November 6 Muang Sing to Muang Khua

We started early in our private minivan but the driver's "wife" turned up with him, which did not please us, as it is a common scam to sell extra seats although the car has been paid for already. In this case, based on the amount of back-seat driving she did, David deduced that she was indeed his wife just along for the ride.

We stopped at the village where Victoria had filmed a woman shaman named Lila doing a baby-healing ceremony to see if she was still there and if we could find out about the child's fate. Her relatives indicated she was at a village in the hills but would return in three days, but our lack of a good translator prevented us from getting more information.

Arriving back in Luang Nam Tha, we stopped at our Internet cafe to check emails, shopped in the market for more pencils, notebooks, shampoo, and lipsticks to give away in the next few days. Driving on for several hours on winding roads, we lunched at Oudam Xai, and then continued a few more hours to Muang Khua, on the river. We stayed at the priciest place in town, Serannaly Hotel, which was $25 per night but can be more than matched by the smaller places that charge just $10. Unfortunately, there was no WiFi to be found anywhere in town. There was a river view restaurant where we had supper.

It was a long day of driving in the car and would have been even worse going straight through to Phongsali.