New Years in Luang Namtha

We woke up the next day and packed everything up. Then, Maleewon drove us up to the port in the northern end of town in her little pick up. As we were leaving, Don said something to us like, “Now make sure to not get into any trouble over there in Laos!” Sure thing, we said. Henry, Patrick, and I rode in the bed of the truck and Paul rode in front and Maleewon said with a devious smile, “it’s only him that gets in trouble!”

We went through Thai immigration and then hopped aboard a little speed boat that ferried us across the Mekong to the Lao side. Patrick ran into some passport problems there. See, with Peace Corps we are issued an official Peace Corps passport, similar to a diplotmat’s passport, except that it won’t really open any doors for us. Most of us also have our own personal passports and Patrick and I had been using those while Paul and Henry had been using their official PC passports. Patrick ran into a problem when we were getting our Laos visas in Bangkok because the pages of his personal passport (with his Thai visa/stamps) were full, so he got the Laos visa on his PC passport. We hoped that neither country would look for the other’s immigration information but sadly we were wrong. Long story short(er), Patrick had to go back to the Thai side where an official just stamped his personal passport “USED”, which sucks because we’re supposed to turn in our PC Passports once we get back to the states and this now means Patrick can’t just apply for more pages for his personal one but instead has to apply (and pay) for a new passport. Bummer.

After the immigration hoobulah we found a pickup taxi to take us to the bus station. An older man who worked with the taxi men helped us along and it was pretty interesting because he spoke a bit of French, which was better than his English. This was one of the first signs of the relics of French colonialism which we came across. At the bus station Patrick and I each got a bowl of noodle soup and it was quite different than Thai noodle soup. The noodles were not nearly as good and the broth was mostly just water with a bit of oil. When our bus pulled up we were immediately a little tickled as it was a coaster, very similar to what we used in Cameroon. Sure enough, they packed it up and the two Europeans who were also in our row (which consisted of Paul, Henry and I) were kind of pissed at me when I made everyone squish so I could sit down too. All I had to say to them (but unfortunately I couldn’t at the time because they didn’t speak English or French) was: get used to travelling in a third-world country.

Speaking of it being a third world country, this was instantly apparent after crossing the border from Thailand. The houses were mostly made of logs, on stilts, and sometimes even with thatched roofs. The road we were on was recently paved which made for a pretty smooth ride and the scenery was gorgeous. It was funny how crossing the border could bring such a different change in scenery and prosperity. I think I read somewhere (maybe Theroux?) that the best way to enter a country is by land, that way you can see the differences of a country directly as you enter and also see how the minute differences become more apparent the further you get from the border.

We got into the trekking center of Luang Namtha a little before sunset and we spent some time just playing cards and taking the town in. Across the street from our guesthouse was the Luang Namtha night market. We had some roasted/rotisserie duck that night for around 4 bucks. It was amazing, possibly the best duck I’ve ever had.

The next day we got up and walked around town, trying to get a better feel for it. I noticed what I thought was a fairly apparent Soviet influence as the streets were very wide and broad. I’d never been to another Communist country before but I remember reading somewhere that a key element of Soviet city planning was wide boulevards so that military parades and movements could happen with relative ease. Well, as we were walking around an Italian dude waved to us from across the street and then came up to us and asked if we were the Americans at the night market the night before. As you can imagine, there aren’t too many Americans in Laos, given the history with the Vietnam War and the concurrent, secret war in Laos. Well, we told him yes and he said somebody had found an American passport at the market the night before.

I had mine on me, and Patrick and Henry both were positive that they had theirs. Paul looked through his backpack and, sure enough, it wasn’t there. Our guess is that it fell out of his pocket and then luckily some person found it, made it known to the community around (there really weren’t THAT many foreigners in town so it was a bit easier to spot us) that he had it, and then he told the tourist police. Well, it was quite an ordeal getting it back and getting everything squared away. Luckily, though, Paul didn’t have to pay any bribes to get it back. I was guessing he was going to be set back quite a bit but fortunately he wasn’t and ended up buying the guy a case of beers for the New Years celebration that night.

After all this, I talked with my parents on skype for a bit and then the four of us booked a trek leaving on the 2nd. We also went to a restaurant called Minority Restaurant which was run by a family of Black Tais, an ethnic minority in the mountainous hill country of Northern Laos. The food was delicious and they had a wide variety of typical Lao food, traditional Hill Tribe foods (such as Black and Red Tai, Akha, Hmong, etc.) and even a couple burgers and sandwiches on the menu. We all tried some different hill dishes and we were all pleasantly surprised by how good it was. Many people talked about how boring Lao food is, but from this meal on I can only disagree and point to all the flavorful, unique dishes we had for our three weeks there. The food was surprisingly different than Thai food but it was almost always delicious.

Anyway, that night our guesthouse bar/restaurant was closed for the holiday so we went to the night market again and this time got roasted pork ribs with sticky rice and some bomb sweet and spicy dipping sauce. Later, I went and found another guesthouse that was open to watch the Manchester United game. When the game was over, around 10, the bar seemed to be closing so we decided to go see if we could find another place to post up for the countdown. Well, we walked out to the street and NOTHING was open. If we wanted a party, we sure chose the wrong place to spend New Years. Every bar and guesthouse was closed, except one. It was a bar run by two New Zealanders (though I’m sure fronted and quietly owned by some Lao people) and they were working hard to get the party atmosphere going. Well, it worked pretty well and they had a deal on jello-o shots which all the travellers (probably around 30 total—just about all of them in the town) seemed to have been hitting pretty hard before we got there. We were hanging out and having a fun time when we started talking to this threesome travelling: two French girls and an Irish girl. I tried to convince them I was French which the four of us and the Irish lass found funny but the Frenchies were certainly not amused. Note to self: French women don’t like it when an American pretends to be French. Eesh, it was only a joke. It’s not like I was putting on a thick accent or making fun of France or anything. Anyway, we made it to midnight and then the kiwis kicked us out around two at which point we didn’t really have any other option than to just go back to the guesthouse and crash. Unfortunately, Patrick had the key to his room and he’d wandered off somewhere beforehand so Paul shared Henry’s and my bed. Patrick later said he came back and was going to wake Paul up but found the sight too amusing to disturb: the three of us sharing a queen sized bed.

The next day we didn’t do much other than relax around town (our guesthouse still mostly being closed due to the holiday) and get some more meals at the Minority Restaurant and the night market. We played a couple games of Settlers and then turned in pretty early so we could be ready the next day for the start of the trek.