Up The River Without A Motor

With my arrangements all settled, I boarded a twin engine plane to Houei Xai where I would start my boat ride up North to Luang Nam Tha.

My guide, Xai met me at the airport and after an unusually long time standing around waiting for the bags to be offloaded we were off to load the boat. We packed up rather quickly and were off by 10:30am, an hour after my plane landed. Xai had said that we might arrive in the dark but we made good time and after 3 stops for the appropriate stamps, we arrived at the boatman's village right at dusk. The scenery along the way was beautiful and peaceful.

At the boatman's house it seemed like all the children in the village were there watching TV. They were all captivated by the program. When it was over they were all up and out of there in a flash! Dinner was simple but delicious and I ended the evening under the mosquito netting listening to the stillness amoungst so many homes so close together.

The next morning after taking some pictures of the village, we got an early start. Everything seemed to be going along fine until mid day when a piece of the motor broke and try as they might, the boatmen could not repair the damage. We were stuck in some dusty roadside town called Phou That (?). If anything it made for some interesting photos. I was, of course, the curiosity of the day and it seemed like all the kids in the village and a few adults had surrounded me and watched me while we waited for a vehicle to pass by. As the sun got lower in the sky, so too did our chances of hitching a ride with a passing vehicle diminish. I decided that I might as well make use of the time and started to assemble my bike. Of course the moment it was out of the box and the handlebars attached, a vehicle came by. That was a stroke of luck because at 5:30pm, that was surely the last vehicle going north that evening. Myself, Xai and one of the boatmen piled in the back of the open truck and made our way up the bumpy dusty road. We got to town around 8pm, tired and literally covered in dirt. Thank goodness my guesthouse hadn't given away my room away. I had a bowl of soup, showered and washed my hair and hit the sack, thankful to have made to Luang Nam Tha that night.

The next day, I walked around town for a bit and put my bike together. Putting the back wheel on continues to be my nightmare when it comes to assembling my bike! : ( I finally got it together and went exporing a bit, stopping off at the District market, (where once again I got to use my Chinese), and for lack of finding a head scarf, I bought some material to make my own. My hair protected from the dirt, I cycled off to the That Phum Phuk stupa. I climbed the steps to get a closer look and after a short walk around a man came up to me to sell me a ticket to go directly to the stupa because no one mentioned anything about an entrance fee, I wasn't sure if he was on the up and up and decided to pass on going any further. The rest of the afternoon was spent exploring the villages in the area finished off with a great meal at the Boat Landing restuarant. While I was there I found a LP cycling in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. I got some helpful tips and information and pretty much charted out my route for the Pakse leg of the trip.

Day two in Luang Nam Tha started off with a sleep-in - I managed to catch a cold unfortunately and the sleep was much needed. I went over to Panda restaurant for breakfast where I had hot lemon juice, (another flashback to Thailand), mixed fruit with yogurt and banana crepes - yummy : ) Will definitely eat there again. In fact, after exploring more villages and rice paddies I had dinner there tonight. Breakfast, at least for me, is their forte. I've been trying to upload pictures to picasa for over an hour now which is a frustrating hopefully, the shop owners won't kick me out before they're uploaded.

---

---