OnTheRoad

Nong Khiaw is a much smaller town about three hours north of Luang Prabang by pickup truck. Not a hell of a lot to do there, but the scenery is beautiful, when you can see past all the smoke in the air. Huge cliffs with forests somewhow clinging to them rise beside a wide river. You can get here by pickup (they call them Hyundais here, regardless of make - song tou is the Thai version - bad lonely planet!) or on the slow boat from Luang Prabang.

Places to stay: I stayed at Sunrise (or possibly Sunset - I can't recall which). The staff were reasonably unfriendly, so I would go elsewhere if I returned.

Things to do: Not a hell of a lot really, which is why I didn't really stay here long.