Ban Pieng Ngam Handicraft Village in Luang Namtha, Laos
Ban Pieng Ngam is a small scenic village located close to Luang Namtha in Laos. It is recommended to spend a day or two to explore the unique village life here while traveling here. The town of Ban Pieng Ngam is known for the Lenten people or Thai Deang, an ethnic community from Southern China. These people make their living through dying Indigo and Rye fabric, weaving traditional clothes and making a lot of bamboo-based products, especially bamboo paper. They also sell unique handicrafts. The other ethnic group is Thai Kao, which is known for making the famous Lao rice whiskey. You can take a tour of this at the Lao Lao distillery.
You can tour the village where you can also buy some of the hand-made products, including handicrafts, bamboo products, bags and other unique things that are eco-friendly. You can also stay in their homestay run by Nam Ha ecotourism project, where you will get a chance to witness the life of Lenten people, take part in bamboo paper making and taste the local cuisine.
You can have an interesting stop at the Phieng Ngam Handicraft Center to learn about and shop for weaving products from the Tai Dieng tribe. The center is about 10mins away from the airport, in the middle of rice fields. You may opt to visit the center via a push bike, motorcycle or a private car. There’s a weaving demonstration from a local woman who showed the intricacies of using both silk and cotton in making the textiles. Scarves, skirts, table linens, etc. can cost from 50,000 to 180,000 kip which is quite reasonable and better quality compared to the exorbitant prices at the local markets in town. It opens from 8am to 6pm. Please visit the Phieng Ngam Handicraft Center and support the community-based livelihood program directly benefitting the locals. By the way, the facility has improved a lot compared to the photos featured in this page.
