09122010 - Phongsaly to Nong Khiaw down the Nam Ou River.

Took a Bus out of Phongsaly to Hatsa 20km away for the first boat ride to Moung Kheua. It was really scenic down the Nam Ou with parts of the river having grade 3 rapids. For a few momnets we all thought the wooden boat is probably gonna crash into the jagged rocks and spell the end of our journey and life. It was very wild and untouched and a good break from the back breaking bus rides down the rocky mountain roads. Nong Khiaw would be a rest stop for us after an intensive 2 weeks of travelling and trekking. It will be operation 'Zuo Bo' for 3 days in the bamboo bungalows and hammocks.

Hatsa for the boat ride to moung kheua

our boat

other side goes to the vietnam border

limestones at Nong Khiaw

Boat landing from Moung Kheua to Nong Khiaw

06122010 : Trekking in Phongsaly, Phou Den Din national protected area

Arrived in Phongsaly after a gruelling 10 hr bus ride on a local bus up over the mountains on impossible rocky dirt roads. It's a real good test of your patience and tolerance especially when the driver is blasting Lao folk music and you have people puking in the aisle of the bus from getting bus sick. Had a guy who hauled up a huge rodent and another a pair of freshly amputated goat trotters when the bus stopped at one of the villages.

our rickety bus

1/4 into the journey.

2hrs later. btw we did not change any tyres

freaking huge rodent

they were auctioning for the pair of goat trotters which was in the bucket

Lazed around town before arranging our trek at the tourism office. It was also the night i had a fever of 38.8 which recurred during the trek and it was really hell and spoilt the experience for me. But still the Akha village we went to was really hospitable and they gave us a really good massage. while the rest got ladies, i got an old man who had a little too much lao lao. For a few moments i was really worried he was going to break my back into 2.

view of the town of phongsaly from the guesthouse

sprawling rice fields

30112010 : Trekking in Vieng Phouka, Nam Ha national protected area

The govt is trying to promote eco tourism to help ease poverty within the villages and to provide the locals with an additional source of income. the agency which i went with contributes the money to the villages in front of our eyes to assure us about where the money is going. whereas for the other agencies they say they do it but you never see so you don't really know whether all the money ends up in their pockets or actually part of it is contributed for village development. Will let the pictures do the talking for now :

oldest woman at 1 of the villages. guess her age

lunch table

sticky rice for the next 8 meals

bamboo lodge in the forest for the 1st night

summit of the 'misty mountain'

HUGO!!

making friends with sekham our english speaking guide

burning for the next cycle of planting to ferterlize the ground

the french sisters bought some textbooks for the village children

this is how you shower. of course we're the center of attention.

rmb-ed an episode of man vs wild when he taught on how to make a fishing spear with bamboo. taught sekham how to do it as we saw kids going out to fish but they had gears which made it very hard for them to catch the fish.

29112010 : Sabaidee!!!

The roads in Laos especially in the north are so dusty it's like as if a volcano just erupted and spewed tonnes of ash all over. It's a real adventure to be on local buses when you have poultry, rice, groceries and bicycles hauled onto the roof and loaded into the bus. Passenger capacity limit is unheard of and a 13 seater mini van i was in from Luang Namtha to Vieng Phouka had 24 people.

crossing the mekong to Laos with this onboard

Everything goes up.

Met an Israeli guy and a Dutch girl at the bus station with the intention of sharing a tuk tuk in Luang Namtha and we decided to go to Vieng Phouka the next day to arrange our trek instead of booking with the overpiced and over crowded agencies in Luang Namtha. Vieng Phouka is 60km away from LNT and it's about 1.5hrs away, depending on how many stops the driver makes to pickup and drop off other people along the way. Not forgetting the toilet breaks because the kids had to take a dump.

Empty Streets!

My mini football team ready to take on the rest of the world

After we arranged our trek we took a walk into the villages and i saw a bunch of kids playing footy. Of course I couldnt pass on the opportunity and damn could they run. We were all barefooted and the field was strewn with sharp rocks and beer bottle caps. But apparently they're oblivious to them. The town also only had electricity between 6pm - 10pm and that is the time when the streets become empty too. At that moment of time it was just us and 4 other french who would be joining us on the trek. It was good to be away from the tourist crowd. The buffalo meat here was also superb.

Guesthouse with brilliant star gazing views at night

poking and picking at some fruits

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27112010 : It gets dark at 5pm?!

Chiang Khong is just a stretch of quiet town 4-5km long which sits on the northeast of Thailand. Peppered along the roadside are a few guesthouses, provision shops, hole in a wall eateries and the banks. Across the Mekong lies the Lao border and the town of Huay Xai and boats ferry passengers across for the price of 40Baht.

customs check - arrival on the left, departure on the right

the mekong and opposite is Laos

An! An! An!

People here are really nice and sincere and you have people bugging you for a tuk tuk every 2 seconds. The sun starts to set at around 4pm and by the time it's 8pm, the street is deserted. The Thai spoken here sounds a little different from the ones I hear in Bkk too. Perhaps some local dialect.

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now thats a cool tuk tuk

mekong fish

thai ondeh ondeh

25112010 : Riding Samoeng Loop

Touched down in Chiang Mai the day before after a 16hr train ride from Bangkok. Although there were no kids in the near vicinity this time, there was a Snorlex above me snoring as loud a lion would roar in the safari. Did I really collect so much bad karma? Rented myself a Honda Dream 125cc after looking up GT rider the night before and decided to do the samoeng loop and ride up to Doi Suthep which has a temple on the summit and a view that overlooks the whole of Chiang Mai city. 

Biscuit shop!!! Heaven!!!

At Doi Suthep

Mountain Views

Overlooking Chiang Mai city from the mountain top

I’ve long wanted to ride bike over winding mountain roads and it was almost impossible to keep my eyes on the road ahead when the views to your left and right are so spectacular. I really had to force myself to keep my eyes ahead or risk veering off the road and plunge to my death.

1^st stop in the samoeng loop was ‘Tiger Kingdom’ where they allow visitors to get up close and personal with the beasts. I’m not actually in favour of these animals being kept in captivity and enclosed and exploited for the sake of generating tourist money. So I just stood from a distance and observed them instead of purchasing a ticket. It’s a grey area because on one hand the tigers are protected from the poachers and given a very nice environment to live in, while on the other they are unable to be the animals that they should be out there in the wild. Same applies to the elephant camp there as well. If I had to pay money to see such animals, it would only be in the African safari where they are free to roam and behave like wild animals.

If there’s one elephant park worth visiting in Thailand it would be this: http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/index.htm