Blogs from North, Laos, Asia - page 10

Nach einer Nacht im unspektakulaeren Udomxai rueckten Dino und ich hochmotiviert um 7 Uhr im Busbahnhof ein, um uns Plaetze im schlammversprizten Bus nach Phongsaly zu sichern. Auch unsere Lehrerfreunde vom Vortag waren wieder am Start. Unsere Abfahrtszeit 8:30 kam und ging und wir waren keinesfalls Abfahrtbereit - abgesehen von Dino, der bereits optimistisch im weitgehend leeren Bus Platz genommen hatte. Gegen halb zehn machte sich das Geruecht breit, der direkte Weg nach Phongsaly sei zu verregnet fuer unseren rumpeligen Bus, weshalb wir einen Umweg ueber China fahren muessten. "Bus go to China", hiess es schulterzuckend und wir raeumten widerwillig unsere Logen-Plaetze im angeblichen Phongsaly-Bus. Die Frauen am Ticketschalter zeigten sich zunaechst verstaendnislos angesichts des Protests von uns Falang (Weissen), bis sie einsahen, dass unsere Visa die Umleitung China nicht ... read more

The overnight bus trip from Kunming was made a lot more interesting by a massive storm, lashing rain and lightning for several hours. Crossing the border was a fairly quick process then thing’s slowed down. We waited for about 3 hours for other passengers to turn up to join our minibus heading for Luang Nam Tha - feeling we waited long enough with no new passengers we set off for our destination. On arrival the town seemed very quiet, but later in the evening the accommodation filled up with travelers. The town has a French influence and it was peculiar to see a number of shops selling baguettes and pastries.We found a large market area, where a lot of the stalls seemed to sell exactly the same thing with houses each having their own collection of ... read more

Keen to get off the typical tourist route down the Mekong river, I headed up north on a bus filled with locals, to go treking in Nationally protected Luang Nam Tha park. As it was low season, when I arrived, there was only one trek in town that had people going on it scedualed for the next day. So keen as ever I set off with 5 other lovely girls on a 3 day treck through the dense jungle, rivers, farms, hills and mountains. We stayed at a hilltribe village full of baby goats, piglets, chicks and puppies as well as many cute excited kids who loved to get their photos taken so they could see themselves on our cameras . On the second night we stayed in a village just off the side of the ... read more

The third new year in four months seen off in grand style, we feel we have acquired enough good karma to explore Asia's murkier side and start off the much anticipated expedition to the Golden Triangle, a wide swathe of northern Southeast Asia comprising remote parts of Burma, Laos and Thailand. A savage region of rugged mountains and inaccessible forests inhabited by Akha, Hmong, Karen, Lisu, Shan, Tai Lu and a few other hilltribes. Imagine warlords with private armies, megalomanic Burmese generals, opium mule trains chugging through the jungle, hidden opium refineries, Chinese triads, remote villages and above all the chest-high pink and white poppies that are the source of opium and numerous opiates deriving from it: codeine, morphine, heroin, just to mention a few. Add in the mix secret wars waged by CIA and financed ... read more

As i still was in the travelers trail and so far every economy of every village i've visited comprised out of a variety of guesthouses and restaurants to support the mostly young visitors from other countries ... as was this tiny little river town, thus after my difficult hike and two cycles of sleep ii ventured out to some local hill villages ... just when i was about to decide which road to take leaving town, i saw a couple walking ahead of mi ... i thought this can't be ... those long legs belong to Chantal, the dutch girl i shared the 'bush' toilet with when the slowboat stopped to let off some locals at a small village on our way to muang ngoi ... and so another chance encounter in the middle of the ... read more