Luang Nam Tha and around

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Thursday January, 3rd 2008

I’m taking the bus to Luang Nam Tha, west to Udomxai. There was a bus at 8am but I did want to do the trip in the fog. So, I had a good reason to wake up late and take the bus at 9:30. At 9:30, there is still plenty of mist, but never mind, the bus is not full so we wait till it’s full at 10:30. There is no mist anymore and I can enjoy the landscape. The bus is full but it’s still stop downtown twice to take some passengers.

There is something, I don’t understand about bus stop. The bus station is always far away from the city center. In Luang Nam Tha, it’s really in the middle of nowhere. It’s in theory forbidden to take it anywhere else but once, the journey has started, the bus may stop almost anywhere to let people get on or off. In general, the transfer between the bus station and city center cost at least one quarter of the bus fare for a comparatively short distance. In short, it’s a bargain for taxi, sawngthaews, tuk-tuk and so on but a drawback for all passengers.

Friday January, 4th 2008

J’ai loué un VTT pour circuler autour de Luang Nam Tha. La mécanique est bonne, mais la selle n’est vraiment pas confortable. En plus, elle pointe franchement vers le haut et son inclinaison n’est pas réglable. Bref, au bout de quelques minutes sur les chemins de terre, j’ai les … en compote.

A part ça, le paysage est agréable. Simplement, je n’ai plus le même enthousiasme que quand j’ai découvert ce genre d’endroit à Um Phang.

Au retour, je m’arrête pour filmer les paysans en train de replanter le riz puis je vais au Stupa. L’endroit est un peu décevant car en pleine reconstruction.

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