 of the world trip)

25.11.2019

The first night in the tent went great :) As expected, the mattress was soft enough to make the whole thing comfortable and the thick blanket helped a lot against the "cold". Perfect!

Last night we sat by the campfire until 11 pm and talked with the Argentinian and a Spaniard about God and the world, but especially about environmental issues, which was quite interesting :)

For breakfast we got baguettes at our cafe and served it with jam and chocolate spread.

As you can already see from yesterday's photos, there are many rocky and wooded hills here. Therefore, four of these viewpoints were built (especially signposted for tourists with "Viewpoint" and well developed). We decided on the one that is closest to our campsite, as the path there is brand new and according to our landlady not many tourists go up there - so perfect for our "demands" :D :D

The entrance to the hiking trail is through the property of a family. There is a sign hanging on a small bamboo hut saying "Buy Ticket here", but since the hut was not occupied (it was just 8:30 am and the family was apparently busy getting their children ready for school ^^), we were able to walk through without paying admission ^^

We planned to pay when we left, but there was no one in the hut either... Well. Maybe not many tourists really go there, as it starts a little outside the city ;-)

After the first 50 meters or so, we came to a bridge that was signposted with "Bridge". Cute ^^ The bridge led across the branch of the river on which the ships sail and which is also the water supplier for our pool, as we later found out :p

We passed a few chickens and then came to the actual path and for the next 90 minutes it was uphill continuously :D Thankfully, "steps" were carved into the ground, there were bamboo ladders, handrails, and occasionally an arrow. Since we constantly walked through spider webs again, we concluded that not many people really go there ;-)

So the path was not straight up but a bit varied with the surfaces and otherwise really pretty :) We passed banana trees, dense forests and saw some rocks that made Jonas' climbing heart beat faster ;-)

When it started to get really strenuous, we came to the sign "Halfway there". It is probably meant as a motivator but I just thought "oh no! We have ONLY completed half?" :D :D Thankfully, it then became a bit less steep. It still went steadily uphill but the incline was more moderate and so we actually made it up in the estimated 90 minutes. Yay!

Shortly before we reached the top, Jonas expressed the wish that there would be a rock at the top that he could climb up to be "completely" at the top. We had already seen this natural spectacle last year in Phuket and Jonas had always wondered what it would look like at the top of these hills.

And then. Yes, then we were there

There is a small bamboo hut with a tin roof from where you can look out over the town of Nong Khiaw itself, the river, and the surrounding hills. Our viewpoint seemed to be the highest of all! Yeah!! We could see the other viewing huts below us ^^

We stayed up there for maybe half an hour, took countless photos, hopefully some of which turned out good, and eventually started the descent. Jonas is now also a confessed fan of hiking poles, so each of us picked up a pole and then descended the mountain as safely and knee-friendly as possible (I'm already 30 years old :O :p)

The way back didn't feel much faster than the way there, but since you had to concentrate, a higher tempo might not have been possible ;-)

Once we reached the bottom, we went back to the campsite and went straight to the pool :p

We rested there for about two hours, splashing around, sunbathing, watching YouTube, and enjoying a fruit shake.

Then we went to our second destination for today: the Pha Kuang Cave. Like yesterday's cave, this one is located about 2km outside the village - but for us on the "wrong" side :p So we had about 4.5 km each way on the agenda, which we completed in just over an hour each. You can tell we're getting fit :D :D

On the way to the cave, you walk along the road where there is little traffic but many potholes. In addition, some kind of asphalting was apparently attempted, but the road is not flat at these places either, so the vehicles always change tracks to find the best possible way. Watching all this as a pedestrian is much more fun than sitting in the minivan :p ^^

When we arrived at the cave, there is a restaurant opposite where a woman with a baby on her arm informed us that we can buy the ticket from her (or rather have to ;-)). Admission cost 1€ per person and with the ticket, we also got a headlamp because you can go up to 200m into the cave and there are no installed lamps, torches or anything like that. Pretty spooky :O

Jonas had researched more about the cave than I did. I only knew that some passages would be quite narrow and that you have to bend over more often and that's why you should wear old clothes because you can get dirty. So far so good.

The entrance area of the cave is a huge hall with two exits, a Buddha table, and a small green oasis in the middle, where the constant dripping was enough for a few plants to settle there :) There was also a corner with remains of war such as a mine.

After the entrance hall, we went straight into the dark part and it said "Turn on the headlamp!". Jonas saw a bat but it disappeared before the camera could take a picture of it :D The first part was very easily accessible except for the darkness. You had to bend over a bit once or twice, but overall it was still very "spacious".

That changed when we came to a gap that was only 50 cm high at its narrowest point. Walking was not possible there... I hesitated for a moment, as I have a slight problem with claustrophobia and the whole thing seemed suspicious to me. But the section was very short and when Jonas was through, he could immediately stand up again. So I bit my teeth together and also slipped through the narrow passage.

Immediately my heart started pounding and I experienced a panic attack and a strong urge to go back, even though everything was absolutely fine and, as I saw with Jonas, I could stand up again immediately ;-) But something about it was unsettling to me. However, I only expressed my concerns when the next narrow passage came.

This would be the narrowest point of the entire 200m long walkable cave. This gap had the dimensions of 30x75 cm, and that meant for me: end of the line :p I didn't even believe at first that "normal tourists" are allowed to go through there themselves. Sure, what could happen? But no. My body said no. I didn't even want to look into the gap, but squatted down and simply didn't move :D :D

Jonas would have liked to walk through there, but since I unfortunately couldn't be persuaded to follow him and also became nervous because I finally wanted to get past the first narrow passage back to the entrance hall, he also didn't continue. He admitted that he found it a bit "creepy" alone as well. What if the battery of his headlamp runs out or something?

We debated for a few more minutes, but ultimately we turned around. It would have been cool to see the part behind the narrow gap, but not for me and also not for Jonas alone.

Nevertheless, I found the cave itself quite cool. At one spot, we turned off the headlamp by mutual agreement and it was completely black - no silhouettes, nothing at all. Not bad! I had already had this experience in a cave in Iceland, but it was still funny to try it again with Jonas ;-)

It is especially impressive that this cave was also a refuge during the wars and that the residents apparently walked through it without a headlamp (which probably didn't exist yet) - including the narrow gap. Respect!!

On the way back to the campsite, our feet slowly burned from all the walking, and we both looked forward to the shower, food, and relaxation :)

We booked another night here in Nong Khiaw, treated ourselves to a delicious dinner with lots of sticky rice, and I'm already looking forward to the "bed" later! Unfortunately, I'm a bit stuffy, which is really annoying :D

But well. Tomorrow we will have a relaxing day by the pool