"Are you sure you could drive all the way from KL to Phuket?" Many friends thought I was insane to ever think of taking such a long overland trip. "It's the journey and not only the destination that counts. If you take a flight, you will miss out a lot of scenery and the fun. It's like life, you don't want to reach your END destination too soon" I retorted.

I have been planning to visit Phuket during the Vegetarian festival for years but the trip never materialize due to work commitment. With another week or 2 to go before I start another 2-year contract with a Bank, I manage to convince my wife and a friend, Kenny's and his wife to drive to Phuket from KL during the long Idul Fitri holdays. Kenny and I have driven from Phuket to Ranong before and we are comfortable with driving in Thailand.

1 October, Kuala Lumpur - Krabi
We left KL on at an ungodly hour of 2:15 AM hoping to arrive at the Sadao immigration at 9:00 AM before the crowd built up. Our Malaysian-made 1.6 Proton Gen2 sedan did quite well despite of unrelenting rains along the PLUS highway.

Surprisingly, the border was not crowded despite of the holiday season. The Thai Immigration officers in Sadao have the notorious reputation of asking for "overtime charges" of 10 bahts or 1 Malaysian Ringgit from each visitors entering and leaving the Kingdom. My usual response is to use my thumb and point to the back. Not that I don't believe in Dana, but paying a bribe is a totally different matter. There are runners for Immigration officers to help some impatient tourist to stamp their passport at 100 bahts.

The rain stopped chasing us after crossing the Thai border and with day beak driving became a breeze. Our plan was to stop at Krabi for a night before moving on to Phuket. Although I have been to Krabi, the rest have not. It was no mistake to drive to Krabi. We stopped at Tesco-Lotus just before Krabi town for MK suki lunch. Met a friend from Malaysia with his elder brother who is a Thai national for more than 30 years and he owns and operates a factory.

In my previous trip, the Minivan took me straight to AoNang beach bypassing the town. With a car, I can drive to other beaches and the town and market. My previous impression on Krabi was entirely formed in AoNang beach and I had ill-advised my friends before about Krabi. That reminds me of The Blind Men and the Elephant by American poet John Godfrey Saxe. Kenny could not stop laughing at me for telling him that Krabi is just a small beach town with a few streets before the journey.

Krabi Town & Market

We stayed in Ao Nang beach Resort http://www.aonangbeach.com/aonang_beach.html The small bill board says that the rate is 700 Bahts. It is just another scam to get tourists in first and the boss will talk you into going for a deluxe and more expensive room. And if you insist, then she will show you a small room. We settled at 800 bahts per night for a deluxe room with breakfast for 2 thrown in.

The hotel is quite convenient as it along the beach. The air conditioner and breakfast were letdowns though. After dinner, we took a stroll before going for a foot reflexology massage. Met a chatty Malaysian by the first name of Michael from the Northern state of Kedah who told me about how Malaysia lost millions of foreign exchange to Thailand as the border states male will head for the border town of Sadao or Haadyai every weekends to spend their hard-earned money. I guess he is speaking the truth based on his own experience.

2 October, Krabi - Phuket
I am an early riser, perhaps due to age. In the morning while sauntering along the main road facing the beach, I found 2 Malaysian tour buses parked in one of the hotel. Chatted with the driver and got some contacts for information.

Back to Hotel and had breakfast with my travel mates. The buffet breakfast is just OK. Chatted with 2 Indonesian tourists who stayed in the same hotel. My Indonesian language is getting bad since my sojourn in Jakarta in 1996. Tanned on all the exposed parts of their body, these 2 gentlemen and heading for island snorkeling after breakfast.

The drive to Phuket was as uneventful as the drive to Krabi. On the way, there are temples having vegetarian festival celebration. I took some photos of the festivity in one of our stops.

As I had been to Phuket about 2 weeks just after the Tsunami devastation, I gave some first-hand account to my mates of devastation and where the bodies are kept near the Wat.

