Where's James

Muang Sing

North of Luang Namtha is the small town of Muang Sing. I went here mostly to see the famed morning market but as I arrived around 2pm I had time to see some of the town before stopping overnight. It was my first experience of Lao roads off the main highway too, a 2.5 hour ride on a very bumpy and beaten-up road. As with all busses in Laos it’s important to arrive at the station an hour before departure or you’ll risk the bus having been filled and left.

Posted by James Antrobus Saturday, February 22, 2014

Luang Namtha

After crossing into Laos I arrived in Luang Namtha, a fairly large town in the north of Laos and about 60km away from the Chinese border. The following morning I hired a bike with a plan to see the old town, the center of Luang Namtha before the new town was built. Firstly though I cycled to a nearby temple with a good view over the town. Though it looks like a stupa, which is built over Buddhist relics, this is actually a temple and the inside is accessible.

Posted by James Antrobus Monday, February 17, 2014

Crossing into Laos

Having spent just over five weeks in Thailand I took one last bus trip 2.5 hours to Chiang Khong, a border town on the Mekong river. For years backpackers have been traveling to Chiang Khong to take the one-minute boat over to Laos. As it happens, a new bridge opened in December 2013 and as a result the boat crossing is now closed to foreigners (but open to locals). This being Asia though, they didn’t think to build the bridge between the two border towns, but 10km South.

Posted by James Antrobus Friday, February 14, 2014

Soppong

Half way between Mae Hong Son and Pai is Soppong, a small town best known for its caves. I stayed in the village of Ban Tham about 9km from the main town and close to the main cave of Tham Lod. The owner of the lodge is an Australian expat who has lived in the region for 30 years and I’d planned to take one of his tours the following day.

Posted by James Antrobus Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Mae Hong Son

From Pai I decided to keep the scooter I had for the day for another five and head across to Mae Hong Son. I couldn’t carry too much stuff so I packed some clothes into my day bag and left my backpack and a few other bits at the hostel in Pai. As all the t-shirts in Pai point out, there are 762 curves to “survive” on the way up. By the time the highway 1095 reaches Mae Hong Son that has extended to 1864 making for a nice ride, even if the scooter was a little underpowered for a few of the steeper sections.

Posted by James Antrobus Tuesday, February 11, 2014