8/17/10 (luang nam tha)

Luang Nam Tha

Luang Nam Tha is a town known for trekking and kayaking into the Nam Ha National Protected Area (NPA) and boasts eco-tourism. We were interested in a two-day trekking into the Nam Ha NPA, which included an overnight stay in a village chief’s house. We hadn’t done an overnight stay in a village and were intrigued by the possibility of learning more about the villagers. The challenge was finding Jon a pair of trekking shoes since he threw away his Salomon in Bangkok. We were hoping to find a new pair along the way.

We visited the morning market in search of shoes for Jon. The morning market sells everything you need from clothes to food to toiletries to bike tires. A tour guide recommended Chinese army shoes since it was unlikely we would be able to find good trekking shoes. After some searching we finally located the army shoes but they were all too small for Jon. I guess the Chinese army men have small feet. Without any trekking shoes we weren’t going to be able to go on any treks. We left the market disappointed.

We passed by a local restaurant packed with people. We ventured in and to my luck found out their specialty was noodle soup. I couldn’t resist and ordered a beef noodle soup. Before the noodles came out a plate of bean sprouts, a bowl of sweet and spicy fermented bean dip, and a plate full of veggies were brought out. Then came a huge bowl of sizzling hot noodle soup. All this food for $1.25. Jon suggested I start to rate the noodle soups based on a five noodle scale and I would definitely give this one four noodles. If you are in LNT I highly recommend this place. I couldn’t find a name for the restaurant but it’s located on the main street next to Green Mountain internet cafe. Look for the shop with all the people eating noodle soups.

We returned to our hotel to come up with a new game plan. Since we weren’t going to be able to go trekking we decided to leave the next day and start heading toward Muang Khua. Our plan was to take the slow boat from Muang Khau to Luang Prabang with a possible stop somewhere in between for one night. We heard from our friends Pete and Danielle that the boat trip was the highlight of their adventure.

It was amazingly cool outside so we sat on the balcony reading and enjoying our down time. We didn’t get the chance to explore much of the area but knew there would be more adventures ahead. 

Comments

[ml]

Did you enjoy the boat trip?

[Annie]

The boat trip down the Nam Ou and Mekong was amazing and a highlight of our Laos trip so far. We met an American, Rick, and had fun hanging out with him on boat.