5/21 through 5/24: Luang Nam Tha and Muang Sing

The bus from Luang Prabang to Luang Nam Tha was supposed to take 7 hours, but it took 10 - lots of road construction, as well as a truck accident stopping all traffic both directions for about two hours. I only stayed in Luang Nam Tha one night, heading north the next morning to Muang Sing, which is located one and a half hours north of Luang Nam Tha, on a little peninsula of Laos bordering Burma and China (only 14 miles from the Chinese border) - the land of the Hill Tribe people. I stayed two nights in Muang Sing.



It has taken me a little time to get back into "travel mode" again, after 4 weeks with a planned itinerary with my students in Vietnam. It's funny how quickly I lost it.

My view from my guest house balcony in Muang Sing

Muang Sing is in the center of a large valley, with about a ten mile diameter. There are nine different Hill tribes living in this valley.

I spent two days on a little one-speed bicycle, riding dirt roads (and often pushing my bike) to the Hill Tribe villages. On the first day I road to the northeast, then turned off on a dirt road about 9 miles from the Chinese border, where I walked and pushed my bike for about four hours. I went through three Yao villages, two Akha villages, and one Tai Lue village.

Yao village kids - the girl in the middle could count really well to ten in English. I spent a long time trying to get her to say "eleven." I had lunch at this village - noodle soup of course. The older women had a laugh teaching me how to season the soup.

Yao village laundry

Akha village, where a bare-breasted old women offered me an opium pipe.

Akha laundry

So, my first impression of Muang Sing was a little bit of a disappointment. I thin k from the description of my friends, I imagined a jungle setting. But then, a few hours into the bike ride, and having fun meeting the villagers, a little voice inside me asked, "What are you open to?" and then I realized I was merging back into "travel mode."

Day 2 in Muang Sing:

Early the next morning I went to the morning market

Bare-breasted Hill tribe women trying to sell some type of animal

Hill tribe women

Live snakes or eels for sale

And dead stuff too

Tomato sales woman

Mangoes, mangosteens, and rambutan for sale out of the back of a truck

On my second bike ride, I headed southwest, where I road through 3 Tai Lue villages, 3 Nai Neua villages, 2 Akha villages, and one Lolo, one Tai Dam, and one Hmong village.

Second day morning bike ride - Hmong village laundry

Little monks on bikes

Inside a Buddhist monastery

View from a Akha village

Akha village

Akha village baby

Akha village still

My afternoon bike ride was about two and a half hours long: 2 Tai Lue, one Hmong, and one Akha village.

Happy pigs in a Tai Lue village

View on the way down from the Hmong village

I got lost on my last bike ride, which is not that surprising, ending up on a dirt path to no where. I had a really nice two days on the bike in the villages. After getting lost and having to rush back into town to return my bike before closing, I was so happy. I am so weird that way. I didn't even realize what was happening, just, all of the sudden, I was happy. I don't understand it.