Luang Namtha

I got up and went and hired a scooter to see the sights of Luang Namtha. The first scooter I test drove did not accelerate and the brakes did not work properly. I walked up and down the street (about 100m) and eventually found one that worked apart from the fuel gauge. We had some breakfast and set out to the waterfalls, it was a great adventure and resulted in some pretty nice falls. I then did a loop around the town just looking at the magnificent countryside. On the way back we took a de-tour down a dirt track to a random village. It was so cool seeing some villagers and they were so intrigued to meet us and laugh at the way we looked. This is the part of travelling I have been most excited about and yet it's the first time we have really had the chance to do it.

In the afternoon we had some lunch and then headed back out on the scooter. We went to visit a local stuppa and had to climb some stairs to reach the top. It was a beautiful view that is hard to capture due to the farmers "slash and burn" farming techniques. On the way back to the hostel the inevitable happened!! We ran out of fuel. It was a short walk to the gas station and we were back on the road in no time.

That night we headed out to the night market. We sat down with two random guys and had a Lao beer with them. One of the guys was about 60 and had travelled round the world in 1986!!! The other guy was from Venezuela and had amazing English. We had the beer and then said good night.