The Chinese restaurant in town that I used to patronize was closed for vegetarian festivals so we headed for Patong beaches for lunch and accommodation. Stayed in Sand Inn at 700 Bahts sans breakfast. The place is convenient but the noise and pollution can be quite bad. http://www.channels.nl/27060b.html Sand Inn is just next to the complex that houses Carrefour and Robinson. The ladies had endless fun looking for bargains. A bar nearby in the opposite soi was serving all brands of small bottle beers at 60 Bahts. With beer bottles in their hands, most customers are sitting and watching endless herd of tourists passing by. There were some VIP visiting with TV coverage and some of us were caught shaking hands with the VIP.

3 October, Phuket - Trang
As breakfast was NOT included in Sand Inn stay, we headed for Karon beach and hope to grab something to eat along the beach. In one of the hotel, we had Buffet breakfast at 200 Bahts per head. The quiet Karon beach was quite an experience and a welcome change.

While we were in Krabi, I was told that Trang has second largest vegetarian festival after Phuket (Those in ChiangMai will dispute), so we took a slight detour to visit Trang. Although I have been to Trang 2 times, I did not visit Rachada Khaw Sim Bee Na Ranong memorial park in Trang. Khaw Sim Bee Na Ranong, the governor of Trang, was the son of Khaw Soo Cheang Na Ranong who was the founder and governor of Ranong. You can read my blog on Ranong and Khaw Soo Cheang in http://www.thai-blogs.com/index.php/2005/08/10/ranong_aamp_victoria_point?blog=23

Khaw Sim Bee Na Ranong was responsible for bringing in rubber from British Penang into Trang. I have a friend in Trang whose family owned many rubber estates. The family were from Perak in Malaya and they were not allowed to own land due to race-based restriction, so they moved to Thailand and made it good in Trang. By the way, there is a small road in Penang known as "Khaw Sim Bee Road". You can read more about him at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratsadanupradit_Mahison_Phakdi

4-5 October, Haadyai - Kuala Lumpur
There were NOT much to see in Haadyai although the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has put in a lot of effort to revive the tourism industry. I was told by my Tour agency friends that TAT has spent 4 Million bahts to spice up the Vegetarian festival for the tourist. The procession is held twice a day when I was there. Once in the morning and one in the evening.

The evidence that this festival has Hindu influence

Eat-shop-Massage-eat-drink-sleep is about all you will do in Haadyai.

Expecting a huge crowd at the border crossing, we left immediately after breakfast for the border. The drive back to KL was intermittently slowed down by accidents along the PLUS highway. After stopping at Kenny's home town for a Chinese dinner, we arrived safely at around 7:00PM in KL.

I have not been posting since the beginning of 2008 as I was on assignment in Singapore and that really take away a lot of my free time. I was busy then but now I am just too lazy and have been putting off a lot of activities.

I went to Thale Noi (TN) on 28-29 July at the end of my assignment in Singapore. A temple friend who has been there many times is supposed to join me but last minutes commitment prevented him from making the trip.

28 July 2008 Morning
I took a minivan from Haadyai to TN. The minibus station is located quite a distance from Haadyai city center about 2-3 KM after the railway flyover. I made a mistake of telling the ticket office that I was going to TN and was assigned a "staged' van. A direct Haadyai-Patalung van would have taken a lot less time.

The van took a big loop and and stopping whenever someone flag the van down, or when a passenger want to get. Well, as I am just killing time, I really don't mind. While I don't mind the perfume of some well-dressed ladies, the smell of sweat of some passenger can be quite bad. The van stopped at junction of road 41 and road 4182.

I would have expected the van to have stopped at 4048 instead. From there I will take a songtheow to Thale Noi which is about 8KM away. But, mai pen rai!

The Songtheow stopped at the terminal cum car park. The guest house is just 100 meters away. I did not make any reservation and I was surprised to be told that the resort is fully booked on a Monday!

The resort is also a visitor information center and you can see photos and explanations of the species of birds found in this lake. There are 187 species of waterfowls,both the indigenous and migratory one can be spotted. Unfortunately, I can't read or understand a word to ask question about birds will even tougher.

The bungalow / guest rooms in the complex are constructed on stilt above the lake and judging from the exterior of the bungalow, the facilities must have been built more than 5 years ago and it look run down.

