Blogs from Luang Namtha, North, Laos, Asia - page 3

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

Stray Tour around Laos The minibus arrived in Chiang Mai around midday to collect us and we got chatting to our new travelling buddies. The first stop was the thermal pools just outside of Chiang Rai, where the locals actually boil eggs in the natural hot spring water. The second stop was the White Temple (see pic), which was amazing. The White Temple was basically designed by a very wealthy Thai famous artist, who refuses to charge admission into the temple or accept handouts or donations from the government. His vision is quite different from anyone else’s (inside the temple, theres hand painted images showing Osama Bin Laden and George Bush painted in the devils eyes!!), and he does not want to be controlled by anyone who may influence his ideas. Its a 90 year project, ... read more

So if China was big brother, Laos was the quiet cousin. The cousin who leaves the family under a cloud of controversy after he refused to take over the family business in order to go and chill out in the jungle and drink Beer Lao and smoke joints. The cousin who shuns the fast tourist lane and is happy to just let the people come to him. Maybe a strange analogy but I think it fits. China felt big, brash and modern compared to the sleepy Laos, even the border showed the difference. On one side a massive gold gateway adjacent to a building holding computers and xray machines and on the other a jungle shack, a bit of bribery and a mangy dog. Our first drive in Laos was so different to China, lazy wooden ... read more

Laos is a truly amazing place. We have had the pleasure of spending the last 2 weeks in this beautiful albeit rapidly developing country. At the moment we could be better (2 days ago I spent a 9 hour bus ride holding my stomach, only to purge all contents at the stops, since late last night Andrew has decided to copy me and has been ridding his body of internal contents for the last 12+ hours), but at least the scenery is beautiful and the people are extremely friendly. So we have pretty much (unintentionally) followed basically the same route that I took through Laos 4 years ago. It is amazing to watch a developing country in the midst of development. So much has changed in 4 years - there is now a supermarket and a ... read more

Luang Nam Ta et le Parc National de Nam Ha: 3 jours de randonnee dans la jungle... read more