getting to muang sing, not for the weak at heart!

hello from muang sing! hi everyone, i have made it up to northwestern laos, what a trip it has been! let's see if i can catch you a bit up to date. it isn't easy to find internet connections around here, but surprisingly there is a place in town that they let you use their laptop for 1500 kip an hour. so far it's great!

my last day in vieng chan i was buddha day, which meant i woke up to the sounds of monks chanting from my bedroom. i don't know much about buddha day, but i know that monks are supposed to be at the wat for three months following this day, i don't know how closely this tradition is followed or not, it probably depends, just like in many other religions.

during the day i went to the COPE center which is the national rehabilitation center. there i was able to see a few quite good exhibits about the UXO issues in laos and real stories from people about how it has effected their lives. there was also quite a good australian documentary to watch there called bomb harvest. also you could watch the doc bombies, which i have seen but is also very good. i think it is a good place to visit.

one other thing about buddha day is because it is a "holiday" lots of people were out that night drinking... kind of paradoxical when you think about it. that night i went out to a "beer shop" with a couple of friends, a fun place right on the mekong that they said you don't want to tell lonely planet about. we all had some great lao food! morning glory, sticky rice, papaya salad, they all laughed as my lips were burning and nose running, it was so spicey! but i had to try it all, and in the end really dig the food here. the hard thing about drinking beer lao here though, is that you don't drink a bottle of beer by yourself... you all share these large bottles, and before you ever finish a glass, it is always refilled. there is lots of cheers! and eating, drinking, and laughing. before i knew it we ended up at a night club, where there was more passing around a cup of beer, and people wait for you to drink yours and pass it on! so needless to say i felt i should drink what was offered!! we all danced away to from what i could tell was some thai dance music (memories coming back from the bangkok train station!) as well as some american music i had just been introduced to, like little wayne! so funny! really the night only ended at midnight! but i had had plenty, and enjoyed the three person ride home on a little motorbike!

let me tell you. that night back at the guest house i was certainly glad i had a private bathroom, because that is when the first episode of throwing up began.

the next morning my friend dani and i had tickets to fly to northern laos, a town called luang nam tha. i had to wake up early and pack my stuff. we took a tuk tuk to the airport, both of us with bad headaches, at least we could, what do they say, commiserate?

after checking through a very laid back airport, we were on time and ready for our flight at 9am. then in no way that i could understand, they said over loud speakers, maybe the flight would start at 9:30. i guess it was raining fairly hard up north. so we wouldn't then take off until aybe 10:30. i think it was around 11:30 when i realized, we are actually waiting for the plane to leave from nam tha, to get here so we could leave. dani and i finally splurged on some coffee and some kind of butter, tomato, lettuce sandwich in the airport cafe, and met an australian fellow, michael.

just before we finally got the call to board, dani and michael discuss how this route is maybe too dangerous to fly and the airline really shouldn't be doing it, and also discussing another flight last year with americans on it that died. needless to say i had second thoughts! but it was finally time to board just before 1pm, and i just wanted to get out of the airport! things seemed okay for a bit, but for those of you who know me well, know i get pretty bad motion sickness, as "we make turbulence" began, the jumpy plane ride, and not feeling 100% from night before... this is when the second episode of throwing up began.

i have never been so happy to get off the plane! we arrived at luang nam tha, outside the airport was beautiful mountains. we even stopped in town to get some crackers. a friend of dani was to drive us to muan sing (maybe an hour or two northwest by road). dani says to me, well i usually feel sick on the drive, but i think maybe you are worse than me and should sit in the front.

i don't know if our truck was especially bouncy this day, but let me tell you, i felt like i was riding with my stomach in my mouth! every breath i took, i had to concentrate on not puking. i breath in and count to 4, breath out count to 4. if i hadn't been so ill, i would have noticed how strikingly beautiful the drive was, everyone says... i did notice the cows, boar, chickens, some kind of water buffalo maybe? dogs, and and cats on the side of the road though... because that's where i was throwing up. episodes, 3 and 4. i don't think there was any morning glory left...

9 km by car never seemed so far, but i finally made it that last bit without stopped into muang sing. dani and pet dropped me off at a little bungalow of a guesthouse and i laid down, and didn't get up for about 16 hours!

well that was a day i'll never forget! but actually now that i spent a day and some wandering around muang sing, this place is amazing! there are beautiful green rice paddies far across the valley, only concluded by big green mountains shrouded in clouds! it is really incredible! the town is fairly small, but being so close to china (10km), myanmar, and thailand, it is i guess traditionally a big trading town. so there is a big market, and lots of people from tribes around here walk into town and try to sell you things and buy what they need at the market.


this is really quite something i wish you all could see! there is even a special section at the market just for lao lao !!

yesterday i went with the australian fellow by motorbike out to a stuppa just outside of town. it was really in a peaceful setting, with the most amazing ficus tree there i have ever seen! this monk david, (his english name) was quite something! he spoke something like 11 different languages that we could tell, and studied and lived in thailand, myanmar, india, but was born here in muang sing. he told us that buddha's adam's apple was here at this stuppa. it was entertaining to sit and listen to him, even if i could only follow parts of his stories. he had a lot in his mind to say!
the stupathis amazing ficus tree at the stupa

i have been informed i only have 5 minutes left, so i must go, i'm sorry the pictures didn't upload yet (the connection is not wicked fast). i will try again tomorrow. the next day i leave for i guess a quite remote village, another adventure! so i hope you are all well, and love you lots!