A different world

We had to get a tuktuk to the bus station at 8:30am so decided we didnt have time for breakfast, but when we tried to check out the proprietor wanted more of our money so told us we had plenty of time. Our tuktuk driver was not impressed when he arrived and we were drinking tea/milo. And even more so when our breakfast actually arrived. He was going to lose money by not getting to take other tourist to the boats that were heading south... and the breakfast was rubbish. We got to the station but the bus was full... luckily we only had to wait an extra 30 min for the next one. We left town with a full bus, or so I thought. When we got to Luang Nam Tha we had 31 people in a bus seating 18...

The trip north from Huay Xai was normally 7 hours, but Choco's guide book told us a new road was going in - to be completed in 2005 - which should cut the journey down to 4 hours. Soon after we started out Choco commented on the quality of the new road, so we hoped it wouldnt take us too long to get to Luang Nam Tha. However within seconds of this comment the paved road abruptly stopped, replaced by a dirt track. This deteriorated into a cloud of dust - I was amazed the driver could see where he was going. The road upgrade was really interesting, it was obviously decided that the road should be flat even though it was going through mountains. Bridges and tunnels were (I guess) not in favour so the mountains were moved instead... it was an amazing feat. We assumed that we were experiencing the end of the road works. This was not the case. Instead of creating the new road in sections and using the old road until the new was finished, the whole of the old road was destroyed before the new road was created. It made for an interesting trip.

Along the way a couple of things happened. We stopped to get more passengers and the bus stopped so half the males on the bus got off and gave it a push start. Also at one point the smell of petrol wafted through the bus. The driver finally pulled over and saw a trail of fluid behind the bus. We all got off the bus while the driver fixed the problem. While we were standing around waiting an old lady (60-70 yo) passed us carrying a huge load on her back walking over the mountain. I was stunned. She kept up a good pace. A young couple on a bike also stopped when they saw us. The guy had nasty scrapes on his face and his jeans were torn on his knee. They had just been to his cousins wedding and he had been drinking..... After the driver fixed the leak we were on our way, but only til the next village where the driver stopped to get some more fuel. He went and asked the owner of a house, but he was very drunk, another wedding, they went for a walk - not sure why, toilet, fresh air??? - but the owner got us some fuel after that. He then came around the bus and was trying to talk to us, something about wanting to invite us inside and say hello and sorry that he was a little drunk!

Finally after 7 hours we were at our destination. Then all we needed to do was find accommodation which turned out to be a tedious job in very cold (I have lived in summer for the last year, so yeah 15 degrees is very cold, especially when you dont have appropriate clothes) conditions!