To Luang Nam Tha & Muang Sing

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The next visit on our route was to a very poor Hmung  village. Their homes were not raised but sitting on the bare earth.  A Chinese style communal kang bed being the only furniture.  The fire in the center had no chimney and all cooking was done on an outdoor stove.  Quite different from the relatively prosperous Khamu

  Within 30 km of LNT we were suddenly in a construction zone, surely they didn't expect us to drive though this?

 

 

But they did, so we did, for quite a distance.  With 37 miles left to go  an ominous clunk from the rear left wheel area had us in panic mode.  We were miles from anywhere and Tony though it sounded serious

He and the driver disappeared under the rear end and emerged with the good news it was only a sheared spring.   Only ?

It was decided we would carry on and try to get it replaced overnight in LNT.   With all of us sitting up front and over on the right we limped into town after dark when all the comfortable guest houses were already full

Luang Nam Tha

   

Luang Nam Tha Fresh Market

 

Luang Nam Tha failed to enchant, we didn't really give it much chance, as soon as the van was fixed, welded not a spring replacement as we had hoped, we went to the market to buy supplies for the long day on the road.  The boys managed to find me some medication for a sinus cold.   They gave me a choice, one said poison on the label so I took the other.   Before long I would have been happy to take the  poison
   

I spy, a teacher, a  nurse and an engineer (I think)

I love these old communist propaganda posters, but I never know exactly what they mean.  You see them all over Asia, always in states of decrepitude so perhaps the ideology behind them is waning
 

Completely tame, he was free to fly but stayed around the bicycle shed to meet and greet

Muang Sing

Spirit House                                                                

 Men's Work

There were more villages on the way to Muang Sing but once we got there it was very different.  Visitors were not welcome even in the public places like markets.  We got to see some of the colourful tribal peoples we had heard about but there was no opportunity for interaction.    I was also quite sick with a sinus cold and spent the day of the much anticipated hike to the border in bed

Women's work                                 

Equal Opportunity Work

Devils Work ? Intended to scare?  Its working
Schools Out

 Our lovely guide and driver were lost, they had never been there, knew nothing about the area, and couldn't find the villages on the itinerary.  Tony enjoyed being out and about after days on the boat and in the van, but KC was livid and insisted they turn back, they never actually made it all the way to the border

  The Last Village                                                        

The Ill-fated trek to China, so close yet so far away
                                  Oh to be in Laos now that spring is there

 

 

 

 

 
A day to remember

Between the blossoms of the mountains to the place the bus from Luang Prabang dumped us in Pakse, was a whole load of frustration.  First there were no flights South as the Laos airline planes were still all 'broken'.  However no plane must be better than a broken one

We left Luang Prabang on the VIP bus.  Two hours into the 7 hour journey, there was a screech which Tony told me was the alternator.  Hours later we were crammed on to a non VIP bus which was almost full to begin with.  Our luggage  was piled on the roof with theirs making the vehicle frighteningly unstable

And all those mountain roads ahead of us.  Many had to stand but we had seats,  mine regular but Tony made do with a child's plastic chair in the aisle,  eventually vacating it for a young woman who was in danger of collapsing  

                Not The Pakse Bus Station

 

 

Some bailed in Vang Vieng but we had booked a room in Vientiane to break the long journey South.   Others were getting off and straight on to the overnight to Pakse, Lord help them.  The bus next day was Thai owned and operated so hopes were high but soon dashed.   The driver drove like the clappers and arrived 90 minutes early, dumped us in a parking lot miles from Pakse then told us 'no buses'.  We took a sawngthaew to the Nakasan ferry knowing full well we had been scammed.  The driver took pity and let me ride in the cab as I was obviously too sick to ride in the open truck
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