After almost a month in Thailand, it is time for us to go visit a new country : Laos.
Border crossing in Huay Xai
From Chiang Rai we take a local bus to the border, 2 hours drive away. The border crossing is pretty fast and uneventful, and we arrive in Huay Xai for our first steps in Laos. This border town is on the bank of the Mekong, squeezed in between the forest and the river, in the middle of the legendary Golden Triangle.
Initially we thought about boarding a slow boat the next day, for a 2 day cruise down the Mekong to get to Luang Prabang. But a couple of days before leaving to Laos, as we were working on our itinerary, we realized that if we did this cruise we would arrive in Luang Prabang just in time for the Chinese New Year celebrations. The problem is that the Chinese New Year is a huge thing in Laos. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese come to the major cities in Laos like Ventiane, Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng to celebrate. During several days the hotels are filled with Chinese tourists, and the prices easily double or triple. So it is recommended to avoid these cities at all cost during this time. So we changed our plans, and go North to Luang Namtha in order to do a multi day trek in the jungle. At least we should be alone.
We arrive in Huay Xai around noon, where we meet a Thai gentleman in the tuk-tuk taking us from the border to the village, and he invites us to come have lunch with him. So we share our first Lao lunch with him, he actually orders for us. No communication problem here, the Lao people near the border understand Thai very well apparently.
We can even pay with Thai Baht. His English isn’t great (but a million times better than our Thai), so we don’t understand everything he tries to tell us but he is very nice. He goes back to Thailand in the afternoon, honestly we don’t really understand what he was doing here…
We stop by the ATM to withdraw some Lao Kip, and decide to withdraw 1 million kip! In all fairness the number is huge, but it’s worth just a little over $100.
We wander around town before heading back to our hostel. As our friends in Chicago suffer from a nasty polar vortex, we are almost too hot with around 90 degrees.
We go back out later in the afternoon to climb up to the Wat Chom Khao Manilath temple.
The temple is located up in the hills and offers a nice view on the Mekong. We stay here a little bit to admire the sun set behind the mountains, with the Mekong in the foreground.
We sit down for dinner in a restaurant, not far from the temple, with a nice little terrace that offers a nice view on the Mekong. The colors at this time of day are beautiful.
We grab our first Lao beer and are glad to see that they have different styles to choose from, contrary to Thailand where it’s all the same beer. And it feels great to have something different, Maider was getting sick of always drinking the same beer 😉 .
Heading to the North in Luang Namtha
The next morning we have a 9 am bus to get to Luang Namtha.
The bus station is 10 miles from the city center, so we booked a minivan to take us there.
Unfortunately when we arrive at the bus station, we are 3 to want to go to Luang Namtha, and at 8:30 am the minibus to Luang Namtha is already full. We understand that we can take another bus at 10 am that goes to Ventiane and stops in Lunag Namtha. Except this bus is no minivan, it’s a sleeper bus like we had never seen before.
At 8:30 they are already loading the bus with all the bags that people are traveling with. And a little bit like in Bolivia they travel with a ton of bags and bring some weird stuff (we saw a guy bringing three pieces of wood with him, and another was traveling with 3 empty 10 gallon water bottles ?!?!?!?). It’s pretty fun to see them try to put everything on the roof.
We are with a guy from Switzerland, who is also traveling to Luang Namtha to go on a trek. We get on pretty well with him and even decide to do the trek together in Luang Namtha.
When we try to confirm that the bus can drop us off in Luang Namtha, a first guy tells us no… We have to insist to make sure that they will drop us off there. It seems that Lunag Namtha isn’t an official stop on the way, but honestly we stopped so many times in the middle of nowhere that we don’t quite understand why they didn’t want to stop in a real bus terminal…
Finally they accept, and put our bags in the bus. When we climb in the bus we find out that the seats are actually beds, and not reclining seats like we were used to in South America. Also these are double beds, so we are together on one bed, but our buddy from Switzerland, Patrick, ends up sharing his bed with a Lao stranger.
Pretty intimate experience, especially since the mattresses aren’t very wide. And it goes without saying that Matt is too tall so he can’t fully stretch out his legs.
