Laos

24 June 2008
Phonsavan, Laos
                After getting our passports stamped by the Laos border control we walked outside to see the bus waiting for all of its passengers.  We were excited, but still unsure where the bus was taking us.  All we knew was the bus was taking us further into Laos.  The bus driver motioned for us to put our bags back onto the bus.
                We waited outside until everyone had their passports checked.  Then we all loaded back onto the bus and continued into Laos.  The bus luckily took us all the way to Phonsavan.  The book said this was the place to see the Plain of Jars, and learn about “The US Led Secret War.”  The bus arrived in the city just before sunset. 
                Our guide book said that there was no ATM in this city and we only at about 150,000 Dong on us, or the equivalent of $16US.  There would be no issue with finding a place to stay for this price (or cheaper), but getting out of the city would be another story. 
                There was a place the book recommended to stay, so we went to check it out.  The Kong Keo Guest House turned out to be only $70,000Kip ($8 USD).  The guy said they had the hottest showers in all of Laos.  This was a big plus.  We asked the guy who checked us in about an ATM in the city.  He said no.  This wasn’t good.  But then a guy that had been hanging out in the background spoke up, “Yes there is, it opened on Thursday.”  Today was Tuesday.  This changed everything.  We told him after going to the ATM and if we were able to get some money, we could book a tour, stay another night and do some laundry.
                The ATM was about 1km away and luckily we were able to get some money.  The day had gone really well so far.  Walking back we got some dinner at a local restaurant.  Then it was back to the guesthouse to confirm a tour for the “Plain of Jars” and say we would be staying for 2 nights.  After all the chores were done, we headed to the room for a much needed shower (yes, it was HOT), and some sleep.  We had been up since 5:00am, it was now after 9.  We were completely exhausted.

25 June 2008
Phonsavan, Laos
                Doug woke up early.  Anna ended up laying in bed until the last minute possible.  At 8:30 we got ourselves up.  The people for the tour were supposed to pick us up at 9:00.  We walked out to the main street to get Anna a coffee and grab some breakfast.  There was a little café across the street.  The woman running the shop didn’t have much food to offer.  So we got two baguettes and some cheese for breakfast.  After Anna drank her coffee, we went back to the guesthouse to find that the tour people had just arrived.  We loaded into the van.
                The first stop was to the Plain of Jars information center.  This is where they talked about some of the history of the jars and the area.  Next we went to the first of 3 sites.  It was really interesting to see these what looked like large cement jars.  But the jars were not made of cement.  The people who created them took the materials from a nearby mountain which was about 10 miles away.  No one is really certain how old the jars are because they are made out of rock, clay, and different stone materials.  They think the jars were used for a burial purpose only because bone has been found stored inside the jars.  The guide was really good about answering questions, and telling us all about the history.
                The next stop was in a village to see how Lao Lao is made.  This is Laos’s equivalent of rice wine.  The guide showed us the process and explained how it was made.  Then he gave all of us a shot to taste the Lao Lao.  It wasn’t too bad, it tasted just like sake.  After the village we were taken to site 2.  Next it was time for lunch.  Lunch was included so we didn’t expect much of a feast.  We were served noodle soup, or Pho.  After lunch we were taken to site 3.  Site 3 was much smaller but prettier to see.  It was set up on a hill like the others, but this was overlooking rice paddies. 
                Once the tour was over the driver brought everyone back to their accommodation.  We said we would get out on the main street and walk in the city a bit.  Doug wanted to check out the MAG information center.  MAG stands for Mine Advisory Group and is a British nonprofit organization that helps locate and dispose of mines.  Their mission in Laos was to assist finding and disabling ordinance dropped in Laos by the Americans during the Vietnam War (what has been called “the secret war”).  Apparently a lot of the ordinance (more specifically, cluster bombs) dropped did not go off.  And thirty years later the villagers are still finding unexploded bombs while they are farming.  Kids are still finding the bombs, playing with them, and then the bombs unexpectedly exploding on them.  We wanted to learn more.   They had a sign showing a movie called “Bombies” at 5:00pm.  We decided to come back then to view the movie.
                We had about 45 minutes to kill.  Anna wanted to check out the market and see what interesting things they were selling.  She was not disappointed, there were some interesting things being sold like; live eels, live crabs, fish, and other usual things.  Soon we wandered back to the MAG to see the movie.
                After viewing the movie our mood was not the best.  The movie was pretty informative (and at times quite graphic).  It covered a bit of history and a lot of the ongoing education (mostly for children) and disposal efforts.
                We went next door to a restaurant for dinner.  Once we had our beer and ordered our food.  A couple from the tour walked by, and decided to join us.  The four of us chatted for a while.  Then another couple who was on the tour came by and joined us.  Meanwhile Doug began chatting with a guy sitting at a table next to us.  It turned out he grew up in Redding, California.  We all chatted for a while and enjoyed numerous rounds of “Beer Laos” (the official beer of Laos).  Then it was time to get back to the room.   

