09-11-05: Bus trip from Huai Sai to Luang Nam Tha

I woke up as early as I could muster today (about 7 am) in order to eat something and cross to Laos to find out about getting to Luang Nam Tha (LNT) hopefully in the same day but really without being positive of anything. The Boat Landing website and others made me very nervous about taking the bus, if it was even possible, whatever. Along the way to the border crossing I happened upon a wat that had many fabulous banners hanging in front of it, so I stopped and took many pictures. Crossing the border was no problem; then I exchanged $100 (I am curious to see how far it is going to get me) and walked up the hill to the BAP Guesthouse (recommended by the Lonely Planet and the guy from my guesthouse in Chiang Khong as the place to go to find out about things). The woman sold me a bus ticket to LNT and I was off in a tuk-tuk almost instantaneously. The bus station was on the outskirts of the other side of town, and I got there just in time – I probably got there at, or a little before, about 9 am and the bus was scheduled to leave at 9:30. Whew! I wasn’t even the only falang – there was a Dutch couple and a Chinese American woman. I thought to myself that maybe it wasn’t going to be such a bad trip after all!

After the bus took off, I settled in. Sure the road was a bit bumpy, but I could handle that. I was so happy to be in Laos and to be getting along on my way to one of the parts of Laos that I wanted to go to more than any other. Hooray! And since everyone seemed to act like everything was ordinary, then I’m sure it was and that everything would be OK. We actually took off at a steady clip and I thought hmmmm…is it really going to take 10 hours to go 200 km?? The scenery was gorgeous and I took some pictures out my window. The bus driver was playing great Lao music over the speakers. As we drove through a lot of the road construction, it was a crazy red dirt landscape which contrasted greatly with the luscious green landscape. It was fascinating and I really did become quite relaxed. We did lose a lot of time off of our steady clip, but that was OK. Then it got muddier and muddier. Which didn’t bother me too, too much because I was so impressed with our driver. If he thought he was going too fast going down a hill he would stop the bus, pause, shift into first gear, and start again. So, nothing really to worry about. It was beautiful, the road construction was fascinating, and I was on my way. It did get wetter on the road, and thus muddier, but it didn’t really rain on us, although it was clearly raining in other mountains around us. Then, I am not quite sure what happened, but all of a sudden I became aware that we were going down a big hill and we were clearly sliding down the hill. I swear, I was not just imagining it, I could feel the bus fishtail a bit and lose traction. On a hill. Luckily, the bus driver did get the bus to stop. We sat there a bit, then made it down to the bottom of that hill, where we would have to then go up a somewhat steep incline on the next hill. This is all on the new road, which is indeed very clear, very smooth, and much wider than the old road, but it was all just super duper mud. Red mud. Another bus was coming down the hill we were about to go up, and the two bus drivers and their helpers (on a Lao bus – or Thai bus for that matter – the bus driver is never the only one working on the bus) talked for a bit. Which was fine with me because I wasn’t at all happy about going any further up and over those mountains. I assumed that they were talking about the road conditions, but that is only a guess. The next thing I knew, the bus driver was back in the bus and we were starting up the mountain. Oh boy. I was very nervous. And rightfully so, because our bus could not get traction on that hill. We were sliding, sliding, down, sideways… was I the only one who noticed?? The only one who was tense and white-knuckled?? I have no idea, but the driver got over to the side of the road (the one less traveled), and he and his crew got to work and put chains on the back tires. Brilliant! I got back on the bus (when we were stopped I had gotten off to relive tension), kept my fingers as crossed as they could be, and darn it! We got up that mountain! The helper guy got off the bus and took the chain off the right tire. We went further, then he took the chain off the left tire. I thought to myself, as loudly as I could, NO LEAVE THE CHAINS ON!!! NEVER TAKE THEM OFF!! But apparently they could not read my thoughts.

This was probably 3 hours into the bus trip, I am guessing, and I felt like we were truly entering the unknown. Was the rest of the road going to be this frightening? Because if it was, I wasn’t sure if I would survive. I would probably have gone either completely and totally insane, or had a fatal heart attack, or something.

