Spelunking & Climbing in Nong Khiaw

January 28^th-29^th, 2025

After a quiet day in Luang Prabang, my plan was to head to a small town called Nong Khiaw.  I was picked up by a truck taxi which had one backpacker in the back.  We stopped at a travel agent where I was asked to leave the taxi and hop in a tuk tuk that was almost already full of tourists, with the other guy staying behind.  We tootled off in the tuk tuk, heading passed the airport to a bus station on the north end of the city. 

 

From the ticket I had purchased, I was under the impression that I would be riding in a mini-bus/van but we were told to hop on an old square bus that was already 2/3s full of locals.  All of the backpackers were relegated to uncomfortable seats in the back.  I was by the wheel well, so my knees were uncomfortably high.  It was the type of bus that had fold-out seats that would occupy the aisle, squeezing in more passengers.  While waiting to leave, I saw another tuk tuk pull up with more backpackers, including the guy that was in my truck taxi.  They boarded a mini-bus that looked a lot more comfortable…oh well, you win some and you lose some.  Luckily, it was only a 3-hour journey, albeit somewhat unpleasant.

On the seemingly "public bus", even though I thought I'd be in a passenger van.

Some views of the countryside on the way to Nong Khiaw.

I had booked a tiny cabin at a place called Papaya Resort about two kilometres outside of Nong Khiaw.  As the bus approached the town, I saw the place with the triangular huts by the river.  I figured I’d be able to get a tuk tuk or taxi back out to the place, but to my surprise, where we were dropped off by the side of the road in town, there were none to be found.  That didn’t bother me much as I decided I could do with the walk, even though it was 25-30 minutes to get there.

 

Arriving just as it got dark, I could not find anyone to check me in.  A few minutes later, an older French couple arrived in a taxi and were in the same predicament.  There was a phone number listed on one of the huts but I only had data on my sim card so I was lucky that the couple could make the phone call.  Almost half an hour later, two guys showed up in a pickup truck.  The manager guy smelled like he’d had a few to drink, which wasn’t surprising as I heard that there was some festival going on in town.  It turned out that someone had made a mistake, and our rooms had been given away, but he had found somewhere for us to stay in town. 

 

The French couple at one place and then I was taken to another accommodation just on the other side of the main bridge in town.  It had a variety of rooms, including three huts which were identical to the ones at the Papaya Resort.  I figured the place must be owned by the same family.  It was fine for the night, and it solved my problem of getting back into town for dinner, but it definitely wasn’t as quiet and peaceful as Papaya would turn out to be.

 

That evening, I walked to a nearby restaurant for some yummy Pad Thai (yes, even though I’m in Laos).  After dinner, I found a bar with a small firepit for a few drinks as it was chilly and I was wearing my merino wool underwear for the first time since the Ha Giang Loop in north Vietnam back in December.  I had planned on working on my blog but ended up having a conversation with a couple of guys in their mid 60s and a French woman in her 30s.  The men were long term buddies who occasionally travel together: Gary from Banff and Terry from Alaska.  They had just met Mel (Melanie) that night and she works for NGOs, primarily in Africa.  It was a fun finish to the evening.

The main bridge in town.

Looking north from the main bridge in town.

The riverfront in town.

I climbed up to the top of the middle peak on my second full day in the area.

This was the view from my "temporary" hut for my first night.

My hut was the middle triangular one near the top of all of the buildings.

The next morning, I had to wait for the manager to arrive with a tuk tuk to take me to Papaya but instead it took me to a scooter rental shop as I wanted to rent one for the next few days.  I lucked out and got the last available one, a “semi-manual scooter” which was a bit different than what I was used to, but not that difficult as it didn’t need a clutch to change gears…the brakes on the bike were pretty suspect though!  Thankfully I didn’t plan any long or high speed rides on the bike.

After getting the scooter, I relocated to the Papaya Resort, which was a lovely spot with a fantastic view from my little deck.  After hanging out for a couple of hours, I decided to hop on the bike and visit the Phathok Caves which were located a few kilometres from the far side of town.  There were three caves, but I only visited two of them.

Where I should have been staying for all three nights.  My hut was by the blue building.

Ahh...this is better.  By the river a few kilometres out of town.

