Hongtha Xaysomboun Hotel Luang Namtha

... it all together with a bamboo toothpick that they made right on the spot. Then they went about making chopsticks for the chopstick addicts. I thought it was so cool so I learned how to make my own chopsticks! <br> Later that day we arrived at the village were we were going to spend the night. Immediately the villagers brought out local handicrafts for us to buy. It was amazing to see how poor some people are. Most of the people haven ...

... next 5 hours we climbed up and down hills, through red hot sun and pouring rain to our camp - a single roomed bamboo hut where we all slept. Along the way our guide was great pointing out vegetation and food and explaining how his village live off the land. At one point he cut down a bamboo tree and cut it open to collect some tasty grubs that live inside. In the evening the guide cut down more bamboo to make cups, scewers and even a saucepan ...

... off each other, was great. It also meant getting to try 4-5 different things at each meal rather than 2-3 when we romantically dine alone!! The next day we were back on the bus for the nine hour trip up north. The scenery was just amazing. The more north we went the more rugged and isolated we were amongst the mountains. Peaks all around like we were trapped inside the curl of a dragons tail and apart from the 3-4 metre wide road cut into the ...

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... toute la duree du trek, je m&lt;en tire huereusement qu&lt;avec des sangsues ! Un bien petit desagrement puisque nous avons droit a des points de vu magnifiques et l&lt;effort en vaut largement la peine. EN route, nous croisons des gens de certaines autres tribus qui vivent plus loin dans la foret. On se croirait dans un article de national geographic ! <br><br>5h. Temps de l&lt;arret pour la nuit dans un village de la tribu Lantene. Notre hotel: une de ces ...

... at the pictures and reading to each other. They had smiles from ear to ear. I wanted to take photos but it just wasn&#8217;t the right time. Even after I left they were still sitting down looking thought the books. It was priceless. <br><br>I walked back into town and saw Juan my Columbian friend. We talked for a bit then he told me of a great restaurant where you can make your own BBQ. I should have taken photos of this too because it was ...

... a steep slope of really thick mud. It took us a while to get up the slope without sliding back down again! <br><br> <br><br>On we pushed, through the forest, following the river for a couple of hours, and the terrain wasn't that difficult, you just had to be careful not to slip in the mud and twist an ankle, otherwise God Only Knows how you'd get back to the village, let alone back ...

... slow westerners in hiking boots followed him, slowly... It was quite slippery after the rain, and none of us fancied twisting our ankles within the first hour. <br><br>He let us catch our breath at the top of the first climb, and kindly hacked down some thick bamboo for us to use as walking sticks. So off we went again... <br><br>At this point ...

... the border town behind us... <br><br> <br><br>We are REALLY lucky that they've just finished building a brand new road through the mountains up to Luang Nam Tha, so instead of the old 8 hour nightmare bus journey through the mountains with no air con that was detailed in our Lonely Planet, it was actually a 4 hour trip in a nice air conditioned mini bus! <br ...

Luang Nam Tha is the modern crossroads of northwestern Laos, and is one splayed-out little town, in the Thai/Lao fashion, as distinct from the Vietnamese. On the other hand Viets tend to build their houses on the ground, as opposed to the stilt houses of Thais and Laos, reflecting ancient trends used up until recent times to distinguish the two groups in the part of Vietnam that they both inhabit ...