After visiting the visitor information center, I walk along the promenade and found this nice little guest house which was completed hardly 3 months ago. It is a semi-detached house and the owner/operator stay on the right side of the building and also operate a small hair salon. The guest house is on the left hand side with one room on ground floor (level 1) and 3 rooms on level 2. The asking price for a room with attached batch is 600 Bahts with breakfast and I managed to drive it down to 500. A hair wash by the lady owner cost 20 baht cheap.

After checking in and had a hair wash, I head for the promenade which is lined with eating shops / stores. I need to check out the details about the boat ride for tomorrow morning. They are kids/ teenage playing sepak takraw (rattan ball) and adult playing some kind of lawn bowling along the promenade.

Afternoon is for siesta especially eating too much Khao Pad and khai jiao moo sap.

Evening is spent on eating and drinking with some village folks. I think Thai men drink a bit too much of the moonshines brew. The kids have really nothing much to do also. I ended talking to them on what they learn in school. I gave away some Singapore and Malaysian coins and 1-ringgit notes.

29 July 2008, Tuesday 06:30 (the photo's timestamps are Malaysia/Singapore time)
Woke up by the loud speakers and I don't have any clue as to what it being broadcast. Head for the beach and took this boat to the lake. The view is spectacular although it is a not a good time to be in thale noi. The best time is October to March, according to the locals. The lotus would have boomed and the bird population peak.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmEquQeBPpc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X27Y5zcbtgA

I shall return for a self-drive visit next time with my buddies. As Malaysia-Thai immigration at Sadao open at 6:00AM Malaysian time, we will have time to drive to TN directly in time for the early boat ride.

I have been conspicuously missing from office for a week and have to answer office web email during my trip. Many people on learning of my adventure requested for photo, hotel and trip brochures and reports. Instead of answering each and every one of them, I guess the best option is still to go back to Thai-blogs. I have missed many filings of reports on this year's trip to the Kingdom mainly due to personal reasons - the arrival of my first grandchild (girl)and the departure of my 92-year old dad, planned changing of job, my son planned marriage in November 2007, etc.

The perils of booking AirAsia ticket early is that if you are not be able to make the trip, you most probably loose every cents, even the airport tax. Although, you could claim back airport tax, people rarely do as the process will be quite intimidating. This I have learnt the hard way. Most fare structure will NOT allow you to change passenger name. My travelmate Lai lost his wife 1 month ago in a traffic accident and eventhough he reluctantly follow us, I know he wont enjoy as much. With many things on my back, my trip wasn't as pleasant as I hope.

AK880 KUL-BKK arrived on time at around 9:00hr but the connecting flight to Ubon RatchaThani UBP only leave at 14:05hr and we will have more than 3 hours to kill. The best options was to take a taxi to BangNa and have a meal of MK Duck and steamboat- yummy.

On arrival in UBP, we took a bus to Mukdahan and arrived just after 20:10hrs, too late to cross the border which closed at 20:00hrs.

It was a blessing staying a night in Mukdahan. We stayed in Hotel Kim Jek Cin #1 for 300 bahts a night. AS it was raining quite heavily, we had 4 bowls of beef noodle nearby at 100 bahts. After a quick shower, we head for a restaurant nearby with live band. The damage for 6 bottles of beer was less than 500 bahts. The sad thing is that the live band stopped playing after mid-night, may be due to the next day being a working Monday.

The next day (15 October Monday), I went to Siam Commercial Bank SCB to bank in 3500 Bahts (my left-over loose change since I won't be back into the Kingdom) into http://www.neohumanistfoundation.org/baanunrak/ With the recent demonstration in Rangoon, more refugees have arrived in Sangkhlaburi putting pressure on the orphanage.

To save time looking for SCB, I asked Kasikorn Bank K-Bank near hotel on SCB whereabouts, and K-Bank staff was so helpful and even drew a map to SCB for me. Walking around Mukdahan is really intresting.

