Blogs from North, Laos, Asia - page 4

With Guillaume joining Hayley and I for breakfast we decided that we would spend the day together as long as it didn't involve anything too strenuous! Popping out along the high street after breakfast we stocked up on some much needed provisions. While there we bumped into a couple of travellers we had met on the boat - a man from Australia and a lady from France who had been travelling together for the last week or so. Chatting with them about the day ahead they decided to join us. Finding the head boat man for the village and doing a bit of bargaining we got a good deal to get a boat for the day. Deciding to travel up the Nam ou river to visit a couple of villages and kayak back, we headed off ... read more

After a good nights sleep and coming to the conclusion that the trekking tours they offer here are far too expensive and that the only option left is to go exploring ourselves, that's what we did! So, with Katya deciding not to travel any further north which was a real shame we parted company. Saying goodbye to my last travel buddy from the 2 day Mekong river trip was sad. Had spent a really lovely time together exploring Laos. I was happy to continue north for a few days as was Hayley so we would be leaving Nong Khiaw today at 1pm to go to Muang Ngoi. Katya and I went out for breakfast together and had a really nice chat over a bowl of porridge/muesli then walked back to the guesthouse to say our goodbyes. ... read more

After wishing farewell to Vietnam we headed through no man's land to Laos. A few miles down the road we hopped off the bus and were directed to Laos immigration. Obtaining our Laos Visa on Arrival and entry stamp was a rather long winded affair involving queuing at three different windows to see three different officials. Each official was running their own side line business asking for an extra dollar or two as an "admin charge". Whilst this is quite annoying, as the visa itself costs a fair bit and we know this money goes straight in their pockets, the officials were so friendly that we just found the process rather amusing. In the end, we paid an extra $4 each, half in US dollars and half in Lao Kip. Getting back in the bus we ... read more

So much has happened in the past couple of weeks that it would be impossible to condense it all into a blog entry without writing a dissertation. In summary: In luang nam tha I cycled to a waterfall out of town. The journey took me through some local villages and impossibly green rice paddies and agricultural areas. After luang nam tha I returned to Huay Xai. Here I embarked on the gibbon experience. It lasted for three days and it was exhilarating. I ziplined at dizzying heights over dense jungle (this was fun in the dark at 5.30 in the morning), trekked, jumped in a freezing waterfall pool, stayed for the night in (apparently) the tallest treehouse in the world, enjoyed bamboo soup which the guide had rustled up from the jungle and managed to stomach ... read more

well...despite the dusty surrounding, walking still seem not a bad option in Muang Sing, walking allow me more time to look closely whatever behind fence and bush, chance to run into village stupa's day and deity's day. Armed with a local map got name of the villages, together will GPS and google map, I guess I was well equipped. but I had forgot the human factor. one day I stupidy walk inside the sugarcane bush, trying to through a shortcut that shown on the google map but seem not exist in the actual real location, hey...I had GPS, no problem! trail turn to path then...nothing, only wild bush of sugarcane, checked the GPS, the blue dot in line, the right direction in my non-exist field. I told myself "not far" so I kept go ahead, stepping ... read more