26 June 2008
Phonsavan/Luang Prabang, Laos
                Doug got up to get the laundry we had dropped off the day before.  The guy running the desk said it still wasn’t dry.  Doug went back to the room to start getting everything else packed up when the guy came by with our clothes.  Most of them were still a bit damp, but nothing like what we dealt with when we left Fiji.
                Finally packed up, we checked out.  Apparently our Tuk Tuk ride was “comp’d” for us (probably because of the laundry).  The driver took us to the bus station for our ride to Luang Prabang.  Anna gave the driver a 5000 kip tip (the cost of one of our fares) and the driver was extremely grateful.  The guys at the bus station quickly grabbed our bags and loaded them for us.  We bought some food and bus tickets and settled in. 
                Mark and Karen (one of the couples from the tour we did the day before) were also on the bus with us.  Everybody(about 6 others) else on the bus was a local.  The good news was this bus probably wasn’t even half full (and stayed that way throughout the trip).  Along the way we were treated to the beautiful green mountain sides.  Another nice thing about our ride was seeing how little trash there was along the road.  Unfortunately at all of our stops we saw the locals disregarding their trash wherever they pleased.
                The bus pulled into Luang Prabang earlier than we had expected.  The four of us gathered our stuff and headed over to the tuk tuk drivers.  After a bit of negotiation and threatening to walk away we finally got them down to our price.  After everybody but Doug had got into the vehicle they said they wanted full payment right now.  We refused, they protested, Doug started to unload bags and they relented.  You have no idea what they are going to do if you give them money in advance.  They could have dropped us anywhere.
                The tuk tuk dropped us off in the center of town and after getting our bearings we found the hotel we were looking for.  Thankfully they had two rooms available and they cost 70,000 kip per night ($8USD).  We split off from Mark and Karen and got settled before heading into town.
                The town was quite nice.  It is settled right on the Mekong River.  In town there are a bunch of temples, small shops, restaurants, spas and tour operators.  Despite its size the town was very quiet (after Vietnam though, artillery fire is quiet).  In town we found an ATM and also started looking at possible tour groups for a couple days excursion in the jungle.
                Across from our hotel was a small eatery (owned and operated by our hotel).  We stopped for drinks and to split some spring rolls.  They gave Anna a coconut shake instead of a pineapple shake, but the spring rolls were some of the best we’ve had in Asia.
                After some time resting and cleaning up in the room we headed out to see the night market.  At night they shut down a large part of the main roadway and it fills with stands selling lots of local handmade crafts and cloths.  Scarves and bed covers seem to be the hot ticket with Beer Laos T-shirts coming in second.  Anna wasted no time and started pricing items she planned on buying a few days down the road.
                For dinner we stopped in at a Thai place and split some pretty good pad thai and then went back to the room.  The bad news for the evening was our room was practically an oven.  This room only had a fan that pushed the warm air around.  We both tried to get some sleep on top of the bed with the fan pointed directly at us on “high.”

