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| When I flew to Luang Namtha it was very cold and all I brought was a long sleeve flannel shirt. The next morning I caught a "sawng-thaew" to Muang Sing. There were three Japanese ladies and their guide that helped out this poor American by loaning a wool cap and windbreaker. You can tell though how cold it was. The second photo shows the bus stop by the market in Muang Sing. I've said before that the Lao don't know how to say "No" and how would you like to ride this "sawng-thaew" in the bottom photo? | This is the guestbook from the Muang Sing Guesthouse in the photos to the right. I photographed one of the pages because it shows the wide variety of people passing through Muang Sing, and I think is fairly representative of tourists coming to Laos. There are quite a few more Europeans than Americans as you can see. | This is the Muang Sing Guesthouse I stayed in for two nights in Muang Sing. I did check out several guesthouses before choosing this one, and after my bad selection in Luang Namtha, I really lucked out here. The rooms were simple, two single beds with mosquito nets, and shared bathroom (with separate squat toilets and wash areas) that were spotlessly clean. The highlight of staying here was the very friendly and helpful owner you see in the bottom photo. Here you see me drinking Lao coffee (of course!) at 7:00 am with the temperature being 3 degrees celsius! I would highly recommend the Muang Sing Guesthouse!!! |
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| Here it was December 25 and when Tui and I walked through this one Hmong village I was surprised to see that Hmong New Year was still being celebrated. It was quite low key and it was the first time Tui (my guide) had seen the Hmong celebrating their New Year. | A side street off the main road through Muang Sing. | Here you can see the owner of the Muang Sing GuestHouse buying bamboo in the street in front of her guesthouse. |
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| This was taken at Wat Luang Ban Xieng Jai. The red and silver-lacquered pillars are a Thai Lu temple design characteristic. | I'm not sure what the name is of this wat which is a ways off the main street in a quiet setting. | Here this Akha woman is looking for warm clothes to buy. I was there for the same reason, and found a nice cap and socks. |
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| This is Nang, Tui's wife-to-be. She seemed very friendly and sang a couple of songs with the band and was quite good. | This is my guide Tui and his wife-to-be Nang at his uncle's wedding party. Since his uncle got married Christmas day, Tui can't marry until February. | It's amazing how a little lao lao can make you best buddies with someone you didn't know a little while ago. This is Tui's uncle's father; |
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| Another wedding party photo. We're all feeling no pain. It was a great way to end Christmas. | You can see the wedding party is sitting on upper floor. The food was delicious. There was two kinds of laap, and one was with raw meat. I had heard about this "tiger laap" and it really is quite tasty and I savored every bite. | |
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I like the pattern of the fields in front of the house. |
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