In Udomxai the bus station is only 10min walk away from the centre of the town so there is no need to get a tuk-tuk. As we aimed to catch the 11.30am (official time!) local bus to Luang Nam Tha we turned up at the bus station at 9.50am and we were just on time to grab the last seats on the very old 20 seats bus (35.000 Kips each) which ended up being totally packed with people seating in plastic chairs in the aisle and around the driver seats! The bus left around 10.10am and it took us 4h to reach Luang Nam Tha. On the way we stopped in a town not far from Boten (a village on the Chinese border) and were surprised as there was only Chinese products on sale in the shops, no Thai products at all... we could not buy our favorite crisps! The bus did not drop us in Luang Nam Tha bus station but at the regional bus station 10 kilometers away from the town, so all the passengers had to pay an extra 10.000 Kips each (non negotiable) to get to the town by tuk-tuk.
Luang Nam Tha is not a pretty town but it is located in a nice area so it is very touristic. We stayed in a nice Guesthouse called Zuela for 50.000 Kips (after negotiations) and enjoyed the good food served at the Manychan Guesthouse. Initially we wanted to do a one day trek in the Nam Ha National Protected Area but the rainy weather, the high prices of the treks and the fact that the one day treks did not look that great changed our mind. We decided to not do a trek and go to Muang Sing on the next day.
Luang Nam Tha is not a pretty town but it is located in a nice area so it is very touristic. We stayed in a nice Guesthouse called Zuela for 50.000 Kips (after negotiations) and enjoyed the good food served at the Manychan Guesthouse. Initially we wanted to do a one day trek in the Nam Ha National Protected Area but the rainy weather, the high prices of the treks and the fact that the one day treks did not look that great changed our mind. We decided to not do a trek and go to Muang Sing on the next day.
