8/18/10 (luang nam tha)

Luang Nam Tha - Udomxai

We had a short transport day ahead of us and woke up at 6:30am. If we got up early enough, there would be hot water for a shower at our guest stay and Annie jumped in first. Once I showered we checked out and went to the main street to find a ride to the bus station. We immediately met an eager tuk tuk driver and Annie went to work haggling with him. When we had an agreed price, we located a fresh baguette at a nearby restaurant for breakfast. The tuk tuk driver picked us up and we made the five minute drive to the Luang Nam Tha bus station. We are starting to get off the beaten path while in the remote Laos countryside and this was evident from the selection of ragged buses on display in the large muddy depot. Annie grabbed our tickets while I helped some locals load two bags of rice onto the roof of an ancient bus. It was unordinary to see the locals loading their motorbikes onto the roof of the old buses. We grabbed two seats in the rear of the bus and were on the road by 8:27am. We were under the impression that the trip would be two and a half hours but learned in reality that the it would take four. We had hoped to catch the 11:30am bus from Udomxai to Nuang Khua. We had heard that the trip along Mekong river from Nuang Khua to Luang Prabang was beautiful and were eager to get our boat trip underway. Since our bus would be arriving after 11:30am, we would have to catch a bus for the second leg of our trip on the following day.

The bus ride was typical of Southeast Asia, bumpy roads, load Asian music, hot, and uncomfortable. The nice thing is that the mountainous scenery in Laos is spectacular. The mountains are etched with vibrantly green rice paddies highlighted by lone bamboo huts along the horizon. The mist in the mountains had yet to burn off from the day's sun and I was pleasantly surprised at just how scenic the drive was. At 1pm we arrived in Udomxai. Udomxai is a transport town that houses many Chinese workers who are contracted labors in the area. It is the hub to further allow you to explore the more remote mountains of the north or make the turn off to the south and head to Luang Prabang. When we got off the bus we visited the local tourist information center to make sure we had the correct travel details for tomorrow's bus schedule and then visited several guest stays to find a spot to rest our heads. Annie visited five before settling on the Lithavixay Guest House based on a Lonely Planet recommendation. The place was good and had free wifi. We ate at a local restaurant and then took a nap for three hours.

Transport days can be a drain and we were surprised at how long we slept. Since there is not a lot to do in Udomxai, Annie and I decided to work on some upcoming articles for the blog and spent the next several hours on this task. At 8:30pm we went out to explore the area to find some food and stumbled upon a small restaurant along a side street that had good food for very reasonable prices. It was funny to see the entire staff mesmerized by the local Asian soap operas as we ate our dinner. When we returned to our guest house, I worked on getting the Cambodia recap video going while Annie read. We felt a little guilty that we have not done much while in Laos but are hopeful things will pick up as we make our way to Luang Prabang.