27 June 2008
Luang Prabang, Laos
                We both slept terrible and our room was still hot.  When we stepped out of the room, the lobby was actually cooler than our room.  Our first stop was a bakery to get some breakfast before going to check out some of the temples.  At the bakery we met a guy from Denmark who was trying to put together a group to go check out a waterfall that was 32 kilometers away.  The more people you have the tuk tuk drivers here charge less per person.  If we joined him and two more people showed up, we could go up for 25,000 kip each.  At the end of our breakfast 3 Americans showed up and they decided to come with us after they ate. 
                With everybody planning to go swimming, we headed back to the room to change into our swim suits.  On the door we found a note from Mark and Karen saying they also roasted last night and were switching hotels (we thought of doing this too, but we had already paid for two nights). 
                Back at the restaurant we started to load up when two more people showed up.  This brought the price per person down to 20,000 kip each (a little over $2USD).  The ride took nearly an hour since we were averaging around 40kph.  Along the way we passed a couple locals riding some elephants on the road.
                Once we arrived we all split up.  The guy from Denmark joined us as we set off.  At the ticket booth we had to pay a 20,000 kip entrance fee and then headed in.  Just a little inside the jungle from the entrance was a bear sanctuary.  They had a bunch of bears that were all playing with tires and other things.  I’m sure that this sanctuary was helping them, but it is always a bit sad to see them trapped behind a fence.
                Walking further we reached a turquoise pool of water that was a swimming hole.  We kept walking up stream to find one more pool after another until we reached the base of the water fall.  The falls were much nicer than we had expected.  Looking about halfway up the falls on the side we could make out a wooden hand rail and to our right was a small trail.  We decided to head up.  After a steep climb we found the trail we had seen below.  As we headed up it, we came to some steps that water flowing over them from a smaller fall.  Thankfully the steps weren’t slippery and we came out to another large pool with some people swimming and taking photos.
                A guy said we should jump in and climb up to this pool that was just a bit higher and at the base of the falls.  Doug went in first.  The water was cold but very refreshing, Anna went after Doug returned.
                We decided to see if the trail we took went any higher.  We got back to the main trail and started climbing.  At the top we were all pretty sweaty and looking forward to our swim in the pools below.  The water at the top of the falls was pretty calm and we were able to cross over the top to the other side.  We met people coming up from the other side and we discovered that the trail went all the way back down on this side.
                After an easier climb down, we headed to the first pool.  On the way Doug stopped to get a picture of a warning sign that said, “Do Not Swimming Area.”  We took turns jumping into and swimming in the cool blue waters.  After awhile we headed back down to get a bite to eat.
                There were a couple restaurants right near the entrance.  We chose one that served all the local stuff and also had sandwiches.  Anna got some chicken pho (noodle soup) and Doug had a chicken sandwich.  Awhile later the Americans came down, but it wasn’t until we started to get a bit of rain that the last two showed up.  All of us piled back into the tuk tuk and went back to town.
                Back in town we set off to find a hotel to check into when we got back from the jungle trip we still needed to book.  Also, it being Anna’s birthday soon, it had to be a bit nicer than your average $8 room.  The first place we checked was pretty inexpensive and decent.  The second place was very very nice and consequently very very expensive ($75USD {our daily budget}).  The third place was just right (sounds like the three bears).  We booked a $25USD room that had AC, TV, fridge and was, over all, very nice.
                Next we set off to book our tour.  We settled on an overnight trekking tour.  We picked a tour company that specializes in eco-tours to nearby villages.  They limit the number of people visiting to make sure the villages aren’t over run with tourists.  They also send 32% of the money they earn, right back to the community.  The tour we booked would allow us to visit a couple villages and stay the night in one, and then visit a few more on the way out.  We were also guaranteed about 10 hours of trekking over the next two days.
                After getting cleaned up we met up with Mark and Karen for dinner.  The three of us decided on the restaurant across the street from our hotel.  We all shared some beer and had a really nice dinner.  Once dinner was over, Karen had still not seen the whole of the night market.  So the four of us headed to the market, and then back to the room for the evening.

