All about: Laos

May 25. Hey. Pssst. Motorbike?
Countless curves await us on the eight-hour busride to Luang Prabang. The scenery is pretty as we expected, and makes up for our diet of dry cookies and sodas. I remember having a can of beer during the break, but apart from that, don't expect any events from the busride.
Arriving at Luang Prabang comes ...
May 24. Of motorbikes and hospitals.
We almost miss our morning ride to Namtha. I have the bus tickets and the bus (there are only a few daily) stops at Bryan and Leila's house early. We rush to the streets and take our seats in the crammed minibus. Quick handshakes and best-of-luck constitute our goodbye to these wonderful people. I want ...
May 23. Easy bashing German state aid.
We have a delicious noodle soup for breakfast in a place that looks like what you would expect of a Lao eatery: the wooden terrace was built in the field, and farmers are ploughing in sight. This valley has always played an important cultural role as many different hilltribes interact here. Even today, local schoolchildren ...
May 22. Paper mash.
The accident could have been avoided. It was my idea to do paper maché, and I feel a little bit guilty about it. The kids gather at the porch as usual and when we let them storming in they are enthousiastic as always. Yeon prepares a bowl of glue and we start dipping little pieces ...
May 21. Jump around.
We have found a beautiful place. We stay under the mosquito net long this morning, before enjoying an extended breakfast, as far as the reconstruction goes. The house is really quite, despite the main road that crosses the fertile valley and should connect to China and Thailand. The local market in Luang Namtha does offer ...
May 20. Butterfly children.
The bus to Muang Sing leaves early in the morning, and after a nearly two hour ride through the staggering subtropical beauty of a national park, the road winds down into the big valley of Muang Sing. This region has the most different ethnicities of Laos, and is currently being discovered by travelers and nonprofits ...
May 19. Lao mores.
We cross the border without any difficulties. The Chinese authorities stamp exit in my passport and we walk to the Lao side, a shack with a line of waiting tourists in front of it. I study the government poster of do's and don'ts in Laos, learn about the status of the monks, the sad occurences ...
May 18. Crossing into Laos.
We get up early to take what will be our penultimate Chinese bus to Mengla. It's still a long ride down, but when we finally reach the border town of Mohan, and are in sight of the border post, we high-five like two Elvisses leaving the building. However, the border is "closed" after five o'clock, ...
May 17. Ordinary day.
Early morning we move to yet another town called Jinchang. We hope to get back to the main trail heading south towards the Laos-border. The road is beautiful again, and induces appetite for more.


We try to hitchhike here, but my stuck-out thumb is either not understood or all the drivers on the ...