It really did get better, for the most part. I was tense for most of the ride. We stopped at the halfway point for food, and it was very good to get out of the bus. I talked to the other falang (Westerners). Then we got on the bus again (boy did I not want to get on) and we were off. It was actually possible for me to appreciate the beautiful landscape and I did relax a little bit. Then we hit another very muddy, very hilly patch of road. For me, mud = sliding tires with little traction. The driver was very good, as I kept reminding myself. At one point, going downhill, he brought the bus to a complete stop. He then got off the bus, as did his helpers. Then I saw that they were looking at the end of this truck that was kind of sticking into the road right on this very, very sharp curve on a hillside. And the road was very muddy and slippery. They looked at that truck for a very long time. They were also apparently talking to the drivers of the truck. A few people got off the bus in the meantime, and I was on the verge of ultimate panic, again seeing us potentially catapulting over the side of the mountain. So I got off the bus too. The Dutch couple had already gotten off so I went over and talked to them for a minute. I really didn’t want to get back on the bus. Then, finally, the people pulled their truck further off the road, the bus driver went back and started the bus up again, and rolled on down the hill and around the curve. I sat and watched from the other side of the curve and I have to say I was impressed with the ease in which he did it. I hopped back on the bus, and we were off again. The rest of the bus trip did have its very slippery, muddy spots, but I figured we would be OK (although I was still tense). We saw a double rainbow from the bus, which was beautiful and seemed like a good sign. And I also figured out that if I sat away from the window and didn’t look out any of the windows, I was better off, because then I didn’t know what the heck was going on. A bit after sunset, we got to Luang Nam Tha. Yes, it took 9.5 hours to go about 200 km. Which was good timing compared with many stories I have heard, such as those people who had to get off their bus and push it one direction or another. I was just so happy to be there, I was speechless, and ended up at the first guesthouse that I went to. Which could have been a bit of a problem, because that night I was visited by a rat which proceeded to consume the charger cord for my cell phone!!! I didn’t realize until the next evening when it was too late to switch guesthouses. I pulled the charger out of my backpack (I don’t even know why I brought it?) and it was in pieces. I am furious or frustrated and really hope I can buy a new charger for not too much when I get back to Chiang Mai. Glad it didn’t get to any of my other, more important cords (like my computer cords, for instance). Jeez! Darn rat!

OK, so it’s one thing to be excited to be back in Chiang Mai. I am, as any sane person would be (sorry Melody). I have settled into my place at Baan Thai, sent away for my visa to Laos, etc. But here is the exciting thing – actually let me start from the beginning.
Some of you may remember that I had mentioned the “rot daeng” this summer when I was here in Chiang Mai. Rot daeng are the little red trucks converted into passenger vehicles in which you kind of wave the driver down, agree to go where you want to go, and hop in the back. Because Chiang Mai stupidly got rid of any bus transportation system they used to have years ago, rot daeng are about the only way to get around town if you don’t have a vehicle of your own. OK, so I knew I needed to get a Lao visa today if I was going to get one – a 30 day visa that is, because anyone can get a 15 day visa when they cross the border, but I don’t want to limit myself on my initial Lao research journey. This meant I needed to get to the tourist area so that I could send my passport off through some random tourist place. Yes, I could have taken my passport to the Lao embassy when I was in Bangkok. That is true, but I really was quite lethargic in Bangkok, so it didn’t happen like that. Anyway, to continue with the story, I wasn’t sure where to tell the rot daeng I wanted to go, since I was just going to wander around the touristy area. But what is the heart of the tourist area? Of course, the Tapae Gate! So I flagged down a couple of different rot daeng, asking for a ride to Tapae, but no one wanted to go there. (Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the driver doesn’t have to pick you up if he/she has any possible reason for not doing it, like you are white, or going somewhere that he/she doesn’t want to go.) I decided to keep walking, knowing that although no Thai would walk the distance I was walking, it really isn’t all that far from Ban Thai to the old city. And, when I finally crossed into the old city, I decided to take a very small soi (lane) thinking I would probably end up at Wat Chiang Man, one of my favorite temples. I didn’t. In fact, the soi I walked down was a soi I had ridden my motorcycle down when I was here this summer; it dead ends into another temple. When I ended up at that temple (wat), I can’t even begin to describe it. OK, let me just say banners everywhere. I have included a picture. I was impressed, excite, overstimulated, what have you. And to think, I wouldn’t have ended up at this wat at all if I had taken one of those lousy rot daeng. I don’t know much, but I do know if this many banners are hanging up at a temple (outside of the buildings) then a festival either already happened, is happening, or is about to happen. I have read about it, but have never really been in Thailand at the right time for any temple festivals. Well after taking many, many photographs (butt really, probably not enough) I went to the main entrance of the temple, and lo-and-behold… the temple festival is this weekend – the 5th and 6th. Oh yeah, I will be there.
So basically, do I believe in fate? That’s kind of a silly and irrelevant question. But what I do know is that I got some good exercise today, and if I had taken a rot daeng as I had planned, I wouldn’t have found that temple. And finding that temple got my entire next 6 months off to the best start ever.

OK, so I do now officially have a home base in Chiang Mai. It’s a nice, clean room that I can call home and be happy to come back to after trudging through Laos, Sipsongpanna in China, rural Thailand etc. The place is called “Baan Thai,” a silly and rather generic name meaning “Thai house.” It’s a place we had looked at this summer when the entire group of us was traveling around looking for a place to live. I really liked it this summer, but it is a bit more expensive and further away from the University than where I stayed this summer. Not to mention the place I stayed this summer had the most fabulous view. But now I wanted something easy, clean, convenient, and with a nice pool. I knew it pretty well also because my friend Laura did live here this summer, and I would come visit her and use her pool. It even has a TV and a fridge! The view isn’t so great, but at least I can still see Doi Suthep (the mountain I had a view of this summer). The neighborhood I live in is pretty yuppie/upscale/trendy for Chiang Mai and does have a fair number of non-Thai. But as someone living alone, it is easy to get dinner, coffee, etc. without having to try very hard, which I like. Now I am all pretty much unpacked (but not very organized) and am now going to try to sort myself out mentally, such as figuring out a rough idea of what I will be doing for the next couple of months, figuring out my path in Laos, etc. All I can do is wish myself luck and hope everyone back home is doing well. Enjoy the pictures.