January 22, 2008: Luang Nam Tha

We spent the night in Luang Nam Tha after crossing into Laos and taking a long minibus ride to the town, through GORGEOUS green lush rainforesty mountainsides and valleys, along a really rough with potholes, construction, and all sorts of random animals/people/objects (although a ton of work has gone into the road improvements). We didn't have the greatest luck with hot water on our whole trip, and in this case, humorously, we got rooms with our new Belgian friends at a guest house that "had hot water." But we didn't have hot water. Luckily, accommodations are so cheap, we got a room in the NEXT door guest house, which was nicer and had BEAUTIFULLY hot water. So we stayed in two places that night. It was awesome. We hung out, and decided on a trek to do. Ecotourism is really big in Asia, and in Luang Nam Tha the tiny villages that you're guided to and stay in benefit financially from your trips. And there was only four of us, including our new friends. So we decided on one day of trekking and one day of kayaking. It was going to turn out to be the most amazing part of our trip........

Photos & Copyright by Jeremy Hohengarten 2008
For editorial use only.