My previous trip in 2004 was from Savanaket in Laos - Mukdahan and fly back from UBP using Thai airways. This time, we are taking the other way round of entering Laos via Mukdahan. My impression of Savanaket and Mukdahan changed. There were no bridge between the 2 countries then and we need a VISA in Laos. The bus trip from Vientiane - Savanaket THEN was so that bad that the bus driver left us near the border crossing. We thought THEN "that" was "Savanaket" and quickly left the cowboy town into Mukdahan and back to UBP. In short my experience with Savan and Mukdahan wasn't pleasant then. But things have changed.

I will upload the photos taken when I am back in Malaysia as I now do not have the photo resize software with me. Please revisit.

KhunChin
Saigon

Before I continue my travel tales to 西双版纳 XiShuangBanNa, it will be good to understand a bit on the Dai minorities in China

Dai is one of the 56 moniroties in China and they mostly reside in Yunnan Province. Although they are officially recognized as a single people by the Chinese state, these Tai people form several distinct cultural and linguistic groups. Most Dai people are living near Myanmar, Thailand (although separated by Myanmar and Laos), and Vietnam (Map).

Dai Lue ไทลื้อ(SipSongPanNa Dai)
Dai Lue culturally is close to Northen Thailand in the area that used to be part of Lanna kingdom. According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dai_people

Tai Lue in Thailand
In Thailand there are Tai Lue in many provinces of the upper regions of Northern Thailand; these provinces are:
-Chiang Rai: Mae Sai, Chiang Khong and Chiang Saen districts (a portion fled to Chiang Rung at the outbreak of the Ayuthian-Burman War)
-Chiang Mai: Samoeng and Doi Saket districts
-Nan: Tha Wang Pha, Pua, Chiang Klang and Thung Chang districts (the greatest number, fleeing from the Saiyaburi and Sipsongpanna regions)
-Phayao: Chiang Muan and Chiang Kham districts (many in number)
-Lampang: Mueang Lampang and Mae Tha districts
-Lamphun: Mueang Lamphun and Ban Thi districts

The seat of Thai Lue autonomous county is on Jinghong (景洪）or Chiang Rung. Chiang Rai, Chiang Rung (China), Chiangtung (Kengtung in Myanmar) used to be 3 very important cities during the rule of King Mengrai the great of Lanna kingdom. Lanna means million (Lan) padi fields (Na). Mekong river is known in China as LanCang 澜沧 which means million (Lan) Chang (elephant).

I have attended a Cultural show in JingHong entitled "a night at Lancang river" and I will write about it later.

Dai Nue or Northern Dai ไทยเหนือ
This Dai people live in the autonomous county of "DeHong Dai people and JingPo people (JingPo is known as Kachin in Myanmar)" 德宏傣族景颇族自治州". The language is a variant of Dai Language.

There is a International border crossing into Myanmar near Ruili 瑞丽 town. The Ruili River is one of the three major tributaries of the Irrawaddy River in Myanmar.

Dai Dam or Black Dai ไทดำ
Dai Dam lives the Yuanjiang Hani, Yi, and Dai Autonomous County Autonomous County (Yuánjiāng Hānízú Yízú Dǎizú Zìzhìxiàn 元江哈尼族彝族傣族自治县), of which Yuanjiang is the capital. YuanJiang known as Red River (HongHe 红河) in Vietnam and passes through Hanoi (meaning "city" inside river) into Gulf of Tonkin.

Other Dai
Other groups of Dai people scattered in China are Dǎibēng, Dǎiduān ไทขาว, Dǎiyǎ ไทหย่า, and Dǎiyǒu.

Note:
While every effort is made to ensure that accuracy of the information, the writer should not be held accountable for secondary information sources which need further research and verifications.

After chatted with a Dai lady who worked in the Casino and hailed from JingHong, we realized that we have made a big mistake of coming too early. The SipSongPanNa Dai minorities celebrate SongKran for 3 days from 13 to 15 April with one activities for each day - (1) Boat race, (2) water splashing and (3) GanPai (trading of goods in market).

Day 3: 10 April 2007 Morning – Boten磨丁 (LA) > Mohan莫憨 (CN) > MengLa勐腊 (CN)

Rising early, we had breakfast at the same Fujian Eating shop. The young couple is already working and serving piping hot noodles. Do they ever sleep?

