Blogs from Luang Namtha, North, Laos, Asia - page 5

Right! Trekking! Nam Ha valley trip, Green discovery (www.greendiscoverylaos.com) Met the group at 8.50 at Green Discovery's office on the main road in Luang Nam tha, got in to a tuk tuk to our starting point. The group of 8 was a nice blend of nationalities, a New Zealand couple, and Irish guy, a Vietnamese born German resident, three Swiss girls and myself. Everyone was pretty young and in relatively good shape. We had two guides, Ket and Air, and both were really knowledgeable and nice. Ket is a farmer when he doesn't go trekking with people, and Air is kamu-tribe. We walked straight into a Lanten-tribe village, very interesting, especially coming from China. Apparently the Lanten people are originally from Mongolia, but fled to southern China during the first Opium war, and when the second ... read more

Up at a reasonable time and out to breakfast and discuss the day. Lots of organised tours, but x6 is always expensive. We got a map and hired bikes and set off. We rode through some villages that were quite interesting, I think they thought six Aussies on bikes were pretty funny, and we meandered our way along. Harry can sit on the back of some of the bikes with seats and footrests. I took him for a while, but was pretty sore after the bus trip, then Christine took him for a while, then Corry took him, so that lightened the load somewhat. In a Black Thai Village we stumbled across a wedding, and the groom invited us to join them. Unfortunately Corry wouldn't, and although everyone else would it was not possible to stay. ... read more

Hey Guys, Well we've arrived in Laos! We ended spending a night in Huay Xai and then headed North the next morning to Luang Namtha to do some trekking. We ended up arrivng at the booking office just as the last spot on their tour was filled but in a turn of events we met a nice French couple who were also looking to trek so we joined up and formed our own group. The funniest part is that the day before Tyne makes me agree on not doing a super hard trek and only doing a 2 day easy to moderate one. Well the french couple suggest the difficult/ advanced 3 day trek and before Tyne can say WTF I've signed us up. I swear sometimes it's like we're so in sync I can read ... read more

I believe I left off just prior to taking a twelve hour bus ride back to Chiang Mai from Khon Kaen, after confusing Chiang Khong - where I actually needed to be - with Khon Kaen - literally hundreds of miles off course. I was fortunate in that I had a short wait to catch the next bus from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai, and an even shorter wait to catch the final bus to Chiang Khong after which I could take a boat to cross the river from Chiang Khong, Thailand to Huay Xai (prounounced 'Way Sigh), Laos-whew! I secured a room for the night in Huay Xai, Laos, cleaned up and across the street found a little shop which sold a fine BeerLao; saddled up to a table and shortly thereafter met the ... read more

I can put it quite simple: Hop on the first plane to Bangkok, jump on a bus towards Vientianne and get here asap. Because if there is any country capable of inspiring men and cause tears of joy to well up in even the stoutest of hearts, it is Laos. Why this is so, is difficult to explain. it is like explaining the chaos of Mumbai streets to someone who hasn't been to India yet. Or trying to capture the magnificence of Angkor Wat on camera. Or showing the same person a video on life under water at the pheurentians. It is simply impossible as word, picture or video is a mere shadow of the true experience. Add to that the great multitude of truly unique things you can do here and you'll be hard pressed ... read more