Hey all. I'm heading to Laos next week and would love to take the boat down the Nam Ou river from Hat Sa to Muang Khoua, down through Muang Ngoi and Nong Khiaw until reaching Luang Prabang.
Does anyone know how the water levels tends to be in late April / early May? Are boats still running (even if slow), or do services frequently stop this time of year?
Any insight is greatly appreciated :)
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=2302921
there are some very detailed responses to this question that was asked quite recently. try using the Search All Forums function for more info.
I caught a boat a couple of weeks ago down the Nam Ou from Muang Khua to Nong Khiaw.
Was a really beautiful trip. Lush scenery The boat driver had to negotiate some minor rapids, but that just added to the fun.
We didn't get off at Muang Ngoi, which I regret. It looked lovely and everyone I talked to who stayed there said it was great. Nong Khiaw is ok though.
The boat leaves from Muang Khua after 9am and costs 100,000 kip to Muang Ngoi and 120,000 kip to Nong Khiaw, but only if there's at least 10 people.
We only had nine people going all the way to Nong Khiaw so they charged us 150,000 kip each.
The boats are still running - we just took a boat downriver to HatSa two days ago. We also took boats upriver from Nong Khiaw all the way to HatSa this last week and a half, a spectacular ride that I highly recommend. Right now, the boats run about once a day and depart from Nong Khiaw, Mong Ngoi, Muang Khua and HatSa.
Regarding the minimum number of people, I am not convinced this is really the case. Only one of the four boat rides we took had more than 10 people, but we did not pay an inflated price despite not being full. That said, they did try to squeeze us for more cash, however, when we said we would just wait another day, they relinquished and let us travel at the normal listed price.
Enjoy the ride!! It was one of our most favorite trips we took during the last nine months of traveling.