Negotiated with a Van driver (30 RMB)to take us from the Hotel instead of going on a Songthiaw (3 RMB each) from the main road, saving us the hassle of pulling along our luggage passing through buddy walkways. Considering that he has to stop to allow us to take phoo of the miles stone, it is worth the money. I have taken 3 photos the contrast the environs of the China and Laos immigrations.

Laos Side	Chinese Side

Those who has travelled from Sadao (TH) to Bukit Kayu Hitam (MY) will notice the same differences. Similarly, from Johor Bahru (MY) to Singapore (SG).

The Chinese Immigration was rather surprised to see Chinese Malaysian able to speak Mandarin passing through this checkpoint. I gave one key chain with KL Twin tower backdrop to them as souvenir so that they will remember Malaixiya (Malaysia).

For readers residing outside Thailand, you can see my video clip on Chinese Immigration Officers in the morning flag rising ceremony (2:30 mins)in
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiHX6qhCumI

There are freelance money changer around in Mohan. USD is at 7.6 to a RMB. As there are nothing in Mohan except some shop selling cheap Chinese goods, we hop on a bus to take us to MengLa. There is no direct bus to JingHong.

The 20 odd seater bus moved as soon as the bus is filled as I have read from other Internet resources. Barely moving for 6 KM, the muddy road become inpassable due to a vehicle being caught in the mud. Compounded by some queue cutting, the situation become intensely uncontrollable. We were stucked for at least one hour before the stalled vehicle was rescued and the traffic move again.

Road to MengLa becomes impassable due to heavy rain

Chatting with fellow passenger while waiting for the traffic to be cleared, we found out that it may be a good idea to stay one night at MengLa. The trip to Mengla took about 2.5 hours and we arrived just in time for lunch. We left our luggage at the bus station to go for lunch and look for suitable lodging.

MengLa Town
MengLa has one long main road.

Stay
LongPa Guest House at 60 RMB for 2 and 80 RMB for 3 persons. The guest house is clean and service is just OK. LongPa has another guest house in JingHong, our next stop.

龙八LongPa Guest Guest	Poster about Water Festival Promotion Sales

Eat
Lunch at a Thai restaurant serving not-so-authetic Thai food. The restaurant is darked and the food served will put the owner out of business if it operates in Thailand.

There were not much choice in MengLa for food. Chinese food here is not what you will expect in KL, Singapore or HongKong, the southern Chinese cuisine. Dinner at one Chinese restaurant and left with much disappointment.

At Thai Restraurant	Local crossing street

Do
There weren't much to see and do in MengLa. The oad is wide and pedestrian-friendly. Shops typical Chinese goods and clothings. I heard there is one Malaysian-ownd hotel but we did not try to located it.

3 of us has foot massage and another 2 had a whole body (thai or some other variations) massage. For foot massage, we are really pampered a group of teenager or ladies/guys in their early tweenty. Although not as painful (or effective?) as what we experienced in Thailand, the process is very elaborate and took up a lot of time and towels. I felt a bit of guilt seeing so much towels and waters wasted in the process.

When finished, we dropped by to see how our 2 friends are doing with the massage. They too are about to finish and the comments are that although the masseurs are small size, they are quite skillful and powerful.

Foot Massage	Chinese Massage

Observation
Chinese central government has left XiShuangBanNa (SipSongPanNa)autonomous province relatively alone with little interferance. Families are allowed to have more than one child during the one-child policy period. I guess Central Government see no harm in having a bigger Dai population in YunNan.

Seeing a long leash and out of reach of BeiJing, some Han Chinese from other nearby provinces are moving into XSBN to make their fortune. Activities prohibited in Beijing are done in the open here. We can see people playing Mahjong (gambling) in the open air area, massage shops (prostitutes) lined a section of the the main street. With the 2 vices, I am sure corruption will be rampant. There are a lot of young people dressed in party outfits. It will be tough to observe the 5 Buddhist precepts with some many distractions!

It appears that XSBN is booming economically and socially?

Note: All photos have been duely uploaded.

