Nam Ou: Waterfalls, caves, tuk tuk & "smoke"

LUANG NAM THA

Well, we are now in the Luang Nam Tha Province in the furthest NW part of Laos, bordered by China and Burma. This is the most ethnically diverse part of the country, with, amongst other minorities, Hmong, Lantan, Akhar, Khumu, Tai Lu and Tai Dam peoples. There is also a fair smattering of Chinese. We have been here for several days, our plans having been thrown by the sudden change in Thai visa regulations which mean we’re likely to have to go back to the Capital, Vientiane, to try to obtain a 60-day Tourist visa rather than the new 15 day tourist exemption which is what you get via a land border crossing. (We were originally planning to cross the border at Huay Xai and travel onto Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand).

Meanwhile, we are keeping a watchful eye on developments in Thailand where there appears to be a political vacuum and, whilst the occupation of the airport is now over, the power crisis and rivalry between the military and police is far from settled. We are seriously hoping, also, that the King, revered by all Thais, doesn’t peg it in the next few weeks as that really would create further chaos and turmoil. (He failed to appear in person for his 81st birthday celebrations due to a ‘sore throat’).

It is, however, easy to put such events to the back of the mind, as we have been doing, staying in places only accessible by river and at least two hours from any road infrastructure. Laos is a beautiful country with wonderfully friendly people but a still under-developed tourist infrastructure. Today, for example, we tried to find the town museum, only to be told it had been knocked down. Instead, Laos offers numerous waterfalls, caves previously inhabited by the Pathet Lao during the second Indochina war, a smattering of French colonial left-overs and, of course, continuing access to illegal substances for those with the inclination.

MUANG NGOI

We had long wanted to travel up the Nam Ou river, a sizeable Mekong tributary, and felt it best to do this as soon after the rainy season as possible, so that the water would be deep and wide enough still to do this. So we caught a bus out of Luang Prabang back to Nong Khiaw and from there, picked up a boat to the remote village of Muang Ngoi. Despite the guidebooks describing it as “the new Vang Vieng”, we could see little resemblance. Electricity was limited to two hours per night and hot water a rarity (unless you are prepared to pay a significant premium and even that was no guarantee of actually getting any). We opted for a little guesthouse near the boat jetty and spent a couple of days exploring on foot the surrounding area. Again, early nights and early mornings and when the sun dropped behind the mountains at 5.30pm, it got distinctly cold. The surrounding area was very beautiful and we could walk for hours seeing few people, with occasional scattered villages punctuating the landscape which, at the lower levels we saw, was extremely fertile (wheat, rice etc). We stopped for a warm beer Lao and banana pancake at one such village, Ban Huey where an elderly gentleman in blue silk PJs approached us with a wide toothless grin and a large pouch of weed of some kind. Clearly, Alan looks like the kind of person who could be tempted! (Although I hasten to add, we weren't, declining politely!

MUANG KHUA

As I couldn’t quite bring myself to ‘enjoy’ a cold shower when it was freezing in the early morning and at night, we decided to move on, after a couple of nights, and caught another boat going up the Nam Ou to Muang Khua. Far fewer travellers were heading in a northerly direction, so we had the boat to ourselves, until we were joined by a young Spaniard called Miguel (who upset the boatmen by sitting on the roof and unbalancing the boat as they attempted to steer through strong undercurrents, precipitously close rocks and other just-under-the-surface hazards.) It was a magical journey of several hours, and, as the cloud and mist lifted, illuminated a wild, forested and mountainous landscape. Occasionally, small children would appear from nowhere on the sandbanks, grinning and shouting hello to us us as we passed by. The only sadness was the sight of fluttering plastic bags, hanging like exotic fruit on the trees and bushes now exposed as the waters lower during the dry season.

By early afternoon we arrived at the town of Muang Khua in the south of Phongsali province. Described as a ‘crossroads’ between Laos and Vietnam, it is only a few miles to the border and really just a dusty (and rather tatty) town with little visible to commend it. We booked into a rather scuzzy guesthouse (out with the silk sleeping bag liners once more!), described in the guidebook as “the pick of the ultra-budget bunch’. The town’s main ‘attraction’ seemed to be an elusive suspension bridge but despite walking around for an hour or so, we didn’t actually find until the next morning as we were waiting for our bus to Udom Xai.

The four-hour journey to Udom Xai on the public bus was pretty yuk, mainly due to the poor condition of the roads which often seemed to slide off into river without warning and for temporary – and very bumpy – alternatives to be botched up. This wasn’t particularly pleasant, especially as I had a window seat which gave me a grand view of the possible drop down into the river had the back wheels of the bus nudged literally a couple of extra inches to the left. Often, there was little or no leeway for passing vehicles as the road pretty much hugged the gap between sheer sided mountain on one side and sheer drop to river on the other. (I can describe this journey now my mum knows we are safe!)

Having got to Udom Xai, we decided to bite the bullet and get on yet another bus for the lengthy journey (six hours) to Luang Nam Tha. We squeezed ourselves onto the public bus, knees squished up to our chins, feet resting on bags of rice and gritted out teeth in anticipation of several hours of hell. Most fortunately, however, Alan happened upon a ‘VIP’ bus heading in our direction and with 5 minutes to spare, he grabbed our rucksacks off the roof, negotiated a seat on the new and spacious bus and we settled down to a more relaxed journey with at least some leg room. We were, however, surprised by a massive convey of Chinese truckers coming in the opposite direction; we must have passed over 150 such trucks and we have no idea where they were heading for or why. It was the most ‘traffic’ we have seen on the roads to date, and we were just grateful we weren’t doing this stretch by motorbike as the dust they kicked up would have been unbearable. We felt extremely sorry for each of the tiny villages they thundered through, scattering children, chickens, water buffalo and everything in their wake.

Luang Nam Tha is a nice llitle town, the provincial capital, with easy walking access to many villages. Many people come here to trek in the protected National Park and to visit various tribes – all strictly controlled access as part of a sustainable tourism programme. We think this is a good idea although it does mean one is restricted from independent exploration except by foot. Yesterday, we walked to a local (and not hugely impressive) waterfall, passing on the way, a Lantan village. The women pluck their eyebrows from the age of 15 and they wear white leggings under serge-blue tunics. They are very attractive and feature-wise, quite unlike most other minorities we have come across.

We wake early each morning to the usual sound of cocks crowing (they have a ‘false start’ at around 4.30am, and then really get going at about 6.30am, just before, what I think must be a ‘public service broadcast’ loud-speakered to the population at large around 6.45am. Perhaps they are saying, “Get up now, you lazy lot!”. Anyway, there’s lots of singing followed by about 15 minutes of earnest speaking. God knows what it’s about…

Well, we’re sitting in an internet café with Karaoke Lao pop music blaring out at us from a wedding across the road. We may join in before long … It’s our last night in our £5.00 per night guesthouse, as tomorrow we head back to Vientiane to try and put ourselves at the mercy of the Thai consulate and sort out our visa difficulties …

Dec 7, 2008

Show all 31 photos