laos North Part 1

First off, so sorry for us being so slack with the blog its tough trying to find a computor that doesnt take 2hrs to download 1 piccie.
Anyway here we go at last, we left Thailand with much releif and excitement as Thailand has become very touristy and you begin to feel like you are in the costa del Sol or something.
From the border crossing of huay xai in Loas, we decided to travel on the road less travelled and how much less we were soon to find out.
A bus journey of only 120 km up into Northern Laos took us 10hours!!!!!!, on the back of a pick up truck (a bakkie for you saffers) with two wooden benches which were so hard and a a pile of metal chains.The purpose of the chains we were yet to find out........
Basically it was a camel adventure and more with Kat, me, a French man, a dutch guy and a bunch of locals.
Picture this a sand road in the middle of a jungle where it had been monsoon raining for 2 weeks continuously. We were sliding and pushing the truck out off muddy ditches up hills having to walk up hill as the truck kept sliding backwards. Chains on the wheels we got absolutley filthy but it was fun in a painfull way, we felt as if we were in a washing machiene for 10 hours on spin, but its amazing how and where you beging to learn how to nod off.

Eventually we made it to Muang Sing, we organized a hike into the mountains with a local guide to go and stay with an ethnic minority called the Akah Puli and to visit other villages on the way. Our group was fun and we had a real mish mash of people Yoko from Japan, David and Nadja from Paris, Katarine from Belgium and our two Local guys, and me and Clive.
The sceanery was amazing but it was a real trek through long grass and crop feilds, across paddi feilds and up hills passing all the villages on the way and stopping for lunch at the chiefs house of the Humoung tribe for lunch.
Our Guide Ong was like a budding Loas pop idol as he sang the whole way, Laos pop songs both up and down. Our night with the Akah was brilliant sleeping eating and drinking local moonshine called Lao Lao, together in one hut, on stilts listenning to the pigs snorting and the cows mooing underneath us.

We were very sad to leave Muang Sing as we really loved the people and the scenery but we were off to Luang Prabang with our new travelling friend from France, David who was so much fun. Clive spent the whole time laughing at me speaking with an Alo Alo ! accent to david.
We were on a real bus from hell were the roads were so bumpy we lifted about 2 foot in the air off our seats each time and eventually the bolts holding the chairs to the floor came undone and were lifting off the ground with our chairs on the bumps.
Scary at the time I prayed alot that journey but very funny now, even the locals were scared but Buddah was on our side and we arrived safe and very dusty.

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