After 11 long hours on the VIP bus from Luang Prabang we arrive to Luang Namtha. It was 6 in the morning. We were one of 5 passengers who finished their trip here, at this deserted ghost bus station. One day is really enough for the town and it surroundings (mostly hills and the rice fields ) unless you want to do some serious trekking.
We stayed in Zueal Guesthouse – the only place that we could find open that earaly in the morning turned out to be a very nice guesthouse. Clean, friendly, with the good free wi fi. We took a nap, and then, we decided to see some places around the Luang Namtha on the scooter. Most rental places (there are 3 or 3 on the main street) oferred good scooters for 50.000 Kip per day. You could also find some shady looking old motorbikes for 30.000 Kip. We bargained a bit, and got a decent bike from our hotel for 30.000 for the rest of the day.
There is a waterfall not far from the town that was highlighted as one of the main attractions on all the tourist maps. Personally, I think that at this time of the year is not really worth a trip and the money that they charged at the entrance. Despite the rainy season, the waterfall was almost dry! We quickly decided to go back. In my opinion, much more interesting were rice fields, villages and the brick manufacturing places we saw on the way there to waterfall.