28 June 2008
Luang Prabang, Laos
                The both of us attempted to get some rest.  It had started raining during the night, which brought the temperature down so we could get some rest.  We were both up, and ready to check out at 8:30am.  The Green Discovery place (where we had booked our tour) was only a 5 minute walk away.   Once we reached Green Discovery Doug paid the remainder of the trek bill while Anna went across the street to grab a couple sweet rolls for breakfast.
                The guide met us at Green Discovery.  His name, translated into English was “Big”.  He said when he was born his mom thought he was really big for a newborn baby.  So she named him big.  The three of us loaded into a van.  We were able to leave our big bags behind for the evening.  It would not have been fun to bring our big bags along with the little bags through 10 hours of mountain trekking.
                After about an hour in the van the driver dropped us off at the side of the road in front of a tractor trail.  Big said, “let’s go”.  We walked for about an hour then stopped for a water rest.  The first part of the trek was on more of a tractor trail.  Another couple hours went by, and we came to a village for lunch.  Big, had already prepared food he had stored in his backpack for lunch.  We ate rice with a couple different stir fry dishes, and soft spring rolls.  After eating lunch Big explained the layout of the village, and their culture. 
                We soon left.  Only about another 15 minutes of walking went by, and we reached another village at the top of the mountain.  The village people were completely different than the other village.  The languages were different, and even their marriage traditions differed.  (Both of these villages were different from the Lao culture)  Big explained the culture in this village, and then we were off.  There would be another 4 hours of trekking before coming to another village where we would sleep.
                During the 4 hours of trekking we did stop occasionally, encountered leeches (Anna’s first time), slid down mud, and experienced the jungle rain.  It was really nice to reach the village.  We were very tired, wet, and dirty.
                 After getting settled in the village Big made us a dinner of vegetable stir fry (2 kinds), sticky rice, and pineapple for dessert.  While dinner was being prepared Anna attempted to play patty cake with one of the village girls.  (She was pretty rusty; being it has been over 20 years since she had played)  Once dinner was over Big sat next to us, and explained the villagers would be performing a small ceremony for a new couple in the village.  It was interesting to watch how they blessed, and wished this couple good fortune.  We got to participate a little.  Anna donated $10,000 kip to their money.  We were also able to give, and experience the cotton string wish.  Everyone sits around a bowl with flowers, and rice.  Then everyone takes the blessed cotton strings placed on the flowers, and puts then on the couple wrists with a good life blessing.  Everyone in the circle does this for the couple.  But some of them also put the cotton on our wrists with their blessing.  It was amazing to see how everyone wished everyone good life and health.  Once the ceremony was complete, then came out the Lao Lao.  We were both given a glass of Lao Lao.  Then we were given a second glass.  In this village they believe one had to drink two glasses, one for each leg.  If someone only drinks one glass of Lao Lao, then only one leg will work the next day.  We definitely needed two legs to work the next day, to leave the village, so we accepted the second glass. 
                Once the Lao Lao was done being distributed then the homemade whiskey came out.  Both the Lao Lao, and whiskey are made out of the sticky rice, but with a different process. We both tried the whiskey and hung out with the villagers for another hour before going to sleep.

