Luang Nam Tha

4/8/2011
-slept in, when i awoke went to the travel office we had booked our tour from they told me that they had already given a refund to the germans who had woken up early to meet with the manager, so they had my money. Then i ran into a strange swiss guy i had mett before with a lazy eye, and evil heart,  he told me the germans did infact have my money and had rented a motorbike for the day.
-went for breakfast at this guest house where another older austrailian guy, Kieth or Kit, i had met before was dating the lao owner, hung out with him for a bit, and then went for a wander.
-took it real easy, was tired from the trek and sort of bored with Luang Nam Tha, didn't have enough time to go up to Mong Ngoi, because i had to be back in Luang Probang on the tenth.
-ate lunch at the "minority restaraurant" just because i liked the name.
-Wandered about some more until i ran into the germans who gave me my money back. spent the rest of the evening drinking and hanging out with the germans and the Aussie guys.
4/9/11
-met up with Keith again and after a prolonged conversation about economics we went to the market, he was looking for trainers, which he didn't find, and i bought a pair of chinese slippers, a water gun for the new year, a alarm clock, and a awesome hand made machete. spent less then $10 for all of this.
-after this chilled out with sean and the strange swiss dude.
-went for a wander, saw a gov't caravan with blacked out windows and police escort
-then went to the night market to eat, got half a duck, sticky rice and a beer for 27000 kp (slightly more then $3), one of the best meals i've had. sat with a beautiful, tripped out, chinese girl named mandala who was around my age, and had been travelling for months.
-met up with keith and sean at Keith's girlfreind's guest house, also met a Canadian guy who had been teaching in china for a couple months.
-talked with them for a while, then Mandala showed up sort of freaking out because she couldn't find her guest house, we all hung out until closing time, then i went with Mandala to help her find her place.
-When we finally found it, we sat outside for a while and drank beers and talked, then went to the night market and bought more beer (it was the only thing still open), and sat on some innoccous looking steps drinking and talking more, she was stressed because she had to return to china the next day, and was really an outcast there, a non-conformist in a conformist society.
-While we were sitting a pick up rolled up and two lao men got out, and came up to us, they were very shy and sweet, and communicated that they were tourist police, and we were sitting on the steps of their office, way past curfew, and very politely asked us to leave. So of course we left, sat at a table a little bit down the road. til we parted ways to go to bed because we both had buses to catch early in the morn.
4/10/2011
-saw Mandala again at the bus station, said goodbye and she boarded her bus, i still had to wait a bit for the bus to Luang Probang.
-wound up sitting way in the back of the bus with a Lao family with three kids, i was crammed into the corner, but they kept giving me good food, until they fell asleep, then the little girl had her head pressed into my ribcage almost the whole ride.
-about six hours in we stopped in a little town near Nong Khiew and the majority of people got off the bus, i immediately grabbed a spot closer to the front, even though there were plenty of seats the same lao guy came and sat next to me holding his daughter, and i still had a little head pressed into my ribcage, also the lao dude's hand kept winding up on my leg while he was sleeping. very odd.
-Arrived in Luang Probang, and shared a Tuk Tuk with the only other falong left on the bus.
-got dropped off near the guest house where i had a reservation.
-when i arrived the family was very appologetic and stressed because they had screwed up my reservation, but it wound up working out ok, i got a huge $40 room for two nights, for $15 a night, which is still more then i spent anywhere else, but it was super luxurious.
-ate some dinner on the river and played cards with Colin and Clay before bed.