Our Arrival in Laos.
We crossed
into Laos by taking a bus from Chang Mai, then a tuk tuk, then a
ferry then walked into the border town Houayaxi.(We never really
found out how to say the name of this place). It was a
really easy boarder crossing and a fabulous start to experiencing
Laos hospitality. Good afternoon sir, where are you from, can you
please fill in these forms and then return to the window. - Boring
form filling and giving forms in then a short wait, then 'Welcome to
Laos we hope you enjoy your stay!' What a great
and easy start it didn't take more than 5 minutes.
Our first
meal was fabulous, I asked for what I thought was going to be grilled
fish but instead, they had filleted the fish cut it into strips then
with a light batter like you get with tempura, battered the strips
and also what was left of the fish they then put it back together
again. It was quiet delicious and the food has been great since we
got here.
View from the restaurant!
Just to make
you feel better this far north and this high it gets warm for a few
hours at around midday but otherwise it is pretty cold especially at
night. We have only got sandals so I have been upholding the fine
British tradition by wearing socks with them! I have also been
wearing my cardigan and jumper and could probably have done with a
jacket as well. This however did give us a slightly Christamssy
feel.
We then caught the bus to Luang Namtha
All the buses also serve as goods vehicles so we were late as roofing material had to be loaded.
Andy found us
some fabulous eco bungalows to stay in.
I had a
weekend. Because we are running around a lot we forget to take some
time out to do nothing, on the one hand it seems like a waste when
there is so much to see, on the other hand I need to process what I
have seen and catch up on my sleep so I can enjoy the next stage. Andy managed
one day of doing not very much, before he went off to explore and
came back with lots of stories of what he had seen.
We then
decided to go on a trek. I wanted to do a 3 day trek into the jungle
but they didn't have any 4 hour trekking days just 6 hours each day.
I decided that this might be a bit of a stretch for me depending on
what the terrain was like so we would do a 1 day 4 hour trek and see.
It turned out this was a good move. As we had not taken our walking
boots, we were in walking sandals. It was a bit slippery in places.
No serious
harm was done to either of us, although I did get blisters on my
hands from holding onto my walking stick for dear life for most of
the walk. I didn't like
visiting the villages, I felt like an intruder and that we were
visiting a zoo. They have obviously chosen this route as it provides
them with an income and we chose a company who gave a fair wack to
the guides and the villages but even so it did not feel comfortable.
What I find weird though is that I am quiet happy to wonder round a
town looking at everything and everybody and trying to work out what
is going on so why does it feel so different?
Note satellite dish and chickens!
The bus ride to
Phongsali.
Phongsali is
in the far north of Laos, it is about 30 miles from both China and
Vietnam. It is also very difficult to get to. Two buses a total of
14 hours and a lot of bus station tactics (which involves getting up
early and being assertive!) in order to get seats rather than stools
in the aisles or having to stand. They are
currently resurfacing the road, and most of it is now graded and some
is even newly tarmacked making the journey at least partially
comfortable. It is absolutely beautiful despite having to look
through slightly grimy windows.
Note the fish trap in the river here!
One of the
highlights was however a stop along the way where we saw a local
market.
I didn't feel
like a voyeur here as they were doing what they always do.
We arrived at
Phongsali on Christmas eve slightly travel weary to find There was no
room at the inn. We tried all the guest houses in the town and in the
end the only room available was a 'special room'. There was a room
which looked like a doctors waiting room and bedroom and an ensuite
bathroom which had the following pictures in it. You can draw your
own conclusions!
Christmas morning we awoke at 5.30 to the town announcements which went on for the
next few hours. Were they announcing local news like the birth of
Mrs So-and-sos first child, telling popular folk tales or churning
out communist propaganda? Unfortunately there was no-one we could
ask. At 6 O'clock
there were 35 people out in the village square which was about 400m2
sweeping it, we have no idea why about that either!
We then headed
off to the bus stop to get a bus to Hat Sa. Once again the views
were amazing as we dropped 3000ft. We were well above the clouds
when we started, they sat in the valleys looking like fairy land.
Down the Nam Ou
So then the
main point of our trip to Phongsali was so we could ride down a river
called the Nam Ou over 3 or 4 days and watch the beautiful scenery go
by.
We shared the
boats with locals who got off along the way with various sacks of
things including at one point two puppies and were happy to share
their food with us and vice versa.The driver was
very skilled as the river is low in some places with lots of rapids
along the way. At the end of the dry season the water is so low it
is no-longer navigable It wasn't quiet white water rafting but
each rapid would throw a bucket of water at one passenger, that
passenger seemed to be chosen at random, so everyone got a good
soaking at some point. The next post will be the rapids video - when the very very slow Lao internet connection finally uploads it.
What a way to
spend Christmas day!
Seasonal felicitations to all.
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