Trekking or not Trekking, that is the question

Northern Laos

Luang Nam Tha, Udomxai, Muang Sing et Houei Xai: ces noms aux consonnances exotiques sont ceux des lieux ou nous nous sommes arretes sur la derniere portion de notre periple Laotien. De Udomxai et Houei Xai, nous retiendrons surtout quelques repas memorables ou nous avons touche du doigt la perfection gastronomique version Laotienne. Peu de choses a raconter sinon sur ces deux villes, considerees essentiellement comme des villes de passage; nous n'avons pas regrette de nous y etre arretes un peu plus longtemps que la moyenne. Luang Nam Tha et Muang Sing sont quant a elles renommees pour les villages environnants, qui hebergent les diverses ethnies minoritaires du nord du pays: Akha, Hmong, Lanten, Khmu pour n'en citer que quelques unes. Plutot que de nous embarquer dans un trek organise, nous avons decide de faire nos originaux une fois de plus et d'organiser notre propre trek de VTT, sur les 60km de montagne qui relient Luang Nam Tha a Muang Sing. Une experience rendue d'autant plus eprouvante par le fait que nous avions oublie d'emporter de l'argent et qu'il n'y avait bien entendu pas de distributeur a Muang Sing ou nous sommes arrives epuises et affames... Heureusement les talents de negociation d'Alexis nous ont sortis de la.
De retour sains et saufs a Nam Tha, nous nous dirigeames ensuite vers la ville frontiere de Houei Xai, pour y traverser le Mekong et atteindre Chiang Kong en Thailande. Tout comme entre le Vietnam et le Laos, la difference entre les deux pays se fait sentir immediatement, et nous sommes encore en train de nous adapter au monde beaucoup plus developpe et consumeriste de la Thailande... Plus de details dans le prochain post.

"Have you been on a trek" or "Would you like to join our trek, we're missing 2 people": this is what you would typically hear in northern Laos, particularly around Luang Nam Tha and Muang Sing. We opted for a mountain bike trip between the 2 cities, but a quick enquiry about prices convinced us to go for the DIY way. It certainly was an adventure, a painful one at times. This was the opportunity for me to demonstrate my physical endurance on a mountain bike (cycling upwards in the moutain for 40 kms out of 60 without complaining), while Alexis proved a natural born negotiator (or charmer?), talking a fellow traveller into lending us some money when we realized we were broke. On this particular occasion, we also both learnt that I have a very low tolerance to being penniless. But it all ended well, and our trip to Muang Sing gave Alexis the opportunity to take some of the best market pictures so far.
Unfortunately we had no time left to explore the other villages up north, as our Lao visas were about to expire. So we crossed the river towards Chiang Khong in Thailand, which is by the way the easiest and quickest border crossing ever! As we crossed the border we said goodbye to the peace and quiet of Laos, its comparative lack of tourism and consumerism; and we embraced instead Thailand's night bazars and its abundance of all commodities: one of the direct consequences of this is that you'll get to see a freshly shaved Alexis in our next set of pictures. As for me, I spent a couple of delightful hours in second-hand bookstores - books are scarce in Laos and I had to live on only 2 of them during the past month. Talking of books: a stranger has just made my day by walking in the internet cafe and giving me one as a present: I'm starting to really enjoy Thailand... Life is made of small joys, isn't it?