We did manage to get at least the minibus (like a small VIP bus) up to Luang Prabang, but with our usual luck, we managed to get the one ancient minibus in a fleet of new Honda minivans. When the driver actually got the bus moving at a good clip downhill, he refused to stop for anything - instead using the horn to warn everyone out of his way. Somehow we managed to just barely avoid an entire family of pigs and a two year old human child, and nothing (that we know of) was killed on the trip.
We stayed for a day in Luang Prabang where we mainly relaxed around town and ate at "The Pizza Luang Prabang" over and over. This place is far and away the best pizza in Southeast Asia. The town was absolutely packed with Thai tourists; later we learned that this was due to a national holiday in Thailand. We only got a hotel due to Sam speaking Laotian. The lady at the hotel literally grabbed him and dragged him to the front of the line in front of all the other tourists!
For fun we rented bicycles and rode around town, where we saw some real working elephants being used as pack animals cruising down the street. Then we paid $2 each to climb the hill up to the stupa and see the view. To get our $2 worth, we ran up and down the 250 steps 3 times with Thai tourists egging us on all the while (in retrospect, a mistake, at least in flip flops.) We also couldn't resist buying some of the sparrows in cages from some old ladies and setting the sparrows free at the top, which is supposed to be good luck. Maybe it was bad to support this industry since we usually are all for cage-free sparrows! Oh well. For additional fun we tried to get our cell phone cracked to accept Asian SIM cards, but failed miserably. Sam also tortured the "smoke weed?" guy that popped out of the shadows at night by telling him in Laotian "you're going to get arrested!" I've never seen a guy disappear so fast!
Next we decided to go visit Sam's uncle in Nambok. The problem with visiting family is there is often no VIP bus or even local bus to get there. We caught a 2 way (i.e. the back of a pickup truck with bench seats.) The capacity is supposedly 12 people (or at least 12 Laotians.) Once we had 17 people, a baby, and four 50 kg bags of concrete mix we were finally able to leave the bus station and start the usual rounds of picking up people to hang onto the back. For people who are jealous of our travels, just try to picture this and you will feel better. Also it was about 50 degrees F outside and quite windy in the truck!
Anyway we survived the trip to Nambok. Sam's uncle and aunt and cousin were very happy to see us. It was a bit of a sobering visit, most of the family up there doesn't have much money. Sam helped them build a very barebones concrete house to replace their old thatch house, but there is not much inside - no ceiling or paint to cheer it up, and just a few mats for the floor. It was very cold - similar temperatures to Northern California in the winter, with a very cold fog that often lasted most of the day. It seemed colder because none of the houses or restaurants have any sort of insulation at all and are often half open to the air. Sam's family is so cheerful and grateful for what they have; it really made us think how lucky we are back home. Sam's cousin was in a bad motorbike wreck last year but is able to walk with crutches now and get around on her own. Soon she will be able to return to school. She was very nice and helped me practice my Laotian.
The next day we travelled with uncle and auntie via local bus to Oudomxai, where their son has a successful hot pot restaurant (why is hot pot so expensive everywhere? It's a mystery to me.) At the restaurant we met a very nice doctor from Atlanta, recently from San Francisco, working for the CDC on a program to help the health department there set up immunization programs for children. He was happy to chat with us for awhile and tell us about his recent trip to Mongolia which sounded amazing (living in yurts and all the rest!)
Now we had to say goodbye to the family and take two more bus trips to go before reaching Houayxai where we planned to do the Gibbon Experience. The road between Oudomxai and Luang Namtha was terrible due to the floods and mudslides last year - completely unpaved rather than the usual 50-80% paved. Imagine Tassajara road by bus! After Luang Namtha the roads improved, but were still quite steep. With our usual luck we got a bus with no brakes (or at least the driver did not trust the brakes.) Whenever we got to the top before a steep (10% plus) grade downhill, he would come to a complete stop, shift into first gear, and go slowly downhill using the transmission to brake. Even the big dump trucks were passing us. And you can imagine what the passengers had to say! Anyway we somehow made it to Houayxai in time to rest for a day before heading off to see the gibbons.
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