Notes from the Road

I thought the six hour, two leg bus trip from Chiang Mai to the Laotion border at Chiang Khong was my initiation into serious developing world bus travel, but I was sorely mistaken. That trip was a breeze compared to the public bus from Luang Nam Tha to Luang Prebang. Advertised as an eight hour trip, it took 10, and it was very, very crowded. The bus could probably reasonably seat about 22-25, and we had well over 30 passengers, which is to say nothing of the cargo. I was fortunate to have an actual, non-makeshift seat, but unfortunate in that a large bag of rice or something was on the floor in front of my seat, which meant that my knees were roughly at chest level. And the road...the less said, the better. When I could take my mind of the physical conditions and enjoy the scenery it was absolutely beautiful. The Laotian countryside is absolutely stunning. Too bad I couldn't take it all in from a train...

Last day in Luang Nam Tha, I took a trek with a number of French and Belgian travellers with a guide in the Nam Na Protected area, Laos' newest national park. It was high enough to be a bit cooler, and the rain came in the form of drizzle rather than downpour which was perfect. Trek highlight--lunch and hanging out in an Akha village, with the chief of the village chatting with us over lunch and graciously giving us homemade whisky and cigarettes to complement our lunch. The Akha treated us like celebrities, following us around the village and shouting the one Laotian word they all know...sababee! sabadee! (hello). I discovered that when you take pictures of Akha children and then show them the pictures on the camera viewscreen, they completely flip out and start mugging for the camera like crazy. Trek lowlight--leeches. I managed to get most of them off before they attached, but one managed to climb into my shoe and do some damage.

Today, I arrived in Luang Prebang, the epicenter of the emerging Laotian tourist industry. It shows, in some ways this feels more like Thailand than Laos. However, as touristy as it was become, it still feels more laotian than thai, which is a good thing. I'm going to check out Museums and Wats today, and try to arrange for a Vietnamese visa (the one country I'll be visiting that doesn't allow for visa on arrival).