spackmanadventures: The Long Haul Through Loas

After our wonderful adventures in Northern Thailand

We Made our way across a river into the beautiful enchanted country of LOAS.We had to cross the river and bought a visa when we got to the other side.

We found some interesting foods in Loas, apparently eating dog makes your body really hot. We haven't had the chance to eat any yet. We were going to eat at this market but decided to wait. We have never been so skeptical about the food preparation than here.

This was our first amazing meal in Laos. A whole chicken, sticky rice, papaya salad ( a local dish) and pork.

The first city we went to was a city called Luang Nam Tha. while we were there we went on an Amazing 2 day trek through the rain forest. we stayed with villages with no running water and only electricity from generators for a very short time at night. one of the rich families had a TV. it was a very eye opening experience.

There was some really cool trees too. This one has a cave in side of it. 4 people could fit in it. This happens because over time, trees grow over top of each other killing the ones inside.

After our trek we were invited to 2 different weddings and a dinner (drinking) party they LOVE to dance and try to force feed you Loa Loa (traditional Loas whiskey).

After Luang Nam Tha we took a VIP bus to Nuang Qui. The VIP title is very miss leading. Even though we had a seat number, we didn't get that seat because they over sold the bus by 20 people! We found ourselves first in the stairwell and then under the bus in the cargo hold.... with the chickens. it wasn't safe for us to stay in the stairwell because there was a girl puking her guts out!

After Luang Nam Tha we were going south to take a boat to a little village on the Mekong River called Muang Ngoi. It was a great little town with lots of great hikes and amazing caves to explore.

inovative way to transport cattle in this part of the world

The path that took us to the caves was very sketchy, may even be an insurance risk...

From the top of the mountain there is a sensational view... of the mountains not the people.

We hiked through some rice patties to a village were we made a new friend. a BABY MONKEY.

Eww, look what we found on the trail.

In Luang Prabang we went for a nice bike ride to a waterfall. we didnt think 15 Km was that far... we were wrong especially because it was almost up hill the whole way!! the falls were fun and the ride back was very nice.