29 June 2008
Luang Prabang, Laos
                             The villagers stayed up late with their party, the rain came during the night, and the villagers decided to get up early the next morning.  Anna woke up at 6:30, thinking she had slept in, because the villagers had already been up for over an hour.  Or they possibly did not go to sleep.  We got ourselves out of bed.  Anna went downstairs to use the toilet, and found Big.  He said he would be up with coffee, and some breakfast shortly.
                Big soon came with some fruit.  He said the people in the house were making their breakfast.  Once they were finished he would then make our breakfast.  After chatting upstairs for 20 minutes, the three of us went downstairs.  Big made us each an egg with a baguette for breakfast.  Next he made our lunch for later in the day.  We went upstairs to gather our things.
                After lunch was cooked and stored, we said our goodbyes to the villagers.  Big wanted to show us the villagers planting in the rice paddies nearby.  He explained to us the process, and which part the women, and men partake in.  We then left the area, heading back to the main road.  On the way back we stopped by a waterfall for a few minutes.  Then for lunch we stopped at another village.  Thankfully on the way to the village it rained (sarcasm).  We were very wet by this point.  After lunch it was about another hour of trekking before reaching the main road. 
                The van was patiently waiting for us at the head of the tractor trail.  It was another hour before reaching town.  We said our “thank you’s,” and goodbye’s to Big before departing the Green Discovery office.  We loaded our bags on our backs, and headed to the guesthouse we had reserved two days earlier.  Once checking into the guesthouse, we both took much needed showers. 
                We rested for a little while, then headed out to the main drag to check internet, check out the market again, and have some dinner before heading back to the room for the night.  Oddly enough before we went to bed we met another American couple (not unusual in Laos), Chris and Amanda, but the unusual part was it was also Chris’s birthday tomorrow (same as Anna’s).  We gave them our email so we could meet up the next day for a birthday drink.

30 June 2008
Luang Prabang, Laos
                Today was Anna’s birthday, and we started it off by sleeping in a bit.  Then we headed out to try our free breakfast.  They gave us eggs cooked to order, bread with butter and jam, a plate of fruit and coffee or tea.  It was a lot of food.  While we waited for breakfast Anna ran back in the room to load a flash drive with photos we took from the village. 
                It was Monday here but Sunday back in the States, so we found an internet café where we could make some phone calls home.  Then we went into town to find a place to print out our trekking photos.  After getting some directions we found a Kodak store that did prints.  We had them print out 16 photos so we could give them back to the villagers (Anna’s favorite was “LP Trek 26”).  We dropped them off at the Green Discovery office and hopefully they have made it to the villagers that were kind enough to let us take their photos.
                Laos is a very poor country and there are a numerous organizations that are trying to help.  There was one such place in town that we decided to stop by.  It was called, “Big Brother Mouse.”  This organization creates children books printed in Laotian (most in Laotian and English).  Most families here can’t afford books so they encourage tourists to buy them and distribute them when they visit villages (we wish we would have bought some before our trek).  We decided to buy a “village pack” which had about 6 books in it for about $12 USD.  Later while walking through town we came across a girl selling bracelets.  Anna decided instead of buying a bracelet, she would give her a book instead.  Of course 4 more girls came out of nowhere and Anna couldn’t help but give away all but one of the books.  Later we walked by and saw them reading the books though which was nice.
                Next was Anna’s birthday treat, a one hour massage.  We were taken upstairs and given some very loose fitting clothes to put on.  Then they pointed to a row of beds and they began our massages.  Doug’s massage was a little on the soft side, meanwhile Anna’s was too rough (so much for a birthday gift).  
                On the way back to the room we ran into Chris.  We wished him a Happy Birthday and made plans to meet him and Amanda at a nearby restaurant later.
                After a rest in the room we met up with Karen and Mark at their hotel.   At the aforementioned restaurant we met Amanda who said she and Chris couldn’t have dinner with us, but would meet up with us later at a nearby wine bar.  We went off with Mark and Karen and found a river side restaurant and had a nice dinner with a bottle of wine.  After dinner we went to the wine bar and got another bottle of wine and were joined later by Amanda and Chris.  Around 10 pm the whole town started to shutdown so we all decided we should head on back to our hotels. 

