The bus from the central bus station in Chiang Rai to the border town of Chiang Khong on the Mekong river is easy and straightforward. They usually leave from bay #4 or 7 and have many peppered throughout the day. When we were there in Jan 2, no advance ticket purchase was available, you had to buy on the day.
Keep in mind the border closes in the late afternoon, so allow for a bus of about 2-2.5 hours, a tuk tuk from the bus station in the town to the actual border post a few kilometres away, exit border processing, small long boat to cross, and then Laos Huay Xai border process. Longer if you dont have a passport photo! We got the 8 am bus and cleared all of the above by 11-ish. there was a noon bus to Luang Namtha (6 hours), so we had plenty of time to get another tuk tuk from Huay Xai boat area to the bus station about 10 kilometres away.
The bus ticket was 55,000 kip (approx $8). Nice thing about "communism' is that prices are all posted, so risk of being cheated in fares. Note the bus station for Luang namtha is also about 10km away from the actual town. the tuk tuk from the stain is pretty standard at about 5,000kip.
Phou-lu III (or is it II?) Bungalows
From the bus station/tuk tuk drop off, turn right to the main road and walk a 50yrd slight incline to the main drag where there are many hostels. I caught wind of bungalows about an 8 minute walk away from the main area and night market towards the river and thankfully too far for most backpackers to want to walk to.
This place was a gem of a find! http://www.phou-lu-bungalows.com/. we paid $20 for a gorgeous, clean, simple entire bungalow with own front porch, fridge, and breakfast included. the family that run this are very savvy with tourism, self taught entrepreneurs. i wish them all the success they deserve, and only hope it doesn't get overrun by backpackers or travelers.
Luang Namtha is a great place to get introduced to Lao life and people. A very chill town with a growing outdoor hiking and adventure hub, I expect it will change quickly. Ambling around is easy in the grid system of the streets. the night market had great roast duck (15,000kip) and som tam salads (10,000K), and the morning market on the other side (about 10 blocks away) is well worth the wander. Lucky me, they speak a lot of Mandarin here, so it was easy to get by. i spotted a few mini-buses that connected Luang Namtha with village sin China, so one to remember as a possible route to southern china from this part of Laos.
I'd go back to Luang Namtha and stay longer for some hill tribe homestay hikes. One spot that seemed to be doing good things with training the locals and offering good experiences (and coffee) is the Forest Retreat on the main road. they make a solid cup of coffee (Kiwi style!)
Keep in mind the border closes in the late afternoon, so allow for a bus of about 2-2.5 hours, a tuk tuk from the bus station in the town to the actual border post a few kilometres away, exit border processing, small long boat to cross, and then Laos Huay Xai border process. Longer if you dont have a passport photo! We got the 8 am bus and cleared all of the above by 11-ish. there was a noon bus to Luang Namtha (6 hours), so we had plenty of time to get another tuk tuk from Huay Xai boat area to the bus station about 10 kilometres away.
The bus ticket was 55,000 kip (approx $8). Nice thing about "communism' is that prices are all posted, so risk of being cheated in fares. Note the bus station for Luang namtha is also about 10km away from the actual town. the tuk tuk from the stain is pretty standard at about 5,000kip.
Phou-lu III (or is it II?) Bungalows
From the bus station/tuk tuk drop off, turn right to the main road and walk a 50yrd slight incline to the main drag where there are many hostels. I caught wind of bungalows about an 8 minute walk away from the main area and night market towards the river and thankfully too far for most backpackers to want to walk to.
This place was a gem of a find! http://www.phou-lu-bungalows.com/. we paid $20 for a gorgeous, clean, simple entire bungalow with own front porch, fridge, and breakfast included. the family that run this are very savvy with tourism, self taught entrepreneurs. i wish them all the success they deserve, and only hope it doesn't get overrun by backpackers or travelers.
Luang Namtha is a great place to get introduced to Lao life and people. A very chill town with a growing outdoor hiking and adventure hub, I expect it will change quickly. Ambling around is easy in the grid system of the streets. the night market had great roast duck (15,000kip) and som tam salads (10,000K), and the morning market on the other side (about 10 blocks away) is well worth the wander. Lucky me, they speak a lot of Mandarin here, so it was easy to get by. i spotted a few mini-buses that connected Luang Namtha with village sin China, so one to remember as a possible route to southern china from this part of Laos.
I'd go back to Luang Namtha and stay longer for some hill tribe homestay hikes. One spot that seemed to be doing good things with training the locals and offering good experiences (and coffee) is the Forest Retreat on the main road. they make a solid cup of coffee (Kiwi style!)
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