After being in Laos for about 8 months, and driving through Vieng Poukha many times, we decided it was finally time we went to visit. Vieng Poukha is only 60kms from Luang Namtha, and although this is about the same distance as Muang Sing, it is a million times faster to get here because the roads are newly completed by China, so it is really very close. Vieng Poukha is pretty much surrounded by the Nam Ha National Protected Area, so there are heaps of things to see and do.
The town itself is tiny, most of the time there were only one or two food places to eat at (one being the morning market), and there are just 5 small guesthouses. You can drive through the entire town in about 2 minutes. Literally if you blink you will miss it.
This was just what we were looking for; quiet, serenity, nice views, and a few days to just chill out, and also explore another area. These days our knowledge is in demand by tourists coming to Luang Namtha, so we thought the best way to be informed, and also get a holiday too, was to come here and see for ourselves how the town works.
The first day we pretty much did nothing, just chilled out on our balcony and admired the view over the mountains as well as find the market and drive around the backroads.
The second day we visited the cave near town – it totally and utterly exceeded our expectations! There are many caves in Laos and usually they are slippery, sometimes dangerous to walk through and often quite a lot of effort because they are so rugged. The Kao Rao cave was the opposite of this – a huge long easy to navigate path deep into the cave. The formations inside the cave were amazing. It was just so huge and apparently when rainy season is finished you can actually keep walking in for a few days before you come to the end. We were both so impressed and plan to go back again at some point when it’s drier to walk in further.
Other than that we pretty much just chilled out, a good interlude for us before returning to Luang Namtha. We left Vieng Poukha thoroughly impressed by the serenity, jungle and cave, so it will have to be added to our list of places to visit more regularly. Our photos are here.