Thursday 28th February
The night had once again been a comfortable and peaceful one for me. I was also pleased that the others had slept well, for once. It had been a lot warmer; given the lower than planned number of people, we had twice the number of duvets to ourselves, so it was pretty toasty. I felt 100% again and easily put away a breakfast of noodles, boiled chicken (which was like eating an old boot, but it also made a nice change), and steamed rice. We packed up, paid a brief visit to the deputy chief of the village and moved onwards on the final trek of our journey.
The trail was less strenuous than the day before and the route got noticeably busier the closer we got to our final destination that was the main road of Highway 13. Akha women – some of whom looked to me like they were about 50 or 60, but who had most likely aged due to hard, laboursome lives – walked to the market in Vieng Poukha with large, heavy looking baskets of mushrooms and other produce on their backs, with a strap around their foreheads designed to take most of the load (they must have necks like Mike Tyson at his peak!). Their lips are usually stained red after chewing on the bark of the betel plant that they are fond of (leaving big patches of red spit all over the trail, so obvious that even I could have tracked their paths if necessary).
We made it back to the main road at 14.30, bang on time to meet the pick-up that was to collect us and bring us back to Vieng Poukha. It didn't arrive, so we hitched a lift with a tractor that was pulling a cart behind it, on which sat two women and a couple of kids. We jumped on, laughing at just how slow it was going (we could have jogged faster), and an image of the past that you no longer see at home. It was one of those moments that can really colour a trip, creating an impression of a place and it's people that is really charming. Ever since I had arrived in Laos I had liked the place, and this little step back in time only served to endear me to it even more.
After a few kilometres, our lift caught up with us and we speeded back to Vieng Poukha, picked up our bags, and said goodbye to our guide. Sombat had been an excellent leader of the trip who looked after us very well, cooking most of our food and providing us with very interesting information on the people and places that we had visited. I particularly enjoyed his sense of humour, which basically involved him laughing at anyone and anything, but in a cheery, harmless sort of way.
We managed to get on the bus to Luang Nam Tha but only by a matter of seconds, otherwise we faced another night in the rat-infested guesthouse where we had stayed a few nights before. All of the heavy, bulky luggage that is transported with the passengers is stored on the roof of the bus, with a couple of guys usually responsible for making sure that it is secured with rope or tarpaulin. I had seen one of the guys lying flat on the roof of the bus when it pulled up at our stop, but I didn't notice – or even start to think – whether he had climbed down or not. Anyway, about five minutes into the journey, I looked out of the window to my right and saw this bloke hanging from the railing on the roof, kicking on the door for his buddy to let him in. The front door flung open and the guy climbed in, bouncing onto the front seat and lighting up a cigarette, all the while with a big, nonchalant smile on his face. Bearing in mind that all this had happened while the bus was going at a fair speed around a bend made it all the more impressive. It was one of the coolest (and also one of the dumbest) things that I have seen on this trip. It suggested to me that the concept of 'health and safety' has yet to truly take root in Laos.
We got back to Luang Nam Tha about 16.30 and we checked into the 'Khamking Guesthouse', a very good value place at 60,000 kip for a good sized room with cable TV and an attached bathroom. It was good to be back in 'civilisation', nice to have a proper shower (although it had been a novelty to wash in the waterfalls and rivers) and a good opportunity to get some badly needed laundry done.
Paul, Karine, Kara and I met up for dinner at the Indian restaurant that I had been twice on the first day that I had arrived in Laos. It turned out to be a bit of a shambles; as far as we could gather, the son (who was also the chef) was more concerned with watching the Thai boxing on TV than cooking us food, so we walked out after an hour when they asked us to place out order again. It was a pity, as the food had been very good on my previous visit. After eventually getting some food, I went back to my room to watch some TV. I was very tired, unable to stay awake any longer than midnight. Although I had slept well the previous two nights on the trek, I felt like I was slipping into a coma as my head hit the clean, comfortable pillow, and I was immediately out for the count.
