Phongsali to Luang Prabang

Friday 14/12/2012 - PHONGSALI TO HUANG KHUA (and then LUANG PRABANG).

1h tuktuk + 2h boat + 3h bus + 6h bus + tuktuk + after-midnight search for guesthouse...

Difficult wakeup...

The boat landing of Hat Sa.

On the right hand side the shop where I bought some of the nice oranges.

Boarding through slippery mud.

The scary boat trip from Hat Sa to Muang Khua.

Drifting away through wild river rapids after a first motor breakdown.

Often through rapids.

Finally safely disembarking in Huang Khua.

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Phongsali

Tuesday 11/12, Wednesday 12/12 and Thursday 13/12 - PHONGSALI.

Short walk to the Phoufa stupa.

Pay the entrance fee (5000Kip), and get one or more Laolaos (Laotian rice whisky),

to motivate for the climb.

Halfway the climb there is platform offering a very high swing.

After more than 822 steps, the stupa.

Sunset.

2days (1 night) trek to Akha mountain villages (Ethnic minority).

First Akha village (Salaabe).

Pumpkin lunch is being prepared.

 Little boy helping his mother.

Me helping the father.

Lunch.

Tiger footprint!

Another tiger footprint.

Suspension bridge.

Bridge built in 20010?

Electricity generators in the river.

The Akha Pixo village (Boun Phiang) where we spent the night.

Dinner.

Breakfast.

The dream time with the host family.

From left to right: me (B), the parents, Aureliane (F) and Dewy (NL).

Classrooms.

Rice wine distillery.

Near to the end of our two days trek.

Local transportation to Boun Neua.

Leaving Boung Hong, our guide, in front of his office at the bus station of Boun Neua.

You might contact him by email at tlaochanh@gmail.com.

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Phonsavan to Phongsali.

Monday 10/12 - Phonsavan to Phongsali.

Phonsavan to Luang Prabang and connecting Luang Prabang to Phongsali bus rides (10h + 14h).

The bus awaiting in Phonsavan, departure at 8:00 AM.

Along the road: people buying oil-rich wood,

used for firing their charcoal ovens.

Along the road, children playing in their fathers' garage

Flat tire repaired, while strange people walks by:

a guy on the drip and a soldier.

Woman preparing my sandwiches.

Her restaurant kitchen.

Guess the content of my two sandwiches ;-)

Big mess in the bus.

10 minutes stop at Boun Tai, 8:00AM. Well appreciated.

I was 24 hours underway.  Still two hours to go.

Arrived at destination after 24 hours of bus, 26 hours elapsed.

 

The two days trek for tomorrow and day after tomorrow.

Visit of remote Akha ethnic minority village Phunoy.

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Phonsavan

Sunday 22/12/2012 - PHONSAVAN (Plains of Jars).

"Site 1".

Imagine thousands of giant stone-carved jars of unknown origin,

scattered over hundreds of square kilometers: the plain of jars.

Many jars were damaged by the American bombings,

and many unexploded bombs are still present.

Safe zones are delimited by these signs.

The British army's MAG is active in cleaning the area from UXOs

(MAG: Mines Advisory Group, UXO: UneXploded Ordnance).

This jar measures 2.5m in diameter.

Distillery (along the road to "Site 2").

"Whisky" factory, the general manager.

At work, distilling rice alcohol.

"Site 2".

Some jars were broken by growing trees.

Parents, happy to receive a little word from their son, after 1.5 year.

An hotel employee of my Vientiane hotel wrote it the previous day,

when he learned about my visit to the Plain of Jars.

Russian tank (along the road to "Site 3").

A flower grows through the hole left by a bullet.

"Site 3".

 Site 3.

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