The Long and Winding Road

Jumped on the bus first thing this morning for a 3 hour trip from Luang Namtha to Muang Long.  But first I should mention a fantastic meal I had at the Minority Cafe, a nice little place hidden away from the main drag.  While they serve a lot of the usual fare, they also specialize in authentic tribal dishes and they do them well based on my experience with rattan soup (who imagines eating rattan?  It's not bad and somewhat in the family of bamboo shoots, but with a smoother texture), sticky rice and jaew.

The Long Road

Guesthouse in Long

View from the Long Market

Downtown Long

The bus was packed, but it was a lovely trip across the mountains into the most westernmost area in Lao; the last 20 or so miles were on a dirt road, so this place is pretty remote.  As I write, I'm about 50 miles S of the Chinese border and 20 miles NE of the Burmese border.  I'm the only paleface in town and I guess I've been a bit of an attraction based on the pointing and giggling.  This town is part of the heart of the Golden Triangle and seems very prosperous; while I make no insinuations, there's still apparently a lot of drug smuggling and growing in this area.  Our bus was stopped by the Lao version of the Federales, but I was the only one questioned and all they really wanted was to see my passport.  The town of Long is quite lovely, surrounded by mountains and also is the confluence of two rivers.  I've set up a six hour trek for tomorrow which will cover both forest and hilltribe villages.  The guide came over earlier and he was quite drunk, but it is Saturday night and he's a young dude; I hope he's not too hungover tomorrow.