From the official unescap.org website, we are able to find this resource that give an introduction to the Asian Highway. www.unescap.org/ttdw/Publications/TIS_pubs/pub_2303/intro%20ah.pdf

Asian Highway (AH) 3 will have the following route:
Ulan-Ude – Kyahta – Altanbulag – Darkhan – Ulaanbaatar – Nalayh – Choir – Saynshand – Zamin-Uud –Erenhot – Beijing – Tanggu
Shanghai – Hangzhou – Nanchang – Xiangtan – Guiyang – Kunming – Jinghong (– Daluo – Mongla – Kyaing Tong) – Mohan – Boten – Nateuy – Houayxay – Chiang Khong – Chiang Rai.

AH3 will connect to AH2 to Kuala Lumpur /Singapore via Thailand. AH3 will enable the flow of goods, people, and capitals. But it will bring along the hastening of destruction of environments, the flow dieseases (Aids, SARS, etc), and the disruption of traditional ways of life, the polution of culture, and of course vices.

9 April 2007 Afternoon Luang Namtha > Boten

Ride to border town of Boten is a breeze, with fresh air and good tarred road. The moment we reach Boten, we know we are virtually in China. Beside the Laos scripts along with Chinese scripts on the sign board and the Loatian Song Thiaw drivers, there are not much to tell that this is still Laos. Everthing things seem to be imported from China, even the construction workers. Chinese can virtually walk in and out with border pass. I guess with money, a lot of things are possible.

Road from Luang Namtha to boten

There are so much developments here for the vice industries. What is illegal in China becomes legal across the border. The same modus operandi are found in Golden Triangle (Myanmar), Poipet (Cambodia), Victoria Point (kwathong, Myanmar) for the Thais. And for the Malaysian, some cross over to Sadao in South Thailand for illegal gambling. More Casino is coming up besides the one currently in operations now. Someone pointed out to us that one area is ear-marked for red-light district.

View of Boten

Stay
The first thing to do is to get a place to stay overnight and the option we have is only one hotel that house the casino as well. The cost is 2000 bahts. The staff insist on twice the room rate as deposit payable in RMB, not USD or Credit cards. This shows how much the Chinese trust the Chinese. To save cost, we got one delux room for 5 big men. The staffs seem do not mind as long as you can live with it. I guess many people don't need a bed as most will be on the table gambling away.

The Hotel and Casino

Eat
We have the same food for lunch and breakfast on the next day! South East Asian Chinese are more used to Southern Chinese food which are less oily and salty. We had Chinese noodle with herbal soup at 5 RMB that is the closest food that we are used to eat back home. The shop is owned by Southern Chinese from FuJian (Hokkien).

The shop operates from the morning to wee hours. The couple who own and operate the shope told us that they slept at 2:00AM and woke up again at 6:00AM. The Chinse will become an economic giant at the rate these people are going.

Eating shops selling noodle with herbal soup

For dinner, it is steam boat porridge and some fried vegetables. Dinners are noisy, smoke and toast and spit a lot without regards for others dinners who are doing the same anyway. Most customers are construction and Casino workers from 4 corners of China. This is China at it worst. So much money are wasted on drinks and in smokes. Chinese also have the bad habit of wasting food, a sign of financial capabilities?

Do
There are 8-10 casinos (hall) within one physical building rented out to different companies who are responsible for their own Profit and Loss. We managed to change our USD for 7.5RMB to a USD which is a bit low compared with 7.6 we could get in the street in SopSongPanNa (XiShuangBanNa). Most casinos only play one type of game which is Baccarat. One player ante 120,000 RMB in one game (a 10-year salary for the Casino worker!)

Well, we chipped in 200 RMB each and get one of us to play roulette and lost all in the end. There is only one American Roulette table in the main hall.

Couldn't cope with the smoke (and the losses), we call it a day.

The idea of traveling to China by land is an appealing adventure that I normally dreamt of embarking after seeing programs on Discovery, National Geographic or Chinese Phoenix TV channels. Although much has been written or shown or shown on TV, the information is rather limited, even on my Lonely Planet “SEA on a shoe string 2006e”. Information on Internet is quite out-dated. Now it is time to take the plunge, and my only regret is that we don’t have enough time.