But hey it’s only for 105 miles, and it shouldn’t last more than 4 hours. At least that’s what we thought naively. Because just as we leave, we stop at the gas station to get gas (why get gas before leaving when you can do it on the way?) and it takes us 30 minutes to get back on the road because the bus won’t start… In the end it takes us about an hour just to leave the village because we stop every 100 yards to pick up more people. Of course there wasn’t enough seats (or beds) for everybody so people had to sit by 3 or 4 on a bed or even just lay down in the aisle. Welcome to Laos ! In the end it took us over 6 hours to drive only 105 miles…
Quick stop in the middle of nowhere for lunch. There is only one dish to choose from, but we won’t finish it. There was a whole frog in it with the skin and everything…
We finally arrive in Luang Namtha around 4:30 pm. So in summary we left the hostel at 8:30 am and arrived in Luang Namtha (only 100 miles away) 8 hours later… Not super efficient. And imagine the people in the bus with us that were going all the way to Ventiane. They still had 450 miles left when we jumped off the bus.
The three of us find a hostel in Luang Namtha and go out to search for an agency to do a trek in the Nam Tha jungle. Most of the ones we see have people booked to leave the next day for a 2 day trek, but we would like to do a 3 day one. We find an agency where 2 other people are interested in doing the 3 day trek leaving the next day, so we sign up and join them (the price per person decreases with the size of the group, that’s why we were looking for an agency with people that had already booked).
During the 3 day trek, we have a first night in a “survivor camp” meaning we sleep in the jungle and build our own camp. The second night will be a home-stay in a tiny village. We are 5 in total and leave the next day at 8:30 am.
First debit card issue in 7 months
Of course to pay for the trek it’s cash only, like everything in this country. So we go to the ATM to withdraw some cash and the ATM decides to trap our debit card. Thankfully the card got trapped after we got the cash, so at least we have money for the next few days and can pay for the trek. The problem is that we are Saturday, so the bank is closed and we leave the next day and only come back on Wednesday so we aren’t sure we will be able to get our card back. We decide to cancel our card with the bank. We still have a credit card left, and another debt card but that has heavy withdrawing fees. The good thing is that Matt’s parents are coming to visit us in Cambodia in less than a month so they will bring us our replacement card. For the time being we have to go through Western Union. Patrick also proposes to withdraw for us if we need, super nice of him !
This first full day in Laos ends up being pretty chaotic, but if we didn’t want anything to happen we could have simply stayed in Chicago freezing our asses 😉 . The bus experience is something we will remember our entire life, and the debit card issue had to happen at least once during our trip. It doesn’t take away our excitement of leaving to the jungle tomorrow !
We grab dinner with Patrick and go to bed early to get a full night of sleep before our 3 days in the jungle.
3 day trek in the jungle
Day 1 – market, Lanten village, hiking, survivor camp
The meeting at the agency is at 8:30 am. When we get there we understand that the two people that were signed in yesterday canceled, but a French guy (his name is Clement) got added. So finally we will be 4 for the trek, with our English speaking guide, Hon.
First we take a tuk-tuk to go to the local market to shop for the necessary ingredients for the next few days. The market reminds us a lot of Bolivia. Plenty of weird dead (but also live) animals, like frogs, squirrels and birds.
Then we drive to a small Lanten and Khamu village. Lanten and Khamu are 2 of the 39 different ethnic groups present in Laos.
60 families live in the village, so about 500 people. And it’s funny because each time we ask our guide about the size of the village he always answers with the number of families. We learn a little more about their culture and way of life.
It is also here that we pick up our second guide for the three days. His name is Somsee, he comes from the Khamu ethnic group and doesn’t speak a word of English. But we quickly understand why he comes with us, he will do absolutely everything for us in the jungle, and we quickly nick-name him Mowgli for how comfortable and knowledgeable he is in the jungle.
Later in the morning we finally start hiking through the jungle.
The beginning is pretty easy, we stop from time to time to admire the view.
It is already really hot outside. It changes from our hikes in the mountains…
For lunch we stop by a small stream.