1 July 2008
Luang Prabang, Laos
                Most of the morning was spent getting ready to update the website.  We finished up journals and created photo pages.  We found an internet café that would let us plug in we began updating.  While this was going on we started doing runs to the ATM. 
                As we mentioned before, our guide book said there were only 5 ATMs in the entire country.  We got lucky when we arrived in Phonsavan because one had just opened.  However, our guide book didn’t indicate any ATMs north of where we were going.  That being the case, we needed to have enough cash to get us to China.  The problem with the ATMs here is that the most you can take out is 700,000 kip (just over $80 USD) in one withdrawal.  Anna did two withdrawals and then Doug did two more.  The funny part was all the bills we got from the ATM were 20,000 kip.  700,000 times 4 withdrawals, divided by 20,000 means we had 140 bills which is a stack thicker than a deck of playing cards but barely worth over $300 USD.  We took a photo later of Doug fanning himself with the cash.
                With the camera in hand, we decided to go see the outside of town.  We walked around the town and checked out some of the wats (temples).  Most of the wats in Luang Prabang are actually being used by monks every day.  This kept us out of most of the wats because we didn’t want to potentially offend the monks by doing something (unknowingly) wrong. 
                We really like Luang Prabang, it is small and quiet.  However we had been here for about 5 days now and had pretty much seen everything there is to see and we were starting to get restless.  We decided to drop in on Mark and Karen and invite them over to play cards later.  We stopped by their room and thankfully they were in.  We chatted with them for a while and made plans to meet at our hotel later in the evening.
                Next was what Anna had been waiting 5 days for, the night market.  Every night we have spent here has included at least one lap through the local vendors market and Anna has been pricing everything that has caught her eye.  Being that there are a couple gifts purchased, the only item we will mention is that Doug got a Beer Lao shirt for about $1.75 USD (and probably could have even got it for less).
                On the way back to the room we got some beer and shortly later Karen and Mark joined us the hotel room.  We played cards and enjoyed our beer before saying goodbye and good night.

2 July 2008
Luang Prabang, Laos
                Once we were packed up and checked out we found a tuk tuk to take us to the bus station.  We negotiated 20,000 kip (about $2.25 USD).  About 15 minutes into the ride we felt bad for paying so little.  When we arrived we handed the driver another 10,000 kip and he was very excited.
                We got our bus tickets and shortly later we were on the road.  Fortunately the bus was about half full again.  Unfortunately about 7 hours in we got a flat tire on the right rear axle.  The crew quickly broke the bolts, jacked the bus, removed and replaced the tire and we were ready to go.  Doug noticed two things.  First, they didn’t chock the other wheels (we were on a shallow slope, but no big deal).  Second, when they were rolling the spare over the tire didn’t look perfectly round.  Sure enough as soon as we got some speed we heard a “thump, thump, thump” coming from our new tire.  About 15 minutes later we heard it blow.  The driver knew we didn’t have a spare so he just kept on driving (we had dual wheels for each hub on the rear axle).  About 30 minutes later a bus from the same company was coming the other way.  Our bus moved into the middle of the road forcing it to stop.  Our bus crew took the spare from the other bus and once again we were back to 100%.
                It was just after 7pm when we arrived at the bus station near Luang Namtha.  Apparently this was the new bus station and was 10 km away from the center of town.  We loaded up in a small truck / tuk tuk and went into town.  We were dropped off in front of a few guest houses.  All the tourists headed for the closest one, so we headed down the street.  We then saw one our guide book highly recommended and decided to give them a shot.  They didn’t have a normal “double” room available, just a room with two twin beds or a family room.  The lady decided to give us the large family room at the double room rate, but we would have to switch the next day.  No problem.
                In town we found a restaurant for dinner and then we headed back for the evening.

