I took a two hour minibus ride to Muang Sing from Luang Nam Tha- and arrived in this dusty little place.

A small town where, like the rest of Laos, most people are asleep by 9pm- which means that you have to eat before then! Also, only one place for internet (ok, I'm addicted).

I think what mainly draws people here is the mix of people. There are many hill tribes in the area, notably the Khamu, Akha, and Black Thai. Many of these tribes practice animism and ancestor worship- I went to the hill-tribe museum, so I'm an expert!

While I'm sure studying these tribes in depth would be very interesting, it does feel a bit like a human zoo- I mean, they are going about their daily buisness, and there I am just staring at them? Hmmm..doesn't feel right. Well, they do make money from tourists. They're quite aggressive in their sales tactics. They swarm you!

As in Luang Nam Tha, the air quality was shit- it seemed like a rainy day every day. It's all smoke from slash and burn agriculture and from Banana Plantations. The countryside had an eerie feel to it because of the constantly gray sky, but I like eerie atmospheres.

I met a Russian girl, Alsu, and we rented bikes and biked out to the countryside. It was similar to Luang Nam Tha. Quiet villages, dried up rice paddies, nice people.

And then, we were illegally in China for about 10 seconds! Yes, silly me...I hadn't a guide book or a clue really where we were situated geographically. Little did I know we were only 10 km from the Chinese border. We were riding along, up a truly difficult hill, happy as can be, sailed on right past the border. I remember seeing a sign that said "border crossing" and thinking "China?", but it was a delayed reaction. Alsu admits to having seen the sign too. Anyways, we got a few meters down when two Lao immigration officials stopped us. We cycled back, and another one ran up to us looking very angry. "THAT CHINA!" he yelled. We shrugged, and were on our merry way.

We flew down the hill, then biked along a dirt road that wound around a hill, and down into an Akha village. It was unique in that it had concrete floors instead just dirt. Village life seemed lively- there was a group of men building a house, and chattering women with babies standing about. Once we'd gotten off of our bikes, several women swarmed us and showed us textiles and shirts for sale. My fragile Russian friend ended up buying an overpriced jacket from a pushy Akha woman, who refused to take it back when Alsu realized how expensive it was. We left quickly.

The following day, Alsu and I hiked to a waterfall, which was absolute magic. The best waterfall I've seen so far. The trail was long, and was mostly uphill- it also took longer than we'd expected.

We got lost at one point- we couldn't find the waterfall. I saw two tribal women emerge from a small trail leading out of the jungle- they sat, washing things and eating by a stream. Thinking that perhaps they'd come from the waterfall, we decided to try to trail they'd come from. Only to find it was an extremely steep and rocky path up the mountain.

Well, we found it, and I slept soundly after that exhausting journey.