Moving days are always fraught with uncertainty, but you'd think after six months we'd be used to it. For today's journey we'd made the decision to just book the onward transport through our hotel. Their tuk tuk trip was 20% less than the market rate so we assumed their long journeys would be equally competitive. On approaching the receptionist we were told everything would be fine, she had written it down, and No, we didn't need a ticket. Departure day duly arrived so we headed for breakfast. John wanted to make sure we had access to last minute toilet facilities so held onto the key whilst I settled the bill, and then headed for breakfast. No sooner had the egg hit the toast than a bloke, competing for the title grumpiest man in Laos, came into the garden area and grunted "Luang Namtha?" John went into equally grumpy overdrive at the thought of missing his brekkie, so as I shoved his egg between his toast and wrapped it in a bit of napkin, he lugged all the bags to the minibus. As we made a couple more stops our driver threw the bags in various directions within the bus - most of them towards John who was pinned at the back of the bus by a heap of backpacks. At this point John realised that in the hastiness of our departure handing the key back hadn't been on his radar. We tossed the key and address fob to genial George in the front, and said a quick prayer that he would return it, as he threw it on his dashboard. Thankfully the bus turned out to be the feeder bus, for the one which would take us to our destination. On arrival at the bus station I checked in for our ongoing journey , explaining that our hotel hadn't given us any paperwork. Surprisingly this didn't cause an issue and after adding our name to the list I was issued with a ticket for the trip. The journey passed without incident as we drove through some amazing countryside round hairpin bends, alongside jungle and rivers towards Luang Namtha. The bus deposited us 10km out if town at the "outside" bus station, so we had to commandeer a Songthaew ( like a small truck with two benches in the back to accommodate about nine passengers) to complete the journey into town. It transpired later that the "inside" bus station is just for buses making short journeys around the locality. The Songthaew driver was able to direct us to our hotel from the communal drop off, so rucksacks on our backs we headed off. Before reaching the hotel we were accosted by two Akha women selling friendship bracelets, bags and belts, who we later termed the Namtha mafia. We managed to dodge them on the first day but became a target for their sales techniques on subsequent days. The hotel turned out to be just a couple of streets away, masquerading as a carpenter's workshop. Very strange. There was a reception desk and a flight of beautifully carved stairs leading from the workshop to our £8 a night room. Luang Namtha is a laid back sort of town, still dominated by local retail establishments, and a small number of adventure tour operators. There is an absence of westernised hotels and high rise building in a town dominated by wood and bamboo. There is however a lot of construction, and some very ostentatious properties being built throughout the town, complete with balconies, columns and large driveways. There is a large migration of Chinese into this part of the country so we assumed that this is where the money is coming from. There are also many Laos people who are starting to replace their bamboo, wood, and corrugated metal homes with ones made from brick and cement. On a much smaller scale to the Chinese homes they tend to be built in the Laos style alongside other conventional homes in the village. It's likely that the landscape of traditional homes will change over the next twenty years as homes are replaced. We spent our first day cycling round the town on somewhat decrepit city bikes. For 10,000 kip (85p) we weren't sure we could make too much fuss about only having a front brake. After all I did have a basket on the front. Yesterday we resorted to walking to the waterfall , about 16 km there and back, so we could give our undercarriage injuries chance to recover. It turned out to be a lovely walk, past Hilltribe villages, watching the locals going about their daily chores. One elderly lady was making bamboo paper by the the river and another collecting water- both in their traditional clothes. When we got to the waterfall it was running dry as it's the hot season. It would be very impressive in the wet weather, although slippy. Today, wanting to venture a bit further afield we commissioned a scooter, complete with helmets and room for the two of us, and headed for the hills. The road took us through the National park area, following the river for much of the way. We putt putted up and down the hills, round the bends and potholes until we reached Muang Sing about 58km away. Everywhere seemed to be covered in a fine red dust as a result of local quarrying, but we managed to find a local eating place with clean tables. A group of workers from the WHO (World health organisation for those of you not up on your abbreviations) had beaten us in and were huddled around a fridge ordering their meals. I approached the fridge with a feeling of trepidation- trying desperately to identify the contents, assuming I would have to similarly order from there and leave them to perform a "ready steady cook" on our choices. Thankfully as I turned away from the fridge I was handed a menu, written in both English and Chinese, so we were able to eat ! Satisfied by half a bowl of river greens and some steamed rice we were ready to return to the road. On the way back we passed local people selling vegetables, dead furry animals and bamboo shoots by the roadside. A group of young children flagged us down as we drove along, holding up a plastic bag containing a couple of small fish they wanted to sell. Woman carrying bags of wooden sticks on their backs, the straps of the bags stretched across their foreheads, walked alongside the forest road, and lots of pigs, goats and chickens wandered about. All in all it was a great day, and we'll be sad to leave.