Luang Namtha – Muang Sing – Luang Namtha

5th May 2014          28’C        190km

Today I made bit of an exploratory ride into the mountain villages around Luang Namtha.  Leaving at dawn, I rode up to Muang Sing and visited the morning market, which was eye-opening.  Alot of villagers bring their produce to the market for sale, and often are dressed in their colourful traditional dress.  On sale were all sorts of fruit, vegetable, meats, insects and other potentially edible objects.

There were also a couple of very persistent old ladies selling bracelets, although they were also selling other products from the bottom of their bags. “Hash, Ganja, Hash” they whispered, opening up the bag to show me the products at the bottom.  I settled on two bracelets, just to get them off my back, although it didn’t really work and they persisted.  I’m in the golden triangle after all.

After Muang Sing, I rode on for about 30km, on a bad and dusty road, before stopping at a shack that was part hair salon, part provisions shop, part motorcycle repair shop, and had a drink of water and a chat to the people there, before turning back to Luang Namtha.  They even had some strange sort of buck-toothed animal in a box, that it was slowly chewing its way out of.

On the way back I passed two girls in traditional dress, walking down the road, carrying spears and masks for fishing in the river.  I asked if I could take their photo, but they were very firm, “No”

I made it back to town for a late lunch and to do a stack of washing in the bathtub before heading out for a walk around town.