Blogs from Sam Neua, East, Laos, Asia

Another bus journey… This time we chose to go during the day though. The bus was supposed to leave at 8am from the Northern Station, but thanks to a guy working at the bus station in the centre we would be picked up from the centre instead! He said it was no problem at all, he would just divert the bus for us. Wow! How nice was that! As we were waiting for our bus I thought that maybe he forgot to do that after all as it was 9am and the bus was nowhere to be found yet (we were supposed to leave at 8am). But eventually it came a few minutes after – funny yellow minibus packed with locals and their stuff. At the beginning it looked like we might have to fight over ... read more

After a relatively *extended* stay in Phonsavan, I continued heading northeastwards into the Laotian highlands, and it was another 8h winding journey to Sam Neua, the capital of the Hua Phanh province. The province is said to be the "birthplace" of Laos PDR, as it was here that the Pathet Lao retreated to hide in its caves in the face of relentless US bombing. The area developed and somewhat flourished following the end of the Secret War. My journey deep into this otherwise rather remote part of the country thus serves two purposes: to visit the Xieng Vai caves of the province, where the Pathet Lao troops hid during the bombing; and thereafter to cross over into Vietnam via the nearby Nam Xoi-Na Meo border crossing, to embark on the next leg of my Southeast Asian ... read more

Keith and I were lucky enough to tag along on a trip to see some more caves, to visit some villages and to check out the ride to the Vietnamese border from Vieng Xay. Some locals who lived in the caves around the time of the war were heading out for the day with Laup, the guy thats played a major role in developing the caves for tourism. Keith and I, Laup and his friend Paul, plus three people who work for the Tourism Council in Vientiane, all gathered in the morning, ready to depart. Around 9, five more Lao people arrived in a car from Sam Nua, the closest city, about an hour away, and we were off. First we stopped at a few villages known for basket weaving. Laup is exploring the possibility of ... read more

Viang Thong - Xam Nua proved to be the most gruelling songthaew journey yet, requiring nearly 7.5 hours to cover 150km. Yes, that's an average of 20 km/h. This was partly due to the nature of the terrain, being all hills and escarpments, and partly due to a problem with the songthaew (or the driver) that required all downhill sections to be conducted in 1st gear. From a time efficiency point of view, the night bus would have been a better bet. At least we had our friends from the LoEME to keep us company. Almost making up for this tortoise-like pace were the contents of the songthaew. Mention of rice sacks is almost unnecessary as they are a standard feature on these vehicles. Of more interest were several buckets of frogs, covered with mesh to ... read more

This entry was written in Luang Prabang on 19 August because there was no electricity in Sam Neua when I was there. This was a really interesting town. In order to save time I flew from Vientiane on Lao Airlines. The landing was spectacular because it's just a little airstrip in the middle of the mountains and the airplane was really small too - just 17 passengers. It was pretty exciting and much more fun than a normal commercial flight. The town itself is fascinating. Hardly any tourists come here and the ones that do are mainly passing through on their way to Viet Nam. This area is well known for the quality of its weaving. The same silk scarves that I bought for 25 USD up there are selling here in Luang Prabang for up ... read more