Khanking Guesthouse, Luang Namtha, Day 2

After falling asleep pretty early last night, we are up nice and early today and ready for an explore of Luang Namtha. The main attraction of here is trekking, but the only way to do that is to book onto a 2 or 3 day tour, and we can't be bothered to do that, so we wander around the small and empty town. It isn't empty in terms of shops and restaurants, but the roads are completely empty. It is an odd, slow place, and this is exemplified by our breakfast.
We find a nice looking restaurant and stop by for some food. Amy orders fried rice with a fried egg which takes half an hour to come. After another twenty minutes of waiting, I am told they can't make the omelette I ordered. This after sitting waiting with no-one else in the restaurant. I end up getting fried rice and egg after about an hour wait, and we eventually head off, after waiting another five minutes for change.
I aim to get a haircut, but there doesn't seem to be many places. We stumble upon a market in which we hunt for a beer lao shirt for Amy, but we don't find anything. There isn't much else we want so we soon move off and head for a valley trail that we saw on a map. It is another sweltering day and the couple of mile walk we take up a long and winding path takes it out of us. We gradually keep walking uphill until we pass a temple and a stupor. The views over Luang Namtha are great, and the initial worry we had about this place soon ebbs away as we become quite enamoured with the tiny town nestled inbetween the fields. We head back feeling pretty worn out and rest in the room for a bit.
After an hour out of the heat, we head out for a delicious burrito in a restaurant called bamboo house that is set up to fund many projects in Luang Namtha. It is a nice place and the free tea and water goes down a treat. We go for another little wander but there really isn't too much to see without delving into a day long trek in the jungle, so we wander back to the room, picking up a bus ticket to the Thai border on the way.
It is our last night in Laos. It is a country that has shocked us with it's natural beauty and laid back attitude. A place you could spend a week and see most of the major sights, but also spend a year and not get bored. Sitting in a hammock seems just as natural here as taking a 5 mile trek up a mountain. Without heading South due to the excruciatingly long bus journeys, we feel we have seen a great side to this amazing country.
Our final meal is spent at the food market. I eat more of the delicious pork which is 60p a helping, while Amy eats noodles and spring rolls. It is a a very greasy but very tasty meal. As it is our last night in Laos, it would be rude to not have one last beer Lao to toast the three weeks we have spent here. As we sit in a nice bar that plays some rather dreary music, we witness another motorbike crash. Both of the drivers seem fine despite one bike flying across the road. Riding mopeds is one thing I certainly won't miss when returning to England.
We head back to bed after one last crepe from he market and get some sleep, ready for another six hours on a bus tomorrow, as we head to Thailand again and begin to slowly make our way down to Bangkok. The days keep ticking away as the flight home gets closer and closer!Meer informatie