3 July 2008
Luang Namtha, Laos
                After getting up we packed up so we could easily change rooms later.  Then we set off to check our email.  Next we set off to find a phone to call Sean because he and his wife Jen just had a baby girl on the 30th of June.  After we spent a few minutes congratulating Sean and catching up a bit we set off to book a tour.
                At the Green Discovery office we saw two different one day treks.  Our little pamphlet said that there was another one that went to a lost city and we were really interested in that.  The guy running the desk said that that particular tour was based in a town 60 km away.  Meanwhile the prices for the one day trek were pretty expensive so we decided to think about it.
                Back at our hotel we decided to have some breakfast.  While eating we decided to get a couple bicycles and ride around town.  With the bikes we were also given a map and a couple recommendations of places to go.  Just before we set out we decided to stop by the local branch of the Big Brother Mouse for some more books.  We bought pack with 9 books and then a few extras.  We set of to find a waterfall.
                After navigating through some paved roads we came to a 3 km dirt road that would take us to the water fall.  When we arrived at the “parking area” we gave a book to the kids that were with a girl who was selling the entry tickets.
                The waterfall was pretty small and not too impressive, but it was fun getting there.  On the way back out we bought an ice cold Coke and gave another book away to some other kids.
                Next we headed off to see a nearby Wat (large, religious, gold colored building).  We came across a couple boys who helped point us in the right direction.  When we got to the top we saw them again and Doug gave the younger boy a book and he gave Doug a big “thumbs up.”
                There was supposed to be another large Wat nearby but the trail we followed on our map just led to a rice paddy.  We decided to bypass it and head down the road.  On the way we stopped and gave away more books to kids.  They were all so happy to get the books it kind of gave us mixed emotions.  On one hand we were really happy to see how thankful they were to be getting these books, but on the other hand we couldn’t give them all one.
                Back into town we dropped off our bikes and stopped in a place that was co-owned by a Brit who was married to a Laotian woman.  We had an iced lemon drink and chatted for a bit before heading off to the market. 
                Back at our room we got some rest and then went out to dinner and then back again for the night.

4 July 2008
Luang Namtha/Muang Sing, Laos
                The alarm woke us up around 7:00am.  We packed our things, and checked out of the room.  The bus station was only a 10 minute walk away.  Arriving at the bus station, Doug bought the bus tickets to Muang Sing.  While Doug was doing this, Anna made an attempt to load her bag onto the van/bus.  This is when the driver told her it was full.  Anna then relayed this message to Doug.  The next bus would be at 9:30.  It was now only 8:00am.  There was plenty of time for a coffee.
                Anna went to a nearby café and ordered a coffee with sweat cream.  Doug took a seat in the next van/bus saving two seats.  The seats in this type of transportation were first come first serve.  If a seat was not occupied then it was free, and once the transportation was full then it was full.  It didn’t matter when a ticket was purchased. 
                The van/bus left promptly at 9:30.  We arrived in Muang Sing at 11:00am.  The bus stopped short of the bus station to let some others out early in town.  We joined them.  There was a couple from Holland who had pin pointed exactly where we were and if we got out now, we would be closer to the guesthouse.  If we would have stayed on the bus, the walk would have been a few blocks further.  The four of us walked to a place with individual bungalows.  After inspecting the room, we agreed to take it. 
                Once our bags were set down, we walked back into town to have some lunch.  A restaurant on the side of the street looked decent enough and there were locals eating there.  This is always a good sign.  We sat down to order. 
                After lunch we walked over to the local tourist office.  Next door was a place who offered trekking.  We inquired the price, and were not happy.  To join a tour already going on would cost us $40 each.  This was only a day trek, including only one meal.  We left, pondering if it was worth it.   The guide book we have said it was easy to rent a bicycle, and do an independent tour of the city/villages (kind of like we did in Namtha).  This is what we decided we would do.
                We hung out in town for a bit and checked out the market.  There wasn’t a lot happening, this is a very small town.  After a bit we went back to the room to relax before dinner.
                For dinner we decided to go to the restaurant attached to the bungalows we were staying at.  Doug ordered a 4th of July celebration beer.  We sang happy birthday to America during dinner.  The couple from Holland soon showed up at the restaurant, sitting on their own.  Doug wanted to buy them a “4th of July” beer.  They were grateful and toasted America’s Independence Day.  After a bit we headed back to the room for the night.

