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ortheast Laos |
July 4-15, 2001 |
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The boat landing for which the guest house is named is just out of the photo, on the left before the bend. There are very few good roads in Laos and many trips are still made by river; the boat landing is the starting point for getting to many villages downriver. The Nam Tha feeds the mighty Mekong on its way south to Luang Prabang, Vientiane, and ultimately Vietnam. |
From the deck of our bungalow at the Boat Landing Guest House in Luang Nam Tha. It was on a bluff above the Nam Tha or Tha River. Luang Nam Tha town is named for the river; it is about 70 km south of the Chinese border. (Before coming to the BLGH we stayed at the Adima Guest House which is only 3-4 km south of the border.) We had the bungalow all to ourselves. It had a bedroom very nicely decorated with twin beds and a superb bathroom. Electricity came from the BLGH's own generator and was only available 18:00 - 22:00. We're told that next year Luang Nam Tha will get 24-hr grid electricity. We spent four very relaxing days at the BLGH, most reading ("Adam Bede" and "The Crossman Diaries"), talking with fellow travellers, eating, and walking to the nearby villages. In one of them we visited a home where we saw silk worms being raised; in another home we bought home-woven silk cloth (and had a drinking contest of Lao Whisky). We had intended to leave via the Nam Tha, taking a two day trip down it to the Mekong and then crossing the Mekong into Thailand. Instead, we hastily cut our visit short because Jan suddenly got sick, and took a very bumpy road ride back to the Mekong, crossed into Thailand, and got her a checkup in Chiang Rai. We don't know what it was, but she has mostly recovered with a few days rest and some anti-biotics. |
