We took a skinny, slow boat up the Mekong and then the Ou rivers from Luang Prabang north to a town called Nong Khiaw. It took about 9 hours and the scenery was incredible. We were beginning to head into the Karst Topographic area of Laos again, a little like Vang Vieng. Off the road and seeing all the little villages from the river, which is traditionally their mode of transport anyway, was awesome.We spent a few days in town and really enjoyed it.
From there we left for the north and we spent the last while in Laos in the north, near a town called Muang Sing. The town itself was a bit of a relief from the "touristy" towns (if you can say that after seeing Thailand). It was a step back in time from places like Luang Prabang. We stayed in a little guest house that looked like the middle was going to collapse in on itself and had a toilet that immediately would have made my mother sick, but we didn't mind. There was a place for a shower, there was a place to shit, there was a place to sleep, and downstairs there was a restaurant, so our needs were covered. It felt a little like the we were standing in the wild west.
We were right up in the corner of Laos, China and Burma, the infamous golden triangle. Being in that region, we were constantly offered ganja and opium from the ladies from a local tribe form the area. Constantly.
From Muang Sing we booked a trek for three days into the mountains surrounding the valley, which included a homestay at the Akha village of Huayla. The hiking was quite a bit harder than we expected but the scenery was well worth it. We had two guides, one from the local tourism office and a local guy who knew the mountains around. The guide from the tourist office spoke a little english so we could talk with him and the local guy. A nice thing about having a guided trek is that the food is taken care of. We were fed in banana leaf bowls and ate with chopsticks made from sticks on a table of pilled leaves and topped with more banana leaves. the food was delicious, local food called laap, noodles, bbq chicken and what became the bane of every meal, rice. Too much. I quite like rice but obviously not as much as Lao people.
The night in the Akha village turned out to be very cool, yet a bit strange. When we arrived in the village, I felt a little unwelcome as not a single person greeted me or said anything at all. I felt like I was invading in their daily routine. We got settled in to the hut at the north-eastern point of the village and slowly people started taking interest. One of the local ladies made us dinner, and her husband showed up with a bottle of Lao Loa (locally made rice whisky at who knows how much %alcohol). Slowly as the night went on and the Lao Lao disapeared, more and more people started showing up. At the end there must have been 10 or 12 of us in our hut. amongst the new comers, a second bottle emerged. Once we were nice and greased and tired from walking it was decided that it was time to sleep. Once that was established, each of us was given a massage by a local lady, which apparently is a local custom. It was unexpected, a little strange but after the day's walking, no one was saying no. The following day we walked another few hours checking out some more villages in the area. All in all it was a lot of fun and a pretty nice experience. Our guides were great, even though we got lost in the chinese owned enormous fields in the valley, and that we hadn't enough water, they were a lot of fun to hang out with.
The day we finished the hike, all sweaty and dirty, we jumped the bus directly to Luang Nam Tha, spent the night and took a minibus to the border, and another straight to Chiang Mai in the same day. It was a long one. Once there we were run down from the hike, from being dehydrated and the transport, we got sick. Again. But while there, we rested, took a cooking class, went to the muay thai fights, and basically just topped off our Thai experience. From there it was off to Bangkok, then south Korea.
From there we left for the north and we spent the last while in Laos in the north, near a town called Muang Sing. The town itself was a bit of a relief from the "touristy" towns (if you can say that after seeing Thailand). It was a step back in time from places like Luang Prabang. We stayed in a little guest house that looked like the middle was going to collapse in on itself and had a toilet that immediately would have made my mother sick, but we didn't mind. There was a place for a shower, there was a place to shit, there was a place to sleep, and downstairs there was a restaurant, so our needs were covered. It felt a little like the we were standing in the wild west.
We were right up in the corner of Laos, China and Burma, the infamous golden triangle. Being in that region, we were constantly offered ganja and opium from the ladies from a local tribe form the area. Constantly.
From Muang Sing we booked a trek for three days into the mountains surrounding the valley, which included a homestay at the Akha village of Huayla. The hiking was quite a bit harder than we expected but the scenery was well worth it. We had two guides, one from the local tourism office and a local guy who knew the mountains around. The guide from the tourist office spoke a little english so we could talk with him and the local guy. A nice thing about having a guided trek is that the food is taken care of. We were fed in banana leaf bowls and ate with chopsticks made from sticks on a table of pilled leaves and topped with more banana leaves. the food was delicious, local food called laap, noodles, bbq chicken and what became the bane of every meal, rice. Too much. I quite like rice but obviously not as much as Lao people.
The night in the Akha village turned out to be very cool, yet a bit strange. When we arrived in the village, I felt a little unwelcome as not a single person greeted me or said anything at all. I felt like I was invading in their daily routine. We got settled in to the hut at the north-eastern point of the village and slowly people started taking interest. One of the local ladies made us dinner, and her husband showed up with a bottle of Lao Loa (locally made rice whisky at who knows how much %alcohol). Slowly as the night went on and the Lao Lao disapeared, more and more people started showing up. At the end there must have been 10 or 12 of us in our hut. amongst the new comers, a second bottle emerged. Once we were nice and greased and tired from walking it was decided that it was time to sleep. Once that was established, each of us was given a massage by a local lady, which apparently is a local custom. It was unexpected, a little strange but after the day's walking, no one was saying no. The following day we walked another few hours checking out some more villages in the area. All in all it was a lot of fun and a pretty nice experience. Our guides were great, even though we got lost in the chinese owned enormous fields in the valley, and that we hadn't enough water, they were a lot of fun to hang out with.
The day we finished the hike, all sweaty and dirty, we jumped the bus directly to Luang Nam Tha, spent the night and took a minibus to the border, and another straight to Chiang Mai in the same day. It was a long one. Once there we were run down from the hike, from being dehydrated and the transport, we got sick. Again. But while there, we rested, took a cooking class, went to the muay thai fights, and basically just topped off our Thai experience. From there it was off to Bangkok, then south Korea.