5 July 2008
Muang Sing, Laos
                We finally rolled out of bed a little after 7:00.  Or Anna finally rolled out of bed about then.  Doug is always patiently waiting for her to wake up.  “Manual” said the market is the busiest between 6 and 8 in the morning.  We decided to go check out the market.  It ended up not being much more exciting than the day before.  There were a lot more people, but all the same items for sale.
                For breakfast we sadly went back to the restaurant attached to the bungalows.  The both of us ordered banana pancakes and fruit shakes.  The waiter soon came back telling us they were out of banana pancakes.  This was odd, since Doug had ordered a banana shake.  They definitely were not out of bananas.  We ordered baguettes with bread and jam. 
                After breakfast we went down the street to rent bicycles.  Luckily with the rental we received a map of the town.  The guy also explained to us which villages would be good to visit, and which villages had specialties.  One village makes rice whiskey, another is considered the weaving village, and another makes rice noodles. 
                The first destination was the China boarder.  The border between China and Laos was only 12 Km away.  This isn’t a border we would be able to cross into.  It is not a “Formal” border crossing, possibly only for Laos, and China locals.  It could also possibly be for agricultural purposes.  We saw trucks come from China through the border, but no people.  The ride was beautiful.  There was a little store at the border; we each had a cold soda.  The ride was short, but slightly up hill and we were a little sweaty. 
                After drinking our sodas we headed back to town.  We had remembered to bring the camera, but not the battery.  Doug charged both camera batteries the night before, but we forgot to put the battery back into the small camera.  It was back to the room to get the battery.  Then back on the road again.  Anna really wanted to go to the weaving village to see how some of the crafts were made. 
                Arriving at the village we began walking our bikes.  It didn’t take long before some of the villagers saw us, and came running with their items to sell.  Anna had to buy a couple things.  We hung out in the village for another 30 minutes.  A woman motioned for us to follow her.  She brought us to her home.  She took us upstairs and inside.  Here she offered us a glass of water.  Then she showed us how the weaving is done.  Last, but not least, the items to sell came out.  Anna gave in again.  Her compromise was that she and Doug hadn’t done a tour. 
                After this village we headed to the rice noodle village.  We didn’t get the same welcome at this village.  The villagers were nice and said hello.  But we didn’t see anyone working, or making the rice noodles.  We walked around for 10 minutes or so then left. 
                We went back to the bungalows to have a little lunch.  While waiting for our food to come a couple of girls from the Czech Republic walked by.  They had just arrived in the city, and were looking for some people to join their trekking group.  By now we had already decided to leave the next day for China and save our money.  China and the later countries we would be visiting would not be as cheap as Southeast Asia had been.  The four of us chatted for a while, and then said our goodbyes.
                We went to turn in our bicycles, and then headed to the market to exchange our Kip into Yuan.  It is always easier to have some of the currency going into the country.  There have been a couple time we have given into bad money exchanges because we really need the currency.  Thankfully this time we did pretty well.  Then back to the room to rest.  Although the clouds were out, we both had acquired bad sun burns on our arms and faces.
                Around 6:00 we headed out for dinner.  The couple from Holland recommended another restaurant in town.  Doug ordered fried noodles with a beer Lao and Anna ordered fresh spring rolls with a piña colada made with lao lao instead of rum.  The food was quite good.  Anna’s piña colada was decent enough.  It tasted more like piña colada with vodka instead of rum.  Shortly after the food arrived the girls from the Czech Republic walked by and joined us. 
                It was interesting chatting with them.  One of the girls had traveled in Australia and India, but also lived in Maryland for a short while.  She gave Anna her email information.  They should be returning home the middle of September.  We should be going there towards the end of September.  It is always nice to have a local show a tourist around.  After chatting for a while we said our goodbyes again.  It was back to the room for the night.

6 July 2008
Muang Sing, Laos
                The alarm went off at 6:30.  We gathered our bags together and checked out of the bungalow.  At the bus station we bought our tickets back to Luang Namtha.  From there we would get tickets to Borten, the Laos/China border.
                The bus left promptly at 8:00 and arrived in Luang Namtha after 10:00.  The next bus to Borten was at 11:00.  Anna bought the tickets to Borten.  We were a little hungry.  So we went to one of the nearby cafes and had a cheese sandwich.  Well Anna had a tomato and cheese sandwich.  Doug’s was just cheese with a little bit of lettuce (those tomatoes will kill you).  Anna also ordered her coffee with sweet milk. 
                The tuk truck/bus left at 11:00.  We arrived at the border a little after 12:00.  We each got stamped out of Laos, and then hopped a tuk truck up to the China border. 

Yunnan Province

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