The first cave was located up some very steep and irregular steps and it had a few large caverns but the combined fact of it not being that deep into the mountain and that there were large openings to the valley, a headlight was hardly required.  It had been used as a military headquarters during the Laos Secret War, which occurred during the Vietnam War.

There were lovely, vertiginous mountains all around.

A bomb in the entrance building.

A bamboo bridge across a rice paddy area to the caves.

A bomb that was dropped in 1967,

Into the first Phathok Cave.

The next cave did require a headlamp as it was about 100 meters long with some windy and narrow passages.  Most of the rock was smooth without any stalactites or stalagmites but some different coloured layers running at various angles. 

 

Heading into the second cave.

When I reached the furthest point possible, I turned off my headlamp for a minute or so.  It’s incredible how piercingly dark that is…  I couldn’t help but think of the young Thai soccer team that was stuck in a cave in 2018 that Naomi and I visited in November last year (Tham Luang Cave).  They were in there for 17 days, most of the time in the dark as they would have tried to preserve the batteries of their flashlights, not knowing if they would get out alive as they were a few kilometres from the surface with water flooding their way out…crazy stuff!

Looking up at the ceiling.

Heading back to the entrance.  The building in the middle of the photo is where I bought my ticket.

It was a lovely area.

Well hello!

The view from my hut.

The following day, I woke up relatively early to hike up to the highest viewpoint in the area called Phar Kew Lom.  Before arriving in the area, I had watched a YouTube video of a young couple from England who had hiked up this spot.  They stated that it was super steep and gruelling, but well worth it.  I was a bit shocked that they had done this 90-120 minute hike up, that gained 795 vertical meters in just 5 kilometres, with just a 500 ml bottle of water between them!  Silly kids.  I knew to be better prepared than that.

Starting the hike up to Phar Kew Lom viewpoint.

That's not the viewpoint there...it's behind and higher than that.

The trail was steep to begin with.

Some nice stairs carved into the hillside.

It was an arduous climb indeed, especially at the start and near the end, but I just kept plodding along.  About a third of the way up, I started to pass hikers coming down, backpackers who had spent the night at the lookout as part of tour that they would have booked in town.  I asked a number of them how it was, and the answers generally were “cold” or “uncomfortable” or both.   However, there was one woman who did not complain, and I couldn’t help but compliment her on that.

I reached the viewpoint after an hour and a half.  Two young couples from France were there, who were the first ones to hike up that day (with me being second).  There were three different platforms, with one of them covered with a roof, and they sat down at one at the back, away from the view, and played the French version of Yahtzee (a game with dice), before starting down the mountain.

At the top!

Looking down at Nong Khiaw.

That gave me the place to myself for about 20 minutes before another couple, another young French woman and an Asian man arrived.  I had been up there for a bit more than an hour, so I decided it was time to head down, which I was not looking forward to.  Sure, coming up is exhausting and you get hot, sweaty and slightly out of breath, but the knees and thighs take a beating on the descent.  Near the start of the trail on my way up, I found a thin bamboo pole that someone had left behind, but luckily, when I was about 1/3 of the way up, one of the guides for the overnight campers offered me a second bamboo stick and wow, what a difference that made both up, and especially coming down.

Backpackers come on tours that camp up here for the night.

This is shedded by bamboo, it is almost like a human made plastic.

Hats off to the guys who built some of the trail.

It was a fantastic hike, and I was back down before noon.  After some lunch in town at a restaurant by the river, I returned to my hut and had a well-deserved nap.

I'm at the bottom!  My knees were very happy about that.

The view from a deck where I ate a late lunch.

Enjoying the late afternoon at my hut outside of town.

A party boat passing by...

My scooter needed to be returned by 5 pm, which was perfect for a way for me to get back to town for dinner, a few drinks at a local bar, and then a “cool down” walk back to the Papaya Resort to end the day.

Walking through the streets of Nong Khiaw after dropping off my rental scooter.

Having a drink at the "Hive Bar".

I was the only person at first, so chatted with the friendly owner, but soon other backpackers showed up.

My last morning in Nong Khiaw.

It was a lovely spot by the river.

My hut was the furthest one on the left, almost out of the picture.

Nong Khiaw was a pleasant surprise, and I could have easily spent some more time there.  I imagine that there are more hidden gems in Laos just waiting to be discovered.