The Caves of Nong Khiaw

11th November 

We were up nice and early to join the next Stray bus and after a quick pancake at Forest Retreat we were on our way to Nong Khiaw. Our drive was about seven hours in total but we made plenty of stops. While most of the stops were for those needing the Jungle Toilet, our local guide took us to a fairly remote village. The village was like something out of National Geographic. The huts dotted the side of the mountain and the village was full of animals and of course, children.

Before we came to Southeast Asia I didn't really know what to expect. Rory and I watch a lot of travel programmes but surprisingly nothing has really touched on this part of the world. After a few days in Thailand I thought I knew the score – busy cities with slum-like settlements on the outskirts, a staple throughout most of the developing world. However, Laos has been a little different. We haven't made it to any big cities yet but what we have seen is huts and plenty of them. At first I thought this was unique to Luang Namtha due to the proximity to the jungle but they're literally everywhere. While there are a few concrete buildings popping up here and there, the vast majority of homes do seem to be these huts.

After our quick village stop we were back on the road which was actually pretty bad. Rory and I are super cool so naturally we chose the back seat. However, the dusty, bumpy, mainly-dirt road meant that we spent most of the journey flying out of and then crashing back down onto our seats. Thankfully we arrived in Nong Khiaw in one piece and checked in to our riverside bungalow. At 80,000Kip per night, just under £6, it was a bargain and we got settled, overlooking the fact that the facilities were pretty basic and the room was definitely not bug proof. We even had a little bathroom disaster; a water fixture came right off the wall and soaked everything, including Rory but obviously we're super hardcore travellers and this didn't put us off the hostel (that and everywhere else in town was full! Talk about no room in the inn...)

Our Stray guide suggested we go see some local caves where the locals hid during the Secret War. In 1964, in an attempt to stop the North Vietnamese supplies to the Guerilla War in South Vietnam, the United States began the secret bombing of Laos. Subsequently Laos became and remains the most bombed country per capita, in the world. We actually saw some bomb craters and have been well warned that the countryside is still littered with thousands of unexploded bombs which children often stumble upon. There have been clear up programmes which have improved the situation and often our guide could hear them detonating within feet of his house. As with most unpleasant things in life, you never really appreciate how severe and devastating something like this can be, at least not until you see if first hand. When we were touring the caves the local children came along too, running beside us, practising their English, giggling and holding our hands when the caves became suddenly dark. It's pretty awful to think that the wartime decisions of a select few could potentially end their lives.

One of the bomb craters.

At 100,000Kip, about £8, we felt it was a bit pricey but our guide said there was a boat ride included so we signed up and were on our way. But not by boat. Once again Stray gave us completely false information due to their poor organisation and complete lack of local knowledge – if you're a tour guide and it's your job to guide, you should in fact guide your paying passengers!

The bridge to the caves!

The caves from the outside.

Despite this misinformation the caves were quite cool and it was nice hearing the history from a boy whose parents and grandparents had actually lived in the cave. We saw two in total, once very open cave and one extremely narrow and long cave. Health and Safety would never let these caves operate in the U.K but in Southeast Asia anything goes! We had a quick walk around town and went our for what was a very cheap and fairly nice Indian – I could definitely get used to paying £4 for a meal!