Scenic river rides, cosy riverside bungalows, and a 16-hour bus ride from hell.....

Well, the fearsome foursome (more specifically Michael [Italy], Stefan [Germany], Sara [England], and I) have come to learn that wandering off the beaten path presents you with challenging, trying moments just as it presents you with amazing, seldom-seen-by-tourists terrain. We are on Day 6 of our Northern Laos detour, and after our travels last night/this morning, we are taking some much needed time for R & R. But before I fill you in, I'll try to catch you up on where we've been in the last week......

Monday and Tuesday, as I mentioned before, were spent on the road north, leading to Phongsali. I mentioned that our bus ride was quite the adventure, complete with "mudding it" 4x4 style, pushing another bus out of the mud, etc. See photos below:


Local people keeping out of the sun as our tire is fixed.
The little engine that "couldn't" --- keep your focus on the "low maintenance" road beneath.

Lunch Special! Rats on display during our lunch break en route to Phongsali. We opted for bagged chips and Sprite.


Well, that bus ride was a taste of what was to come in a few days. Stay tuned.

Wednesday was spent with the monk, getting the showing of his temple, his blessing, and a guided tour to the top of Phu Fa, the village mountain that oversees the surrounding land.

The four of us and Somphet, our 23 yr-old monk friend, at the top of Phu Fa
Not a bad panorama.... Just gotta keep telling myself to keep some SPF on my head.






Thursday, we set off on an hour-long bus ride to Hat Sa, a village comprised of 50 or so bamboo homes/huts, a feeble old man (60 or 70 yrs in age) smoking opium by himself in a village shop, and, most importantly, a port to start our journey down the Nam Ou river. Here we learned that, being we're not VIP guests in a tourist-overrun city, foreigners are generally going to be given the last spot on the boat, if any. We negotiated a ride and crammed into our slow boat. This time, the slow boat sat 2 wide and about 7 deep. Not exactly our idea of a safe, secure ride. We really questioned our decision once the boat engine died an hour into the trip. We men had the task of putting the nerves of our female colleague to rest...so like any good travelers, we whipped out the cards and played 30 minutes worth of "Shithead" (mature, I know) while we waited for our engine to bounce back.

Around 2pm, we arrived in Muang Khua, another small village you won't find on many maps. Just like many others we passed along the route, it was a sleepy, humble village comprised mainly of small bamboo huts, smiling local kids, and a market (a staple item of any SE Asian community it seems). We passed the day with some BeerLao, more cards, and a view of the river below.

View of Muang Khua from the boat

On Friday, we set off on another 5-hour slow boat ride to Nong Khiaw. This time, rather than taking the local boat, we chartered our own slow boat (along with another American and three Spaniards) for 1,100,000 kip, breaking down to about $16 US per person. Not bad for a private boat ride!

The view along the route opened up, and the hills to our left and right slowly became more massive in size and elaborate in shape. We managed to find ourselves a couple homey little bungalows along the river upon arrival and spent the majority of the afternoon savoring the view of the river below and mountains across the way. One other item worth noting: the sun seems a bit more intense here, so we have spent many-a-hours chugging down what must be a speciality of SE Asia....fruit shakes. I'd say we take two or three of the things down each day. Delicious.

View along the river


Hanging out on our bungalow balcony

Nong Khiaw at sunset











On Saturday, we managed to find a bus leaving around 2pm that would take us to our eastern destination of Sam Neua, where we will rent scooters and check out the caves on the Laos side of Laos/Vietnam border that were used during the war. We knew this bus was to take 10-12 hours--we just didn't expect it to take 16!

Packed on the bus.....












A sign of what was to come should've been apparent from the get-go: the four of us arrive at the bus, but it is already chalk full of locals who have been on the bus from Vientiane, the country's capital. Sara managed to get the last available seat--the rest of us sat in fetal position on top of rice bags and other cargo in the aisle. (This is another thing that has become apparent--public buses seem to become commercial transporters. It's standard to find bus floors jam-packed with 50+ pound bags of rice, cartons of canned tuna, and other consumable goods.)

About 2 1/2 hours in, after a few locals had jumped off at their destination, I managed to score a seat. By this time, I can only feel the parts of my body above my waist. Other items worth noting from the trip:

*Little or no baggage was stored on top the bus as is usual procedure. Rather, on this bus (capacity 20, mind you), all cargo seemed to go inside.....in the aisle, on our laps, etc. So when some schmuck brought on a couple cages, one with a live rabbit and the other with hundreds of live crab, guess where they went. Combine the stench provided by these creatures with the exhaust fumes coming aboard through open windows, it made for a tasty aroma.

*Excess weight and cargo made for some pretty shotty suspension. I happen to have the seat above the back wheel well. I think we bottomed out more often than we didn't.

*As darkness drew near, the driver must have had trouble staying awake, so we passengers had the pleasure of listening to horrible, horrible Lao music at a maximized volume. My iPod, at its highest level, couldn't cover the noise.

*We awoke around 12:30am to the bus stopped, lights off, in the country...the driver nowhere in sight. Apparently we went for a nap in the ditch or something. We continued the journey around 2:45am.

*After 16hrs in the bus, we arrived in Sam Neua at 6am. Restless, tired, and moneyless (no ATMs or banks along the way), we wandered to a guest house where we'll take it easy today. The city is big enough to support a bank, so we'll do everything but rob the place tomorrow, take as much cash out as possible, and head to the caves. On Tuesday, we'll start the journey back south and slowly venture back onto the tourist trail....

So, for now, that's it. Thanks for reading, and we'll see you next time!