Trekking to Nong Fa Lake Southern Laos

Nong Fa Lake is reportedly a sacred invest Laos at one’s core of the nationwide park, a potential explanation is it was formed with a volcanic eruption thousands of years ago. Trekking to this lake was clearly an off the beaten track adventure following portions of this Ho Chi Minh route across valley peaks we reached that the lake on the 4th day and after about 90km it was all worth it whenever we saw the attractiveness of the lake and liked some nice cool swim at one of the absolute most remote places in the whole world.

No more westerner for my awareness had attempted to trek into the river before, there is access the majority of the way by 4-wheel driveway however, also the aim was to trek in and outside with different paths and survey the route for potential future trips. Enquiries led us into Attapeu into your local army guidebook who additionally spoke the native local terminology that he had been created in a little village in about two day’s hike in the lake however his family members, have moved to town now. After fulfilling him discussing the excursion we and my fellow two trekkers geared up a checked of equipment we’d desire and started out to get supplies we purchased sauces, roasted fish and rice and of course candies and chocolate to get that much needed electricity boast. We had our finally dinner with each other from the metropolis hoping to eat as much as you possibly can replenish on vitality and protein that wouldbe required to make it through the next few days.

This morning we grew bright and after assessing and dividing our food and gear evenly we snapped away of Attapeu and led to the village of Pa-am on part of the Ho Chi Minh trail, a reminder of this trail is that the Russian old surface to air missile which stands at its place.
The man used to head south with troop and furnish reinforcements along several paths throughout the Vietnam War towards the Americans, they crossed in to Laos in order to avoid battles with all the American troops as the Americans are not officially permitted to input Laos, this is why Laos is known as probably the absolute most bombed country over the planet thus far. As American soldiers couldn’t enter Laos they can bomb it, American pilots have been invited to drain the rest of these ordinance onto Laos on the way back from Vietnam with their foundations from Thailand. Outdated ordinance even now litters the trails which were lost by American B52s to
attempt

to strike the Vietnamese troopers and then cut off their supply lines.

By Pa-am we travelled up the mountain so far as our cozy car or truck could proceed before assessing our equipment for that last moment and start our experience.

The very first day entailed trekking up the mountain across demanding terrain past small cities and cultural communities we all moved 20km across the old Lao army training course maybe not poking in the beginning how thick our back-pack would be. They undoubtedly started weighing us down towards the end of your day. Our guide understood the local region and terminology well however he also talked with no English so my Laos knowledge definitely arrived in useful.

We came in the village of Egyptian Chilinxay at the evening, after showering in a nearby flow we spent night in 1 of their villager’s hut so who unbelievably talked only a bit English. We bought a chicken from him and he also cooked it for us along with some steamed rice and also local soup and vegetables seeking to regain our power and relax our legs as far as possible. The second and third afternoon followed the same blueprint up at sunrise appreciating a few hot chocolate acquiring fresh vegetables and eggs out of the villagers and hiking about 20 – 25 km per daythe evenings had been spent with the local guide organizing the homestay, recuperating and bathing.

The main defect in the day had been boiling enough water to get a day later so it had been cool the following evening to fulfill our plastic bottles. Steak normally comprised chicken and steamed rice which was acquired from the villagers and a handful tins of fish which was great as it meant less to carry the subsequent day.

The day was that the daywe can believe we were getting close we awakened and started our apparently ordinary pattern of washing at the nearby stream, with breakfast and packing our gear. It had been a couple kilometres in excess of horizontal ground to the river where we found at a dug out canoe. The canoe was definitely not the stable of vessels and the water has been proceeding quite fast but it turned out only about 100m approximately to the other side, paddling tough and sitting low in the ship got us across out too much problem. Using that aspect of this lake we stopped to take from the stunning beauty of the untouched nature around us.

From this was a 15km build-up hill sides into the village of Vangetat this was a hard trek round the shirts of this valley but the scene and perspectives made it really worth while. When coming in Vangetat at about 2pm I really could not believe that it I had been liters’ of drinking water already, so that I refilled my water bottles, taking boiled drinking water out of the sort villagers plus we decided to move on because it had been 2pm of course, if we shoved we can hit Nong Fa Lake in another two hours or so.

The past couple of km towards the lake were hard currently being directly under the blazing sun plus it had been uphill into the peak, but spirits were so high, knowing we’d be there soon.

We came, following 4 times of solid trekking we can not believe that it first thing to do was have a swim and then relax our muscles at the trendy H20. Spending about one hour at the lake we chose to head down to Vangetat because we watched a park ranger there who had a 4×4, which has the potential to possibly be our exit program.

It merely took us around 4-5 minutes to get down in your lake with little attempt since it was downhill. Our theory with all the ranger compensated down and also we was able to hitch a ride to Km100 roughly 10km from the Vietnamese border this had been a bumpy ride and also maybe not potential without a 4×4. After roughly 60km approximately 3 hrs we finally saw a sealed street and were joyful knowing we’re safe and back into civilisation. Regrettably because of this absence of hotels in the area we slept by the Lao army barracks at a noodle soup store, it was a excellent nights sleeping yet , this is probably because of how exhausted we ended up rather than the sleeping situations.

The following day after a plate of yummy soup we created our hosts, gave them remaining rice and said goodbye. We tried to hitch back to Attapeu. It did not take after about 20 minutes we managed to hitch a lift having a logging truck straight back to Attapeu round dinner. All in all it was a terrific and memorable journey.