It took us 5 minutes to cross the Mekong River and enter Laos on the other side. Passport formalities were quickly put behind us. We did not want to be hassled into a quick boat trip by the cunning trip-sellers at the border, so we decided to stay at least one day at the Laos border in Huay Xai. We chose BAP Guesthouse, run by a wise and friendly old lady. She offered us a family room for a good price (she had a flexible pricing strategy; rich people paid more....). Huay Xai was nothing special, except that this little village managed to ‘churn away' hundreds of tourist every day, without losing its sleepy appearance. We ended up staying another day, getting used to a new country, before embarking on a 2-day boot trip along the Mekong River to Luang Prabang, said to be the cultural and religious capital of Laos.

The boot trip on the Mekong was nice and relaxing. Luckily it was not too busy; everybody had a decent place on the boat. There was a mandatory stop halfway in Pak Beng, were we were all offered a good opium pipe if we wanted. We were still very close to the Golden (opium) Triangle and old habits never die.....

We liked Luang Prabang very much, with its French influences, quiet and clean streets, its sleepy and laid-back atmosphere. Tuk-tuks everywhere, patiently waiting for clients, sometimes a bit annoying as they not easily take no for an answer. From foreigners who live in Laos we understood that Laos is now what Thailand used to be 15 years ago. Less spoilt by tourism and progress (there is of course two ways of looking at that.....). We witnessed the daily procession of monks during which they collect their food. This so-called ‘alm-giving' takes place every day at 6 am. Monks leave their monastery with a pot in a sling around their shoulder, and local villagers put in sticky rice, candy and other food and some also put in money. Part of the food is passed on to poor children walking along the monks; it's a very social system. Besides the local villagers, also a lot of (Thai) tourists take place in the ceremony, guided by locals who earn their money this way. Local people are, however, afraid their culture is slowly fading and frown upon the many tourists participating in the ceremony......

We planned to be in Luang Prabang to witness the celebration of the end of the rainy season. Everywhere, villagers and monks were preparing boats to be put into the river with many of lights on them. Very nice to see that monks and monasteries (and actually religion itself) here, really form part of every-day life. The evenings before the festival everywhere in the city candles and lanterns were lighted, firecrackers were ignited, and one could feel it ‘hanging in the atmosphere', like on New Year's Eve..... Monks were cheerful and excited, as this festival for them marked the end of the time during which they were restricted to the grounds of their monasteries. On the evening of the festival, the owners of our guesthouse invited us to join for dinner. They were worried about Peter, whose eye was black and blue after receiving part of a fire cracker in it. It turned into a spontaneous happening, during which we learned quit a lot about Laos, its people and its culture. We watched the procession of candle-lit boats through the streets of Luang Prabang together with them. After that we went to the Mekong River to watch the candle-lit boats on the water. We also put two little floating candles in the river ourselves, sending on them all our bad feelings and experiences, allowing them to flow out of our lives and leave us in peace...... Lasse and Sil busied themselves with saving stranded boats and floating candles by putting them back in the main stream of the river. We stayed one day longer in Luang Prabang, to give Peter's eye a chance to recover, before taking the minibus to Luang Namtha, a drive of almost 9 hours.

On our minibus trip from Luang Prabang to Luang Namtha we passed through countless small villages and by many small farms. It's hard to describe the way in which the people in those villages and those farmers live as something else than poverty. Living in reed huts, some with roofs from corrugated sheets, but mostly made from banana leaves. Little children wearing dirty clothes (if any at all). The ground around the huts was wet, muddy and slippery from the rain. Life lived along the road, with continuous traffic passing by. Hardly circumstances we would find enjoyable in Europe.......

After two nights in Luang Namtha we travelled further north to Muang Sing, another two hours by minibus, very close to the Chinese border. ‘Chinese shit' on sale everywhere: mopeds, toys, clothes, shoes, etc. We stayed at a nice guesthouse overlooking the rice fields and mountains around Muang Sing. Beautiful scenery, the village itself enjoyable and peaceful, except for hill tribe women who were relentlessly trying to sell hand-made bracelets, hats, bags, etc. Nevertheless, we stayed a week, enjoying being away from the main tourist route. Unfortunately, Sil got sick with an ear infection again. We visited the local hospital, managed to make ourselves clear using our hands and feet and got antibiotics vitamins for Sil to take.

From Muang Sing we did a two-day trek into the hills of Northern Laos. We visited many hill tribe villages. We were guided by Mr. Mai, who was rice farmer and part-time guide. A friendly man, very knowledgeable about the area and the many tribes living in the hills. He explained the horrible pictures one could usually see at temples, showed us how to make bamboo flutes and for which purpose various plants where used. His favourite phrase being 'same, same, but different', a phrase that stands for much in this country. The first day we climbed steep hills, something us lazy travelers were not used to anymore. We slept in a little village called Sop Ee Mai. Most houses did have electricity, at least sufficient for a single light bulb. In the evening small fires were lit everywhere, with groups of people gathering around them. Lasse and Sil where showing off with one of our mobile phones. Technology as a way of making contact, when language doesn't work. 9 pm life in the village shut down, it being dark and cold. We slept in the communal room in a central hut in the village. Next day we were woken up early by the sounds of women pounding the rice to remove the husks. Our guide was already up cooking lunch and breakfast. The second day we went through rice fields, so little shade, and we visited many villages again. It appeared that every village specialized in one product or trade, like weaving mats from bamboo, or cotton, etc. We learned a lot on this trip, certainly one of the high-lights in Laos so far.

After Muang Sing we went back to Luang Namtha, where we stayed 2 more nights before we took a flight to Vientiane, capitol of Laos. We treated ourselves on an in-land flight, in staid of having to travel two full days in a minibus. Our airplane was an old Fokker. We were all seated, engines were started, but one of the engines stalled. After two tries some smoke appeared in the cabin and we had to leave the plane. The pilot went through the start-up routine again, in order to test the engine that failed the first time. Apparently the test was successful, as we were allowed to reboard the plane. No explanations were given, so we were a bit more anxious than usual when the engines were started up and we were taxiing to the runway.........