Day 02 – Chiang Khong (TH) > Huay Xay (LAos) > Luang Namtha (LA) > Boten (LA)

Waking up early before breakfast buffet is read, we took a morning walk and head for the market. Markets and Temples are really the 2 common places you find Thai people congregate. We brought and ate some deliciously looking cakes or Kanom and head back to hotel for breakfast. A van picked us from the Hotel and head for Chiang Khong Immigration after we had our breakfast.

Immigration clearance is quite a breeze except that we were asked to pay 5 bahts by Thai Immigration for departure. A long tail boat took us across the Mekong for bahts each. Big luggage carried by porter will attract another x bahts per piece. Unlike my previous trip to Vientiane in Laos, Malaysian does not need Visa to visit Laos.

Chiang Khong Immigration	Long Tailed Boat for River Crossing

Long tailed board arrived at Laos	Laos Immigration

By the time we cleared the immigration, the van driver is already there waiting for us. We have on previous night, arranged for 5-seater van to send us to Luang Namtha. My perceived tough 9-hour trip turned out to be bearable compared to road trip in China which is more challenging.

Barely 30 minutes into Laos, I felt as though we have been transported to another world all together. Time has moved without Laos. We are "trapped in a time warp" and travel backward in time. Take for example this gas station, the meter is used in the 60-70’s, and I am seeing it operational right in front of my eyes.

Gas Pump of 70's	Made in China Fire Extinguisher

Thainess in Laos
I could converse easily with the driver and people in the gas station with Thai. The Laos could understand Thai and the driver even listen to Thai song along the whole journey.

Asia highway #3 connecting Kunming in China to Thailand expected to complete in 2006 is still under construction, with many sections still un-surfaced. Although known as Highway, it has only a single carriageway on each side and winds according to the shape of the mountain. I have not found a section that is straightened. Perhaps it all boils down to cost as building bridges to straighten the road is really costly.

Asian Highway 3

Laos being land-lock is a poor country and so are the people. You can see straw huts and other bear basic dwellings along the highway. Padi, vegetable and fruits farming can be seen throughout the journey. Water melon seems to be in season now.

It took us 5 hours to reach Luang Namtha (LNT) by car, the capital town of Namtha province, instead of 9 hours by van as posted in one Internet site. Roughly the size of Chiang Khong, LNT is very dusty, just like Vientiane. I guess if the country cannot afford good tarred road, dust will always be a problem. The bus station is just next to the market. There you can find many depilated buses, vans and cars – the newer one are mostly made in China. Economically, Laos is heavily dependent on China. Many shop owners hailed that many far-away provinces in China. Chinese are traditionally risk takers and as long as there are economic opportunities, they will go wherever the place may be.

Bus Station	Made in China Vehicle

I guess Laos government is taking a “laissez faire, laissez aller, laissez passer” (let do, let go, let pass) approach to Chinese citizen. A sort of hate-love relationship – you hate them running around your house but at the same time you need their investment.

Money changer	Shops run by Chinese Chinese

LNT economic is bad according to one of the shop keepers. There is no purchasing power as most people are dependant on agriculture that is not doing well. Some shoppers are comtemplating going home.

Walking around LNT is like going back to my childhood days in Penang in Malaysia, a sort of déjà vu. The Market is very dirty and muddy. Chicken kept in rattan cage waiting to be bought and slaughtered.
House flies are everywhere.

Chicken and Seller	Goldsmith

What amazed me most is that I found a silver belt similar to the one that my mother used to wear in LNT – that treasure piece has been misplaced and my wife has been trying hard to locate it.

Silver belts	Silver belts

Our original plan was to stay a night in LNT but since we have arrived early and there is not much to see and do, the team decided to stay a night in the border town of Boten (磨丁) after hearing that there is a better hotel and casino facilities there. Some Internet stated some fearful warning like “*DON'T* stay at the hotel/guesthouse directly diagonal from the bus station on the corner.. really convenient place for catching early morning buses yes, but they had bed bugs)”.