Phongsaly in the Rain

Well..its been a few days since I've been able to find the internets!  We collected ourselves in Nong Kiew and headed to Oudom Xai by bus to find an ATM before continuing North to Phongsaly.  The bus ride was charming.  It had been raining all night and the road from Nong Kiew was rough...real rough.  We sat down in the bus and a local man walked by us offering a plastic bag.  When we gave him a confused look he mimed throwing up into it.  Then, explained that Laotians don't travel well.  It was at that exact moment the man behind me started burping and dry heaving simultaneously.  Thankfully we remained untouched by local puke on the ten hour ride.  We almost had spectacular head-on collisions (twice) with dump trucks, and were forced to listen to the bus horn around every corner, of which there were many.  Its a system I support..on one way roads in the mountains, in the mud.  We got to Phongsaly in the dark, and the rain.  It's the highest town in Laos, sitting over a kilometer and a half above sea level.  Truly one of the most beautiful sights..if its not raining.  The bus station was 3 km out of town and so we lugged our wet packs into a Tuk Tuk which drove us closer.  We searched on foot for a guesthouse, and took the first one we found.  The beds were essentially wooden benches..and there was no heat.  The temperature had plummeted about thirty degrees and my extremities were bloodless. To top off the discomfort, I was hungry.  Bad combination.  Worse yet, not a single store or restaurant was open.   We looked..in the rain. Finally, we found a hotel that had a restaurant sign inside and found two of our traveling companions (lovely folk from B.C.)  who had just finished a meal.  They informed us that the woman in the back would cook fried rice for us, but only rice..because thats all she had.  We sat down in a completely empty ballroom at the only table in the facility.  We could hear the echo of our soggy voices.  I ignored the intel about fried rice and ordered noodle soup.  She said O.K...and then asked Nathan what he wanted.  He tried for some fried rice and was told that the only thing she had was noodle soup.  Two noodle soups it was. 
Phongsaly did not get better.  It got worse.  It rained for three days straight and was so cold we stayed wrapped up in blankets the whole time.  The road out, to the river was blocked by a landslide and was almost impassable.  I explained calmly to Nathan the morning we tried to escape that he should be prepared for the worst case scenario..which was that I intended to walk the 20 km with my pack to the river if I had to.  Nothing could have stopped me from extricating myself from the misery.
It's really a shame because everything we'd heard about the North of Laos was good.  Next time. 

We took another boat ride down river to a town with connecting bus routes to Vietnam.  This morning we woke at 415 to walk to the river and cross for the bus.  The small boat moving the tourists from one shore to the other almost left me behind.  I'm fairly unstable with my pack on, especially in situations that require me to balance on one foot, when that one foot is in the bottom of a floating craft.  The local guy in the back grabbed me by my head to steady me, and pull me in.  The boat dropped us at the opposite shore where the morning butchering was in full swing.  A cow was splayed out on the cement.  No flies at 4 in the morning..can't say I blame them for the early start...though I imagine its hard to hack a water buffalo to pieces in the dark.

We made it to Vietnam!  We're in a town called Dien Bien Phu.  We've been saving our appetites for some Pho tonight at one of the local stalls.  Nathan's worried about someone sneaking some intestines into his bowl..
He is checking the weather to make sure it has stopped snowing in Sapa..a Northern Vietnam 'must see'.  If it's still as cold or colder than Phongsaly it might not be worth the ride up there.  We've got to do a little work on our visas to give us some more time in Vietnam, so a trip to the big city is in order.  We're also planning on buying a couple of motorcycles for our month here.  We've been told its fairly easy to buy and sell them, and a great way to go at your own pace down the coast. 

The pace of life is much faster here.  Nathan has packed up his pretend cloth watch and will have to rely on me for keeping to a schedule again.  He's found a great coping mechanism for dealing with my insistence on timeliness.  The other morning he mentioned getting to a bus early 'Because I know how much you love waiting for transportation.'  I tried to keep a straight face while telling him he was exactly right.  I do LOVE waiting for transportation.  The more expensive it is..the more I love waiting for it.  So, he humors me when I tell him we need to be somewhere before HE thinks it's necessary because he wants me to be able to do the things I love.  Works for me!
We haven't missed a connection yet.