Here we make our first fire. Actually Hon and Somsee start the fire because everything around is very humid, so starting a fire isn’t as easy as it sounds.
They also cut a few banana leaves that will act as our table and chairs.
On the menu for lunch, grilled fish, sausage, bamboo salad and sticky rice of course.
The meal is excellent !
We resume the hiking and head towards camp. We arrive around 3:30 pm. The day is pretty short, but the reason we arrive so early is that we have to build everything for the camp and cook diner before it gets dark, around 6:30 pm.
So we start with the shelter where we will spend the night and go grab banana leaves. These will serve as roof over our heads, but also as our mattresses.
Here is the end result. A nice 5-star hotel as Hon calls it !
During that time, the incredible Somsee is working on building the camp and creates a table with benches. All using only wood and bamboo from the surroundings, with his machete as only tool.
This time we are responsible for lighting the fire, and honestly we struggle. But it finally lights up with a little help from Hon.
The fire is lit, the camp all done, now time to eat. Another delicious meal, on the menu tonight pork with roasted peppers, tomato soup cooked inside bamboo and sticky rice !
We all gather around the table that Somsee built, and have a great time. We quickly realize that they use bamboo for everything in the jungle. It is used for building the table, as pot to cook the soup in, as serving dish and even our cups and chopsticks are made from bamboo.
Then they make us taste their local home-made whiskey that they call happy water. And we share shots, talking about a little bit of everything and really just having a great time.
We then go to bed pretty early, around 8:30 pm because it is already pitch dark deep in the jungle.
Day 2 – Hike through the jungle and night in the Khamu village of Nalan
Despite a pretty uncomfortable mattresses, we slept pretty well and weren’t too cold (which is always Maider’s fear).
Hon and Somsee prepared us an awesome breakfast with banana flour soup, grilled pork and chicken and sticky rice of course (you probably guessed it by now, but yes we will be having sticky rice for every single meal during this 3-day trek) !
They even thought of bringing coffee that we sip in our homemade bamboo cups.
To leave the camp we start with a long and steep uphill walk. A little tough after such a huge breakfast…
But once at the top the view is very pretty.
And then a long downhill portion to get to another river. The path is steep and hurts on the knees. Hiking in the jungle is really different than hiking in the mountains, here we have to always be careful where we step. It’s often slippery and there is a lot of vegetation on the way, and the heat and humidity is really hard to deal with but it’s a very nice challenge !
We will walk along the river until we get to the village. On the way we stop for lunch.
Second try to light a fire, and this time we succeed !
We are also put in charge of cutting down a banana tree and get the leaves that will serve as our table and chairs again. Matt is like a kid when Hon hands him the machete! He can finally use it and feels like a real survivor in the middle of the jungle, cutting down a banana tree.
On the menu eggplant and bamboo that we first roasted inside the fire before smashing with some spices. Without forgetting the sticky rice that Somsee cooked in bamboo sticks this morning. Again the meal is delicious !
We continue on our way along the river before heading back deeper in the jungle and finally getting to a road. Hon tells us that this is a pretty new road, it was only built 2 years ago and goes from Nalan to Luang Namtha.
From there we walk to the village of Nalan where we will spend the night. On the way we have a nice view on the rice fields.
Just before the village we cross a bamboo bridge, that doesn’t look very solid at all, to watch the locals fish in the river.
We get to the village around 4 pm, and after dropping our bags off at our home-stay, we go directly to the river to take a “shower”. The water is pretty cold but it feels great.
It is here in the river that the locals take their “shower” and wash their clothes.
We then walk around town.
Before sitting by the river with a beer. Even if the beer isn’t cold (no electricity, so no fridge out here) it still feels great.
The locals welcome us with open arms, and the family with whom we are staying cooks us a delicious meal (and for those wondering, yes sticky rice was involved). They have two young boys of 4 and 5 years old, thankfully Hon is there to translate everything.
In the evening, the girls from the village show us their traditional dances. First the very young girls and then the teenagers. At the end they even invite us to dance with them. An incredible moment.
