Up north

Clive will update on our jungle experience swinging through the trees, but in the meantime…

We had originally planned to head to Luang Nam Tha after the Gibbon experience to do some trekking in the national park up there but after our days of Tarzan and Jane which had involved a fair amount of walking we didn’t really feel like heading back out into the jungle for more of the same. Our clothes could also pretty much get up and walk themselves at this point so we didn’t think it would be fair to inflict that on our fellow travelers.

We still headed to Luang Nam Tha for one night which meant that the Gibbon folks dropped us and our bags in a small grocers at the side of the road about 90 minutes outside Huay Xai. We were told that there “should” be a bus at 1pm or 2pm that we could flag down. Now, I like trains because you know where you are with a train. When you pull into a station the train will stop each time whether anyone gets on or not, there will be signs that inform you of the station name and there is usually an announcement. Buses don’t have the same reliable nature. They’ll only stop if you request it, they didn’t until recently tell you where you were and weren’t as predictable. Now, imagine how I felt as our new Gibbon experience friends disappeared towards Huay Xai in our jeeps and left us at the side of the road where nobody speaks English for a bus that “should” be along soon.

We had given up on the bus arriving by 3.30pm and had decided to flag down anything going in the right direction whether it was an oil tanker, a lorry or a personal vehicle. Just then out of the distance appeared a minibus. Saved! Clive ran into the road to flag it down but the smiling driver informed us that he was full and there “should” be another along in a while. Maybe at 2pm – but isn’t it already 3.30pm? That was just met with more grinning. Marvelous.

We weren’t having much luck flagging things down when another larger bus appeared that this time stopped and actually let us on (only 3 hours later than scheduled) and put our bags in the hold on top of what looked like a piece of engine. That is exactly what it was as it turns out. We got talking to the only other foreigners on the bus after we stopped and they told us that the piece was from the original bus which had broken down. I guess we were lucky to get to Luang Nam Tha at all.

After deciding not to stop there our destination was now Nong Khiaw, a small village on the Mekong river. The scenery around the village is unbelievable with soaring limestone karsts exploding from the river valley. While here we spent a good deal of time just soaking up the atmosphere and catching up on some blogging, emails etc on a surprisingly good Internet connection. We also walked out of town to visit the Tham Pha Tok caves in the limestone cliffs where then locals had hidden out during the second Indochina War. They had been in the caves for so long that there are areas set out specifically for the officials, police etc so that they could keep their society running.

We finished our time up North by traveling back to Luang Prabang by boat down the Mekong. Not the most comfortable journey I’ve ever undertaken, but the scenery is something else.