The northeast - The Rough Guide to Laos - page 229

Tham Piu
4km north of Muang Kham; the turn-off for the cave lies on the left-hand side of Route 6 - follow the road
1500m to the stairs at the foot of the hill
A number of tours from Phonsavan now include a sombre pilgrimage to ThamPiu , a cave in
which hundreds seeking refuge from the wartime bombing were killed when a fighter plane
fired a rocket into the grotto. At the foot of the hill you'll find a steep set of stairs climbing
up to the wide mouth of the cave. Only blackened rock testifies to the tragic incident.
Baw Nam Hon Nyai
Around 20km from Muang Kham along Route 7; after passing through the tiny Na Ba market and crossing a
bridge, turn right at Ban Nam Dien - 16km from Muang Kham - and head for the cliffs to find the spring. The
road ends at the resort's gate, 3.5km away from Route 7 ∙ Entrance fee 5000K, bath 5000K ∙ Many travel agents
in Phonsavan will be able to add a visit to the hot springs onto a morning at the Jar sites - expect to pay around
$35 for the entire trip.
From Muang Kham, Route 7 east towards the Vietnamese border leads you to two hot
springs , Baw Nam Hon Lek and Baw Nam Hon Nyai - “Little Hot Spring” and “Big Hot
Spring”. The smaller of the two isn't worth a visit, but Baw Nam Hon Nyai has been con-
verted into a resort of sorts. The spring fills a swampy green pond of no remarkable beauty,
but blooming flowers in the rainy season attract Phonsavan couples, who make the trip out
on weekends to picnic and canoodle. A crude piping system draws the spring's steamy water
to the site's main attraction: the hot baths , which are situated in a long shed among a small
cluster of rustic bungalows. A warm bath - there are two large tubs per private room - is cer-
tainly worth the trip during Xieng Khuang's chilly winters.
Muang Sui
From Phonsavan, Route 7 winds west towards the mountainous edge of the Plain of Jars and
then begins working its way through the mountains to the outpost of Muang Phoukhoun on
Route 13. This section of the French-built highway - a favourite target of Hmong insurgents
as recently as the 1990s - grinds through pine-topped hills and steep-banked stream beds for
48km to MUANG SUI . Roughly at the halfway mark, the road fords the Nam Ngum as the
river builds up steam en route to the Nam Ngum Dam, and then passes a pair of villages pop-
ulated by Hmong, who were forcibly resettled here in the late 1990s.
Once a significant village known for its temples, Muang Sui was yet another casualty of
the intense fighting in Xieng Khuang province. Now rebuilt alongside Nong Tang , a pretty
lake hemmed in by stubby limestone karsts and praised for its serenity in local folk songs,
it's a sleepy town of wooden shop houses and a small market. Nearby is ThamPha , a forest
cave that shelters a Buddha image and a that . One kilometre from town, an old 1500m-long
landing strip, in a state of disuse, cuts across Route 7 as it begins its 90km journey towards
Muang Phoukhoun.