Day 3 – hiking through the jungle back to Luang Namtha
We spend a great night in our home-stay and wake up under a thick fog. Here no need to set an alarm clock, the roosters take care of it for you.
After a delicious breakfast (yes there was sticky rice again).
We stay a while in the village where they show us local hunting or cooking techniques. We start with grinding rice into flower, and then learn how to shoot with a crossbow made out of bamboo of course.
Different families from the village are here to share this moment, and it is magical. Despite the language barrier, we laugh all together and spend an incredible moment.
Before leaving the village, we stop by the school.
And then off we go in the jungle again.
We have the choice between two options today. A short one where we hike 3 to 4 hours, and a longer one that lasts 6 hours. We choose the longer option because Hon tells us that it is easier than what we have done so far. So it is true that the trail itself is in a better condition and well maintained, but the trail is super steep and climbs a lot. Especially with the heat, we really struggle, even Somsee (aka Mowgli) is tired, which makes us laugh a lot.
We arrive in the middle of the afternoon to the final village from where we grab a tuk-tuk that brings us back to the agency in Luang Namtha in just under an hour.
This 3 day trek was absolutely amazing. We had an incredible group, shout out to Clement, Patrick, Somsee and Hon, and we were so nicely welcomed by the families in Nalan. Special thanks to Hon, who was our English speaking guide, and is the only person from his entire village who left to go study in China. His story is amazing and so humbling, during his vacation he comes and works as a guide, without being paid, just so that he can improve his English.
We get back exhausted but so happy with the 3 amazing days we just spent. The shower and the cold beer feel incredible !
This evening we meet up with Clement, Patrick, Hon and Somsee to celebrate the end of our trek.
Hon and Somsee bring us to a bar in Luang Namtha far from the touristy main road, and we are the only tourists around. We order plenty of beer and drink them with ice! Indeed, here they don’t put the beer in the fridge, instead you add ice cubes to have some cold beer. Weird at first, but we get used to it. Also here they don’t just sip their beer, they drink it bottoms up. So every 5 to 10 minutes we cheer all together and drink the glass empty. We spend a great evening all together, and learn a little more about Hon and Somsee’s lives. These are two people we loved spending time with, Hon’s story in particular really touched us. And we sincerely hope he will succeed and achieve his dreams.
Lunar new year
We have one day left in Luang Namtha before having the go back on the road. Enough time to do some laundry and work a little bit on the blog.
But that is what we thought we would do. What we didn’t know is that the owner of the hotel we are staying at is Vietnamese and he is throwing a party to celebrate the lunar new year. The party starts at noon and it becomes hard to concentrate after 2 pm because the people are getting pretty drunk, the music gets louder at every new song and a karaoke competition is just starting.
The owner of the guesthouse invites us to join the party with them. So we sit at one of the many tables put up on the guesthouse’s parking lot. The tables are full of food, and we are kindly asked to taste everything. Our glasses keep getting filled with beer. We are quickly joined by Patrick and Clement who also join the party.
We meet the former head of the police, who is retired, and keeps serving us beer and commands us to drink up. He himself doesn’t really stand straight at 5 pm. We also meet the owner of a guesthouse just down the street who hasn’t had a drop of alcohol in 5 years because of a heart problem, but decided to drink today because all her old friends are present. Of course we have drinks with the son of the owner who tells us that Lao people suck at soccer but are great at drinking. And his cousin who doesn’t like Lao music so she puts on American music and sings to it with the microphone. Finally a few other tourists, who just like us, got pulled into this incredible party.
A typical Lao celebration, where alcohol and food never run out, and where people dance to any kind of music. We had a great afternoon and evening, for what will probably remain as a highlight of our trip.
We go to bed not too late because the next day we have a 7 hour bus ride on winding roads to get to Nong Khiaw, next leg of our journey in Laos.
Hi M and M, We love all your blogs—such interesting things you are doing! I talked to Chris yesterday and they are excited about joining you soon. Enjoy the rest of your trip. Love from Char and Don
Thanks Char and Don ! We are also excited to have them join us, especially since Isabelle is in charge of the planning. The real vacation is about to start for us!!!!