Thank you all. I decided to head to luang prabang tomorrow and spend saturday and sunday in Niong khiaw. I probably fly to Bangkok on tuesday evening. I still have to decide to spend monday in Luang prabang or make it to muang ngoi, while the latter seems to be a bit touristy the boat ride seems to be fun. Anyone knows whether I can make it back from Muang Ngoi the same fay without private transport?

@ Giora. I am just back from the embassy with a visa! I would say it was a breeze, which was a relieve after two unsuccesfull attempts. After lunch and some chores I will write more detailed accounts.

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Don't think you can travel from LP to M. Ngoi the same day as the daily boat from Nong Kiew to M. Ngoi leaves at 11:00 and in the low season there may not be other later boats going. Don't think the rainy season will affect transport as buses go according to schedule all year but the rains will make all-day hiking risky and uncomfortable.

Unless things have changed since I was there, there are no villages that you can reach by hiking from Muang Ngoi.

Well, it's true, the hiking from Muang Noi goes into the countryside, areas with rice farming. There are small places you reach by walking. Whether you call them "villages" or not is a matter of semantics. There are a few restaurants on the walking trails from Muang Noi that cater to trekkers. Probably you want overnight in Nong Kiaw on the way to Muang Noi.

The main problem with what you laid out is the bus from Vientienne to Luang Prabang. You're talking 12-14 hours for that.

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Unless things have changed since I was there, there are no villages that you can reach by hiking from Muang Ngoi. Muang Ngoi is an incredibly touristy, tiny village. I wouldn't spend hours and hours on public transport in Laos just to see it.

Personally, I preferred Nong Khiaw, which is a lot bigger than Muang Ngoi (though still pretty small), and is surrounded by roads and footpaths, giving you lots of opportunity for exploring.

Really though, I'd be trying to cut back on your travel time, given how few days you have. Maybe stop off in Vang Vieng? (I've never been there, so don't know how easy it would be to find interesting slices of local life in the surroundings) Or head to Phonsavan? Your plan involves three days of transit in six days, which would be a bit crazy for my liking...

By the way, what's it like getting a Chinese visa in Vientiane? A report, maybe on the Chinese visa thread, would be great!

One of the ladies who run the Rattana guest house (Luang Prabang) is herself a doctor.I'm sure she would be able to help you.
email tisouk@yahoo.com

I agree with you, still I don't think the magnitude of the crimes against humanity is anywhere comparable between those countries. Yes drug dealers are civilians - what I meant to say in Burma is collective punishment against a civilian population including women and children conducted by the army, where in the Philippines it's specifically targeted at criminals and conducted by the police. Huge difference there.
The Burmese atrocities also made refugees out of close to a million civilians, whereas zero refugees from the drug war in the Philippines. That's a bit of a difference also, maybe you should go visit some refugee camps and see for yourself so you can weigh things better.
Duterte's drug war is just a very primitive form of law enforcement, which inevitably comes with some collateral damage. This exact same thing is happening in El Salvador sponsored by the USA, and Duterte was doing it in Davao for decades, it's not like something new. Primitive methods actually work and the legal system doesn't, that's why Filipinos elected Duterte. I go to Philippines and Cambodia to do my small part to help the situation there.

Show me anything similar to this in Cambodia or the Philippines, even one tenth of it, you just have absolutely no clue about the magnitute of things so what you say is utter BS, no offense, but learn some critical thinking. Estimated 12.000 vast majority criminals killed by Duterte (Human Rights Watch, January 2018), zero refugees close to zero women or children targeted.
Estimated 43.000 parents missing presumed dead in Myanmar, 28,300 children lost at least one parents (Time magazine, March, 2018) Nearly 1 million Rohingya in refugee camps (United Nations)
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41566561
http://time.com/5187292/rohingya-crisis-missing-parents-refugees-bangladesh/
https://www.unocha.org/rohingya-refugee-crisis

It's targeting alleged drug peddlers.
Shot in the streets like dogs, without trial, by the thousands.

And only heaven knows how many of the high profile cases of opponents were actually involved in drugs.

And they are civilians, they are not combatants, part of a military or police force.
You even don't know what you're talking about.

Those killings are part of a government policy, makes them crimes against humanity.

No torture, political oppression in those countries?
Boy, where have you been?

Again, I'm not surprised about your attitude.

You blame others to revel in lack of development yet you visit regularly other pee poor countries.
You blame others for visiting a country which government commits particular crimes agsinst humanity yet you regularly visit other countries whose governments commit the same or other cimes against of humanity.

Nough said.

Btw, widespread and systematic murder, genocide, summary executions, extrajudicial killings, torture, rape, and political repression are all crimes against humanity, not just your cherry picked samples.

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